Wrong Way to Start the 4th

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by Rich1

Ihis reminds me of a middle school game I worked last year. A1 gets a rebound at his own goal and passes the ball out to A2 who turns and starts running to the wrong end. When he gets about 10 feet from the division line my partner jumps in front of him, puts both hands out and says "no, no, no; you are going the wrong way". I guess we should all be glad he didn't "permit" that mistake.

No, I'm not advocating this. If one kid goes the wrong way a backcourt call will take care of it. But if I don't call the backcourt violation and all ten players run to the wrong end and set up to play offense and defense and then I realize the problem, that's when I'll stop things. And if they tell me at that point that they know what they're doing and one team is now trying to avoid a certain point spread and the opponent has decided to try to stop them from that, it's okay with me.

The more I think about it, this would be kind of interesting to watch. A halfcourt game. One team holds the ball, trying not to score. Then, if the other team makes a steal, that team tries to score in that basket on that same end of the court, hindered by the defense and a 9.5 second shot clock, as it were. Also, if a player has used his dribble, he won't be able to go for an offensive rebound because it would be a violation.