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Originally Posted by M&M Guy
That's the part I was respondiing towards - essentially allowing a "do-over". As we have dicussed many times before, "do-overs" are not allowed under NFHS rules, or also NCAA-W. Iow, in the OP's scenario, the ball is being dribbled up the court, and the officials notice that the clock has not started, so they blow the whistle and stop play. If the officials had definite knowledge of the amount of time that should've been taken off, (say, for example, a backcourt count), they can take that amount of time off the clock and resume play where the ball was when the whistle blew. If, by some chance they do not have definite knowledge of the amount of time, the only thing that is allowed is to put the ball back in play where it was when the whistle blew, and leave the clock alone. You cannot allow a "do-over", where you start all over again from the original spot. Yes, it sounds like the fair thing to do, but it is not what the rules state.
That is why the officials need to be aware of the clock during those end-of-quarter and end-of-game situations. It may not seem fair, since that is what the table is being paid to do. But that is what separates the "good" officials, the ones that know how to call fouls and travels, from the "great" officials, the ones that get those difficult situations correct when it counts. It may only happen once or twice a season, but you need to be ready when it happens.
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So if you are saying we have to give the ball to them at the spot we blew the whistle, then if all home teams were down and the clock keeper knew this was the case, then we could end up seeing clock keeping "homers" not starting the clock on purpose and then we end up giving that team the ball back in the front court, with only a couple of seconds wasted, when in fact it was a couple more seconds than that. I know there is not that many unhonest scorekeepers out there (at least I hope not), but just trying to make a point. I know my way might not be the right way either, but I just want to do whats closest to being fair for both teams, and giving the offensive team the ball another 28 ft. or so up the court with little to no time off the clock does not seem fair. I'm open to other ideas.
And how do we have definite knowledge with a count? The only thing that keeps proper time is the clock (when its running). I would have just as good a shot at guessing how much time came off the clock and getting it correct, in contrast to counting, because everyones count is usually slower than the real time that elapses. Yes it would be close but it would not be definite. Would it?
Just my take.