New rules on contact / hand-checking

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Even if this is added, (Is this a done deal in the new book or just somebody's assessment of what it will/should say?) doesn't the main definition of a foul still take precedence?

A1 turns the corner and is on his was to a breakaway layup as B1 makes contact with his hand on A1's hip for an extended period of time.

Is everybody gonna call this "automatic" foul? I doubt it.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

How about the definition of incidental contact, and the basic principles of advantage, and disadvantage? Is the baby thrown away with the bathwater?

RSBQ is a crock of horse manure. JAR and Billy have made very intelligent observations. A foul is a foul is a foul (and a horse is a horse is a horse of course of course, ). If it is a foul in the first thirty seconds of the game it is a foul in the last thirty seconds of the game. If it is a foul in the Mid-Court Area (look up Mid-Court Area in your Funk & Wagnalls or at least in a NBCUSC Rules Book from the mid-1970's) then it is a foul in the Free Throw Lane.

Yes, the players are bigger, stronger, faster, and quicker. BUT, the dribbling, traveling, and illegal contact (including guarding and screening) rules have not changed in over fifty years. What has changed is that: 1) Coaches (at the high school level), in general, have done a terrible job of teaching players how to play defense in general as well as a terrible job of teaching players how to guard and screen; 2) There is a certain element in the game that physicality and "playing through contact" is more important than actually using skill to play the game within the rules.

I did not need RSBQ to tell me what was and was not a foul 44 years ago and I do not need it now.

I am going to get off my soap box now and take my pre-dinner pre-dinner nap after which I will take my pre-dinner nap.

MTD, Sr.