The Lone Star State ...
 

Our brother, and sister, officials in Texas sound their whistles before entering the visual confines of the court to warn players to stop any pregame dunking that might be occurring.

I wonder if they do this for a middle school girls game?

You didn't mention whether or not the officials actually adhered to the request, but game administration wouldn't be dictating when I enter the court.

Do They Ask For The Scorebook To Be Taken To The Dressing Room ???
 

Good luck to those guys to take care of any scorebook problems before the ten minute mark, and possibly preventing some technical fouls.

Just another case where game management doesn't do its job and the officials are the bad guys.

Why do they need us to enforce this at all? Aren't the coaches and administrators adults?

"Hey, don't dunk."

That said, I'd be thrilled to not come out till 12 minutes or so. In our state, we take the floor at 20 minutes...

1967, in HS, dunking during the game was deemed illegal, understood to be associated with the NCAA making dunking illegal, to avoid Lew Alcindor, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar from dominating the college game while he played for UCLA.
Then, as an afterthought, in 1970, dunking was prohibited in warm-ups.
In 1972, a clarified definition of dunking was expressed, which was expanded in 1975.

With interest in our current Rules set, NFHS decided to allow dunking except before the game or during intermission, in 1976.

And if one of the players had been injured the schools/parents would have...sued the officials for not being on the court at the prescribed time.

My old HS interpreter used to tell a story about the pre-game dunking rule. I don't remember any of the details -- dates, schools involved -- but I'll give you the general story.

A game was scheduled for two college teams. But the visiting team's campus had been ravaged by an outbreak of some flu or virus something. The basketball team's players were all sick. So the AD calls the home school and asks to reschedule.

The home school AD realizes that his team can grab an easy win and so says that the game can't be rescheduled. They have to come and play on the original date.

So the visiting team loads up and drives to the game site. They come out on the floor with 5 players for warm-ups. And the first kid in the lay-up line dunks, hangs, and rips the ring off the board.

They turned around and headed back to the locker room and the game was rescheduled.

The next season dunking in pre-game was banned.

I have NO idea if that story is true at all. But I love it and hope it's true.

A Dunk To Remember ...
 

You got most of the rule covered, but don't forget that you also can't dunk a dead ball.

Interesting story, even if it is NCAA, and happened forty-five years ago, and the details are a little cloudy. Springfield (MA) at Southern Connecticut State College (now University). SCSC "wins" at the final buzzer and a SCSC player dunks, after the final horn, in celebration. Officials charge player with a technical foul for dunking a dead ball, Springfield hits the free throw(s), game goes into overtime, and Springfield wins the game.

All one has to do is walk into any multi court facility where phi slamma jamma is allowed and look at all the off kilter and floppy rims to understand why its not a good idea

The best legends SHOULD be true.

I did omit the rule change from 1978, in which the NFHS added a statement prohibiting a player dunking a dead ball.

We are privilged to participate in a game which is continuing to evolve. And of course, the personalities of those who hold the positions of power are evidient in the rules changes, and nuances that are introduced. Sometimes, those chages are accepted, and become part of the fabric of the game. At other times, as evidenced by the NCAA attempt to change the block/charge rule last year, experiments in rules modifications, demonstrate that existing parameters are well suited to the game's structure, and need no further modification.

It wasn't the early 70's that the rule was changed, it was 1976. I remember Marques Johnson of UCLA being the first great college dunker after the rule change.

BNR:

Give me a break, I am 63 and started officiating basketball in 1971; I was writing from memory and without climbing up into the attic to look up the exact year, so please do not fault me for not listing the correct part of that decade.

MTD, Sr.

The only reasonable reason for the rule today is to protect the basket from damage...especially since no level, except for the schools in the Power 5 conferences, are going to have a standby basket ready. I saw this play out at a local AAU tournament 2 weeks ago.

I also laugh at the "intimidation" reasoning. If a team is "intimidated" by the fact that the other team is dunking during pregame...well they've lost the game already. With that reasoning, let's just ban dunking from the game entirely cause the other team might get scared.

I still contend that there is no reason to ban dunking in the warm up. Ban hanging on the rim- absolutely but dunking as a whole is unnecessary.