New rule affects free throws
Posted on Monday, May 5, 2008
BENTON COUNTY - Siloam Springs boys' basketball coach Jason McMahan still remembers losing the junior high division of the Benton County Tournament to Rogers Elmwood on a putback off a missed foul shot as time ran out.
He hopes a new rule passed by the National Federation of State High School Associations will prevent that from happening again in the future.
The NFHS, which publishes rules used by state associations across the country, decided to vacate the first two marked lane spaces closest to the end line during free throws during a Basketball Rules Committee meeting in April.
The NFHS made the change "to reduce rough play in free-throw situations"but local coaches feel the much-needed change also gives the defensive team a better chance to get a rebound.
"I feel like, at best, the team trying to pull the defensive rebound - if all things are equal - is 50-50," said McMahan. "You really have to make a physical blow - and I know those rules are made to take the physicality out of those - backwards to get the rebound because you don't get any territory."
The previous rule had the first defensive player nearly under the basket while waiting for the free throw.
The new rule, effective for the 2008-09 season, will move all six players one space closer to the foul shooter - moving that first defensive player three feet farther from the basket.
"If you don't have big horses in there, you give up a lot," Bentonville boys' coach Mike Nelson said. "They get pushed underneath. You're already under the rim and you don't want to rebound under the basket. Those kids will ride you under the basket and you give up second chance opportunities."
Nelson, who submitted a similar proposal to the Arkansas Activities Association two years ago, was happy about the change.
It will bring the high school game closer to play at the college and professional level. College rules recently made the same change but college rules also allow the players along the lane to move when the ball is released.
High school players have to wait for the foul shot to hit the rim.
"The only thing I think that should possibly be changed is moving on the release of the free-throw shot," Nelson said. "This is a step in the right direction."
The rule change was tested by the Georgia High School Association last year and the NFHS decided it did reduce the number of fouls without giving either team a better advantage.
"According to data from the experiment, the number of fouls during free-throw rebounding action was reduced," said Mary Struckhoff, NFHS assistant director and staff liaison to the Basketball Rules Committee, in a statement. "At the same time, defensive rebounding percentages fell within an acceptable range. This data was the most compelling the committee had seen to date."
Coaches feel that "acceptable range"would give defensive teams a better change at rebounds and put more emphasis on making free throws.
"I really think you'll see on missed free throws that there will be a lot better defensive rebounding on those and there won't be much offensive rebounding, which I like because we don't generally have the 6-8 kid that has the chance to get the rebound," said McMahan.
"It's a game of skill and mental competition and you should make your free throws and if you don't, the advantage should be to the defensive team to get the rebound."
Kevin Ramey, the longtime Rogers girls' assistant who will be the head coach at Heritage next season, said the new rule is good but won't change how his team plays. "We're going to play the same way," he said. "We're going to go get the ball. It's just a matter of where we're standing. It's not going to change a whole heck of a lot of how we play, just where we're coming from."
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