No count from Hightower

[JugglingReferee]

Originally posted by rainmaker
I don't think it's as important for the backcourt, if you trust the officials to be counting. For the 5 second count it's more important, because the players need to know whether or not they're in the closely guarded situation. With the backcourt count, everyone knows it's there. Also, I'm guessing in the situation you cite that he saw the TO coming and gave it to them. The whistle and clock stop may have added the extra second.

Curious: what is the NCAA-M mechanic for a BC count? If there is supposed to be one, then EH was wrong. If it is optional, then I think the mechanics are lacking.

I appreciate the fact that the TO was granted.

When I was coaching the first year Fed rules allowed coaches to call a timeout, I had the 7th ranked team in the province. I was playing the 4th ranked team and we were neck and neck in the last 2 minutes of the game. On this one possession, my girls were having trouble getting across half-court. Because I have the officiating background, I was looking to count the number of arm swipes to know if I wanted to use a timeout. He never had one. When I requested a timeout, he called 10 seconds instead. There was less than 10 seconds that came off the clock between when the count should have started and the whistle. If you're of the mind that this doesn't have an impact, then you're flat out wrong.

An official's mistake should never cause a turnover. It should also never cause the inability to make a coaching decision.

If EH missed the visible count, he was in error. (No big deal there, a perfect game is near impossible.) But like I said, I appreciate the timeout being granted.