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Every once in a while some obscure rule makes the headlines....
remember this one ? when Chicago North Lawndale wore uniforms that had one little piece of trim that was a violation of rules and it cost them a shot at the state title...
Well - here are some other little known and obscure rules....feel free to add others you may know about, but I have seen many times where the failure to know about some obscure rule cost kids who violated them..
-In women's college basketball there is no 10-second backcourt violation...
so if they want to stall they can stay in the backcourt and play keep away for the full 30 seconds making a full court press way less effective.
-In the pregame warmups a player dunks and a ref calls a technical. (remember, a technical also counts as a personal foul)
Does that player START the game with one foul on his tally? Let's say he dunks three times before the ref can alert him that he's been called for a violation. Then does the player start the game with 3 technical fouls, thus be ejected?
Answer - quite simply any and ALL dunking in pregame is a technical ON THE BENCH...it does count on the team total of personals so the team starts with one foul but no individual player.
After being warned if another player also dunks, the ref has the option of calling a 2nd technical and ejecting the head coach.
-basketball players are called "cagers" because at one time there was an attempt to change the game by installing a cage around the court to prevent all the out of bounds plays.
At one time there were deemed excessive delays when balls went flying out of bounds, into the stands, or down stairwells, and there were also fan injuries when players and balls went flying.
My own father told me about the "cage playing days" but sensible rules to control and settle out of bounds situations made the cages impractical.
One thing that led to chaos and ushered in the cages was at that time the rules awarded the out of bounds to the player who retreived it first. Thus there were all out brawls up in the stands, and down the stairwells with players fighting for the loose out-of-bounds balls. This obscure old rule also has since been changed.
-also back in that era - after every made basket, the ball was brought back to the center circle and re-tipped - kinda like how they do a new face-off in hockey after each goal...but the ball was not necessarily tossed up high - just tossed in between the two centers....
This made having a strong, powerful guy playing center quite a premium so instead of using tall lanky guys as centers, they usually went for guys who looked like this...powerul & muscular who could dive in and get the ball like a rugby scrum.
-what is the penalty if a guy guarding the inbounder reaches across the end line?
Answer - it is a delay of game warning. If it happens again it is a technical on the bench.
BUT - what if the defender reaches across the end line while defending the inbounds and touches the ball or the player?
That violation is different and results in an automatic technical without any warning.
- The "air dribble"...
This is one I'll bet 95% or more people will not only say they've never heard of but even dispute it...
BUT -- definitely there was a time around 1915-1920 when air dribbling was allowed. Similar to dribbling by bouncing the ball off the floor - there was a time when it was legal to bat the ball in the air as well - and allowed a player to move as long as he was NOT carrying the ball. Air dribbling has been disallowed and removed from rule books for at least 75 years.
-BUT - here's a similar play...
let's say a player ends his dribble then shoots, but the shot hits NOTHING - not the rim nor backboard or any other player..
BUT the shooter runs and catches the shot as it is coming down out of the air and starts to dribble again.
Is this "travelling"?
I suspect at least 80-90% will say yes, it is traveling - but it is NOT.
As long as in the ref's judgement, it was not an intentional self-pass, and it was a legit shot, then player control ends, and when he goes and gets the ball -
even if he catches it out of the air - it is a legal situation.
Even some refs call this one wrong...
It is rule # 4.43...
-One last situation - see if anyone can get this...
IS THERE EVER A TIME in basketball where the referee, by rules, will blow his whistle and STOP PLAY after a made basket - even if there is NO FOUL, NO GOALTENDING, NO timeout, and no violation of any kind??
Answer - yes, there is...if a player scores into his own basket (scores into the wrong goal), the correct action by rules is for the referees to blow the whistle, stop play,
be sure to award 2 pts to the proper team, and then award an inbounds play to the team that just shot the ball (not the team that was awarded the 2 pts) since it counts as a basket for the other team.
As a corollary to this situation - let's say a player shoots a 25 foot shot into the wrong basket - does if result in 3-points for the other team??
NOPE -- just two -- you cannot score a 3-pointer unless it goes into your own basket!
