Flopping Addressed in 2024-25 High School Basketball Rules Changes

Faking being fouled, also known as flopping has been included in the NFHS Basketball Rules Book with a new definition and a caution for the 2024-25 season.

This revision to high school basketball rules was one of 12 changes approved by the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee at its April 9-11 meeting in Indianapolis. All the changes that we recommended were later supported by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“The committee approved changes that covered several different areas,” said Lindsey Atkinson, NFHS Director of Sports. ”Player welfare, integrity, the proper emphasis on offense and defense and rules that are enforceable remain important for this committee,”

As per Rule 4-49-1 Faking being fouled is described as when a player pretends to be fouled or otherwise overacts when there has been no illegitimate contact. Some of them are for instance: exaggerating the effects of accidental body contact on block/charge plays or field goal attempts, using head bobbing to feign a foul and employing any means to gain an unfair impression of being fouled.

The new language also prescribes how officials should caution a team on the first time they fake being fouled. The warning is written in the scorebook and, in some case, is reported to the head coach. Any other occurrences will lead to a team technical foul not a player technical foul as it used to be.

“(The committee) is hoping to get those dishonest acts out of the game,” said Billy Strickland, the executive director, the Alaska School Activities Association and the chair of the Basketball Rules Committee.

A change from 3-4-4a converts it that the only message that can be on the front part of the jersey is lettering. When names are displayed on the front they should be displaced by a logo/mascot at the middle above the number. This does not mean that schools will have to spend money and buy new uniforms; it will also mean that some schools which were not allowed to wear particular uniforms as part of their current uniform can maybe do so.

A change to BC 4355 and an addition to BC 4205 permits states, which use foul line down thirty-five second shot clock, to elect the voiding of five second closely guarded rule while a player dribbles the basketball. These rules are active as long as a player has the ball irrespective to whether a state has adopted the shot clock or not.

For more of the rules changes approved by the committee, the following are some of them.

Rule 1-19 also spells out that any electronic device to be used in the game should only be used for statistics, to watch replays or for any other activities that may be related to the contest. Recording in voices or video using an electronic device is not allowed.

According to rule 2-11-11, if there are more than one scorers on the scorer’s bench, than the unofficial scorer is supposed to check with the official scorer, who in turn should inform a referee promptly of any inconsistency. This helps to keep the official scorer sensitive to game play and put the task of comparing scoring information on other auxillary scorers.

Rule three three six also states that if the bench personnel respond to an injured player’s beckon call whether or not to take a seat or not, if the player beckons them to attend to him or her, the player must be stripped out of the game unless the coach asks for the time out.
If a player is bleeding or has blood on the uniform, Rule 3-3-7 permits the bloodied player to remain in the game if the bleeding can be stemmed in 20 seconds.

Change in Rule 4-6-1 on basket interference allows the net to be touched and play should continue if the official concludes that contact will not impact the try for a goal.

A group of amendments to rules 4-47-5, 10-2-1g 10-4-5 enables officials to give a team warning with regards to delay of game when a ball is not passed to an official when whistled is blown. Subsequent infringement during the games trigger automatically a team technical as against player technical.

This was given under rule 7-1-1 which would mean that a player cannot be helped by a team member or bench personnel to stay within the playing area.

Section 10 violations before the game commenced were discussed comprehensively through change. If both teammates break provisions which are outlined in Rule 10-1-1 and Rule 10-1-2 and Rule 10-2-7 of the FIBA regulations and the rule books of the organizing body and in the same measure, no free throws would be given and the visiting team gets the ball as per Rule 10-2-7 of the FIBA.” Moreover, the head of the bench would continue to get the benefits of the coaching box as well. Likewise, in Rule 10-2-7, prohibition against dunking or attempting to dunk a dead ball, the rule no longer disqualifies the coach from having coaching box priviledge and no personal foul is committed because it is a technical foul for the entire team and not bench technical.

Any changes to the basketball rules will be listed on the NFHS website at www.nfhs.org Select activities and sports at the top of the home page and select basketball at the bottom of the page.

Boys basketball, the third most popular sport involved 537,438 athletes in 18,369 schools in the same year and girls basketball the fourth most popular sport involved 373,3669 athletes in 17,881 schools in the same season.