1. Announcer Responsibilities - The announcer shall be prohibited from making an announcement while the clock is running and while the clock is stopped and the ball is alive…such as during a free throw, a throw in, etc. Doing so could potentially affect communication of coaches, players or be disconcerting.

- The announcer shall be prohibited from interrupting the game through the use of the microphone unless there is an emergency.
- Announcements or comments shall be made during those times when there is a stoppage of the clock and the ball is not live, such as time outs, between quarters, pre-game, half time and post game.
- The announcer is allowed to announce basic information that does not potentially affect the play in general, the players, the coaches, or the officials. The announcer’s information is not official information and could be misinformation shared with all.
- Appropriate training of announcers by personnel and proper pre-game instruction by the Referee are necessary.

May be Announced - Examples:

- Player who scored
- Player charged with foul
- Player attempting free throw
- Team granted a time out
- Length of time out: 30 seconds or 60 seconds
- Player entering game
- Team Rosters

Shall not be Announced – Examples

- Number of points player scored
- Number of fouls on player
- Number of team fouls
- Number of team time outs or number remaining
- Time remaining in the quarter/game
- Type of foul or violation
- Emphatic 2 or 3 point goal

The announcer’s role does not include “cheering the home team on” or otherwise inciting the crowd. Doing so is common at other levels of athletic events. But high school athletics is different because sports are educationally based. In a very real sense, the public address announcer at a high school event is a “Champion of Character”. He/she can influence the atmosphere of the contest by what is said and how it is said. The announcer who performs professionally promotes good sportsmanship by what
he/she says and how he/she acts upon saying it.

2. Correctable Error: Officials may correct an error if a rule is inadvertently set aside and results in

a. Failure to award a merited free throw.
b. Awarding an unmerited free throw.
c. Permitting a wrong player to attempt a free throw.
d. Attempting a free throw at the wrong basket.
e. Erroneously counting or cancelling a score.
The procedure to follow to make such a correction is depicted in the diagram below:

3. Front Court and Back Court Ball Status: The determination of the status of the ball when considering whether it is in the front or back court is determined by the location of object that the ball last touched inbounds as long as there is team control inbounds, be it a player, official or the playing court. The location of a player is determined by where the player is touching the floor or, in the case of the airborne player, where the player was last in contact with the floor.  The ball is considered to remain in the backcourt while a player is dribbling the ball until the players both feet and the ball have been in contact with the front court. When an airborne player gains possession of the ball during a throw in, a jump ball or while on defense they are considered to have no status as related to front court or backcourt if they (and only that player) return to the floor possessing
the ball. The location where they land will determine the location of the player and the ball.

It is recommended to review case plays 4-4-1 and 9-9-1, Situations A-E, in the Case Book. These cases present situations that assist in explaining the status of the ball and player when considering backcourt violations.

4. Team Control Status During Throw in; Team Control Status Inbounds - Since a 2011-12 rule change, team control exists during a throw in when the thrower in has the ball at her/his disposal. The change was made ONLY to eliminate the penalty of administering free throw(s) when a teammate of the thrower in commits a common foul during the throw in. The change made the penalty consistent with the penalty for other team control fouls. The penalty now is the awarding of a throw in to the opposing team at the spot out-of-bounds nearest to where the foul occurred. NOTE: Team control during a throw in is not intended to be equated to player control status inbounds which creates team control status inbounds. During the throw in 10-seconds 3-seconds, frontcourt status, backcourt status, closely guarded, etc are not factors as there has yet to be player control/team control status obtained inbounds.