ODDLY - the rule is quite different in the NBA - as any intent to shoot into the wrong basket is illegal and nullified.
remember this one ? when Chicago North Lawndale wore uniforms that had one little piece of trim that was a violation of rules and it cost them a shot at the state title...
Well - here are some other little known and obscure rules....feel free to add others you may know about, but I have seen many times where the failure to know about some obscure rule cost kids who violated them..
-In women's college basketball there is no 10-second backcourt violation...
so if they want to stall they can stay in the backcourt and play keep away for the full 30 seconds making a full court press way less effective.
-In the pregame warmups a player dunks and a ref calls a technical. (remember, a technical also counts as a personal foul)
Does that player START the game with one foul on his tally? Let's say he dunks three times before the ref can alert him that he's been called for a violation. Then does the player start the game with 3 technical fouls, thus be ejected?
Answer - quite simply any and ALL dunking in pregame is a technical ON THE BENCH...it does count on the team total of personals so the team starts with one foul but no individual player.
After being warned if another player also dunks, the ref has the option of calling a 2nd technical and ejecting the head coach.
-basketball players are called "cagers" because at one time there was an attempt to change the game by installing a cage around the court to prevent all the out of bounds plays.
At one time there were deemed excessive delays when balls went flying out of bounds, into the stands, or down stairwells, and there were also fan injuries when players and balls went flying.
My own father told me about the "cage playing days" but sensible rules to control and settle out of bounds situations made the cages impractical.
One thing that led to chaos and ushered in the cages was at that time the rules awarded the out of bounds to the player who retreived it first. Thus there were all out brawls up in the stands, and down the stairwells with players fighting for the loose out-of-bounds balls. This obscure old rule also has since been changed.
-also back in that era - after every made basket, the ball was brought back to the center circle and re-tipped - kinda like how they do a new face-off in hockey after each goal...but the ball was not necessarily tossed up high - just tossed in between the two centers....
This made having a strong, powerful guy playing center quite a premium so instead of using tall lanky guys as centers, they usually went for guys who looked like this...powerul & muscular who could dive in and get the ball like a rugby scrum.
-what is the penalty if a guy guarding the inbounder reaches across the end line?
Answer - it is a delay of game warning. If it happens again it is a technical on the bench.
BUT - what if the defender reaches across the end line while defending the inbounds and touches the ball or the player?
That violation is different and results in an automatic technical without any warning.
- The "air dribble"...
This is one I'll bet 95% or more people will not only say they've never heard of but even dispute it...
BUT -- definitely there was a time around 1915-1920 when air dribbling was allowed. Similar to dribbling by bouncing the ball off the floor - there was a time when it was legal to bat the ball in the air as well - and allowed a player to move as long as he was NOT carrying the ball. Air dribbling has been disallowed and removed from rule books for at least 75 years.
-BUT - here's a similar play...
let's say a player ends his dribble then shoots, but the shot hits NOTHING - not the rim nor backboard or any other player..
BUT the shooter runs and catches the shot as it is coming down out of the air and starts to dribble again.
Is this "travelling"?
I suspect at least 80-90% will say yes, it is traveling - but it is NOT.
As long as in the ref's judgement, it was not an intentional self-pass, and it was a legit shot, then player control ends, and when he goes and gets the ball -
even if he catches it out of the air - it is a legal situation.
Even some refs call this one wrong...
It is rule # 4.43...
-One last situation - see if anyone can get this...
IS THERE EVER A TIME in basketball where the referee, by rules, will blow his whistle and STOP PLAY after a made basket - even if there is NO FOUL, NO GOALTENDING, NO timeout, and no violation of any kind??
Answer - yes, there is...if a player scores into his own basket (scores into the wrong goal), the correct action by rules is for the referees to blow the whistle, stop play,
be sure to award 2 pts to the proper team, and then award an inbounds play to the team that just shot the ball (not the team that was awarded the 2 pts) since it counts as a basket for the other team.
As a corollary to this situation - let's say a player shoots a 25 foot shot into the wrong basket - does if result in 3-points for the other team??
NOPE -- just two -- you cannot score a 3-pointer unless it goes into your own basket!
ODDLY - the rule is quite different in the NBA - as any intent to shoot into the wrong basket is illegal and nullified.
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