Adjusting from 2-person to 3-person mechanics (2PO to 3PO)

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Au contraire, mon frere. I seek to learn OFF the court so that I can get better ON the court for any contests that I am assigned. I have to switch rule sets all the time when I am umpiring baseball, because I might work a high school game by NFHS rules one day, a men's league game by professional rules the next, and a travel game that mixes high school and college rules the following day, so my remembering rules differences make sense.
My asking about rotations as they relate to the shot clock is NOT idle curiosity, because DC and MD (the jurisdictions where I officiate high school basketball) use a shot clock for freshman, JV, and varsity games, the latter of which are officiated using 3-person NFHS mechanics (with signals borrowed from the CCA Women's Manual to deal specifically with shot clock situations; DC public schools use a 30/15 shot clock, as do MD. Private schools use NCAAM shot clock and throw-in spot rules for boys (30/20), and NCAAW shot clock rules for girls (30/15).). If I work a varsity game this year (as an emergency replacement, most likely) or next year, I would need to store this situation in my memory bank to not be confused when I encounter it in a real game. I have experience with 3-person (intramurals and camps), and with the shot clock (DC and WCAC Girls subvarsity games), but not with the two combined (3 person game with a shot clock).
The only reason that I mentioned both the men's and women's manuals is because the instruction to not rotate late in the shot clock is present in both books. I would not use women's mechanics (starting the clock with a fist, signalling the corner 3-pointer as Lead, or switching tableside on fouls) at a men's camp, or vice versa.
If anyone else has any constructive suggestions about 3-person mechanics, I would be open to hear (and implement) them. When I officiate (or watch other officials, live or on videos), I learn what to do (or not to do). So, learning for me is a combination of practice, modelling, and receiving and implementing new information.

You're trying to absorb too much information. You need to get to camp and let us know what your feedback is. All the other questions you are asking can be answered by acquiring the proper publications. Regardless, no one looking for talent in camp is going to care if you know every manual inside out. They want to do know if you can recognize fouls and violations, if you can handle players and coaches, are you in shape, and can you run up and down the court athletically.

If you keep on asking SO MANY questions looking for SO MUCH detail, people here are going to stop responding.

[ilyazhito]

I found out that not rotating late in the shot clock is an evaluation criterion (as well as a suggestion in the CCA Manual) for NCAAW and NCAAM, so I will not rotate if there are 5 seconds left on the shot clock in any HS shot clock game, unless my commissioner or supervisor says otherwise.

That said, any other things an official transitioning from 2 to 3-person needs to know? We've covered switches (tableside or opposite, depending on state/level), responsibilities of the Center and Lead officials, primary area coverage, and rotations. In 3-person, Trail is not automatically the calling official on last-second shots. It's either the outside official opposite the table (OTO, can be C or T) (NFHS/NCAAM) or Center official (women).

Here are some other things I have noticed about working 3-person games. Other than standing at different places, or having clock responsibilities for the initial jump ball, I haven't noticed much of a difference in pre-game duties or jump ball duties as the U1 or U2. I know that R is supposed to administer the alternating-possession throw-ins for the 2nd, 3rd, or 4th quarters, but the position of the umpires is undetermined (obviously, one becomes Lead opposite the table and the other becomes C tableside to start the appropriate quarter after leaving the blocks to retrieve their respective teams, intermission (except halftime) being just another 60-second timeout in high school). I guess that the umpires go to the block closest to where they were when the quarter ended (In 2-person, both the R and U1 are at the division line opposite the table, in 60-second timeout positions with the ball coming in opposite the table, and the R administering the throw-in), and go from there. For halftime, they would just go to the blocks on the same side as they were when watching warm-ups.

Is there anything else that I am missing?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

I found out that not rotating late in the shot clock is an evaluation criterion (as well as a suggestion in the CCA Manual) for NCAAW and NCAAM, so I will not rotate if there are 5 seconds left on the shot clock in any HS shot clock game, unless my commissioner or supervisor says otherwise.

Found out from whom? Forgive me I have been doing college ball over a little over 10 years and never have had anyone say a single word to me about this situation. So maybe you are right but never heard anyone complain about an official that did or did not rotate based on the shot clock situation. Went to a college camp last year where every game was with a shot clock (we applied the new rules before the season) and not one comment was about rotations and the shot clock. Most of the comments as stated her before were about calls, calling in and out of your primary, why you didn't rotate or having a late whistle. I doubt seriously any supervisor would even say anything unless you feel you have to ask.

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

Is there anything else that I am missing?

There is a lot you are missing and a lot we will never be able to tell you. You have to work and be instructed. Because the biggest thing that is going to happen to you, you will go to a camp and one clinician will tell you to do something and the very next game another clinician will tell you something a little different about the same thing. What do you do then? And going around telling them what is in the CCA Mechanics book they might not use is not the best way to go.

I worked a tournament yesterday that had a women's college camp as part of the overall tournament. I can assure you that the Women's side cares less about what the Men's side does and certainly that is the case with the Men's camps.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by ilyazhito

... (In 2-person, both the R and U1 are at the division line opposite the table, in 60-second timeout positions with the ball coming in opposite the table, and the R administering the throw-in)...

Good luck with this. I would be generous if I were to say 5% of my partners in 2-man games have done this mechanic properly.