The deception comes in when the coach knowingly sends three of his players to the wrong end of the floor, in the hope of deceiving the other team's players.

It is no more "deceptive" than a player head faking one way and going another. If you indicate the direction of the ball to start the half, players may stand on the court anywhere they please. Are you going to start coaching and telling players where they must stand?

As to a coach telling you about this before the game starts, just tell him you are not interested in his strategy but are looking forward to seeing a coach actually employ some, for a change. ;)

Mark, I would differ with you on that, but I guess you probably know that already. Key words: rec game. These kids are out having fun playing ball, and probably walk on the court only halfway aware of what is happening. It's hard to get them to understand how to play defense, let alone get them to change ends of the floor when they are confused. Just get them all started playing at the right basket after halftime, then all basketball-oriented deception is fair game. I'm not a big fan of these trick plays, and yes, I do consider them unsporting (though not a T in case you are wondering).

To Funny. Unsportsman like conduct. Yes No Yes No Yes

Our job as others have pionted out is to take care of our mechanics. We always mechanically and or verbally show/say whose ball it is and which direction the ball is going. Whatever happens after that, is or isn't called based on the little rule book that we all read (should read).

This maybe the best learning tool for those youngsters, should it ever happen to the same team twice? Faking is part of the game, every coach and every player must have brain function and what to do in FAKING situations. Don't we all (if we coach and ref) teach kids.. Don't leave your feet when the ball handler fakes or goes up. Fake right go left... Fake play, work, don't work? If your brain doesn't function, don't coach, don't play. Once tricked, you should be telling yourself, "that will never happen to me again".

I understand what you're saying, and my answer would be this: as I've stated before, I am on the board of our local rec league and have more tenure on that board than anyone else. If this happened in a game in which I was officiating and the opposing coach complained, I would tell him that making his kids aware of what was going on was his job, not mine. I have also coached both kids and adults in rec leagues. When coaching, I always felt I wanted the refs to ref and to leave us coaches to succeed or fail on our own.

BTW - our rec league starts at 3rd grade and there is no coach at that level shrewd enough to think of this.