Quote:
Originally Posted by crosscountry55
What is it about playoff games that causes officials to make issues out of stuff they would likely ignore the previous three months?
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Even though it was offered as a rhetorical question, I would like to answer.
Here in Connecticut, previous to the state tournament there is a meeting for all officials selected to work the state tournament. Among many other topics, points of emphasis (not the same as the NFHS Points of Emphasis) for state tournament games are covered. These topics often include things like uniforms, equipment, coaching box, state medical and religious waivers, etc. One year a major point of emphasis was to keep players out of the jump ball circle during the announcement of the starting lineups. Lots of officials were "herding" players away from the circle before state tournament games that year.
Also, here in Connecticut we have six local boards that cover regular season games in six different geographic regions. We have a state tournament rule that states that officials (we only work with our local board partners, no crossovers) may only work games in which both of the teams, or neither of the teams, in a specific state tournament game be geographically affiliated with those local board officials (Connecticut is a very small state, with no state tournament geographic regions, state tournament officials can work anywhere in the entire state).
Last night I observed my friends work a game at a site (ninety minute drive for me, slightly longer for them) that they never worked at before, between two teams they've never worked, teams in two different conferences they've never worked, from two towns they've never worked in, with two coaches that they've never met.
Even though Connecticut is 100% IAABO, each local board may stress certain rules differently than other local IAABO boards. One may see varsity players wearing illegal sleeves in some local boards, but not at the varsity level in other local boards. Some local boards may stress coach deportment more than other local boards.
These differences often become apparent in state tournament games.