3pts rule --not backcourt decision Louisville/Northern Iowa (Video)

[bfr]

westneat you bring up a key point which I want to be sure to learn from. I believe it is what made the play confusing, even to those with lots of experience. I am a total newbie and just trying to use these NCAA tournament examples to further my understanding of the rules.

As the player came across midcourt, he established both feet in the FC. The ball was never dribbled in the FC. As he was going to pick up his dribble he pivoted his left foot back into the BC BEFORE he secured the ball in both hands. He then pivoted on his right foot (the one still in the FC), placing his left foot down in the FC again.

Help me out/confirm my understanding please: this was legal per Rule 9, Sect 13, Art.3, c (??)

c. During a dribble from back court to front court, the ball shall be in the
front court when both feet of the dribbler and the ball touch the playing
court entirely in the front court.

Since all of this happened while the player maintained their dribble and the ball never touched in the FC...this was the correct call. The 3 points needed to establish FC status had not occurred.

This was a very bang/bang type of play with the picking up of the dribble happening while the player was moving their foot back into the back court.

When I saw it live I at first thought (as I think the coach and many others thought) he had established both feet in the FC and then picked up his dribble AND THEN pivoted his left foot back into the BC.

That would have been a violation, correct? Rule 9, Sect 13, Art.3, a (??)

a. A ball that is in contact with a player or with the playing court...shall be in the
front court when neither the ball nor the player is touching the back court.

The "3 points of contact" rule for BC/FC only applies to a player while dribbling.

So some other questions:
-once the player was pivoting on his right foot, and pivoted his left foot back into the FC, could he have continued pivoting and placed his left foot back into the BC again without a violation?

-at what point did the 10 second count end?
a) when the dribble had stopped and the foot in the FC was established as the pivot?
b) when the dribble had stopped and player pivoted so that both feet were in the FC?
c) when the pass was released?
d) when the pass was caught by a player who was established in the FC?

I'm going with a ;-)

And is it correct that in no circumstances does any imaginary plane extending up from the midcourt line ever have anything to do with anything related to bball rules?

And finally, if you watch closely in the replay, the Louisville player clearly drags his pivot foot causing him to travel prior to releasing the pass. That could also have been what some people were reacting to.

I'll post the video of this play as viewed from behind in just a few minutes.