Crazy 1 and 1 play...

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by egj13

VG game last Saturday night, H team up 1 with under 30 to go. H team goes to line for 1 and 1, I am the adminstering official, lane is cleared witht he exception of the 2 defenders and the shooter. I step in, vocalize and signal 1 and 1 bounce the ball and back out. She shoots, misses, the ball falls to the floor and no one moves. I take a couple steps towards the lane to see what is up, the defender finally picks up the ball and turns and tosses it to me. Instinctively I catch it...realize what happened and drop it..then pick it up again, blow it dead and get with the Trail. We decide to go with the arrow which gave it to the V team.

We get in the locker room a minute later and try to figure out that the heck happened. The trail at the time is an NCAA official and the 3rd official is in his 33rd year. None of us had seen anything like it before.

Now I know I am part of the floor and if it had bounced off me I would have let it play on..but once I caught it...figured I should blow it dead. Anyone know what rule would apply here? Did we do the right thing?

Whether or not you are "part of the court" or not seems irrelevant, though you are.
5-9-3: "If a free throw is not successful and the ball is to remain live, the clock shall be started when the ball touches or is touched by a player on the court."
Did the clock start when the defender touched the ball to toss it to you?
The result of your inadvertant whistle was correct, with AP throw-in following, though the whistle really shouldn't have been blown. Just drop it, stand back, and let the clock run so you don't end up with something ridiculous like a tied game.

Right?