Quote:
Originally Posted by JRutledge
But that does not mean you change the entire rulebook or ignore things you would not during the year.
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NFHS 4-47-4: Warning For Delay: A warning to a team for delay is an administrative procedure by an official which is recorded in the scorebook by the scorer and reported to the head coach: For failure to have the court ready for play following any timeout as in 10-2-1f.
NFHS 10-2-1-F Team Technical: Allow the game to develop into an actionless contest, this includes the following and similar acts: Not having the court ready for play following any time-out after any team warning for delay.
This high school rule (above) has been around for long time, and when it was first introduced the example given was water being spilled on the floor.
Despite the “water on the floor” rule being around for a long time, I’ve never called it, nor have I ever seen it called, probably for reasons of appearing overly officious, it being accidental, a common part of the game, not causing any advantage or disadvantage, and only taking a few extra seconds to clean up.
I was observing a friend (former science student of mine) in a state tournament semifinal a few weeks ago.
He, and of his two partners, are “regular” state final officials (after this semifinal game all three moved onto a state final), so all are considered to be some of the best officials in Connecticut.
During a charged timeout water was accidentally spilled the floor and had to be cleaned up, delaying the game by less than a minute, not much longer than any other water spillage I’ve ever observed.
My friend and one of his partners had a short chat and then my friend, the referee, had a delay warning recorded in the scorebook (no previous delay warning of any type) and reported it to both head coaches.
Since I’ve never called a “water on the floor” delay , nor have I ever seen it called, during the post-game conference I asked about the warning and if they had considered passing on the warning.
My friend (the son of a college and high school basketball coach, a truly outstanding high school player, a truly outstanding high school assistant coach, and now a truly outstanding basketball official) replied, “NOT IN A STATE SEMIFINAL”, and then later followed up by admitting that he may have, "Passed on it in a regular season game".
Maybe things are (and should be) called differently in big time, win or go home, games?