I fail to see the glaring error. A timeout shall not exceed one minute. At no place does it say a full timeout is 45 seconds. A warning signal is sounded for the teams to prepare to be ready for play is sounded at 45 seconds. That does not say to me that the timeout is over. That means to me that a team still has 15 seconds to discuss stragety to their players.

Length of timeouts is not a problem in my games, and I have never had a game go 5 hours. If a game goes longer than it normallly should, it is not because of the amount of time spent in the TO's. It is because of other factors like the referee's calling 60 fouls total in the game, or the JV game for the same reason going longer than it should have.

You ever wonder why there's not an official warning in the rulebook for the team taking too much time coming out of the timeout? I think it would be helpful and it gets the point across without you having to burn one of the teams to do so. The rules suggest we put the ball in play while the one team is not ready. That goes against the ethics of fair play which we are there to ensure, imo.

I hate to be picky word parser, but the rulebook says the teams only need prepare to be ready to play at 45 seconds. It doesn't mean that the second that warning horn goes that they have to be out of the huddle. I can interpret that phrase in a number of different ways.

I also will not start a timeout period until both teams are at the benches and I instruct the timer to wait until I start the clock on a timeout. That sometimes takes a few seconds. So be it.

A varsity hoops game I work is usually over within 70 to 75 minutes, including halftime. What's the rush? And it's true, unnecessary fouls and game interruptors cause way more delay than allowing an extra couple of seconds during timeouts.

I have never put the ball down in a varsity game. It would take an awful lot for me to do so.

You said, "Even if the teams are out there and ready to play, the ball doesn't go back into play until the 2nd horn." This is the glaring error. It goes against the rule I quoted for you.

Nope. There's no warning because there's the RPP to take care of it. It does the trick.

No, the rules tell you to put the ball in play when one or both teams don't break the huddle at 60 seconds. If one team is ready, and the other is not, then the team that is still in the huddle is breaking the rules to get extra coaching (or rest) time.
If you don't like the rules as written, perhaps your reffing the wrong.... Wait, never mind.

Rich, the rule book states that the timeout shall not exceed 60 seconds. Not sure how many ways there are to interpret that phrase.
I think this is standard practice. No one is saying to do otherwise. In fact, it's the single agreeable thing Old School has written.

I agree, if both teams are ready to go before the 2nd horn, we can start. But, if the team that called the timeout is not ready to go, then we wait for the 2nd horn.

As a matter of fact, I don't like this rule. In order for this not to happen, I go into the huddle and break it up, or I ask the coach at that point in time, do you want another timeout? If not, let's get them out. I have had to do this in my college games as well. Most of my partners that I work with, will just wait for them to break the huddle. I am a little more proactive because I don't want to use that RPP. I think it's good game management to do this.

Close. Both teams have to be ready to go. At least you read part of the rule I posted. At least you can change your opinion when confronted with a rule. It's a start.

The thing is, I don't really give a rip about the written rule. I care more about what the other officials in this area practice. I've lived in six states since 1994 (but this is my 5th year in WI) and being consistent among the officials is the most important thing, to me.

I won't put it down unless a team is just being defiant. I'll wait a few more seconds, even if they only break the huddle on the second horn and have to be called out. In 20 years of officiating in six states, this has not been a big deal for me. No team has abused this to the point where I felt compelled to do anything drastic.

Rich, I agree with you. It's about consistency among an area's officials. For me, if the team is breaking on the 2nd horn, I'm good. I had a coach ask me "politely" at half-time why I didn't put the ball down recently. This is my 2nd state, and since I'm new to the area, I'm going to check with the assignor to see if the situation would have warranted RPP in his opinion. In the end, that's what matters. :)

How about sub-varsity? I'll gladly put the ball in play to team A if they are waiting once the 2nd buzzer has sounded [of course extend team B a few seconds, but in no way feel obligated to let them set up their defense]... or put the ball on the floor if team B is the throw-in team. I'm finding that without added hussle during free throws, substitutions and throw-ins, the sub-varsity games will go appreciably slower.

I can see where by the time they get to Varsity they should know better than to abuse the timeout by consistently lingering but the teams learn that lesson through stricter administration of sub-varsity games. I make a habit of stressing to the coaches before the game that the second buzzer indicates when the ball should be put into play - the first buzzer is their warning to break up the timeout.

I disagree with this. Maybe I feel this way because I cannot officiate with everyone in a single association. You are never going to have total consistency amongst all officials. It just is not going to happen. Many veterans are going to be able to do things a rookie cannot and will not be able to do. All I can control is what I do that night. Having said all of that I just care that the teams are coming out of the huddle around the second horn rather them being completely ready as some have stated in earlier threads. I really do not want to use the RPP at all if I can avoid it. It should be used as a complete last resort when other methods have failed. I would rather do it early than later in a game.

Peace

It's called sampling and observing. You don't have to officiate with everyone to see what's normal in your area. Adam can get around that by calling a central assignor -- in my area(s), we don't have such a thing.

I work about 10-12 Illinois boys varsity games a year. Do I have to know how all the officials handle this situation to know the standard practice? BTW, I work the same way in IL as I do in WI and I've had no complaints.

If one coach flips cause we don't put the ball on the floor when the other team's late, I need to investigate whether that's expected.

I take the opposite approach. I am quick to put the ball down when a team delays. I've never had to do it a second time. :)

There is a statement in the officials manual about throw-ins saying that the throwing team should make a player available and that no delay should be allowed before placing the ball at the disposal and starting the five-second count.

I did not say you had to work with everyone at all. I said that if you do what works for you, they will adjust. If the rules are clear what to do, and then you have more cover if you follow the rules. I work in many conferences and not every assignor agrees on what to do and how to do things. Some assignors are stickler for some rules and others are much more lax on others.

I work all over northern Illinois from the city of Chicago to south of the Quad Cities. Just make a call and the coaches will adjust (at least the good ones will). I do not drastically change what I do to accommodate every coach and their concerns.

I agree the more you know it will make it easier on you as an official. But I work too many places to agonize over those things. I likely passed 20 schools or more to get to the particular school I am working any given night.

Peace

Does every post you make quote a rulebook or manual passage? Not all the answers are in there. Many things are, in my experience, regional in nature.

Edited to add: I don't mean this as harsh as it sounds -- I think Adam's post below is the perfect response.

Before I start putting the ball down on borderline delay (the team is just coming out of their huddle at the 2nd horn rather than being ready to play,) I need to make sure my assignor is going to back me. I also need to make sure my partner is going to be consistent enough to do it again later, or to the other team, if the situation is similar enough.