Technical foul
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In basketball, a technical foul is one that is called for violations of the rules other than normal (but illegal) contact which occurs during the usual course of play.
Many violations can result in the call of a technical foul. One of the most common is the use of profane language toward an official or another player. This can be called on either players who are currently active in the play of the game, or seated on a team's bench. It can also be assessed to a coach or even another person associated with the team in an official capacity such as a trainer or an equipment manager. Additionally, coaches or players can be assessed a technical foul for arguing an official's call too loudly, too long, or too vehemently, even if no profanity is involved.
Other offenses can result in technical fouls, such as fighting or offering to fight, illegal substitutions, deliberately wasting time such as throwing the ball into the stands for no reason or batting a made shot away from the goal so that the team scoring it can have more time to get into position on defense, and truly "technical" issues such as uniform violations. Additionally, home teams can be assessed technicals on their crowd for excessive use of artificial noise or for dangerous offenses such as throwing items (particularly ice) onto the court. Usually a fight results in "double technicals", a technical foul on both teams.
In college basketball and lower divisions, the punishment for technical fouls has been increased over the years. Initially, the opposing team was awarded one free throw. This was later increased to one free throw and the retention of possession of the ball. For a while, "bench technicals" assessed on a coach or non-active player were considered more serious and resulted in the award of two shots; now this is the case for all technical fouls at most levels. Also, technical fouls are now counted in most leagues toward the number of fouls a player can be allowed prior to his being disqualified, or "fouling out". In the NBA, the penalty remains simply one free throw for the opposing team.
One of the most famous technical fouls ever assessed was called on Chris Webber of the University of Michigan late in the 1993 NCAA championship game. Down by two points to North Carolina with only seconds remaining, Webber called for a time out when the team had already used all of their allotted time outs. The resulting penalties ended any hopes Michigan had of claiming the championship.