Generous 3 seconds in the Lane @NCAA games

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by Kansas Ref

I've observed players getting into the lane, pivoting several times, and pump faking several times, only to ultimately pass the ball back out to perimeter after being in the lane for obviously longer than 4 seconds! My ref partners and I all tend to "allow them a little time to do their business"; however, if the player passes it back out after we've allowed them all this time to maneuver, then we'll kill the play (3 seconds violation).

In my high school games these are the easiest three second violations to call. I, and my high school official colleagues, call them every single time we see them, giving absolutely no thought to subjective judgment, or to advantage/disadvantage, and there are never any quarrels, or complaints, from players, coaches, and fans when these type of three second violations are called.

This is not the kind of play where a player without the ball gets "lost" in the lane for slightly more than three seconds, gaining little, or no, advantage, and forcing high school officials into a subjective judgment advantage/disadvantage mode to decide to call the three second violation, or not, often being offered "help" by coaches, and fans (and occasionally players), and in fact, some, but not all, officials will offer some "help" themselves, "Get out of the lane" (basketball official polite code for, "Get out of the lane you knucklehead").