Situation last night in a boys JV game--my partner (unpatched) blew his whistle and said time out blue when in fact blue was not able to call a time-out. Ball was in possession of the other team. I realized this immediately but was not sure of what to do. Case book 5.8.3 says they are still entitled to the time out since it was granted. here is my question--I realized his mistake before he reported it but after he blew his whistle and said "time-out blue" When is a time-out considered granted? Could i just have spoken to him quickly gone with an inadvetent whistle and given the ball back to the other team for a throw-in or was i correct in allowing the time-out.

Allow the TO. Apologize to the other coach. Don't make the mistake again.

When is the time-out actually granted. In a case where coach A is screaming for a time-out, and in the time an official takes to confirm the coach calling the time-out is from the same team that has control, team B gains control. In this case, do you give A the time-out and the ball back?

Illinois Girls State Playoff game Monday night. Blue trails white by 2 points with 30 seconds left on the clock and the possesion arrow pointing to Blue. Blue shoots, misses, rebound hits the floor. White grabs the ball, blue follows and grabs the ball. Lead calls the held ball.

In the meantime, White's coach, seeing that a held ball is likely, calls for a time out as soon as her player grabbed the ball. Trail hears the request and turns to verify that it is the coach. Lead comes running toward half court and announces to the entire gym that the held ball occurred prior to the TO request. White's coach loudly protests to Trail (and R) that he had to have heard her request.

After about 15 seconds, T and L get together, discuss, and ultimately grant the TO and give the ball back to white. Naturally the crowd goes crazy. Credit to Blue's coach, she protested to the officials, but never came anywhere near to crossing the line towards a T. Her assistant was also up protesting, but the officials chose to ignore her (it was during the TO, so she could be up off the bench).

I was in the stands and didn't hear the TO request, but I'm confident that if the T says he heard the request that he actually heard it. My son was sitting next to me and asked if the ref got it right. I explained that if he heard the request, they got it right. I didn't bother trying to explain to the crowd as they were already being observed by security (one parent had already been ejected) and they obviously didn't care what any official had to say.

Sounds like they got it right. Hats off to both officials for getting together, discussing, and coming away with a decision that was not very popular. Sounds like it would have been very tempting to go the other way.

Even if you say inadvertant whistle, younow have a dead ball. The coach could call TO now. This looks ugly. Just grant the TO and apologize. Humble pie.

Did this once, and as I was explaining it to the coach, the table person was listening, too. She then asked, "So what happens to the ref?" I said, "We just have to live with the ignominy." She looked rather stunned, and said, "Wwwooowww!"

My wife says this to my son every once in a while...it's a good thing, right?