5 seconds closely guarded
 

Maybe I'm far too legalistic, but last night in a playoff game the home team was winning by 20 in the fourth quarter, probably about 3 1/2 minutes to go, I call a five-second closely guarded count against the visitors who had the ball.

My partner came to me and said Slow the countdown we don't need that, I have no doubt that I started my account a second late and that I got to 6 before I called the five-second closely guarded giving her seven seconds and she wasn't giving up the ball. In a game where the visitors are down by 20 would you not call five seconds closely guarded? Would you not call three seconds in the lane against the visitors?

Even after 17 years, I still think the rules are the rules. And why do the hand gestures of the count if you're not going to call it?

While all the benefit of the doubt goes to the team that's losing by that much (e.g., the seven seconds you gave her; making sure thet the defense is well within the six feet and that there wasn't any separation), you still need to call it. IMO, of course.

Nod your head in agreement and continue to referee the game, not the score. With virtually all games being on video now you would rather have a valid 5-7 second closely guarded call that you can defend going back for review than a 10 second no call which is indefensible.

If you really want to give the trailing team a break, make your counts in dog years. :p

Your partner needs to worry about his own game and not tell you how to referee. Perhaps on a subsequent call you disagree with that he makes, you should go over and give him some friendly advice.

I called a 5-second violation last night on what would've been the last possession before halftime in a second round regional. 5 arm swings and a whistle. Didn't think twice about it, either. Never do.

(I even called a 3-second violation last night.)

One tip I got years ago that I do agree with, though -- wait till you're sure that it's really a closely guarded situation before the FIRST arm swing. You don't want to have a lot of 1-second counts in a game. But once you have it, count it -- and count it the right way with one arm swing equal to one second.

With the "absolutes" out top, many have done a great job with the impressing those heightened expectations upon the defense. And then, when the defense is doing what it's supposed to be doing and they aren't rewarded with the correct closely guarded call, any rationalization not to call it falls quite short, bordering on contrived manipulation of the game, IMO.

Besides, it's a freaking playoff game. Call the game, loser goes home, winner advances. Why change anything at all in this situation based on the scoreboard?

Agree.

I'd have told him that I already gave her 7, how many more should I give her. I agree you can stretch it some (you did) but at some point, it becomes a farce and you have to just call it.

First of all your count should be consistent throughout the game and the season. I know I have a slow starting count, but once it starts I will finish it if it is appropriate. I do not care what the score is and if you see me do it the same all game you can have the team informed that is the case. Now one of the reason a team is down by 20 is because they cannot do things right including how to move on offense.

Peace

While there are reasons of time, place and score where you might want to pass one reason for calling it is the kid playing defense is doing a good job and might be trying to work his way into more playing time. It might be his best play of the year.

Great advice from everyone! Thanks. I love this community.

One thing to consider also, you said that you gave her 6 seconds. Does that mean that you had 6 separate arm swings? Because you may want to be careful with that (as someone else said, everything is on film these days). I'm all for starting my count a little late, and being absolutely sure the defender is within 6 feet, but once they are, counting to 6 instead of 5 is not advice that I would give-

Unfortunately, yes. I was hoping she would do something with the ball, she didn't.

Slow the count down, we don't need that.....last time I checked we are there for the kids games, not our calls. Do we pass on OOB with a pinky toe on the line because it's against the losing team? Where is the line drawn? And he sprinted to you and told you this after your call? That dude has got some brass balls!!!

The longer I officiate the more I realize the best officiated games happen when each of the three officials worries about their own crap and doesn't try to officiate for his/her partners.

My question is, where are the benches in all of this. Usually when I have a count, the benches tell the player to "move" or "you have a count."

All of this over a simple 5 second call?

Peace

It's hard to sprint with brass balls. I know.

IMHO the officials that do not enforce the rules correctly cause a lot of problems. Especially when they never blow their wistle and I end up having to officiate the whole game.

You did the right thing.

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Agree, but there should be a method of dealing with officials that continually bend and/or never enforce basic rules. It's makes their partners look bad.

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That's what supervisors/assignors/commissioners/observers/evaluators are for.

+1. The official in the OP who told his partner not to call closely guarded was incorrect. He was probably working outside his PCA. At higher levels (and I assume that playoff basketball is considered a higher level) supervisors want officials to make obvious calls in one's PCA, and only go out of the PCA (not including overlapping areas of coverage) for obvious safety fouls. That said, any call outside the PCA needs to be right, late, and needed, which a closely-guarded count (or lack thereof) from a non-primary official is not.

Ya think?!!!

Peace

Not the OP, but the official who told the OP not to call closely guarded.

I clearly was not talking about the OPer.

Peace

Someone touched on this already, but in those type of late game situations chances are there are players in the game that don't get a lot of time on the court. Don't do them injustice by not calling the game correctly.

If those were the only 3.5 minutes you got to play in that game would you want somebody basically telling you "this part of the game doesn't matter, so I'm going to mail it in just to make it go by quicker"?

I agree. That is why the philosophy of not calling stuff in a blowout makes no sense, especially when the call is obvious, like a 5-second count. Maybe the bench warmer was the one playing good defense to force the closely guarded violation, and (s)he needs rewarded for that good play.

Thread necromancy also makes no sense.

How is that relevant to anything? Maybe people have valid new thoughts about an older topic (closely guarded counts and the inconsistent enforcement thereof in NFHS rules).

That happens once out of every 25 times an old thread is resurrected. Starts a new thread in that instance.

There's a middle ground here, of course. I might pass on a travel I would've called earlier because the players in the game just aren't that skilled. Especially at smaller schools, there's a big drop off between the starters and the end of the bench.

Closely guarded? Yeah, I might wait an extra beat or two to start my count. Then again, I'm not very aggressive in starting that count in the first place, mainly cause I don't want to have a lot of 1 counts.

As for Bob's comments -- yes, that's right. Don't bump old threads -- if there's something there you want to talk about, quote it in a new thread.

1) I am arriving late to the party.

2) I favor Closely Guarded when three feet of the Ball Handler and while the Ball Handler is Holding the Ball only.

3) When the game is a "blow out" I favor being lenient in favor of the team that is getting its "clock cleaned".

MTD, Sr.

I was always the ref who said look this team is getting beat by 20 let’s just swallow the whistle, not call anything against the losing team and get out of here. It usually worked fine but that changed last Sunday for me. Doing a High school spring game and white team is stacked, smallest guy is 6’2. Black team looks like a 6th grade team. I had the white team before so figured it was going to be an epic butt kicking and it was. We both held the whistle several times against the black team and foul count at half was 12-4. White HC knew what we were doing and he was not only ok with it but encouraged us to foul his center. No aggressive contact so figured it was good. Second half starts and black is down by 25. White steals a pass and black player grabs jersey and pulls him down so I hit him with a intentional foul. Black team HC loses his mind and can’t believe we would call that. Next possession he is screaming we are missing calls and need to call it right or go home....are you kidding me? White teams HC is shaking his head so partner T’s him up. During it all partner says if he wants to be a dick we will give him a fair game. Game ended and white team won by 55 points. Black teams HC tried to get parting shots on the way out but a parent of all people stepped in and said if you would have kept your mouth shut they were trying to help us not get destroyed. So for now on calling everything I see and if they lose by 100 so be it