Excessive Timeout

[Old School]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Terrible thinking, Tommy. Maybe OK for middle school ball--sometimes- but certainly never for any higher levels. Game flow in these situations has got diddly squat to do with diddly squat also. Plain and simply, you're making up your OWN rules while ignoring very clearly written actual rules. That's never a good idea.

50% correct in that you never want to do this in a higher level game, especially if you're just starting out. Got nothing to do with ignoring actual rules because officials do this all the time and your assigner or evaluator told you to do just that. However, my concern is one day you might goof this up trying to apply game management when you should just call the game, call what you see.

What I think you should look at is the cost or consequences of erroring. What are the consequences if you just make the call? Zero, because the player called it. However, what if you thought Team A didn't have any TO's and they actually had one left, and the player calls it and you don't grant it, because you come up with, juggling the ball didn't have control, foot was on the line, something you made up because you thought they didn't have any. What kind of trouble are you in now when you give the ball to the other team and they score to win the game? What are your consequences now? Knowing that the guys that assign these games typically do it for life. You could be banned forever making a mistake like that. Not worth it to me when you consider the odds. When the stakes are high, just call what you see, and believe it or not, it's easier! Don't have to work as hard.

[Kelvin green]

In the original post the T did not make a difference, but when you are blowing the whistle how will you know it would not make a difference?

Think about all the possibilities in a two point game

1) B misses both FT's; A forces a 5 second call, violation, or steals throwin. A scores and ties the game.

2) B makes both FT's, A forces a 5 second call or steals throwin. A scores and ties the game. and is only down by one. The clock stopped on a lot of this

3) B misses both FT throws and then fouls on the inbound throw-in, giving A shots at the other end while the clock is stopped (assumes bonus) and score 2 points and ties the game...

4) You now give the ball to B (up 2) and on the inbounds throw-in, there is a violation by B and turns ball over to A who shoots a 3point and scores to go up one. Coach B then complains to your state staff telling them you screwed them out of 2 shots and the ball and they tell you that you should have called it!

5) You just give ball to B (up 2) and they foul on throw-in and A scores on FTs to tie game. Coach B then complains to your state staff telling them you screwed them out of 2 shots and the ball and they (state staff) tell you that you should have called it or worse listen to some sort of ridiculous appeal, and then do something about it...

6) How do you explain to Coach A that you did not grant a time out, and he tells you that he has coached his kids to do this because clock stopping is more important than the 2 shots and ball?

It is not our call to be clairvoyant and see what will happen, sometimes we may be able to withold a whistle because plays are close... but we also recognize timeouts and call it.

[Adam]

I'd rather make this call and explain to the assigner, with full rules backing, why I made it then not make the call and have to explain to him why I ignored an obvious technical foul. Maybe when I become a legend, I can use "game management" to avoid the T, but I'm not that legendary yet.

[shave-tail]

I guess I'm thinking that if the team is meeting all the legal requirments to call a time out, except of course, they don't have any, what rational would you use not to grant it?

I would rather grant it, call the T when they didn't have one than not grant it and later realize they had one.