2 x 4?

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by TimTaylor

Think about which one would always be a violation regardless of who the ball touched......if it's the 4th team contact then I'd go with 4 hits - no need to determine who it touched. Same reason you wouldn't call illegal contact if it bounced off the net & was caught by a different player - doesn't matter what kind of contact it was. There's a reference to this somewhere in the rule/case book but I don't have them handy to look it up.

Thanks for the info. Though I don't entirely buy your logic. I can see saying just do the four hits because it's:

a) Consistent
b) Removes one additional judgment to have to make

However, the comparison to the fourth hit that is also a carry, doesn't quite work. In the 2 hits v. 4 hits scenario, both violations occurred. In the 4 hits v. illegal hit, the illegal hit didn't occur -- because the ball was dead the instant it touched the player for the fourth hit. It wasn't alive long enough for there to be prolonged contact.

But I believe I see what you were getting at with the analogy: Be consistent with the 4 hits call and it eliminates the need to even consider the details of the other violation.