Annoying
 

From Grunewar: "Very annoying!"

Agreed. Against the rules? I don't think so, unless you really want to bend the rules regarding sportmanship, and that's going to be a tough sell.

Do Forum members have similar thoughts on players who "yell" at the player who beat them, and is about to make an open layup. They're too far behind to block the ball, or to foul, so they "yell", trying to disconcert the shooter.

My thought is that is a character problem, better dealt with by parents and maybe even coaches.

Lots of times, kids (usually girls) yell ball, ball, ball, etc. when I'm getting ready to hand the ball to the inbounder. When that happens, I stop, look at the ball, look at the kid and say, "Yes, you're right. It is a ball." That usually shuts them up. Sometimes, they even laugh.

When I hear boys yelling it, I tell them, "only girls say that". That always shuts them up.

I played from 4th grade through hs and was never taught to constantly yell "ball, ball ball!" for the whole time that somebody had the ball...we were told to yell "ball" once when the player we were defending received the ball so everyone knew we were on the ball...although we were taught to yell "UP UP UP UP" once a dribble was picked up....but to yell something CONSTANTLY, no we were never taught that...it's not like this is a universally accepted method of teaching defense, I'm not all that suprised if OP had never seen it....

I'm from NJ were we were taught to play defense with our feet, not our mouths.

I guess I might have misunderstood the OP a bit. The word constantly throws a wrench in things. Of coursenot constantly, but initially ... surprised to hear if nobody has never heard this concept at all.

I was the guy...

MIIIIIIIIIIIISS!!!

Just curious...does it seem like constantly yelling "ball, ball, ball..." is an effective strategy? I could see it being unnerving for grade school-age players but I would think that it would lose it's affect after players gain some experience.

I thought you guys stuck to Hockey in "da yoopee, eh?"

It's not supposed to be unnerving. It's supposed to let defensive teammates know where the ball is when they are looking away.

My personal opinion is that's a technical foul, but I doubt that there is widespread agreement upon that.

You are quite correct with regards to your doubts. There is very little agreement amongst officials(at least those that I have met) with your personal opinion. The general consensus seems to be that it's OOO-ish.

To me it is "behavior not in accordance with the spirit of fair play."

I don't see how a player yelling, "Look out!" at an opponent going in for an uncontested layup is sporting behavior.

That's just not acceptable at the HS level.

But it's generally accepted, so I guess it is acceptable.

I don't believe that making a kid think that he is going to get hurt is ever an acceptable tactic. :(