I need clarification on the ruling of a back court violation. Can a player after passing half court pass back to a player who is in the air and catches the pass and comes down on the other side??

No, that would be a violation..... it is where that person has established position... in this case that would have been in the back court.

When a player is in the air, his position has been established at the point that he leaves the ground. If the player leaves the ground in the backcourt he is in the backcourt until he comes down. So, if he catches in the air, he is technically in the backcourt.

It works the other way, as well. If a player leaves jumps from the frontcourt to the backcourt and catches the ball in the air, he is technically in the frontcourt. It will only be a violation if he comes down

I agree with our experts here, but I have a question. Is the rule different on out of bounds plays? I was an assistant coach on a varsity team this year. In high school basketball in California I saw many times on out of bounds plays where I thought there would be a backcourt violation call and there wasn't. So let's say the ball is out of bounds on the baseline under our basket. Inbounder throws the ball to the point guard at half court. Point guard jumps in the front court, catches the ball in the air and lands in the backcourt ( or maybe he lands with one foot on the line). Our team did this half a dozen times and we never got called for a backcourt violation. ???

If he jumps from the front court into the backcourt, he is in the front court until he lands in the backcourt and the he is in the backcourt.

The ball, however, is another story. When the ball is out of bounds it has no status until it is touched inbounds.

If the player catches the ball while in the air and carries in into the backcourt, it would be a violation.

If the player has established backcourt position before he catches it, it would not be a violation