Starting next school year, one-and-one free throws will no longer be part of high school basketball in the United States.
According to a release posted Monday on the National Federation of State High School Associations website, the basketball rules committee approved changes to the ‘bonus’ rules at its annual meeting last month. ‘The recommendations were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors,’ the release said.
Teams will now shoot two free throws for common fouls when in the ‘bonus,’ and will reach the bonus when their opponent commits five fouls in a quarter, the release said. Team fouls will reset each quarter instead of each half.
Previously, teams shot one-and-one free throws when their opponents committed seven fouls in a half, and two free throws when 10 fouls were committed each half.
“The rules committee studied data that showed higher injury rates on rebounding situations and saw this as an opportunity to reduce opportunities for rough play during rebounds,” Lindsey Atkinson, NFHS Director of Sports and liaison to the basketball rules committee said in the release. “Additionally, resetting the fouls each quarter will improve game flow and allow teams to adjust their play by not carrying foul totals to quarters two and four.”
The high school basketball bonus rules now match the rules used in the NBA, WNBA and NCAA women’s basketball. NCAA men’s college basketball still uses the rules previously used in high school basketball.
Other approved rule changes
➤There will now be four designated spots for teams to inbound in the ball after violations, defensive fouls (prior to the bonus) or dead balls that occur with the offensive team in the frontcourt. ‘The one exception is when the defensive team causes a ball to be out of bounds, the throw-in shall be the spot where the ball went out of bounds.’
➤There is now an official placement of a shot clock operator at the scorers’ table for states that use a shot clock.
➤Teammates can wear different styles of uniform bottoms, ‘but they must all be like-colored and adhere to uniform rules outlined in Rule 3-6-2 regarding logos and trademarks.’
➤Visiting teams with dark jerseys can wear a single solid color or solid black undershirts. ‘This provides an opportunity for schools with hard-to-find colors to have all players wear a black undershirt.’
➤A player can step out of bounds and return to the court if that player gains no advantage. ‘A player is penalized only if, after returning inbounds, the player is the first to touch the ball or avoids a violation.’