Rotation from the C
 

I see college guys rotate from the C quite a bit when necessary. How many HS officials pre-game on this?

During a recent game, we had a discussion about this and my partners were split whether the L should just initiate. In this particular game, Team A was running a 2-man front against a 1-3-1. Often times Team B would pressure in the corner at half court. As the lead, I did immediately come across the lane because there was often a quick pass to the reverse the ball. The C felt that he could not rotate to get a look at the play without the L moving.

My preference as the C has always been to get into position regardless of the L and if that forces the L to rotate, then I fill in as the trail. The guy arguing about this felt that it put a lot of pressure in transition.

In any case, I am adding this to my notes to talk about going forward with the crew.

Regardless of the system in use, an official must always move to referee the play in front of them. Forget about whether it makes another partner move to balance things out....the play comes first.

Playoffs here, I pregamed this tonight. Our deal is if C stays put or steps down toward the end line he has it. If C steps up toward midcourt L rotates.

Sounds like a load of garbage. As C, go officiate the play if there is a high trap. If the L rotates, great. If he doesn't, go back to C when the ball gets reversed. Sounds like your partner is looking for an excuse not to work hard when needed.

This is a ridiculous philosophy. There are way too many other variables, where are the remaining competitive matchups, where is the ball going, how has the offensive team been attacking this type of defense, among others that should be considered when deciding when or if to rotate other than the C having to take a step or two towards midcourt to officiate the play being the deciding factor. In my experience, most HS officials do not rotate enough, but making blanket statements that rotations need to occur every time such and such happens, especially something as insignificant as the C taking a few steps in either direction encourages unnecessary rotations that are more likely to put the crew in a bad situation than under rotating would have.

It's not really ridiculous. Our pregame is C, and L taking into account every single thing you just said. It's not just a blanket philosophy based on randomness. It's a nonverbal cue based on all these things.

Hopefully I'm missing something?

Your C in question sounds like he's being an idiot. If there is a ball switch to the corner at half I'm having a total of zero problems having a good look at the play. Officiating presses, as a 3-person crew shouldn't be an issue(I'd probably treat it like a press). Why on earth is the C caring what the L does? I can't think of a good reason... get the play in front of you.

I would never blame my inability to get a look at a play on my partner not rotating. Laughable.