Bay Area basketball coaches react to new NFHS foul rules that eliminate one-and-ones, adopt NBA style bonuses

No harm, no foul say local coaches about four free fouls per quarter

San Francisco high school basketball coaches cried no foul concerning the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) rule change that will eliminate one-and-one free throw chances and replace with a new NBA-style bonus criteria. 

Teams will receive two foul shots automatically once opponents reach five common fouls per quarter, just like in the NBA. Each quarter teams start with zero fouls. 

This change to Rule 4-8-1 eliminates the one-and-one scenario and sets new foul limits each quarter for awarding the bonus free throw.

Rules changes were approved by the NFHS Basketball Rules Committee at its annual meeting on April 24-26 in Indianapolis. The recommendations were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

• MORE ON NEW RULES

In addition to awarding two foul shots for all common fouls, teams will reach the bonus when their opponent commits five fouls in each quarter and team fouls will reset at the end of each quarter. 

Previously, teams were awarded the one-and-one bonus when their opponents committed seven fouls in a half and two foul shots when ten 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,” NFHS Director of Sports Lindsey Atkinson said. "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.”

Early local reaction to the change was both quizzical and with a shrug. 

"It seemed to be working the way it was so not sure why they changed," University-San Francisco boys basketball coach Randy Bessolo said. "Regardless, it is the same for both teams so we will accept it and adjust." 

Said San Ramon Valley-Danville coach Brian Botteen: "I don't see it bothering me or how we play the game. I suppose it will effect ultra aggressive teams. It might change their tactics. It will certainly change things when teams are trying to catch up late in the fourth quarter." 

Riordan-San Francisco coach Joey Curtin welcomes the rule change. "I think it's a great idea. Now we just need a 30-second shot clock like the girls." 

In California, the boys have a 35-second shot clock and the girls have 30. 

California Interscholastic Federation Associate Executive Director Brian Seymour said Monday they have looked at making both 30 seconds but at this point will keep it as is. 

State governing bodies such as the CIF aren't required to copy all NFHS rules, but Seymour said the CIF will in Monday's new fouling and bonus change. California was one of the first to adopt the 3-point line and a shot clock, well before the NFHS. 

"We're very much on board with this change," Seymour said. "We're going to follow what NFHS has endorsed and passed." 

THE NFHS approved other basketball rule changes:  

• Rule 2-1-3 establishes the official placement of a shot clock operator at the scorer’s table for those states utilizing the shot clock.
• Rule 3-4-5 clarifies that multiple styles of uniform bottoms may be worn by teammate, but they must all be like-colored and adhere to uniform rules outlined in Rule 3-6-2 regarding logos and trademarks.
• Rule 3-5-6 addresses undershirts and allows teams to wear a single solid color or solid black for visiting teams with dark jerseys. This provides an opportunity for schools with hard-to-find colors to have all players wear a black undershirt.
• Rule 9-3-3 was amended to allow a player to step out of bounds and return to the court if they gain no advantage. A player is penalized only if, after returning inbounds, the player is the first to touch the ball or avoids a violation.

A complete listing of the basketball rules changes will be available on the NFHS website at nfhs.org. Click “Activities & Sports” at the top of the home page and select “Basketball.”

According to the 2021-22 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, basketball is the third-most popular high school sport for boys with 521,616 participants in 18,428 schools nationwide. 

It is the fourth-most popular girls sport with 370,466 participants in 17,901 schools.