Fix net or not?

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by som44
on Saturday during a JV Tournament team A shot and made the basket-the net got tied up in the basket after the shot went through--while B was taking the ball up court with no pressure from A at all i noticed the net- blew my whistle and fixed the net-gave ball back to B and the game
proceeded--I was being evaluated during this game--after the game all comments were very positive except that i was told the net should not have been fixed until there was a dead ball from a violation or OB. This means A may have gone back down and played at the basket with the net tied up in the basket- This just does not seem right
any comments?

I am not at home so I do not have access to my files but I will try to shed some light on net problem.

Over 35 years ago the National Basketball Committee of the United States and Canada (NBCUSC) issued an interpretation that stated that when the net became caught in ring, the game was to continue without interruption. When there was a natural stoppage of play: foul, violation, team timeout, or injury, the net should then be fixed.

Since the NBCUSC was the legal predecessor to the NFHS and NCAA Men's/Women's rules committees, this ruling was still in effect. I do not the time to go through my files, but a few years ago I sent a email to Mary Struckhoff (NFHS), Ed Bilik (NCAA Men's), Barb Jacobs (NCAA Women's) in response to questions submitted to me concerning the net problem.

Since I had only information from officials more veteran than me concerning the NBCUSC ruling, I requested in my email that an archive search be done concerning this ruling. The only response that I received was from Barb Jacobs, telling me that the NCAA Men's/Women's Committee was in the process of issuing a ruling on the net problem. I cannot rememeber off hand which year it was, but it detailed how to handle the net problem at the NCAA Div. I, II, and III games. In a nutshell, for a NCAA game, game management is supposed to provide a person to fix the net so the game does not have to be stopped. If no person is provided the ruling lists a protocol on how to handle the situation.

I have yet to receive a response from Mary Struckhoff, so it is safe to say that the NBCUSC ruling is still in effect for games played under NFHS rules. Having said that, something in the dark recesses of my mind tells me that the NFHS may have issued a ruling on the net problem.