Time-out Question (again)
 

I know I ask alot of time-out questions but I keep having situations come up. Yesterday I had a situation happen where we were right, but it made me think what we would have done if we were wrong. Anyway, here's the situation: A is down by three with 25 seconds remaining. A1 passes to A2 in the frontcourt. I am Center and the ball is right in front of me. A2 goes to take a three and I signal it with three fingers. Prior to the release of the ball, the trail official blows his whistle for a time out called by Team A coach. I drop my signal. A2 continues the shot and, you guessed it, nothing but net. Coach A looks sick as he realizes what he just did because we do not count the basket and grant his TO. A loses by 1. However, I was thinking on the way home what we would do if the trail blew his whistle and called the TO after the shot was taken and the ball was in flight. First off, I know this would be a major error on the official's part since no team control exists. But. let's say it happens. My thought on the rules way to handle this is: Once the whistle blows the ball becomes dead immediately and the goal cannot count since it is still in flight. Team A would get their TO since the coach requested it and trail granted it. My assumption is that since the ball was in flight and there was no team control then we would have to go to the arrow to see who gets possession. I think that is the only way, by rule, you could handle this. However, would you do anything differently? At our association meeting today we discussed this and some officials said they would count the basket, give the ball to Team B, and ask Coach A if he still wanted his TO. Others said they would not count the basket, grant the TO, and give the ball back to A since they last had possession. This is a strange situation and, IMO, many coaches we work in this area probably would not know the exact ruling so any of these options would probably work, although in all cases the crew is still wrong. So, is my ruling correct and what do you think you would actually do in this situation?

That's where I quit reading.

The only way that the ball would be dead was if the calling official recognized the TO request while the ball was still in the shooter's hands but didn't blow the whistle to grant the TO until the ball was in the air. In that case, no basket and team A would now get their TO and a subsequent throw-in at the closest spot to where the ball was when the TO request was granted. If the calling official didn't recognize the TO request until the ball was in the air, then there was an inadvertant whistle. The inadvertant whistle would not cause the ball to become dead and the basket would count. You would now ask the coach of team A if he still wanted his TO. No matter whether the TO was now taken or not, play will resume with a B throw-in from anywhere along the endline , same as after any made basket.

That's how the play should be handled. The final call will depend on whether the ball was still in the shooter's hands or in the air when the calling official granted the TO request. Forget the whistle iow.

Player control
 

Remember you need player control not team control in order to grant the time out.