Remove flopping from high school basketball? It's worth a shot. NFHS passes new rule.
You might have missed this note last week (OK, I missed it), but theater class is leaving high school basketball.
At least, that is the hope of the basketball rules committee for the National Federation of State High School Associations. The NFHS basketball rules committee addressed a flopping rule (faking being fouled) that was approved by the NFHS board of directors and will go into effect for the 2024-25 season.
According to the rule (Rule 4-49-1 for those scoring at home), faking while being fouled is defined as “when a player simulates being fouled or makes theatrical or exaggerated movements when there is no illegal contact.” Examples include embellishing the impact of incidental contact on block/charge plays or field goal attempts, using a “head bob” to simulate illegal contact and using any tactic to create an opinion of being fouled to gain an advantage.
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“The committee is hoping to get these dishonest acts out of the game,” Billy Strickland, the executive director of the Alaska School Activities Association and chair of the basketball rules committee said in a release from the NFHS.
On its face, I like this idea. Watching flopping at any level of basketball is one of biggest pet peeves, especially when officials fall for it and are tricked into making those calls. But I wonder if high school officials might already have enough going on without trying to monitor what is a flop and what is not.
The first offense for flopping will be a warning recorded in the scorebook and reported to the head coach. The second offense will be a team technical foul. The NFHS previously had a rule in place that “faking being fouled” could result in the assessment of a technical foul (in the scorebook as a player technical), but I’m not sure if I ever saw that called in a game.
This new rule offers a bit more specific guidance. I like the idea of a warning to allow officials a little leeway to let players know they are watching for flopping. I asked a local referee who has worked games for a long time for his thoughts.
“I think it’s a good thing,” he said. “Previously, there was a rule that allowed us to penalize faking a charge. It was a technical foul to the faking player. As a result, it’s one of those unicorn calls. Nobody ever called it. Including me.
“Over time, faking has gotten worse at all levels and has worked its way down the high school level. With this rule change, we can issue a team warning. Hopefully this will put the team on notice as intended and make the activity stop. If it doesn’t, we assess a technical foul to the team, not any specific player. Hopefully this will help officials get to a point of willingness to call it. Including me.”
I agree. There should be no points awarded for being a good actor on the basketball court. Will this work? I have my doubts. But at least it lets coaches and players know officials are watching for flopping.
A few other things from this week in high school sports:
∎ If you are wanting to be a high school football coach, this seems like the route of Roncalli fullback to Franklin College is the way to go. Sam Otley, Roncalli’s fullback as a senior in 2010 and former team captain at Franklin, was announced as Roncalli’s new coach on Tuesday. Three days later, 2013 Roncalli graduate Dan Harris, another fullback and Franklin College graduate, was announced as new coach at Scecina. Harris, who was the defensive coordinator at Roncalli, takes over Ott Hurrle, who coached 46 of 50 seasons at Scecina before retiring last month.
∎ J.B. Neill is the new boys basketball coach at Martinsville, a hiring that will be approved this week by the school board. Neill was most recently the coach at Bloomfield, leading the Cardinals to three Class A sectional titles in a five-year tenure, but his contract was not renewed by the Bloomfield school board last month. Neill also coached at White River Valley (2009-14), Shakamak (2014-15) and Edgewood (2016-19), compiling a 221-129 overall record. Neill also coached the Eastern Greene girls from 2000-05 to a 75-54 record. One interesting sidebar to Neill taking the Martinsville job is that his son, Blake, is a 6-5 junior guard who averaged 23.1 points and shot 40% from the 3-point line last season.
∎ There are three local boys basketball coach jobs still open: Tech, Southport and Tri-West. I would expect the Tech and Southport jobs will be filled soon, perhaps this week. Tri-West coach Jay Doane, who was 31-20 in two seasons, is taking a teaching job at Avon and will be an assistant for Drew Schauss with the Orioles.
∎ Brownsburg athletic director Drew Tower was officially approved to replace the retiring Greg Habegger as co-athletic director at Hamilton Southeastern. Tower, who is from New Castle, said the decision to leave Brownsburg for HSE was in part to be closer to his family, especially with his own young family. HSE co-athletic director Jim Self said: “I could not be more excited to work alongside Drew Tower. I have been blessed to work with Greg Habegger for the last 19 years. Drew is impressive and he is going to be a great fit at HSE.” The Brownsburg AD job will likely attract a strong group of candidates.
∎ A few basketball recruiting notes: Heritage Christian’s Luke Peters will be a preferred walk-on for Paul Corsaro at IU Indianapolis. … Fishers’ senior Bryson Seymour committed to Franklin College. … Cathedral junior Brady Koehler picked up an offer from Northwestern. … Greenfield-Central junior standout Braylon Mullins was offered by Cincinnati on a visit.
Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: New NFHS rule will attempt to curb flopping in high school basketball
