Tournament Rules 

Hustle Basketball seeks to operate events at the highest level. To do so, fairness and enforcement of the rules is necessary. The rules listed below are meant to enhance the experience of everyone, and we say “thank you” in advance for following these guidelines. 

Admission Prices

  • $15 for single day admission 
  • $25 for an all-tournament weekend pass (Saturday and Sunday)
  • Each team is permitted to have two approved coaches passes.
    • Coaches must check-in to the coaches table, they can not walk past the coaches table before checking in. 
    • The coaches table will be located directly next to the admission table. If a coach can not find the table they must ask the admission employee for assistance and can not walk past the admission table without checking-in. 

Grade Division Requirements

  • Each player is required to play in the grade they participated in for the 2022-2023 school year; a player can play “up”, but never down
  • A player can not play for multiple teams in a tournament within the same division.
    • A player can play above their grade level for multiple teams as long as they are not playing for teams competing in the same division of the tournament
  • Teams are required to have age verification and grade verification for each player on their team. Each player's jersey number, first name, and last name must be submitted on the roster from through registration in the Exposure registration form. If a player's name is not on the roster they are to be immediately removed from the tournament and will forfeit all games the player participated in
  • Any tournament official, facility, or tournament employee can request age and grade information. Failure to do so can result in an immediate forfeit without the possibility of a refund

Protest Procedure

  • The head coach for the team participating in the tournament must file an official protest in writing and submit a $100 cash deposit for each player in question. The protest must be filed before the next game begins. If the protest is upheld, the proper disciplinary actions will be taken and the $100 cash deposit shall be returned to the head coach that submitted the protest. If proper documentation cannot be provided to prove a player’s eligibility, the player will be held out of competition until proper proof can be presented and all games that player participated in will be forfeited. If the party in question refuses to present verification information, it will result in automatic forfeit of past and future games of the tournament, without refund in tournament fees. The ruling of the protest is the sole discretion of the Hustle Basketball tournament director(s). 

Roster Requirements

  • Coaches are required to submit a roster prior to the tournament
  • Rosters must include jersey number, first and last name of each player

Hustle Tournament Rules Grades 3rd - 8th Grade:

  • Two 12-minute halves (stop and go clock)
  • Teams will have a total of four timeouts for the entirety of regulation (One full and one 30-s econd timeout per half) 
  • Any form of defense is permitted throughout the entirety of regulation and overtime (Zone, Man-Man, etc.)
  • Players will foul out at 5 personal fouls 
  • Bonus will be enforced after the 7th team foul in half. Double bonus enforced after 10th team foul in half. 
  • Running clock will be enforced when a team is ahead by 20 points or more in second half 
  • Full court pressure is allowed throughout the entirety of the competition 
  • Remaining timeouts do not carry into overtime 
  • Each overtime period will be 2 mins 
  • Teams will be granted one full timeout each overtime period 
  • Women will play with 28.5 size basketball 
  • Boys will play with 28.5 size basketball until 5th Grade. 
  • Boys grades 6-8 will play with a 29.5 size basketball 
  • Only one coach is permitted to stand during gameplay. The assistant coach must be sitting at all times. 

Tournament Rules 9th Grade/15U - 12th Grade/18U

  • Two 16-minute halves (stop and go clock)
  • Teams receive two full and two thirty-second timeouts for the entirety of regulation
  • Any form of defense is permitted throughout the entirety of regulation and overtime (Zone, Man-Man, etc.)
  • Full court pressure is allowed throughout the entirety of the competition 
  • Players will foul out at 5 personal fouls 
  • Bonus will be enforced after the 7th team foul in half. Double bonus enforced after 10th team foul in half. 
  • Running clock will be enforced when a team is ahead by 20 points or more in the second half 
  • Remaining timeouts do not carry into overtime 
  • Each overtime period will be 2 mins 
  • Teams will be granted one full timeout each overtime period
  • During overtime and within the last two minutes of the second half of regulation if a team calls a timeout after an opposing basket, the ball WILL advance to halfcourt, opposite side of the scoring table. 
  • Women will play with 28.5 size basketball 
  • Boys will play with a 29.5 size basketball 
  • Only one coach is permitted to stand during gameplay. The assistant coach must be sitting at all times. 

Pool Tie-breaker Rules

  1. Head to Head 
  2. Point Differential - 15 point maximum 
  3. Points Allowed 
  4. Coin flip 

Behavior/Ejection Rules

  • Hustle Basketball wants the best game atmosphere possible! We want fans to cheer and support their team! However, certain actions will not be tolerated and are grounds for removal from the premises or an extended ban from the facility, such as: 
    • Cursing at or towards officials, coaches, players, other fans, and HBL staff members 
    • Spectators can not approach the scorers table under any circumstances, or will result in immediate removal without refund of admission fees.
    • Threatening officials, coaches, players, other spectators, and HBL staff members
    • Fighting and physical altercations 
    • Excessive harassment of officials, coaches, players, other spectators, and HBL staff members 
    • If an official ejects a coach or spectator, that spectator MUST leave the building for the remainder of that game. Depending on the severity of the actions, the HBL staff may determine that the ejection will be longer than one game. No refunds will be given to the ejected spectator. 
    • Players ejected for fighting will serve a minimum of one (1) game suspension. That suspension will be for the next scheduled game. Depending on the severity of the actions, the HBL staff may determine that the suspension will be longer than one game. 
    • If a coach leaves the bench area to go to get a member of the HBL staff to complain about officiating, that coach will be assessed a technical foul. Just as in high school, college, and pro games, coaches are not able to change the current referees or leave the bench area to call the assignor to complain. 
    • HBL Staff reserves the right to remove spectators or participants that are deemed to be a disruption or a potential problem based off of past actions 

Announcers

  • Announcers are an enhancement provided by the Hustle Basketball. Please provide your starters before each game so that they can announce your starting lineups. A featured court announcer will be provided on Court 9 (feature court) for all games. If you do not submit a roster during registration you risk your roster not being announced. 
  • The use of speakers is prohibited inside the facility. Only tournament approved speakers from the Hustle Basketball League are permitted to be used. This includes warm-up time/music. 

We look forward to hosting the most exciting tournaments possible! Hustle events are a celebration of the game of basketball and the hard work and effort the players, coaches, and administration have put towards developing the next generation into motivated, productive adults! We are always open to suggestions on how we can improve each Hustle event!