That's nice. An example of someone else handling it a different way. But that isn't exactly definitive, is it?

I looked at the terrible twos with glee,
When once she hit the menacing three.

Ouch! Where's the pun police when you need them?

I have always been told to treat the loss of the shoe like an injured player situaiton. Hold your whistle until play slows down, i.e., if B stops advancing or when A gets control again. I have seen players go down the floor with just one shoe and continue to play.

A very similar situation occurred in G JV game last night. A1 drives for a layup and lost her shoe. She makes the basket and ref blows the whistle to allow her to get her shoe back on. Team "A" had been aggressively pressing the whole game and I had overheard the "B" coach tell his team to get the ball in bounds as quick as possible. Therefore "A" was given an advantage in this situation because they were able to set up the press once again. To top it all off the girl who lost her shoe never even tightened it up , she just pulled it back on her foot and away they went. That is one time I would not stop play.

This is funny that you bring this up. This exact situation took place in the Mizzou-Kansas game on Monday night. Kansas' Sharron Collins (freshman from Chicago) went to the basket hard and made a basket. He took on two defenders and all 3 hit the floor and he lost his shoe. Mizzou got the ball and started going the other way immediately after the basket. Sharron picked up his shoe, tried to get the attention of the officials and they ignored him, so he threw the shoe towards his bench and started running up the court. I do not remember when the clock was stopped, but I do not think the crew stopped the game because of this shoe being lost. I had no problem with what the crew did or how they handled this situation. I would have likely done the same thing.

Now for me once the player's team gets the ball, I would then likely stop the clock and allow the player to put the shoe back on. If it takes away their fast break, then who cares at that point. As long as I feel the shoe came off accidentally and not because it was taken off to get some kind of advantage, this is what I would do.

Peace

I would not stop it here, either. But I didn't sense in the OP aggressive play (from either team) after the official noticed the shoe coming off.

Again proving that what gets posted on the Internet isn't black-and-white.

Like most of you, I'm smart enough to tie my shoes so they won't just fall off. Somebody mentioned seeing a player just push the laces down into the shoe instead of tying them, and I've seen that too. If a player isn't smart enough to realize that this isn't the smartest idea, why should he be bailed out by a ref stopping the game because he was burned by trying to look cool? The exception I can think of is if the shoe is in the middle of play, where somebody might step on it and roll their ankle, but that doesn't sound like the orignal post, or the college situation that was brought up.

That could work as long as the offensive coach doesn't yell, "How can you do that ?" ...As if that matters. ;)

I'm thinking if the missing-shoe team has the ball, then they can slow it down for the re-tie, while I apathetically wallow in the realm of "who cares". :)

In my area, we have been instructed to let play continue unless the shoe could cause injury. These are big boys and girls, they need to take responsibility.

I agree. And, I've kicked a shoe off the court, and I've seen an assistant coach run on the court and pick up a shoe and return to the bench (the shoe was at one end, play had moved to the other). No, I didn't T him for being off the bench.

:D

Peace

This again is another situation that could be handled differently and still be acceptable either way.
Based on the scenario in the OP, for anything below a JV or V game (because that's all I've done), I would most likely stop the game and allow them to put it back on.
For these lower level games, I agree with Rich. Common sense and fair play is what it's about.
For higher levels, it really all depends on the game at the time.

So that about ties this one up? Just think about if it was on the other foot.

I think the application of this should have nothing to do with the level. Lower levels need to know what is going to happen when they work the varsity level ball. This is not a situation in my opinion that warrants completely different applications because of the level you are working.

Peace