Time out Mistake

[garote]

Doing a JV girls last night and team A is up 10 with about 1:30 left in the Game. A has the ball. B's coach calls for the time out. My partner grants the time-out by mistake. Obviously A's coach not happy, but I tell her that it is our mistake and the time out is granted. Charge the T.O. to B and give the ball back to A to inbound after the T.O. is over.

Now the question. The evaluator said that we should have just turned and told both coaches sorry I shouldn't have whistled it dead. Immediately gave it back to A for throw in.

Now I know the rule 5.8.3, but do you agree or disagree that maybe we should have put it back into play ????

[Forksref]

I would have given the ball back to A for an immediate throw in. B had no right to the TO at that time. I think you are pretty safe in giving A the ball right away. They can't 'buy' a TO in that situation. A was put at a disadvantage by the B TO.

"Sorry coach but we made a mistake. Play ball."

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Forksref
I would have given the ball back to A for an immediate throw in. B had no right to the TO at that time. I think you are pretty safe in giving A the ball right away. They can't 'buy' a TO in that situation. A was put at a disadvantage by the B TO.

"Sorry coach but we made a mistake. Play ball."

Unfortunately,the rules don't back you up. See casebook play 5.8.3SitE- "The time-out once granted cannot be revoked and is charged to team B".

[Hawks Coach]

Although you are right from a fairness perspective (B has no right to a TO when ball is live and not in B's hands), once play has stopped, the TO must be granted. Mistakes, once made, sometimes result in outcomes that don't quite seem fair. You can't undo the mistake and try to do what would have been right, you must follow the rule as it applies after the mistake.

In essence, your initial whistle becomes an inadvertent whistle because you can't grant a TO to B. Now that the ball is dead due to the whistle, the TO can and must be granted. Your partner was right. And it seems unfair.

[BBall_Junkie]

Had the same situtation happen to me earlier this year. A (home team) gets the ball on rebound in front of their bench and starts in transition. I am at trail passing the A coach when my new lead official grants a timout to B coach as she runs by. Team B starts their huddle as I am explaining to my partner that B can't call timeout without the ball. A Coach has a bewildered look on his face. At this point I tell my partners and coaches that B will get and be charged the timeout per rule. I walk over and tell the A coach "the only explanation I can give is that we flat out kicked it" and he laughs. He then tells me he wants to work that defensive strategy into his game because it is an excellent fast break stopper! We both had a quick chuckle and went on with the game. An evaluator was at the game and although didn't like that the sitch game up was pleased with the way we handled getting out of it. No problems the rest of the way.

[PAULK1]

Your evaluator was probably using the NCAA interp for this situation. We have had that problem with some of the evals
that come from college officials who evaluate for the state.