I have seen previous posts on this but this scenario just happened in a game and I am not sure if he can be categorized into this. Here is the scenario:

The player is dribbling down court. He loses control of the ball all by himself. The ball is about to trickle out of bounds. The player manages to keep the ball in bounds by running after it without touching the boundary. However the momentum carries him past the line. The player then comes back in bounds and touches the ball. Is this legal?

You cannot go out of bounds <i>while</i> you are dribbling (i.e. step on the line while you are dribbling, but not touching the ball).

However, you can <i>lose</i> the ball (i.e. on an attempt to stop it from going OOB), step OOB, and come back inbounds to recover the ball.

The only requirement is that you are NOT touching OOB when you touch the ball. That is, you have to be touching inbounds (or have last touched inbounds if you are airborne).

There is no requirement to have two feet "established" back in bounds as some fans/coaches/players believe.

There's also NO requirement that someone else be the first to touch the ball before the player who save it can touch it.

This is even if no one touches the player? The player lost the ball on their own accord. I mean this is a very subjective term "lose". To me this is almost like a person dribbling who is tip toeing the line. Their body is about to go out of bounds so they decide to "lose" the ball. They can go and retrieve it after stepping out?

Why not? Can you think of or find a rule that says they can't? It's perfectly legal - as long as they meet the requirements Brad already listed...

The rule that I am referring to is that losing the ball is not an acceptable thing. The player must be still considered in the act of dribbling. And since the player is in the act of dribbling the player is considered out of bounds even if the ball is not in contact with the player while the player is out of bounds.

I don't have my book with me (just wasting time here at work; lol), but.......

If a dribbler "loses the ball", I'm assuming that we're talking about an interrupted dribble. During an interrupted dribble, the dribbler is allowed to step out of bounds, then step back inbounds, and regain the dribble.

What constitutes an "interrupted dribble"? Does there need to be another player there to interrupt the dribble or can a player interrupt the dribble without any outside influence.

There's no need for another player to contact the ball in order to create an interrupted dribble.

Anyone have their rule book handy?

So let me ask you this. If a player is tip toeing the line and knows he is going out of bounds. He then purposely leaves the ball in bounds, then his body goes OOB and then comes back to retrieve the ball. This is by your definition an interrupted dribble and therefore should be legal right?

First of all - that's not a rule...losing the ball may very well be unaccaptable to a coach or player, but there's no rule aboutit...and the player is not in the act of dribbling - it is an interrupted dribble...here's the definition: "an interrupted dribble occurs when the ball is loose after deflecting off the dribbler or after it momentarily gets away from the dribble"...so we have an interrupted dribble in your play...

Also from the rule book: the ball shall be out of bounds when it touches a player who is out of bounds, any other person, the floor, or any object on or outside a boundary, the supports of a backboard, or the ceiling, overhead equipment or supports...a player shall be considered oob when he or she touches the floor or any object other than a player on our outside a boundary line...

SO...the player went oob, BUT is now back on the court and is no longer oob...the ball was NEVER oob...so again - what has been done that is illegal? Answer: nothing...it's a legal play - play on...

But I thought there was a rule that you cannot dribble and touch the OOB line even if the ball is not in contact with your hand at that second. If so in this case, an interrupted dribble is still a dribble and therefore doesn't it follow the same rules.

No it doesn't...an interrupted dribble changes several things and that is one of them...you can't have a time-out during an interrupted dribble...you can't have a player control foul during an i.d....and the player can go oob and then come back in and be the first to touch during an i.d....

Is there a website or rule book that says that on an interrupted dribble you can come back in bounds? I have seen the other things such as the three second rule, the control foul, and the timeout but I have never seen anything about how OOB rules apply.

Don't know...got a casebook??? Check it...the key is that the rule doesn't say you can't...and in the situation described, the player was inbounds when they touched the ball again, and was not dribbling the ball when they went oob, so we got nothing...

