Very Old Dog, New Tricks ...
 

For those whose association or board has moved to the new held ball signal, open handed stop the clock followed by the held ball signal, how's it going?

After forty years of doing it the "old" way, after three games, I've only done it correctly about half the time.

Once I stuck a single thumb on a single hand up in the air.

Out of habit, two hands seem to want to go up. At least they both have a "stop clock" signal. Then the thumbs come out.

Haven't done alot of games yet but it seems like everyone has adapted to it unless they've not had many held ball situations. Do see a few occasions where they start to go up with both hands then merge to the stop clock.

The only officials I see doing the new signal are recently-certified refs. Anyone with at least a year or two in, nope.

In Oregon, we chose to not make the change after some discussion. It doesn't solve any problem and there simply wasn't sufficient justification to make the change just to change.

I do the new signal, and I took the cadet class back in 2015.

We've pretty much all done this around here for many years and so the NFHS just codified what we already were doing anyway. I find it much more natural and comfortable closing down quickly on a held ball, especially when bodies are down, with one hand in the air than with two hands in the air. Just felt clumsy when I tried it a while back just see what it was like. Those who don't close down quickly on a held ball but rather just stand where they are and put two hands in the air with thumbs up probably wonder what the new mechanic is all about.

What about those of us who close down and use two hands?

Alleviate Conflicting Calls ...
 

Ms. Wynns really doesn't sound very passionate about the change.

The final change approved by the Basketball Rules Committee is a change in the signal when a held ball occurs. Now, when a held ball occurs, the covering official(s) shall stop the clock using Signal #2 (straight arm, open palm extended) while simultaneously sounding the whistle. “This change should help to alleviate conflicting calls by officials when a held ball occurs,” Wynns said. “We currently raise one arm to stop the clock for everything except the jump/held ball.”

Was an easy transition for me, and I like the change for consistency's sake.

Consistency ...
 

One of the two reasons stated by Ms. Wynns.

I think it was a dumb and unnecessarily change and I have not done it very well at all and honestly do not care (Didn't do it on the Referee Magazine cover either).

Peace

Nice Post ...
 

My nomination for Post O' The Week.

Wait? No. Post O' The Month.

https://www.referee.com/wp-content/u...-1-681x511.jpg

I have always done it the current way. I did it incorrectly for many years and now the rules have finally caught up with me.;)

I wonder, but not for a long time, how two officials had the same signal. I also wonder how Jrut apparently got a third arm/thumb:p

He is not showing the entire cover. There are two kids on the floor in this picture and that is the arm of one of them on the floor.

Peace

Ah, he gave you an opening and you misses it!

Took Me a While......
 

....and I still have a ways to go!

Started off the yr with scrimmages and got it ~ 15-20% correct. Now I think I'm up to 80-85% correct.

I find when I'm off-ball I'm more likely to get it right. However, when on-ball, and the play happens right in front of me, I'm more likely to come in quickly and want to get to the situation before it gets messy, and go to the "thumbs up" more quickly and forget the open hand.

Bottom Line - I'm gettin better!

I’m at about a 50% success rate at this point. I’m in the same camp as JRut...I find it clumsy, dumb and unnecessary. I wonder where there was such a problem with conflicting signals that this was even raised at the rules meeting. I’d file this one in the category: Solution in search of a problem.

You’d think the committee would be busy enough with arm sleeves, leg sleeves, compression shorts and tights.

This to me is no different than one official calling a foul and another official calling a violation. You figure out what happens first too in those situations and you can likely only pick one anyway. Why did they have to act like a held ball was so different? Saw a game last night where officials called a timeout instead of a held ball and that did not eliminate the confusion or the controversy. Just as you stated.

Peace

Exactly. It doesn't solve anything. In fact, it creates more confusion IMO. Before, you at least knew what your partner had with thumbs up. Now, you have no idea if it is a violation, held ball, or timeout but you still have different signals if one has a foul.

And that is why I proposed that Oregon not adopt that change and the state basketball committee agreed.

I hate it. I feel like a newbie every time on a jump ball. Not sure why they really felt the need for this change, regardless of what Ms. Wynns states.g

Of course, I struggled with the two-hand reporting for a few games in the beginning as well. I think I've been part of a held ball only 2 times this year so far so not a lot of practice.

Survivor ...
 

Me too. If I survived that, I can survive this.