I learned another lesson last night I wanted to share. I was watching a Boys varsity game. B1 had the ball but was being pressured. He lost control simultaneously with B Coach calling for a TO. There was no player possession so the referee did not grant the TO (good call). The ball ended up out of bounds and the referee closest to the coach asked him "Coach, do you still want the TO?" Coach said no. A simple action that most people in the gym probably didn't even see but for me it was a good lesson in game management.

Are you in Connecticut by any chance? :p

Similar situation happened in a HS BJV game I was watching Tuesday night. Visitors score, home team grabs the ball to inbounds, and the home coach starts shouting for a timeout. Well, his players hear this, and just start casually walking toward the bench while the ball bounces OOB on the sideline, right below the FT line extended. Ref blows his whistle, thinks a split second, then says "no timeout - it's out of bounds." They then asked the home coach if he still wanted a timeout and granted it.

Visiting coach comes out saying the ball wasn't touched (don't ask me why the T had left the endline :p), the partners conferred, and awarded the ball to the visitors at the spot of the inbounds. Very nicely done.

Of course, I was still upset at the play - seeing my cousin was one of the players who walked away from the ball . . .

Just curious here Mark.
 

Was the ball thrown in by the Home team and then they walked away?

You said "home team grabs the ball to inbounds".

I don't follow -- the ball was at the disposal of the home team, they hadn't inbounded the ball -- why not grant the original TO?

If the home team has the ball for a throw in they can call a timeout if they choose to. Why would the official not grant them this time out???

The ball was released toward the court on an inbounds pass, then everyone ignored it. Sorry for missing that key point.

This type of play would have to be one that I could call from Japan ( game being played anywhere in the Continental United States).

If this were a close game I think the officials would be crucified.

The way I read this play and I will summarize for clarification

-Team has ball for inbounds throw
-coach requests timeout after ball is released
-ref blows whistle
-ref then says no time out it's OOB
-Team then gets tiime out because of being granted

It is unclear here but if the ref blew the whistle while the ball was in the air and then Calls OOB, Shame on him.
If ball was in the air it becomes a inadvertent whistle and that whole mess.

If the players heard time out and walked away from the play it was so close (it seems) to ball being released. And referees the time to actually recognize coach, If you call this it is a time out. Otherwise dont blow the whistle and call the color and direction (and but on your Kevlar)

This is a lesson on how NOT to manage a game!

Sorry for not being completely clear.

The ball was clearly on the playing court when the timeout was requested, and the official waited for the ball to actually go OOB before whistling the play dead.

As to the call it from Japan comment - I think this is one of those plays (even the home crowd had to stop and say "well, that sucks, but he got it right.)

Good call, and the right call, by the official.

I don't think you were in Concord, CA. Tuesday night. Similar situation. Ball was rolling out of bound of of B1 and coach was calling for a time out. B2 slides out of bounds and grabs the ball as he does but not before his legs were touching OOB. This was right in front of B bench. I was within 2 feet of coach B. After I stopped play I turned and asked if he still wanted the TO. He said no thank you. I think I surprised him to the point he was quite the rest of the night. Not often do you have a chance to do this but when you do it generally is best for all concerned.

Things I have learned about TOs by the coach:

1) Make sure it's the head coach that actually calls it
2) If you are covering off ball, make sure the coach's team has player control before you grant it

Coaches calling TOs I think is great but it has potential for problems if you are not careful on the court.