The key to me is that all the rulebooks I have read outlines how an interrupted dribble is to be evaluated differently than a regular dribble. So in all other cases than the ones mentioned in the rulebook an interrupted dribble is to be ruled the same as a regular dribble. And we all know that the rulebook says that on a regular dribble a player cannot touch the OOB line even if the time of contact with the line does not coincide with the time the ball is actually touching the hand.

Huh? Could you post the exact wording of the rules or case book to back up this statement?

So can you dribble with two hands when it is an interrupted dribble? There is no rule that says that we cannot do that so according to rockyroad we can.

I'm not saying you can or can't do anything. I didn't understand your post, so I asked you to post the exact wording of rules or case book to back up what you are discussing.

There are no specific words to this claim but how are we supposed to govern an interrupted dribble when we only have 3 rules that apply to it. The only sensible thing to me is extrapolate the rules of the dribble for the interrupted dribble.

Whoa there young fella...don't be saying what I think is right or wrong...of course you can't DRIBBLE during an INTERRUPTED DRIBBLE...now you're just being silly...I am really not sure why you are having such a hard time with this concept...the fact remains that a player who is DRIBBLING the ball and steps out of bounds while DRIBBLING the ball has committed a violation...a player who momentarily loses control of the ball (hint: that's an interrupted dribble) and then goes oob, but comes back in bounds before touching the ball again has not committed a violation...sigh - seems like that's already been said...

Dude, what's the problem? Everything you've been told is correct. :(

If you want to know the difference in a dribble and an interrupted dribble, it's this. There is no player control during an interrupted dribble. An interrupted dribble is not a dribble. A player who is not in control of the ball cannot cause the ball to go OOB, unless he touches OOB while touching the ball or the ball goes OOB.

Whether the player intentionally allows the ball to get away from him or if it happens accidentally, is not an issue. It's still an interrupted dribble.

The play is legal. The key is that there is no player control. It's no different than 7.1.1B.

I just want to say good luck on how you decide what is enough to constitute "losing the ball" or "control of the ball" and what constitutes another dribble. How long does the ball have to be out of your possession to constitute being a loose ball?

It is not something that you can say 1.5 sec, a minute, or anytime frame. Lost control, deflected, Interuppted dribble.

AK ref SE

It was defined about 15 years ago as "The ball being far enough away from you so that you are not able to immediately dribble".That was when there was a rule saying it was illegal to dribble a 2nd. time after an interrupted dribble.That definition still is valid,as far as I know.

Rule 4 Section 15 Article 6d:

Out of bounds violation does not apply on the player involved in the interrupted dribble.

Does that help?

What do you have if the player who has interrupted his or her dribble and to retrieve the ball goes around the defender, touches OOB and gets the ball? Would any of you call a T in this situation?

I'm looking for help on 10.3.4. A player shall not: . . . Leave the court for an unauthorized reason or delay returning after legally being out of bounds.

Thanks

Touche'!

Not me. I would probably never make a call under this rule unless everyone in the building knew why the call was being made. For example, player ran out one door into the lobby and back into another door.

There is no time requirement with regard to judging that the ball is loose. We're paid to make that type of judgment. Are you telling us that you can't judge when an interrupted dribble begins?

As rockyroad pointed out, one cannot dribble during and interrupted dribble. This is because a player must have control to dribble and during an interrupted dribble there is none by definition.

Now if you would ask, "Can a player touch or bat the ball with both hands during an interrupted dribble?"

Then the answer would be yes. He may even do this more than once without violating! As long as you judge that there is no player control, you do not have a double dribble violation. (Again, this is because you don't have a dribble to begin with :))

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Nevadaref
[B]Hmmmm. Is that right? I thought that once a player touched the ball with both hands it terminated the dribble?

I think this has been answered, but lets say that I (as a player) am standing by the scorers table dribbling can I just let the ball bounce, step out of bounds and come back and pick up dribbling again or would this be unauthorized leaving the court?? I think I got it but just checking...