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When a player is attempting to inbound the ball is the defender allowed to cross the line with their feet or any part of their feet while jumping up and down in the face of the inbounder. I know the defender can't touch the inbounder just wondering about the defenders feet and their position. Thanks in advance for any answers.
 
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As long as the feet land in bounds, no ref will make a call concerning where the feet are in the air. The one exception would be if the defender's feet come in contact with the ball while it is still in the hands of the offensive player. I suppose Gabby Williams could do that!
 

VAMike23

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In the old days, refs were responsible for seeing to it that there were 3 feet between the inbounder and the defender. Sometimes they would actually call out "3 feet!" to both players before giving the ball to the inbounder. This was implemented by having the inbounder give a 3 foot cushion to the baseline, not by the defender backing up. The defender could step right up to the line. So the defender would be in violation of the 3-foot rule if he/she crossed the line out of bounds. However, the 3-foot cushion--like the 5-second rule for inbounding or the 3-second rule in the lane--is squishy. It's not built on precision. It's just the ref's judgment. So unless you are noticably crowding the the inbounder by moving over the baseline I doubt any ref would call it. If they did, I believe they would first blow the whistle to stop play, then remind the defender to give 3 feet and give the ball to the inbounder again, with a fresh 5 seconds.

Besides not being able to touch the inbounder, the defender also may not touch the ball unless/until it has left the inbonder's hands. Touching the ball resulted in a technical. Guess touching the inbounder would, too? But I do not recall.

I don't think that the 3-foot rule was always implemented as stringently on other out-of-bounds plays, like on the sideline. I do remember it for sure on the baseline after a made basket. I think you could play a little tighter on sideline inbounds plays. It would make sense to have it still be 3-feet but I just dont remember it being enforced quite the same way.

[These were high school rules in Iowa when I was growing up so they may or may not match up with the rules in MCBB or WCBB.]
 

KnightBridgeAZ

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I've never heard of the 3 foot rule, nor can I find any mention in the NCAA rulebook or a high school source I found on a web (the NCAA women apparently follow the high school rule, based on reference in the NCAA rulebook).

The rule specifies that the defender cannot have any part of their body break the plane of the end-line, and it appears that the first time they do is an official warning, followed by technical fouls if they do it again. I couldn't quite determine if it is worse if you touch the ball or the inbounder; the high school rules suggest "yes" but the NCAA rule-book is, to say the least, complicated.
 
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To follow up on the above post
Rule 7, Section 6, Article 9b states:
No opponent of the thrower-in shall have any part of his person over the
inside plane of the boundary line.

Rule 10, Section 3, Article 7 makes it a technical foul:
After a team warning has been issued, the opponents of the thrower-in
having any part of their person beyond the vertical inside plane of any boundary
line before the ball has crossed that boundary line.
 
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