Little travels

[Adam]

My tolerance for traveling goes down as the skill level goes up. By the time they're freshmen, I'm calling what I see. The beginning of this year, I called a ton of those "little travels" you describe. One coach complained that I was calling them too much. I ignored him at the time, and asked a varsity official in the locker room (this is my first year in this area and I'm sensitive to trying to fit in at this point) who had watched the first half. His response: "Freshman ball is ugly basketball, you're calling what needs calling." I kept it up, and as the season wore on, I noticed the players some how gained control of their pivot feet.

I called a travel on one end when the 3 pt shooter caught the ball with his trail foot still on the floor, planted his other foot and brought his trail foot up and put it down before jumping for the shot. Not a minute later on the other end, a 3 pt shooter caught the ball airborne, planted one foot and jumped off that foot with a perfect jump stop before launching for a 3 pt jump shot. Coach complained that it was the same thing. I didn't have a chance to explain the difference.