put ball in play across the lane?
 

In HS mechanics in transition, can you bounce the ball across the lane to the inbounder or should you go across and hand them the ball. I know in the front court you go across. Citation please.

I don't have the citation, but while you always bounce the ball when you're on the baseline going the other way, you do it from the side the ball is being inbounded on. So you don't bounce the ball across the lane to the other side.

By the book? No. Before any throwin (with a couple of unrelated exceptions), you box in the players. That, by definition, means you're outside of the spot where the throwin will occur. If you're across the lane, you're not boxing in.

In some areas, however, it is an accepted practice.

I wish the FED would allow for it in 2-man on BC endline throw-ins.

In my area this is the only time I have ever seen it done. If an evaluator happens to be there they will tell you not to do it in the future but they will not be too harsh on you for that...unless you have "other issues". Then they may stress it as something that is easy to fix and shows others that you are "teachable".

Had this thought come up this past week while working 3-man summer league game (as part of our summer evaluation program so we were strict by the book mechanics).

It was after a made FT followed by a TO. After the TO, the player goes to the opposite side of the endline from where I was standing. My partners had already set up as they were following the free throw so I wasn't going to switch sides. I thought about bouncing the ball accross to him (given that he was able to run the endline), but instead called him over to my side, reminded him "anywhere on the endline" for the throw-in. He proceeded to take the ball and run to the other side where the team had a press-break play set up.

It did have me thinking about how this could be a disadvantage in a situation where a team wanted to throw the ball from one particular side. Having to run there first seems like a disadvantage given that had no TO been called, they are entitled to a throw in anywhere on the endline and could have gone there directly.

In these situations the closest official could consider asking the team what side they want to start from and then let the crew know.

My assignor told me in the above cited situation to ask the inbounder where they want the ball and if so, force your partner(s) to switch. Coach's may have drawn up a specific play for that side. Laziness on our part should not restrict that.

Niether IAABO nor FED allow for the ball to be bounced across the key.

They should.

If teams are that inflexible, they probably are not very good coaches in the first place. And I am glad the NF does not advocate moving the ball over to the other side on a bounce. It looks lazy to me and we should move if it is that darn serious.

In 20 years I have only seen one coach even make such a request and that coach did not communicate his intentions very well. His team was never that good and it did not surprise me for reasons like this issue being an issue in the first place.

Peace

I had a game several years ago where the coach asked for the inbound spot to be moved to the other side of the basket. This was legal as the team had the end line to run. The coach didn't make the request until the team was already out and we were almost ready to go.

So I had to move over and get the new L and C to adjust. This took some time for them to recognize and understand what was happening, which gave the defense quite a bit of additional time to set up.

The coach of he inbounding team was unhappy that the defense had this extra time to match up, but it was his own fault for insisting we inbound on the opposite side.

There's little benefit to moving to the other side, but if the team asks I will always do it and force the L and C to adjust. It's really not that big of a deal. I do not bounce the ball across the lane.

I think the ncaa women's mechanic allows the bounce across (or at least it did at one point). Someone that works ncaa-w please correct me if I'm wrong.

NBA and NCAA-W will have the lead bounce it across.

That seems like a really long bounce for a backcourt throwin.

http://i61.tinypic.com/315bnrl.jpg


Please refer to the visual aid :)

In NCAAW if the backcourt throw-in spot opposite the new T is anywhere from the first cone to the end of the arrow (i.e., inside the three-point arc), we step into the area between the lane lines, bounce the ball, then step back...even if there's defensive pressure.

If the throw-in spot is where the second cone is - outside the three-point arc - we balance the floor.

Having done it, it's not so bad. If there's no pressure there's really no need to be over there. If there is, the C stays in the backcourt to help.

When this happened to me, I had a player ask for me right after a basket was made after a final free throw (I was the Lead), "Can I take the ball to the other side?" I said "Sure, you can run over there." I thought he was only asking about his ability to run the end line. And there was a substitution which was the only reason I was administering the throw-in at all.

When I gave the player the ball, as I was coming up by the bench (it was the first half) the coach started yelling, "Read the rulebook....read the rulebook....read the rulebook." By the third one of those, I gave a technical foul. Now it was like a 2 or 3 point game at the time and all that did was take the ball out of their hand and give it to the other team.

I later had an assistant coach come to me and tell me that they wanted the ball to actually be taken to the opposite side of the lane and that other officials apparently allowed this to happen. Then after the game, the coach wrote a letter to the assignor telling me how much I needed to be a better officials by his so-called vast experience as a coach. When I even discussed they situation with my partners after the game or half-time, they were very confused by the request and said they would have wondered what the heck I would be doing if I went to the other side. It might have taken several seconds to recognize the switch.

And to emphasize how silly this coach was, I have not seen him since or never saw that program have any success since (which he clearly is not there anymore).

And the fact you said that the coach was mad because it took time and the defense was allowed to set up, tells me how silly coaches can be. They think they can tell us what to do and we just follow without having responsibilities.

I know nothing about NCAA Women's Mechanics other than what I hear or read occasionally. But the few games I have watched I never see officials do this. I am not sure why, but that appears to be something that is not practiced very often.

Peace