Is defenitely confusing!!
 

If L is watching ball outside and is squared up to it, T knows he/she has post play so i watching post...ball goes oob on sideline, you said it's T's call....how in the world would they know the ball went out first of all, and then who it went off of in the second place???? That just seems like it would be complicated... who should blow the whistle?? if it's T's line they should if they by chance see it out of their peripheral vision...it just seems a little harder than it should be to me!! But like you said it definitely sounds strange at first, would have to try it!!!

Re: Is defenitely confusing!!
 

It may be easy, but as I've said 100 times, it's not efficient. The women's (and NBA's) coverages routinely require two sets of eyes to shift their fields of vision in common situations where the men's coverages require only one shift (or none).

Here's what I mean. Common play. A1 with the ball outside the 3-point arc and below the FT line extended. A1 passes the ball to A2, who is on the block closer to A1. When A1's defender collapses on A2, A2 passes back out to A1 for the open 3-pointer.

With the women's mechanics, this entire play is in the Lead's primary. At the beginning, you have the Lead watching the arc and the T watching the post. After A1's initial pass, the L shifts to the post and T shifts to the arc. After A2 passes back to A1, L shifts again to the arc and the T shifts back to the post.

In the men's coverage, neither T nor L has to shift the field of vision at all in this play and the Lead is already ready to officiate the ensuing rebounding action.

There are several examples like this one. (For example, take the above play, except A2 has the ball first, passes out and gets it back.) But I won't belabor it. Men's coverages are, IMHO, not only better, but much better than the Women's/NBA coverages.

It may sound bad, but it happens very often in the Men's game as well. Ball goes OOB on the endline opposite the L. It's the Lead's whistle even tho s/he may not even have been looking at the play.

Don't sound so surprised.

The NBA can afford to have that coverage area. The rules are different and the style of play is different. The officials at the NBA are trained and work hundreds of games to get their system. I think even the best college officials are not all working for the same conference or have the same level of training. I even watch the NCAA Women's tournament and you see some basic mistakes which I partly attribute to the coverage areas. You get a play on the perimeter and the ball goes to the lane and no one blows the whistle. I do not like the coverage area at the very least for Boy's basketball. The post players in the Boys game tend to be very physical and I think taking away the Lead from watching those players is not the best way to go. Once again, this is just one man's opinion.

Peace

Re: Re: Is defenitely confusing!!
 

Now, Chuck, if I've told you once, I've told you a million times - don't exaggerate.

But, don't you shift your eyes more than that? What about when a player passes to a teammate still in your primary? Or a player dribbles from your primary to another area? Or a pass comes in to a cutter in your area while you're watching the post players? We're moving our vision constantly. I agree it would be nice to focus on one set of players, like your example, but it seems as though we are always moving our eyes.

In our case, the primary rebounding resposibilities fall on the C and T, usually because they have a better angle on the ubiquitous "over-the-back", er, I mean the pushes from behind. ;)

You beat me to it. That's the exact example I was going to give.

As far as which is coverage is better, it's obviously up to better minds than mine. Each one has it's good points and bad; apparently the powers-that-be feel that the women's mechanics work for the women's game. Is it because there's less posting up? Or more cutters to watch? Or, just because they want to be a little different than the men's side? Who knows. All I know is it works when everyone's on the same page. The tough part for me is going from college one night to HS the next and keeping things straight. But, I guess, that's why they pay us the big bucks, right?

Re: Re: Is defenitely confusing!!
 

Chuck

I am going to disagree that men's is better. While it does take some coordination, what it does do is out the closest official to the ball make the call. The off ball calls are made by an official farther away but the most critical calls at the ball are made by the closest. The off ball calls are actually better since the official who is watching has a broader and better field of vision.

I have done both ways and prefer NBA. If your in a zone then maybe the men's works better in one-on one ball and matchups like the NBA it is clearly better