There are somethings that you need to do as a ref. They are called game awareness. You need to know that the clock is always starting when it needs to, the shot clock is doing the same. That the clocks are stopping when they need to, and the shot clock is not reset when it shouldn't be. You should also have a count of team fouls in your head, that way you are shooting the bonus when you should be, and not waiting for that dreaded mistake of inbounding the ball, and then the horn going off, and telling you that is 7. These are all things that I do in my games. All of this was told to me at various camps of things that you need to do, by D1 refs and assigionrs.

Gimme a break!
 

And how do you know that you don't have to count? One of two things must happen:

1- You look at the clock before the ball is inbounded. If it's less than 10 seconds, the you should look at the clock to make sure it has started once the ball is inbounded.

2- You start your count as normal and then stop after you realize that the clock is started and that you don't need to count.

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If you are doing to know how much time is going off the clock then you are not concentrating on the important things like: 1) fouls by the defender 2) illegal dribble 3) illegal screens to get the dribble open 4) etc.

So are you telling us that when you are required to count, you can't concentrate on these other things. If you'll forgive me for saying so, that's a bit of bunk.

When the ball is inbounded, I always start my count. When I look at the clock and realize that it is running and there are less than ten seconds left, I stop. Whether the clock was started properly or not is just as important as these other things.

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Futhermore, by counting YOU are anticipating when YOU think the horn is going to go off. What happens if you get to 8 seconds and the horn has not gone off? As in stopping the clock there can be fractions of a second of lag time of when YOU chop the clock and the timer turns the clock on. In this case there is 7.4 seconds, so up to .3-.5 second delay could occur. If you have given the scorer and timer a good pre-game, then they know what there duties are during a situation such as this, so let them do the job.

Mistakes happen no matter how good the pre-game is. Preventive officiating is not anticipation. We already have to be prepard to react to a mistake. To just assume that they aren't going to occur only compounds the error by not being ready to handle it.

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YOU have enough to worrry about on the court.

I don't consider it worry. I think of it as doing my job.

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I agree that the ball goes back to the endline and you start with the same amount of time on the clock.

Based on what rule? What if a foul had occurred? You call the foul and realize that the clock didn't start. Do you wave off the foul and go back to the baseline and start over? What if they had scored and the clock still hadn't started?

You can't ignore the play that happened because the clock didn't start properly.

ditto

But you have all those things to think about if there is more than 10 seconds left, and in that case you DO have to count. For me, it has been a matter of firmly establishing good habits. If I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS do it as correctly and conscientiuosly as possible, it gets easier later. It's actually more work to try to figure out what things I can skip.

Question to Brian:
Is your count a visual one or a mental one?
If visual then I say ok, even though you do not have a possible violation.
If mental, then I as a coach will ask you where was your count? How do we know that you were even counting?
See my point.
I do enjoy your posts (well most of them).

I always will give a visual signal in the backcourt, unless we are under a second, then I am more concerned with the grab and toss. That way I don't change how I am doing things from the rest of the game, and I can keep aware of the time, without looking up at the clock. It also helps me when we are in the "foul" situation. If we start with 9 seconds, and I count two before the foul, I can reasonably expect there to be no less than 6 seconds on the clock. If it is showing say 3, I know there is a problem.

I won't say always because we all can get caught off guard, however i will generally pick up the count from approximately 15 sec or less. I don't have a visual count unless required. It does pay off from time to time. I can't recall a coach ever questioning my count. I don't think it is necessary to have a visual count under 10 sec. I think the only place anyone might say something to you, if you have a visual count where not required, is at a camp. So, if you feel it necessary, then so be it.