Partner's late...How do you cover the court?

[Boiler14]

Great question. I had to work 15 games the past two weekends by myself. This is the first time I went in knowing I was going to be by myself.

I did a lot of staying opposite the bench but migrated to the middle of the floor when the ball swung weakside. Sometimes I felt like an umpire in football when we went the other way rather quickly. I always made sure I had the whistle out of my mouth as the players were going by.

I administered the FT like the old days from the trial. Really seems silly now that it used to take two of us to administer a FT.

I asked for the honor system from the players on difficult OOB decision. Like in a two or three man system, many times you can tell by the way the players react whose ball it is.

This was a team camp so I was working multiple games. If the ball was to be inbounded in the backcourt and there was no press I didn't even ask for the ball. If there was subbing going on I just put my palm out like a traffic cop and the players waited. The main reason for doing this is that we were using a running clock so I really didn't mind saving a few steps and giving them the time to play.

After having worked the one man system now I really do think you have to find what you are comfortable with. If you are working many games like I did you really, really, can't let your mind wander. That was the biggest challenge as the games went along.