Rotation

[Freddy]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Curious. Did they provide a rationale?

This was the announcement that went out in the form of a recent weekly preseason MHSAA Officials' Bulletin:

MECHANICS
One new approved mechanic that will be included in the new
MHSAA Officials’ Manual, scheduled to be made available in about
2 weeks, will have officials going “Opposite Table” again beginning
this season. Some will consider this a new mechanic, but actually
we’re only reverting to the protocol as it was before it was changed
in approximately 2005.
This change is primarily designed for the three-person system,
though it will, to a lesser extent, apply to the two-system also. The
reasons are two-fold: Balance in play-calling responsibilities on the
court and to reduce the number of extended conversations
between coaches and officials that disrupt flow and take away the
concentration of the official.
To assist officials learning this new mechanic and for those
whose role it is to teach this mechanic to other officials, here is a
link to a downloadable PDF document that explains and illustrates
the most common details of the mechanic for both systems: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1T2...55r67J_GCqwi8E

Rationale for that "Balance in play-calling responsibilities" had to do with this assessment: "The ruling official, most frequently the Lead, was too often simply becoming Trail and then Lead again on the subsequent trip back to the other end where he'd be the most likely official to make the next ruling there. The Lead was merely swapping back and forth and the Center official was, for an extended period of time during the flow of the game, subjected to an unnatural duration without the opportunity to make calls as were the other two."