Player Game Entry

[HawkeyeCubP]

Originally Posted by ezmcgowan

Here's the scenario I need help with: After a timeout, game play starts with one team only having 4 players on the court. Upon realizing they're short, a player runs out from the bench and joins the game. Is this an illegal substitution since there is not really a player swap? If not what is the call? Doesn't this present an opportunity for the 4 man team to sneak a player in to an open spot on the court?

If the player was a pre-time out player:
NFHS: It's a team T for the rule cited already for failure to have all players return to the court at approximately the same time following a time out.
NCAA: Without some sort of intentional deception to gain an advantage in the officials' judgment, there isn't much rule support to call anything.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

The 2014-15 season will be my 44th year of officiating basketball and I can honestly say that I cannot remember ever restarting a game with one or both teams only having four players on the court.

There are at least two and as many as three officials on the court. The ball should not be put into play until each official has counted all of the players on the court at least twice. The non-administering official(s) should keep one hand in the "stop sign signal" directed to the administering official until he or she is satisfied that there are five players for each team on the court. If you have any doubts as to whether each team as the correct number of players on the court do NOT let the administering official put the ball back into play.

I know that I am sounding curmudgeonerly, BUT, this type of thing should not ever happen.

MTD, Sr.

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

The 2014-15 season will be my 44th year of officiating basketball and I can honestly say that I cannot remember ever restarting a game with one or both teams only having four players on the court.

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.: How about one team having six players on the court? Be honest.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

The 2014-15 season will be my 44th year of officiating basketball and I can honestly say that I cannot remember ever restarting a game with one or both teams only having four players on the court.

There are at least two and as many as three officials on the court. The ball should not be put into play until each official has counted all of the players on the court at least twice. The non-administering official(s) should keep one hand in the "stop sign signal" directed to the administering official until he or she is satisfied that there are five players for each team on the court. If you have any doubts as to whether each team as the correct number of players on the court do NOT let the administering official put the ball back into play.

I know that I am sounding curmudgeonerly, BUT, this type of thing should not ever happen.

MTD, Sr.

Sounds great, Mark. However, I'm guessing you just forgot. Lots of thing shouldn't happen, but they do. This is one, and discussions about how to deal with it aren't really helped by saying, "This should never happen."

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by BillyMac

Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.: How about one team having six players on the court? Be honest.

Originally Posted by Adam

Sounds great, Mark. However, I'm guessing you just forgot. Lots of thing shouldn't happen, but they do. This is one, and discussions about how to deal with it aren't really helped by saying, "This should never happen."

Adam:

I will address your post first. I am getting senile in my old age but allowing a game to restart with a team having only four players on the court is something I would remember. I did not say that it should never happen. You said "should never happen." I said: "this type of thing should not ever happen." Remember, the late J. Dallas Shirley said: "Never say never and never say always."


Billy:

Yes, I have had instances of six players on the court of one team, but not I do not remember allowing a game to restart with six players on the court. That said, like every one on this board I have had a sixth player run on the court.

But I remember one situation in a girls' H.S. jr. varsity game years ago. The Home team dressed only six players. We were in the middle of the third quarter and the Visitors had the ball Table Side in their front court and I was Trail when the Visitors requested and was granted a timeout. I administered the Visitors' throw-in after the timeout in front of their bench. V-1 inbounded the ball to V-2 opposite side of the front court. As V-2 drove to the basket, H-1 ran passed me toward her bench and out of my vision. As V-2 scored, H-6 ran into the Visitors' front court. At first glance I thought it was H-1 running back until I realized that it was H-6 and not H-1. Of course we had probably had six players in the court at the same time during this play. None-the-less we had three possible TF scenarios but we choose to charge the Home Team with a TF for having six players on the court. The hilarious part was the V-HC thought we shouldn't allow her team's basket because the other team had six players on the court .

MTD, Sr.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by HawkeyeCubP

If the player was a pre-time out player:
NFHS: It's a team T for the rule cited already for failure to have all players return to the court at approximately the same time following a time out.
NCAA: Without some sort of intentional deception to gain an advantage in the officials' judgment, there isn't much rule support to call anything.

But again, the ruling specifies, before making the ruling, that several things happened before the 5th player eventually returned. If they wanted it to be an immediate T, it would have stopped the setup when the ball was made live...not after several more actions. The purpose of the rule is to prevent a team from having a player sneak back in late for a potential advantage, intended or not. Thus, the occurrence being penalized is when the missing player enters the court, not when 4 enter without the 5th.