Court Coverage
 

Does the lead in NCAA rules have a different court coverage than in NFHS? Maybe I am mistaken, but it seems to me that I have seen some leads make foul or violation calls on the lead's side, but beyond the three point arc. I know in NFHS that this area is the trail's area, but is it different in NCAA? I like to watch these games and try and learn how to apply what I see to my own games and I do not want to pick up bad high school habits that are actually correct NCAA procedures. Also, in the NCAA does the lead make a five second closely guarded call if th eball is in his primary?

First of all to answer your question, yes! There is a distinct different between the Lead coverage area between men's and women's NCAA. NCAA men's is exactly like HS. NCAA women is not.

The court coverage is exactly the same in men's NCAA as NFHS. Women's NCAA have a different coverage where the Lead has the option to officiate all the way from the FT line down and out to the sideline. A lot of the veterans do have a tendency to extend their coverage areas way beyond what is prescribed in the manual. I'm reminded of a conversation I had with a playoff official when I started out. He told me not to do what he does because I'd get messed up. Just stick to the prescribed mechanics. :)

Not true.

This is not an option; it's the mandated coverage.

Not entirely true. If the lead wants to referee the post play, they do not have to be on ball when it is in their primary(esp. in the corner outside the 3 pt. line). They tell the trail where to look based on where they are officiating (post or corner).

I've never heard this before. Any experienced NCAAW officials here who can straighten me out?

I agree.. In our state we use the women's mechanic and the lead has from the free line extended down to the baseline, but they don't have the sideline, the trail has that, which I don't like. This is not an option, but I pregame... IF the lead doesn't open up or take the area, and he's still looking down low, the trail should stay on the ball in this area until the lead accepts it.

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The court coverage is exactly the same in men's NCAA as NFHS.
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Originally Posted by Scrapper1 Not true.

What exactly isn't true about socal's statement? :confused:

I believe that in NFHS mechanics, the Lead is responsible for the nearer half of the lane all the way to the FT line and from the FT line extended out to the 3-point arc. There used to be a "dual area" of responsibility in NFHS, remember? Well, if you take out that dual area, the part that's left is the Lead's primary area in NCAAM.

Okay, that sounds reasonable. I'll have to check on that and get back to you. I haven't seen an NCAAM's court coverage diagram in about three years.

I'm surprised that they made the Trail have some primary area inside the three point line. I actually think that it is good and like the idea because it gets the Trail more involved and forces him to work down by the 28' mark instead of out by the division line. Still it would surprise me if the NCAA did something intelligent.

Yes the lead has a different court coverage in NCAA. In Men's the lead has post play. He has a triangular area, if you will, that includes middle of the lane from freethrow line to base line as the furthest edge and then from his position on the baseline up through the post to the freethrow line. The trail has the leads side, with a 60/40, split up top. Trail takes 3 pt tries and sideline. Lead doesn't take anything outside 3 pt line. Primary could be extended if there is a play that needs to be officiated.
In NCAA W the lead has middle of the lane, from freethrow line to baseline all the way out to sideline. This is different than NFHS, in that NFHS stops coverage at the 3 pt line. Lead marks the 3 pt try in NCAA W but does not score the succesful goal. Trail has sideline out of bounds and plays going to the basket from their primary.
As for counting in NCAA, the lead will not count five seconds, the trail will help and make the count. Hope that helps.

SoCalRef is correct on this point.

It's not a whole lot different from the ball transitioning from T's area to C's area -- T doesn't give it up until C accepts it.

It seems a LOT different to me, if the ball is not transitioning between PCA's. If it's staying in the Lead's primary (from post to corner), you're saying that the Lead doesn't stay with the ball in his/her own primary?

Suppose the ball is in T's area, and L is watching the two post player's jockeying for position. If the ball is then passed to the corner, L can stay on the post play, and T stays with the ball.

What's the point of having a primary area of responsibility if you're not responsible for the ball when it's in your PCA? Women's coverage just makes no sense at all to me.

And what happens in the case that I described? Ball is in the post, players jockeying, and the ball gets kicked to the corner? Who takes the ball?

If I am the lead I MAY open up a little and take the ball in that corner and hope that the trail stays down low, if I see him in my periphial looking at the ball, then I will go back down low. If I am the trail and I see the Lead take the ball in the corner, I will keep looking into the paint. But that corner is the Lead's PCA. I agree the women's coverage doesn't make sense to me either, more importantly, the trail taking that sideline all the way down to the baseline. If that area from the free throw line extended down to the baseline is the L's PCA, why not give him that sideline as well, he's already looking there anyways.

The lead's primary responsibility is not always the ball in these situations. If there is a competitive post matchup, most assignors and clinicians on this level want the L to stay with that matchup, as they have a better angle on - and proximity to - the post matchup, and can pick up something from 10 - 15 feet away that the C or T won't pickup from 35 - 45 feet away.

The T will continue with the ball, as was stated earlier in this thread. The reason this is done, as explained to me in camps and pregames, is to continue to referee the post matchup and keep the post play as clean as possible. Something might get lost in the transition from refereeing the post matchup to picking up the ball matchup. (Although, you would then presume that the L would pick up on something on ball if it were closer to their position also, right???)

