Okay, since I never really introduced myself, I am the scorer's table official for an NJCAA school. I completed my first full year at the table, acting the whole year solely operating the game clock, and making sure the scorebook is recorded correctly by the keeper. In my last game of the year, some interesting situations arose, and I'd like some retrospect on how the situations were handled.

First off, I didn't agree with the majority with the officials calls(out of bounds/charge/block), mostly because they were blantantly incorrect. But that isn't my job to critize. Anywho, my first situation was this, the ref under the basket calls a pushoff foul on Team A #4. He reports the foul to us on being #14, who happened to be in the backcourt, because A#4 was on the fastbreak. Team A coach was called a timeout to have it corrected, which it was. The Coach was not reimburst(sp?) the timeout for the correctable error. Was this situation handled correctly? (The coach probably could've used this timeout, Team A lost by one on a last second situation)

Number two: Team B's roster was copied from a previous game in the season. Team B's coach never approved this roster, nor did she ever check the scorebook at any time before the game. The Referee did check the book previous to the start of the game. Halfway throught the 2nd half, B#11 checked in the game for the first time. I called the ref's over after the first deadball after discovering the error. He quickly assed a technical, and had the scorebook changed to accomodate the new player. Was this situation handled correctly.

These are some situations I'd like to know more about, seeing how this was my first year. There were plenty of interesting calls all season long, these were just some recent ones.

First off. Do you honestly think "the majority" of the officials' calls were "blatantly incorrect?" I love good hyperbole.


First question:
Yup. Done correctly, aside from getting the player wrong to begin with. This is not a "correctable error." It's an administrative error that could have been corrected without a TO.

Second question:
Yup. The coach is responsible for checking the book to make sure it's right. It's coach's fault for not checking. Good job on the officials for making the call.

What exactly are your qualifications to make that determination?

Seeing you've got block/charge down cold, could you please give us the principles of attaining and maintaining a legal guarding position under <b>all</b> circumstances?

This differs a little bit from the HS rule, so here is the quote from the book:

NCAA Rule 10, Section 11, Art. 3c

"A coach, squad member or team attendant may leave the bench area at any time to point out a scoring or timing mistake, or to request a timeout to ascertain whether a correctable error needs to be rectified (Rule 2-11).
1. When there was no mistake on the part of the official scorer or official timer, or the error is not correctable, a timeout shall be charged to the offending team."

I had one of those supposedly OBVIOUSLY wrong block/charge calls the other night. Player from Team A dribbled down the sideline and ran over a stationary player from Team B. I called it a "block". The crowd went nuts, the guy at the scorer's table was shaking his head, but when the coach asked me what I saw...I just told him the defensive player had his foot out of bounds. Coach said he saw the same thing and it was his team on defense. Play went on and I'll just bet that scorekeeper told somebody after the game..."you won't believe how that ref missed that block/charge call !"