My thoughts exactly....on every point.

Funny you mention it, today I actually had a parent try to call timeout for his kid when he went to the floor.. Gotta love rec league

If a head coach requests a timeout, but you know that he does not have any left, do you grant it anyways and then assess the technical foul , or do you just ignore the request and save the headache of the technical foul?

Grant it. Not your job.

Grant it, it is their job to know how many they have.

Peace

What headache?

And, maybe the coach wants the T because he'd rather have the clock stopped (after scoring to cut the deficit to 1, with less than 5 seconds left, for example).

Of all the technical fouls, this is the least likely to result in headaches.

Last night MTD, Jr., and I had players from the Home Team request a TO in the 4th QT without being instructed to make the request by their HC. Both times it was in a trap situation in the team's backcourt.

In the 34 years that I officiated women's college basketball it was not unusual for a player to make the request in the 1970s and early 1980s, but it seemed that once the NCAA took over the rules writing duties from NAGWS it became more and more a very rare occurrence. And I really cannot remember it happening in any game after the 1990s.

But at least a couple of times a year at the H.S. level a player will make the request without being told by his/her HC. So it was surprising to have it happen twice in one quarter last night by the same team and different players.

MTD, Sr.

Last I checked, the only ones who could make calls on the floor were us.

I think it matters because when a player or coach yells "time-out" they think that it must be granted the minute they make the request. They even get mad if you do not give the request the minute they form the words. So I know it is not a big deal to us, but it can be misinterpreted IMO what others think.

I had a kid the other day in a college game yell timeout when it was just me and him standing next to each other and the ball was on the other side of the court. I had absolutely no clean view of possession and the ball was less than 6 feet away from the official who eventually granted the timeout after a rebound.

I understand we are paying the semantics game on some level, but it is a pretty big semantic. I have almost as many "arguments" over a timeout and when they said made the request than I do over just about any other aspect of the game outside of fouls.

Peace

If we can only grant a timeout to a player in the game or head coach why do all the refs in my area ask the head coaches before the game if they are calling their own timeouts?

You Don't Say ...
 

Things Officials Should Probably Not Be Saying In A Game

Calvin Coolidge once said, "The things I did not say never hurt me." Of course, he was not talking about basketball, but many officials would be smart to heed his sage advice as they communicate with coaches, and players.

Good communication skills are important tools to have on any official’s tool belt. Good communication with a partner, with a player, or with a coach, can go a long way to maintaining control of the game, having good game management, and having a smooth game. Sometimes this communication takes place in oral form, talking to players, or coaches, in some cases to explain a ruling, or in other cases to prevent a violation, or a foul. However, probably for reasons of tradition, there have been things that officials often, or sometimes, say during a game that do not have any basis in the rules, and should probably not be said in a game. This article will cover some of those “best left unsaid” statements.

"Coach, you have one timeout left", is a courtesy often extended by officials to coaches, when, by rule, officials should only be notifying head coaches when their team has been granted its final allowable timeout. If there is any miscommunication, or mistake, involving the table crew reporting remaining timeouts, then the officials, by rule, need to stay out of the conversation. Let the coaches, and table crew, communicate about remaining timeouts, other than when a team has been granted its final allowable timeout, which by rule, is required to be reported to the coach by the officials.

Finally, a thought by Will Rogers, “Never miss a good chance to shut up.”

Timeout Signal ???
 

Players never request timeouts around here. I had a player request a timeout last week. When I went to report the timeout to the table couldn't remember whether, or not, to single the player's number to the scorekeeper. I decided to just verbalize the number with no hand signal, so as to not confuse the scorekeeper into adding a foul to the player's total. Around here we signal a coach's request with our fingers in the shape of a "C". Do we have to signal a player's number?

Why would you ask the coach such a question?

It sounds rather unique to your area. The rule is clear who can and who cannot make a request.

Peace

We've All Heard It ...
 

Same reason they state that it's the black line all the way around, ask for a speaking captain, ask the number of the speaking captain, ask if the speaking captain is starting, etc.