The Pass, Catch, Travel Dillemma

[NormanDale]

I have been watching a number of state tournament (on the web) and NCAA games over the past couple of days. I am consistently noticing something and I am interested in seeing if others are seeing the same thing.

Players are taught to catch / jump stop into catching a pass. Check out the video at this link, at about the 1 minute mark. This sort of illustrates the fundamental. http://www.coachesclipboard.net/JumpStop.html

What I am seeing is that a lot of players are catching and controlling the ball 1st, then performing their jump stop. Its not single movement, its a 1 - 2 movement with the ball. What happens often is the feet are coming down separated or staggered. So we have a catch and in the middle of the catch, we have a modified jump stop with a staggered landing, then they go to take off and 1 of 2 things happen:

1. They change pivot foot
2. They scissor kick out the staggered jump stop

I believe the acts that I am describing, which I may not be communicating well, are travels. Is anyone else seeing this consistently be missed?

[SNIPERBBB]

See it more in lower level games.

[Camron Rust]

It happens all the time, but they are frequently not called. They should really rewrite the travel rules to make it permissible if that is really what is wanted rather living with many officials just looking the other way when it happens...and creating inconsistency in doing so.

[Rob1968]

I'm seeing a lot of the following in NCAA games:
Player catches the ball while moving, comes down on one foot, then the other, then pivots on the second - moving the first foot to a new position, with no call for travelling;
and: player catches the ball while moving, comes down on one foot, goes to a sloppy jump-stop (not simultaneous) -- both feet, and then pivots one and moves the other to a new position, with no call.

It seems the college game is progressing towards the NBA rule set.

If the conference supervisors want it called, they'll let their staff know it. Until that happens, it is what it is.

[MechanicGuy]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

It happens all the time, but they are frequently not called. They should really rewrite the travel rules to make it permissible if that is really what is wanted rather living with many officials just looking the other way when it happens...and creating inconsistency in doing so.

The travel rule, as written, is the most improperly officiated rule in the book, imo.

"Two steps" on any drive to the hoop, players doing whatever the hell they want on a catch, etc. If there was a crackdown on this, it would have an uglier short-term impact on the game than the handcheck rules did last season.

[Pantherdreams]

In NCAA games what I see most often is players landing 1-2 and being given the benifit of being able to select a pivot foot as if they'd landed on 2 simuIltaneously. Often if the hop on the catch is close or the 1-2 was through contact they seem to be allowed to "switch" pivot feet - without it being called.

In high school and lower games around here I see officials getting most of the travels on the catch or on jump stops. What i almost never see called outside of games I'm working and a handful of other high level officials, is consistent application of the of taking off with the dribble and not being allowed to lift your pivot until the ball is out of contact with your hand. Lots of times so long as it looks like they are starting their dribble, players are just allowed to take off.