Independent basketball rules & officiating desk

Switches in two person mechanics

By Dennis Morris · Originally published January 22, 2015 · Reviewed August 2026

Check the current rules. Rule references here reflect the rulebook in force when this was written. Always confirm against the current NFHS rules and your state association’s published interpretations.

The Officials’ Manual states that for a 2 person crew officials should switch on ALL non shooting fouls. I have interpreted this ALL to include fouls in the back court or player control or team control fouls in the front court going the other way, since the manual does not list exceptions. Please review the prescribed mechanic on page 38, E-1.

While there is only one sentence printed on this topic, again to maintain consistency in our mechanics, we will go with this. In essence, there will be long switches in these situations with two person crews.

Dennis Morris

Wrote this page for the Ohio basketball officiating resource that ran on this domain, published 2015. The credit is preserved as it appeared and describes their role at the time of writing, not a current relationship with this site. Contributors

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