"SO FAR AWAY"

Some of you would remember the band-Dire Straits.  IF you do, you might want to take a look at yourself-father time is marching on.  But, I thought it a nice "intro" to the subject matter in this piece.

Question:  How far is 36 inches?  OK, confusing, I will ask it a different way-How far is 3 feet?  Better?  Good!  So you think you know how far that is, right?  Now, let's proceed.

All of you have seen this play:  A1 is advancing in the front court with the ball.  He/she comes into the top of the key.  B1 and B2 have collapsed and are-you guessed it less than 36 inches/3 feet apart.  A1 makes a faking move, then proceeds directly between B1 and B2 causing contact with the defenders. Question:  what do you do?  Do you put air in the whistle?  If you do, what is your call?

Frankly, I have seen this go three ways:  offensive foul, defensive foul, and no-call.  Truth be told, I have probably kicked this one as hard as anyone.  So let's take a look at the NFHS Casebook-and get the call right!

The 2012-2013 NFHS CASEBOOK addresses this call on page 94, under "DRIBBLER CONTACT" 10.6.7.  Here is the ruling; "Unless one of the defensive players is faked out of position to permit adequate space for the dribbler to go between without making contact, it is a player control foul."

The ruling asks the officials to make several judgments.  As if we don't have enough to do!  I have to know how far "less than 3 feet apart" is.  I have to determine if the defender reacted to the fake, moved and created "adequate space" for the dribbler to move through.  And, then there is the whole idea of contact.

I mean really, can't I just let this one go?  Absolutely not!  This is a foul.  And in the casebook play the contact is deemed to have been created by the dribbler.  Unless conditions allow that dribbler to get through those defenders, "without making contact", the contact is judged to be a player control foul.

I want to encourage you to get the book out and look at this one.  There is an explanation right behind the ruling, that answers a lot of the questions that would come to your mind.  Turns out, that "screening principles" apply to the dribbler.  That's right!  Screening principles apply to the ball handler.  I had not thought about that.  Here is a quote:  "When both the dribbler and the opponent are moving in exactly the same path and same direction, the player behind is responsible for contact which results if the player in front slows down or stops."

And, in the casebook, as it is set up, it makes clear that unless the space between the defenders is sufficient to allow the dribbler to go between them "without making contact", we are "punching it" the other way.  We don't have discretion. 

I think as officials we can get this one in our heads, and get it right on the floor.  Where I think there can be some argument, is with lesser informed coaches.  As I have noticed, I have never heard much discussion about when screening principles apply to an offensive player.  At least, not specific in that context.  We usually talk about the defender getting there, or the dribbler created the contact, or sometimes we no-call the play if the contact is "inconsequential".  The latter idea causing us some problems when all of sudden a partner official bangs the dribbler down on the end.

Let's study this one.  Make sure we get the distance in our head, slow down, observe the whole play-and Get the Call Right!