Misunderstood Rules

[BillyMac]

The Most Misunderstood Basketball Rules

This is a list of high school basketball rules that are often misunderstood by coaches, players, and parents. I developed this list over the past thirty-two years, officiating thousands of basketball games, listening to erroneous comments from players, coaches, and mostly from fans, and thinking to myself, "I wish I could stop the game and explain the real rule to them". This list is meant to educate those players, coaches, and fans.

For example. A player is dribbling the ball in the backcourt and a fan is yelling, "Three seconds". Or, a player is inbounding the ball and a parent yells, "He's stepping on the boundary line". How many times have things like this happened to you? Don't you just want to blow the whistle, stop the game, and say, "There can't be a three second violation until the ball is in the frontcourt", or, "The player can step on the line, but not over the line".

I started working on this list back in March 2005, for a presentation that I was making to a college level basketball coaching class after I was asked to give a lecture on the most misunderstood basketball rules. The list has evolved many times over the years.

Thanks to all Forum members who have contributed to this list.