Basketball Line is Out - Responding to Fan Complaints

During Sunday's NCAA Men's Basketball game between Wisconsin and Purdue, some Badgers fans were upset with the officiating crew over a displacement related foul call and an out of vs in bounds no-call for an inbounder. Let's take a look.

The foul call pertains to an attempted trap defense near the end line. The Boilermakers ballcarrier picks up his dribble and is defended before appearing to either travel or step out of bounds, only for the center official to signal a foul.

What the referee saw was the defensive player move forward and into the offensive player, displacing the ballcarrier with a knee and causing the potential violation. Ergo, foul call.

But the focus of today's lines lesson pertains to a complaint about referees no-calling an inbounder who stepped on the line before inbounding the basketball. The purpose of this video and article is to reiterate that the end- and side lines are always out of bounds such that when an inbounder, standing out of bounds, steps on (but not across) one of these lines, that player is still considered out of bounds.

Video as follows:

Alternate Link: Reacting to fan complaints over a foul call and inbounds violation no-call