Ally oop goes in!

[Duck1]

“Who are we to judge intent?”

We are the officials, and it’s our job. The difference between hard contact that draws a foul and punch that draws an ejection is intent. The difference between slamming a ball in frustration of poor play that draws a warning and slamming a ball in protest of a call that draws a technical is intent. The difference between grabbing the rim to prevent coming down on a poorly positioned defender and grabbing the rim to show up the defender is intent. Whether you like it or not, every time you call any fowl “in the act of shooting”, you are calling intent. Indeed, there is a rule called “intentional fowling”, which by definition requires the interpretation of intent as the name implies.

In the case of the ally-oop that goes in, if the player watching his teammate cut to the basket, is flat-footed as he throws the ball, and throws the ball like someone making pass rather than a shot, and then gives you that “oh looky what I found” after it goes in, he gets two. Any ref who doesn’t call it that way is too timid or too lazy to explain it to the coach and is hoping that the other coach doesn’t know the rule well enough to object.