0.5 on the clock, tied game A1 shooting one free throw. Before the shot B says they would like a time-out on either a made shot or if they get the rebound. A1 misses, B1 rebounds and at the same time B2 and B coach request and are granted a time-out.

Clock still says 0.5. What should the official do?

What does an official normally do during a time-out?

Or do you mean that some time should have run, and what should the official do about the clock?

yes what should the official do about the clock.

This happened in a faculty/student game reffed by teachers and the clock was run by volunteers. I was B1 and got the rebound but it was obvious the timer should have ran some time off. In this situation, everyone knows I am an official so they asked me-I suggested putting the clock at 0.3, because sometime should have gone off the clock, and now we could only possibly do a tip. Everyone agreed that was fair and played on. (We won in overtime by the way.)

If this was a real game and I was the R I think I would handle it the same way-but looking for second opinions.

The clock must start and stop. They can't tell you that they're going to use a TO to stop the clock from starting. The timer should have started the clock and then stopped it.

However, you can't change the time on the clock unless you have direct knowledge of how much time should have run off. Therefore, you can't change it.

In the NBA, you would take .3 off the clock.

Two words: Definite Knowledge

Tony is correct. You have to follow the rules. Your job as an official is to administer the game according to the rules even if you don't like the way they work in some situations. You can't just do whatever you think is fair.

On a personal note, there is nothing about officiating that irritates me more than seeing officials doing something contrary to the rules because they think it is the fair thing to do.

Lastly, I wish the NFHS had adopted the NBA .3 off the clock rule at their meeting this summer, but they didn't. :(

Nevada,

I don't know for sure but I would suspect that the NFHS didn't adopt the .3 rule because there are still many schools in the nation that do not have tenths of a second on their game clocks. I agree w/ you that the .3 rule is a good one, but since not all schools have that ability, then IMO it is better to keep the rule uniform for all games, not just a special adaptation for games that use a newer scoreboard.

Okay, if we use that logic, then there shouldn't be a rule that says you can only have a tap for goal if the clock reads .3 or less. All schools don't have such a clock, so we can't use that rule. Like it or not, that rule is "a special adaptation for games that use a newer scoreboard."

No reason that NVRef's suggestion couldn't be used if that's what the NF wanted to do. They'll wait until a state championship game has a mistake such as this post and some team loses and blames it on the clock. Then they'll add this suggestion.

Just to clarify, in the NBA, the rule is that at least 0.3 must be taken off of the clock. If there's an appreciable delay, the CC can take more time off or (in this case) even say the period and/or game has ended.

My comment was to simply point out that at least .3 would have to be taken off in this situation. personally, if the rule were in effect, that's what I would have done.

[Edited by BktBallRef on Jun 7th, 2005 at 11:01 AM]