I realize that most of you don't have to worry about mouthguards, but here's the situation. Ball is in transition and moved into the frontcourt. A5 and B5 are trailing the play in the backcourt. I'm Trail and observing the guys in the backcourt.

As they move up the court, A5's mouthguard (required equipment in MA) falls out. As he goes to pick it up, B5 looks down at it and kicks it OOB.

Suggestions on what (if anything) should be done about this? Stop play and allow A5 to retrieve the mouthguard? T on B5? Nothing?

What would you do if it was glasses?

It's a T in my book! I don't think you could get more unsportsmanlike.

If you determine that B5 did it intentionally, I'd whack'em!

Same here, unsportsmanlike and dumb as well.

Technical foul definitely.

So, Chuck, we're on pins and needles here. What DID you do?

Chuck: It was my understanding when we got the new mouthguard rule, that if one fell out during play, you wait until the next dead ball to allow the player to pick it up (if he hasn't already done so). Kind of like a shoe lace, you don't stop play. If he enters court with no mouthguard in place, the rereree will direct him to the bench for a sub, and he can re-enter at the next whistle (like if a kid has jewlery on).

I agree that in your situation, it was an unsporting foul if you saw he deliberately kicked the mouthguard OOB just as the player was attempting to pick it up. If that was not the case, and he was just kicking it OOB to get it out of the way (like whan a hair elastic of a piece of candy is on the floor) then I would think that was not unsporting.

The games are much quieter with mouthguards, but I think more salava gets spread around. Personally, I don't like the requirement (but the quiet is nice).

I whacked 'im. Turned out to be his 5th too. Oh well. Bye-bye.

Over pizza and diet cokes, another official asked me if I could've resolved it without a T, so I was looking for other opinions on it. Thanks!

Over pizza and diet cokes, another official asked me if I could've resolved it without a T, so I was looking for other opinions on it.
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See p.38 of the Officials Manual. It says "chicken wings and brownpop".

Snussy!!

Two questions:
1)Do you stop play if it's not a shoelace,but the shoe actually comes off- or even worse, if the net gets hung up? :D
2)Serious- If a player enters with no mouthguard, will you allow him a quick second to just get it from the bench and put it in, rather than asking for a substitute? Seems to me that getting a new sub in would be the longer of the two actions. Iow, was substitution a firm State directive?

http://www.miaa.net/BasketballMouthguards.pdf

Link to the MIAA Mouthguard Rule. The requiring of a sub is not about saving/wasting time. It is a way to "enforce" that the rule MUST be followed (player will probably not forget it again). In practice, I did not see this happen in any of my games.

I read the hand-out pdf file that you posted, but I'm still not sure about a few things. It didn't mention substitution into the game, that I could see. It did mention that if a player "intentionally" participated without a mouthguard while they were in the game, they had to be substituted out of the game. Naturally, it seems to follow (to me,anyway) that, if you don't think that the player "intentionally" lost the mouthguard, you just allow the player to put it back in and and keep playing without having to substitute out. N'est-ce pas? If a player tried to sub into the game without a mouthguard, does the same concept hold? If you feel that they are not intentionally trying to play without a mouthguard, but just simply forgot it, would you allow them to just go get the mouthguard and put it in, rather than getting another sub in for him/her?

If a player has jewlery on, no mouthguard, or refuses to tuck the shirt in after the (you pick a tolerance number)
time he's been "reminded," then I will send him out of the game to be subbed. When he "corrects" his illegal behavior, then he can sub back in (next whistle). There is no excuse for a player to disregard any of these rules. If the coach isn't going to take care of business, then we have to. Players have been required game, after game, after game to adhere to these rules (except when referees don't enforce them, which is another thread).

It's totally possible that a player didn't MEAN to leave the ear rings in, or didn't MEAN to forget the moughguard.
In fact, that is probably the case. I feel that the substitute proceedure is reasonable and will impress upon the players and coaches that (safety) rules will be enforced. Remember that Captains' Meeting we just had, where is was agreed that the jewlery would be off, mouthguards and shirts in? Oh yeah, nobody pays attention to that little speech anyway.

If a ref wants to delay the game so a player can run over to his bench, remove his ear rings, or grab his mouthguard
then that's his choice.

Send the offending mouthguard to the MIAA
 

for analysis. Presence of Scope is grounds for the dreaded ex-post-facto tecnical foul for using a banned mouthwash.