I was watching the Syracuse-Virginia Elite 8 game today and a player on Virginia tipped the ball into his own basket. The announcers mentioned the points would likely be credited to Syracuse player Trevor Cooney (who was closest to the play), but then one of them mentioned that it should be counted as a "team basket", but that "they never do that anymore". What is the rule on a team basket? Is there even such a thing?
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1I think it is similar to Own Goal in football.– Arun XavierMar 28, 2016 at 8:14
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@ᴊᴀᴠʏ I was thinking that too, but you see own goals all the time, and I've never seen a team basket.– Ike348Mar 28, 2016 at 11:30
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1 Answer
Huh, this is a tricky one to actually try to look up due to the terms used. I can't find an instance of the term in the NBA or NCAA rules. However, I'm nearly positive a "team basket" is usually noted when it's not clear who scored the basket, such as when multiple players on a team tip a shot in. In that case, no individual is attributed with scoring the basket and it's counted as a team basket.
In this specific case, no player on the actual team gaining points scored, hence why it could be called a "team basket".
This used to be a lot more common before the heyday of instant replays that allow the statisticians to run back the play in slo-mo to see who actually scored. In cases where it's close, you'll often see players raise their hand after the score to claim the basket, particularly in the NBA. Most players don't seem to really care who gets the stats attributed in those instances. This is why the announcer said it should be counted as a "team basket", but it's a rarely tracked stat anymore. Really up to the stat keepers for a given team if they want to track it, but it doesn't really tell you much, so most teams/organizations probably don't bother.
