Backcourt Again!

[John Crow]

Reading up on the Backcourt Rule after the great discussions on this board. Can anyone help me with the "Note" at the end of the Rule? It says, "If a player of the team in control in its backcourt causes the ball to go from bc to fc and return to bc in team control without touching a player in the frontcourt, it is a violation for such a player or teammate to be the first to touch it there." How can that happen? All I can figure out is that the player throws a pass that hits the official and bounces back to him?! Or maybe throws an ally-oop pass that hits the rim and bounces back to him?! Help?

[Mark Padgett]

No matter how much I tax my little gray cells, I can't really think of a way for this to happen unless it hits an official in the front court. Of course, I've never seen it happen. Maybe someone out there has seen this happen in a different way.

As to your scenario of an alley-oop pass hitting the rim, technically this would count. But I don't think there's a ref out there who wouldn't consider that a "try" for these purposes, and therefore no call.

[bob jenkins]

Try this:

A1 picks up his dribble just behind the division line. He bounces a pass to A2. The pass bounces in the front court. A2 either a) has a foot on the division line when he catches the pass, or b) comes from the backcourt and is in the air when he catches the pass.

[hawk]

The other way, though unlikely, is a bounce pass with too much spin. Most likely on a pass going mostly sideways near the division line.

[Schmidt MJ]

quote:

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Originally posted by bob jenkins:
Try this:

A1 picks up his dribble just behind the division line. He bounces a pass to A2. The pass bounces in the front court. A2 either a) has a foot on the division line when he catches the pass, or b) comes from the backcourt and is in the air when he catches the pass.

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Bob,
Excellent response to the original post. I've had trouble with thinking of how this part of the rule would realistically come up in a game and haven't been able to come up with one. But the scenario in your first situation is an excellent example of the "note" portion of this rule. All 4 elements of a backcourt violation are present. 1) team possession had been established, 2) the ball had attained front court status, 3) A1 was the last player to touch the ball before it went into backcourt, and 4) A2 was the first player to touch it after it went into backcourt. I'll keep this scenario in mind from now on. Just another example of how helpful these discussion boards can be when you've got so many different points of view to rely on. Thanks!