Three Whistle w/No Rotation

[zebra44]

Recently during theregional Tournament in our area,a crew decided before the game that they would not rotate as the ball went from one side of offensive zone to the other. There was a lack of experience in this crew, and I'm sure they wanted to avoid the "Chinese Fire Drill" which sometimes occurs. Have any of you folks ever done this? I would think that proper research in 3 person mechanics and a good pregame would have taken care of any fears of major screw ups.


[Edited by zebra44 on Mar 22nd, 2004 at 05:45 PM]

[FHSUref]

I have never done it but I do know officials that when it comes to post-season they are clueless because they haven't flexed all year long. It happened to me at the sub-State final this year. One of the officials and his crew NEVER flex (his words). One time late in the second quarter, we had an 'overload' on one side of the lane. I flexed over and he didn't catch it so as we crossed half court heading the other way, there we were about 10 feet from one another. I got his attention (his eyes popped out of his head) and he went do to assume the position of new lead or should I say late lead!

On our crew, in case there is a missed flex, we say that the lead is in charge of maintaining floor balance (make sure there isn't two c's or two l's etc..) Sometimes one of us ends up running across the floor and we know it looks bad but we make sure that the floor is balanced.

[Mark Dexter]

I tend to think it's better to get a few rotations wrong, but get good looks at the plays, than to stay still and miss exactly what 3-person is designed to catch.

That said, generally the only people who know that a "Power I" (Lead, Center on the same side, opposite of Trail) or similar formations are wrong are other refs (especially if the teams haven't seen 3-person for the entire season, eiher). As long as you don't make a big fuss, a quick switch won't be highly noticed.