How late is too late??

[truerookie]

[QUOTE=Rusty Gilbert] irregardless .. <

I agree with the with what you stated.

[sj]

The contact in this case that "sort of turns A1 around so he is going to start to dribble back the other way" sounds like the kind of contact that may be worthy of a whistle all by itself irregardless of the consequences.

***You could be right. What I had was though was a kid who took a little bump , it sort of turned him and he just went with it by just going with the flow.

There is also a principle "don't pass on illegal contact that creates a violation, foul, or turnover. Go back and get the illegal contact." (And then keep the response, "You're right, coach. It is a late whistle, but it was still a foul.") The fact that the contact made the steal possible just reinforces that it was illegal. Not blowing the whistle rewarded an illegal defensive play.

***That's what I thought after as well. I think if I had seen B2 coming in for the steal I could have seen what was going to happen and gone ahead and blown my whistle before the steal even occurred. I actually do recall blowing whistles like that before. But I agree with you I should have got it.

[M&M Guy]

How late is too late?

Next week.

Seriously, having a patient whistle is a good thing. It allows you to see the whole play and its' consequences. If you see a bump, and the player plays through it and gets past the defender, there may not be a need to blow the whistle. I saw that play happen at camp this past weekend - A1 got bumped on a drive about the free throw line, made it past the defender, and went in for an easy layup. The coach asked the official why they didn't call the foul, and the official replied, "Do you want me to wipe off the basket and give you the ball out-of-bounds instead?" You could see the light bulb go on in the coach's head.

Granted, maybe there is a time that would be too late, such as the next quarter. "Gee, coach, I didn't realize you were going to be this far behind, so I decided to give you that foul back at the 3 minute mark of the first quarter"... In your play however, if you blew the whistle after the steal, I would perhaps sell it a little more, but it's still an easier explanation that the call was a little late, rather than trying to explain not making the call at all.