'point to shot clock' mechanic
 

NCAA-M officials: is this a new prescribed mechanic? I see the T & C pointing to the shot clock when it hits 10. What's the rationale behind it?

We don't have this on the women's side and I'm just curious.

Yes.

Rationale is to promote clock awareness.

The new mechanic does nothing for me. I could definitely live without it, and I know I haven't done it in my last few games.

But how do you know when the shot clock is below 10 :eek:

I think such mechanics for officials are awful because they provide extra information to a team which may have been unaware of the situation. It is not the job of the officials to help the teams have clock awareness.
The coach or a player on the court could easily see the officials doing this and key off of it. My opinion is that the officials should not be doing anything to give away the situation.

Lmfao you know everyone can see the clock right? Why else do teams count down the last ~7 seconds or so? This mechanic, while dumb, is not providing any extra information that players and teams don't already know.

I've seen plenty of teams be unaware of the shot clock, often after an airball or after a loose ball where team control doesn't end.

I agree 100%. I don't like it. One guy did it in the D1 Tournament last year and somebody thought it was a great idea. I dislike it. But I've been doing it. Bleh.

So all that dislike it also dislike the communication between officials at the end of a quarter/half? There is no difference. Officials communicate that a time limit is about to be reached for awareness. It is contradictory to dislike one and not the other.

"My opinion is that the officials should not be doing anything to give away the situation." - Not sure I understand this as officials do it all the time. Officials have visible counts that give away the situation. Officials have defensive deflection mechanics near half court that give away the situation. Officials verbally indicate the type of throw-in that gives away the situation. There are many others.

I understand the point but it just doesn't fly in a general sense.

I find it silly, but I'm not in any position to avoid doing it. Last thing I need is a phone call asking me why I'm the only idiot not pointing to Jesus during the game.

1. I'm really dubious that players notice anything about refs when the ball is in play.
2. The point of a shot clock is for the team to shoot the ball and keep the game moving, not to create turnovers, so who cares if if, like the visible clock, happens to give a team a clue?
3. Its the same for both teams.

That said, it still seems pretty stupid to me (the non ref). If the point is just to increase shot clock awareness by the refs, it could be a lot more subtle.

The shot clock is not a secret, so if they notice us saying something that is not my issue. We are instructed to tell them other things in relation to the shot clock like when the backcourt time runs out. So why would we care if we point up to the clock? It is not something you use every time, you use maybe when you have seconds and maybe the clock has not reset for the most part. I think I have used it like 5 times in 4 games. So just like anything you can overuse the signal or not use the signal hardly at all.

Peace

I'm being a bit facetious here, but by that logic would you also be in favor of an 8 second warning in the bc/free throw and a 3 second warning on a throw in?

As I understand it, the "powers that be" thought that there were enough officials who were taken by surprise by the shot clock running down that the powers implemented the mechanic to reduce that. Any "help" to a team was deemed worth the benefit. We might disagree with either the reason or the conclusion.

Those reasons / conclusions don't (yet) apply to the other items.

I thought it was to be used every time. I did it 4 or 5 times just last night.