The biggest rule change facing high school basketball players this winter isn’t really a change.
It’s more like the ultimate accentuation of the hand-check rule as a point of emphasis.
Instead of continuing to stress such fouls as merely a priority for game officials, the National Federation of State High School Association rules committee has added a new article on the topic to its rule book.
Under the article, the following acts constitute a foul when committed against a ball handler: placing two hands on the player, placing an extended arm bar on the player, placing and keeping a hand on the player, or contacting the player more than once with the same hand or alternating hands.
“Either four or five different times over the last 15-ish years, this exact terminology was in the points of emphasis,” said Maine basketball commissioner Peter Webb, a voting member of the 10-member National Federation of State High School Association rules committee representing New England, New York and New Jersey.
“It’s a new article, but it isn’t a new rule, and it says against the ball handler, but it’s true against every player on the court. The contact rules have been spelled out in the other 11 articles [in the rule book] for decades.”
That change was one of more than 30 recommendations that reached the rules committee but among less than a handful gaining final approval.
“The bottom line is players don’t want hands on them, they want to be able to play, and coaches have the same feeling, so if this is officiated as it should be, everyone involved should be happier,” said Webb.
“Basketball’s a busy game and is played in rather small confines, so certainly it’s not going to be contact free. By rule there is incidental contact, contact that doesn’t affect the play, but on top of that when you see somebody putting two hands on a player or an armbar on a player, you should hear a whistle every time,” he said.
Perhaps the other change that will be most noticeable to fans involves action around the lane during free-throw attempts.
Players stationed along either side of the free-throw lane will be able to enter the lane in an attempt to grab the rebound or box out as soon as the shooter releases his shot.
That compares to the rule that has existed for the last two decades, when players along the side of the lane had to wait until the shot hit the backboard or basket ring before entering the lane.
“The reason we were playing the way we had been was that for seven years in a row there was a point of emphasis on rough play, and about 90 percent of that rough play involved pursuit of rebounds on missed free throws,” said Webb.
“That rough play has been removed for nearly 20 years, and now the rules committee has decided based on information it has received to go back and try allowing people on the free-throw lane lines to enter the lane upon the release of the ball by the free thrower.”
The shooter still must wait until the shot hits the backboard or basket ring before crossing the free-throw line, while other players on the court who would be standing beyond the 3-point arc can’t cross that arc until the ball touches the backboard or basket ring.
In addition, players along the lane can’t enter the semi-circle from where the free throw is taken until the ball touches the backboard or ring.
Other changes include the regulation of arm sleeves, knee sleeves, lower leg sleeves and tights worn by players to bring them into more color conformity with school uniforms; and a further definition of intentional fouls to include excessive contact with any opponent while the ball is live or until an airborne shooter returns to the floor.
Webb said there continues to be no push at the national level for adding a shot clock to the high school game.
“The nation’s high school coaches overall still don’t prefer to have a shot clock,” he said.
Dates to remember
Here are some dates for high school basketball fans to mark on their calendar:
Thursday, Feb. 5: Final day for countable regular-season games, except for games postponed on Feb. 5 that may be made up the following day.
Feb. 10-11: Preliminary-round playoff games.
Feb. 13-21: Regional tournaments — Eastern A and Western C-D at Augusta Civic Center; Eastern B-C-D at Cross Insurance Center, Bangor; Western A-B at Portland Exposition Building and Cross Insurance Arena, Portland.
Feb. 27: Class B state championships at Cross Insurance Arena, Portland.
Feb. 28: Class A state championships at Augusta Civic Center; Class C and D state championships at Cross Insurance Center, Bangor.
