More AAU Nonsense
 

A while ago, I posted about my first AAU games of the season: http://forum.officiating.com/showthread.php?t=34837

Last weekend I attended a camp and the games that we worked were all AAU games. There was a lot of talent, big kids; but AAU. One of my games was a really good game. Back and forth, pretty good flow, good players. With 6:30 left in the game, it's a 1-point game with Team A leading. Team A brings the ball into the front court and holds the ball out near the midcourt line. Team B falls back into a zone.

Six minutes left, Team A holding and Team B sitting in the zone.

Five minutes left, Team A holding and Team B sitting in the zone.

Three minutes left. . .

One minute left. . .

We're thinking, Team B has to jump out and foul. But they just sit there.

30, 20, 10. . .

At 10 seconds, Coach B stands up and starts to clap wildly, enthusiastically as he watches the clock run to all zeros. Team A wins by one, without ever having to go to the line at the end of the game. We literally stood in our positions for six and a half minutes.

Come to find out, Team B was a game up on Team A in the "pool standings". So if Team A won, the teams would be tied for the playoff spot. Team B also had the point-differential tie-breaker, so that Team A not only had to win, but they had to win by 7 to win the tie-breaker.

So by winning by only 1 point, Team B advanced to the playoffs due to the point-differential tie-breaker.

What a surreal experience.

Why didn't A try to score and win by more than 7?

I can only guess that they were unaware of the tie-breaker situation. They seemed happy to win by 1.

Bad on the coaches. Ya gotta know these things! That's what ACs are for!

I don't see how whether or not the gym was air conditioned would have any bearing on the game. :confused:

Mark, you just brighten my day with that one.:D

That reminds me of a good line a coach had once. AAU game. He had his kids doing the stall thing trying to pull the defense out and there were about 7 minutes left. The defense wasn't coming out right away so the coach stood up yelled at his offense, "OK you guys. At two minutes run Arkansas!" It wasn't another 5 seconds before the defense came out. It was pretty funny at the time anyway.

My invoice is in the mail. I do not accept Euros. :p

We had a situation a few years back that was quite similar in the last game of our HS regular season play. A win by Team A created a three-way tie for the final play-off spot, which meant that the relevant tiebreaker become the point differential in the games played amongst the three teams involved in the tie.
Anyway Team A knew going in that not only did they have to win, but they had to win by six. So when they were ahead by three with under a minute left, it was Team B who was playing keep away, and the team that was AHEAD was chasing them and giving fouls! But it got even crazier. With only 10 seconds left Team A was still only ahead by 2, so instead of trying to score four more points they simply gave the ball to Team B and fouled. Team B now missed the FTs on purpose(!) and when Team A got the rebound their coach instructed them to toss the ball into the opponents basket, which they did with less than five seconds remaining and proceeded to let the clock run out. This sent the game into overtime and gave them four more minutes to get the necessary points. I don't know how it came out.

In my opinion, it was a travesty of the game.

There was many years ago something like that in an international game, when Real Madrid (I believe) scored in their own (the opponents') basket to go to overtime, in order to try and win with a better difference.

To avoid this, FIBA introduced the rule that if a player intentionally shoots in their own basket (which is the opponents' in USA terminology), then the basket does not count and the ball goes to the opponents, who can do what they want (for example, receive a foul and miss purposely the free throws).

Ciao

I call it smart coaching (or is that an oxymoron?).

If B's coach were smarter, he'd have one of his players foul A1 on the non-shot into B's basket. :D

Actyally, eg, it's not. NFHS Rule 4-5-1: A team's own basket is the one into which its players try to throw the ball. Football is the other way i think.

I think EG knew that. He's saying (I think) that in FIBA rules, a team tries to throw the ball into its opponents' basket. So if a team intentionally throws the ball into its own basket (normally the one in which the opponent scores), it's a violation and not a field goal.

<font color = red>Actyally</font> what eg said was correct. Under FIBA terminology, a team's own basket is the basket that they're defending. That's the opposite of NCAA and NFHS terminology. That's exactly what eg was pointing out. He's talking about a team trying to score points for the other team by shooting at the wrong basket.

Methinks you may have mis-understood him.

Actyally, methinks you're right. I mis-understood. That's what I get for trying to act awake before 8:30 am.