Wrong Way to Start the 4th

[La Rikardo]

At any reasonably high level of play (any level where the players/coaches should know better), assuming my crew and I have used proper mechanics to indicate the direction of play, I'm going to let play continue and see what happens. Our role is to observe the game, determine the facts of the game, and apply the rules to those events.

If A throws the ball into the FC and takes it into the BC, we have a violation. If A throws the ball into the BC, we start a count and eventually a violation if the ball remains in A's TC in the BC for ten seconds. If A1 throws the ball toward B's basket and gets his own "rebound", we may have a violation for traveling or illegal dribble depending on this circumstances. If A is "successful" in throwing the ball into B's basket, B will score two points and A will have a BCELTI. If B is also clueless, they'll think they have a throw-in and may attempt to make the ball live; if this occurs, B will be warned for delay per 4-47-3.

The point is that we don't really need to tell the teams that they may be confused. The rules do perfectly well to handle situations like this. It's almost impossible for more than 15-20 seconds to go by without a violation occurring in a situation like this. When that violation occurs, call it. If the players are confused, you explain the call and they'll quickly realize that they were going the wrong way.