"Three seconds, Ref...! Three seconds!"

[Loudwhistle]

Had an entertaining experience about 5 years ago while reffing a middle school tournament game, 2man. The visiting coaches, very young 18-20, kept counting out loud for home players in the key and they were doing it about like the OP, obviously didn't have a clue about the rule (or how to coach either) . After about the third trip down the court and constantly hearing 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 sometimes before the ball even crossed halfcourt, the senior ref with me says I'm going to fix this. On the next dead ball he goes over to the coaches and says, I'm sick and tired of you guys counting out loud. The next time I hear you counting outloud it is your way of telling me that you want a technical. So if I even hear 1, you'll get one, a technical! Understood? Never heard another count the rest of the game, odd thing though, they never counted higher than 6, maybe that's as high as they could count?