[M&M Guy]

For those that insist it's the officials' fault for not watching for the coach's TO request, I have an example of why we shouldn't always watch. A few years ago, late in the game, team A has a small lead, but B is closing fast. B just scores, and sets up the press on the inbounds. I'm new lead, opposite table. A has trouble bringing the ball up, so I start watching A's coach for A TO request, as I know we are getting close to the 10-sec. limit. Sure enough, I finally see A's coach signal and yell for the TO, so I blew the whistle and granted it. Unfortunately, as I looked back to see where the ball would be put in play, it was going through B's basket! B has stolen the ball and had shot it, and I had no clue whether A still had possession at the time of the request, because I was too busy "being aware" of the coach. After a conversation with my partners, we agreed B had stolen the ball, but the whistle for the TO happened before the basket. So, no basket, A still wanted and got the TO, and B got the ball after the TO.

About 2-3 years ago, I believe the NFHS came out with an article in their pre-season magazine covering this very topic; it may have even been a POI. Basically, while it did acknowledge officials need to be aware of situations where a team and coach may request a TO, the article was directed at coaches, explaining that the officials' first responsibility is the action on the court, and there may indeed be times where the officials may not hear a proper request. Even if the request is heard, the officials need to verify it actually was the HC that made the request, and also verify that it was requested at the proper time (such as player control on the floor). If those things cannot be verified, the officials cannot grant the TO, no matter how loud the coach yells for it.

I don't know if the T in the OP was warranted or not. But I don't blame the officials for not hearing or being aware of the request if the noise level was high, and there was other immediate action on the court.