About a third of the time, after a center draw in lacrosse, you’re seeing the umpire casting a look at the scorers’ table.
Whenever there has been a draw violation of some kind in the last couple of years, the draw is not retaken; instead it is awarded to one team or the other on the criterion of “alternate possession,” which starts with the loser of the first draw of the game, then alternates between teams whenever the umpire cannot objectively determine who gets the ball next — either through a draw violation, simultaneous fouls, or a dead tie in a run to the end line to back up a shot on goal.
Why do I bring this up?
I heard an interesting take last night on an NBA game when Greg Anthony, the former UNLV star who had an 11-year career in the pros, delivered an opinion about the institution of the alternate possession rule in college basketball.
“We lost something when we took out the jump ball,” he said. “I’d like to see jump balls be brought back.”
If you got your hands on a vintage film of an old basketball game, before around 1950, you would see a jump ball after every basket. Yep, the game would stop and the players and referees would move from the basket after a score, then set up for a jump ball, a chance for both teams to get the next possession. As in lacrosse with draw-control and faceoff specialists, this put an emphasis on having a person to win the lion’s share of restarts.
Now, there are a lot of “jump ball” plays which are part of games. In field hockey, there used to be a lot more bullys than there are today. In soccer, the drop-ball is almost universally uncontested. In lacrosse, the Olympic Sixes rules don’t have draws after every goal.
So, when you see an NBA jump ball, or a ball-up in Australian Rules football, you’re seeing something special. I’m hoping that lacrosse doesn’t take away the draw/faceoff from field lacrosse.