[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

H.S. basketball coaches do only one thing, and that is watch the ball and only the ball; if the ball goes ten rows up into the stands they are watching the ball and only the ball.

99.999% of all high school basketball coaches have absolutely no concept of Primary Coverage Areas. H.S. basketball coaches do not know nor do they care to know about PCAs and the fact that more than 95% (and that figure is my educated wild a$$ guess, it could be higher) of the time one official is watching ball and one official is not watching the ball in a two-man officiating crew.

I have absolutely no qualms telling a coach that I was not watching the ball because it was not in my PCA and if my partner did not put air in the whistle it means he did not see any infraction of the rules. Telling the coach that your partner had a better look at the play than you tells the coach that you were watching the ball too. I know where the ball is but I am not a ball watcher because I have enough problems watching for horse manure happening in my PCA.

The principal behind three-man crews is to have two officials watching the ball at the same time in certain situations. And still PCAs prevail meaning even with three officials, only one official should be looking at the ball and the only other person looking at the ball will be the coach.

I remember many many years ago when Penn State had just joined the Big 10, Bobby Knight was still the HC at Indiana, and we had not gone to rotation mechanics for three-man crews. Indiana was at PSU and there was a sideline throw-in late in the game and it was a close game (I can't remember who was making the throw-in but it was near the Division Line and an IU player got loose for what should have been a break away layup but a PSU player grabbed his jersey (a definite IPF, now a Flagrant 1 PF). There was no foul call and Sam Licklighter (from Ohio was the closest official) took a tremendous amount of heat from both Knight and the press for not making the call. If one had taken the play and drawn the coverage on a black board, the officials covered the play exactly has it should have been and no one would have been in a position to see the foul if they had run that play one million times. It other words, doggie do do happens.

MTD, Sr.