[M T]

There's a tweet claiming that Iriafen knocking the inbound out of bounds was illegal:

https://twitter.com/banthecharge/status/...bXBmQ&s=19

I'm not sure what rule is supposedly violated. There is this rule:

Reaching through the throw-in boundary-line plane and touching or dislodging the ball while it is in possession of the thrower-in or being passed to a teammate outside the boundary line as in Rule 7-4.6.b. This act shall also serve as a team warning for reaching through the boundary. (See Rule 4-9.1.g.)

...and this rule...

The opponents of 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.

...but it appears Iriafen didn't touch the ball until after the inbounder released it. And I don't think her hand was across the boundary line before touching the ball either, though that's hard to be certain of from this video angle. The tweeter seems certain it was.

In his dreams.  The camera angle on the broadcast is not very useful for checking this, but I'll point out that the two rules only prohibit the defender from crossing the boundary line to touch the ball.  It is quite common for the inbounder's hands to cross the boundary line but we can't tell if her toes are just outside the line or a foot back.  In the video you can see the ref giving the usual signal indicating to the defender to stay back (which I don't believe is required by the rules, but I haven't checked).  With the ref standing between them, you get a good perspective of just how far back Iriafen is - looks like 4 feet.  Both players move slightly to the video left, approximately equally. The video shows Iriafen's jumping jacks are in-place (it looks like she backs up a couple of inches).

You'll see the ball has completely left the inbounder's hand before being touched by Iriafen.  That means that it was more inbounds that the thrower's hands by at least 70% (accounting for angle of flight relative to the sideline) the width of the ball.  (I didn't see any end line views of this side of the court to judge how far back the Utah player could have been.)

I actually think doing jumping jacks is not the best defense here. The inbounder can judge how high you reach and time your descent and you have no prayer of getting back up quickly.  I'd think a quick jumper has a better chance of getting her hand on the ball.  Here, the inbounder mistimed her throw. Iriafen was still in the air. (Yes, jumping jacks may impede the vision of the inbounder.)

Hey, NCAA, "Reaching through the throw-in boundary-line plane and touching or dislodging the ball while it is in possession of the thrower-in or being passed to a teammate outside the boundary line" is ambiguous. Is it that an act of both reaching through the plane and simultaneously touching the ball is illegal, or is it that either is illegal? If a player is standing outside the boundary with the ball and she pushes it into a player inside the court (which means the defender touches the ball) an illegal contact by the defender?

[M T]

There's a tweet claiming that Iriafen knocking the inbound out of bounds was illegal:

https://twitter.com/banthecharge/status/...bXBmQ&s=19

I'm not sure what rule is supposedly violated. There is this rule:

Reaching through the throw-in boundary-line plane and touching or dislodging the ball while it is in possession of the thrower-in or being passed to a teammate outside the boundary line as in Rule 7-4.6.b. This act shall also serve as a team warning for reaching through the boundary. (See Rule 4-9.1.g.)

...and this rule...

The opponents of 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.

...but it appears Iriafen didn't touch the ball until after the inbounder released it. And I don't think her hand was across the boundary line before touching the ball either, though that's hard to be certain of from this video angle. The tweeter seems certain it was.

In his dreams.  The camera angle on the broadcast is not very useful for checking this, but I'll point out that the two rules only prohibit the defender from crossing the boundary line to touch the ball.  It is quite common for the inbounder's hands to cross the boundary line but we can't tell if her toes are just outside the line or a foot back.  In the video you can see the ref giving the usual signal indicating to the defender to stay back (which I don't believe is required by the rules, but I haven't checked).  With the ref standing between them, you get a good perspective of just how far back Iriafen is - looks like 4 feet.  Both players move slightly to the video left, approximately equally. The video shows Iriafen's jumping jacks are in-place (it looks like she backs up a couple of inches).

You'll see the ball has completely left the inbounder's hand before being touched by Iriafen.  That means that it was more inbounds that the thrower's hands by at least 70% (accounting for angle of flight relative to the sideline) the width of the ball.  (I didn't see any end line views of this side of the court to judge how far back the Utah player could have been.)

I actually think doing jumping jacks is not the best defense here. The inbounder can judge how high you reach and time your descent and you have no prayer of getting back up quickly.  I'd think a quick jumper has a better chance of getting her hand on the ball.  Here, the inbounder mistimed her throw. Iriafen was still in the air. (Yes, jumping jacks may impede the vision of the inbounder.)

Hey, NCAA, "Reaching through the throw-in boundary-line plane and touching or dislodging the ball while it is in possession of the thrower-in or being passed to a teammate outside the boundary line" is ambiguous. Is it that an act of both reaching through the plane and simultaneously touching the ball is illegal, or is it that either is illegal? If a player is standing outside the boundary with the ball and she pushes it into a player inside the court (which means the defender touches the ball) an illegal contact by the defender?