I tried to explain it as best I can, from the way it was explained to me.

I couldn't agree more. That view is absolutely correct. So the obvious question is, why extend the Lead's "primary" outside the arc in the first place? If you know the post play is the priority and you know that the Lead has the best look at it, why don't you tell the Lead to stay with the post all the time and let the Trail handle anything outside the arc? The women's coverage is just silly, IMHO.

The reasoning is that there has been less low post play in womens over the years. The coverage gives the lead the option to extend when there's not a lot going on down low. There's usually a lot more high post action, and the lead can pick up drives earlier to be able to see the whole play. I'm not saying it's right or wrong, just what some of the rationale has been.

Maybe its not silly at all. It seems wierd at first, but once you use the women's coverage, which is the same as the NBA, it makes the leads job a whole lot easier. In NCAA M the lead has post responsibility. That means when a play is coming out of the Lead's primary, the lead must pick it up out of his periphery and then referee that play as it is already developing. In NCAA W the lead picks up the ball at the freethrow line extended and then can referee the play if it developes to the basket. Makes it much easier to referee the whole play rather than just part of it.

That's just because you don't use it regularly...here's a scenario: Men's game...you are T. Ball is in your primary but is being dribbled across the court and entering C's primary...C, however, has two players posting up and fighting for position on their low block. L has not rotated over to cover that, so C stays with that competitive match-up and does not pick up the dribbler...you, then, would extend your coverage and stay with the dribbler long enough for everything to get covered...it's no different than the NCAA-W coverage for the L...if I am L and ball comes down into my corner, I will pick that up, unless there is something going on in the post that requires my attention. If there is, my trusty T will cover that ball in the corner...it's just providing more options for covering the plays.

I would not stay with the dribbler for more than a second or so, unless I had a 5-second count going and was close to 5. When the ball enters my partner's primary, I expect him to pick up the ball immediately. If there's a competetive matchup on that block, I expect the Lead to rotate aggressively (with apologies to Dan_ref and mick) so that we don't leave the C with the ball and a post matchup.

But I am not going to be spending much time officiating the ball in my partner's primary unless I have a count. That's his job.

So if you were at 2 you would just drop your count? Not sure what you describe is aggressive rotation. Ball settles on the other side, post matchup on the other side. The L better have a damn good reason for not rotating in this case. Pretty basic stuff IMO.

I don't buy that dexter...you're too good of an official to just say "It's in his primary now. I don't care any more"...if he hasn't picked it up because there's some other crap going on someplace else, you'll make sure that it gets covered - that's what good officials do.

No apology necessary.
If there's a competitive matchup, I'm there!
If there may eventually be a competitive matchup, I anticipate and I'm there before it happens but not because it may eventually happen. ;)

Hey Mick, that edit should have said "dexter-head", not just dexter...

:) <font></font>

COurt coverage
 

You know what's funny(strange, not haha) about all this? On a tangent, I have been taught that in men's It is still 60/40 between C and T. Furthermore, if I were to ever release a dribbler into the C's area from the T having already established a count, I would get yelled at by both of my partners (not to mention my evaluator, both coaches, the fans, the vendors, the custodians) for having done so. Why do I know this? Because I've done it, and I have it on tape. As we all know, tape doesn't lie, but I digress.

My main point in joining this conversation is that after having been to my share of clinics, and working my share of 3-person mech games, I find myself going to another clinic this Summer in CA. No big deal. I go out there all the time for this one.But, when I went to look at this person's web page and looked at their explanation of coverages, its diagram for NCAA was the old style 50/50 coverage between the L and the T for both men's and women's
I also think it is showing the same thing for men's.

Correct me if I am wrong, but I am fairly certain that it is NOT this way anymore


Ron

I cannot speak for CCA Women's mechanics, but Men's is 50/50 in the manual. It is not always taught that way or required, but that is what the manual says. And that would be split between the T and the C, not the L and the T. :D

Peace

covg
 

Fine I won't argue that. It is just interesting that on the pregame boards (see Honigs.com) for NCAA it shows the 60/40 diag for both M and W. MAybe it is this way only in TX, but I doubt that. ait is also the way we have been clinicized here.

You are right that is what the pre-game boards show. Just like anything not produced by the organization that are ultimately responsible for the mechanics, you will not have accurate information all the time.

Peace

The women's mechanic fosters more communication between partners because you need to see that the lead has taken the responsibility of the ball rather than just blindly passing it off -
It also allows for the lead to make the choice to stay with a competitive match up that could be a problem (and see the whole play in the post) rather than let it go and miss something in the transition or have the T just see the retaliation rather than the intiation of hostilities. Also since you are supposed to be as wide as the ball (almost out to the arc) - when we make that transition it is more seamless.
This also works better because in the women's game IMO there is less actual banging in the post than in the men's game, so we can make that transition to the ball in most cases and we do not lose anything in the post area.
As far as the side line, you are not supposed to go wider than about 3-feet inside the arc, so you really can not effectively work that side line area it needs to stay with the T, but you can effectively pick up that corner trap and the 3 point shot from that position, rather than being 15 feet from the play.