Varisty coach knows the rule #1

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by deecee

So yesterday I was doing a fun JV boys game and of course one team's varsity coach was in the stands (front row).

Had a situation where we were administering FT's for his team and while I was bouncing the ball to the FT (ball had just left my hand) the opposing team's coach requests a TO and my partner grants it.

So VHC starts explaining the rule that we just messed up that the TO couldn't be granted since his player had the ball. This is where I screwed up and I make eye contact. So here comes the line that proved he had to be right. "I'm not a parent but also the varsity coach."

Yes I know since he has one of the 3 better programs in the county. Here's where I screwed up the second time. I told him to re-read rule 4 (definitions) section 6or7 the one pertaining to Disposal of player and also the section on Live versus dead ball (I got the section wrong but I was in the vicinity).

Then comes line #2 that double proves he is right. "You guys don't know the rules. You have butchered at least 3 of them this game." Ripe opportunity for me to go for the trifecta and say sometime that would have embarrassd him but I decided that I was just going to zip it and finish the game.

Came home and opened the rule and case book and couldn't find anything that proved I was wrong I was able to sleep snugly at night.

When the NFHS and NCAA changed the FT mechanic to the L bouncing the ball to the shooter and allowing the administering official to bounce the ball to the thrower for designated spot throw-ins except for that type of throw-in along a team's front court end line it made officials have to work a little harder to earn the big bucks we are paid for every game that we officiate.

A number of things come into play in situations like this. So lets look at a backcourt or sideline throw-in and see if this play is any different from OP.

We all know that a Dead Ball (DB) becomes a Live Ball (LB) when it is at the disposal of the thrower. When we hand the ball to the shooter or thrower it easy to tell when the ball is at the disposal of the shooter or thrower.

But, bouncing the ball changes the paradigm as to when "at the disposal of" begins.

I have no problem with defining "at the disposal of" to begin when the shooter or thrower catches the bounce pass for the official, and therefore the DB does not become a LB until the player catches the official's pass. But I have always had a problem with that time period between the time that the ball left the official's hands and the time that the player catches the ball.

In the "ancient days" there was a phrase that one will not find in rules anymore: "an imminent change of status". The phrase was applicable to the following situations: A LB was about to become a DB or a DB was about to become a LB because 80% of a five- or ten-second count had expired, therefore a team who was normally entitled to have its TO request TO would not have its TO request honored.

Therefore ever since the NFHS and NCAA made its aforementioned mechanics change I have had reservations about that period of time between the moment the official releases the ball on a pass to the shooter or thrower and the moment when the player catches the ball. I have always thought "an imminent change of status" is the best way to describe this time period.

After struggling for the last three hours on this post, I have realized that all I have written is just some historical information which may supply a different point of view as to how to look at the OP.

MTD, Sr.