Timing Issue - You Call It
 

BV, home team A is ahead by 20 inbounding the ball in BC with 8 seconds to go in the first half. They inbound against pressure, nearly turn it over and hit a buzzer-beater to end 1st half. Coach B complains that there was a problem with the clock and that more than 8 seconds elapsed. Crew confers and determines that the clock started on time and that no official saw the clock stop at any time. However, the clock operator confirms that he accidentally stopped the clock briefly while the play was in front of him. Nobody has knowledge of the exact time that this stoppage occurred or how long it was. What would you do in this situation?

Count the bucket and go to the locker room for halftime.

Heading for a cold bottle of water and a towel.

Water, towel, and possibly a candy bar.

I'd re -play the 8 seconds at inital throw in, since the Home team admin screwed up and admitted mistake. Otherwise, you may be looking at a ruff 2nd half to officiate.

OK! What rule exactly lets you do this?

there is nothing in NFHS that allows for a re-play. Why break into jail?

I predict at least 6 pages on this one.

You cannot replay the entire 8 seconds. That's out.

You cannot just walk away without talking to the clock guy.

Once he admits he stopped and started the thing your next question to the timer has to be how much time did that process take. If his reply is he doesn't know, or if he offers a wild-azzed guess, then you leave. That's pretty much guaranteed to happen IMO.

Once in the locker room the crew has to agree to watch the clock very closely in the second half because the guy at the table is either incompetent or a cheat or both.

Don't be harsh. He could be MILF-watching.

But, would he admit it AND would you then check what he was watching?

You could check if there was a monitor at the table.

I am stearing clear of any further discussions of MILF watching and TV monitor replays......

That's OK. Dan and I can handle it from now on.......

Maybe they should have a little booth instead that you can go into to check the replays.

Hmmmmmm.......

Maybe we could put in a coin-operated replay machine too. Sounds promising.

Let's bring Chuck into this. I hear he really knows his way around a mop, would be an asset to the team.

maybe he could rent himself out to the customers--as a <i>loofah</i>.

Post sales revenue opportunities!

I like it.

Only in NCAA rules.

Rule 2-3.

Mark, since when does any basketball rules committee regulate when we can use a monitor to look at MILFs?

Dexterhead... :rolleyes:

So are you saying that the OP's play isn't covered anywhere else in the rules so you would invoke RULE 2-3 and do the whole thing over?

Just as a clarification on what happened. There was a play right in front of the scorer's table where the ball was awkwardly saved from going OOB. The scorekeeper, who was paid table crew, said that he inadvertantly hit the stop button thinking the ball was OOB and then immediately restarted once he recognized his error. He readily offered that he made that error and was apologetic and embarrassed, he is neither incompetent nor a cheat, he just made a very rare mistake at an inopportune time.

As a crew, we discussed the situation and definitively determined that the clock had stopped based on what the scorekeeper said. The decision was eventually made, based on a strict interpretation of the rules, to count the basket because we had no way of definitively knowing when exactly the clock stopped, and for how long it stopped, so we could not definitively say that the shot would not have counted. Needless to say, the visiting team was not happy, and it was a rough ending. Honestly, I don't think that there's anything wrong with what we did, and that it's justified by rule, but I think it was the easy way out for us, and I would like to see if anyone thinks there's any way to justify another ruling. One thing that was lucky for us was that this was not a contested shot at the end of the game to determine a winner. Some thoughts:

Apply rule 2-3 and disallow the basket on the basis that the home clock made and acknowledged the error and should not have the opportunity to benefit from the error? Inadvertant clock stoppages are not covered in the rules specifically, so according to this theory, the burden of fairness applies to the home team

Apply rule 2-3 and replay? I don't think this is an option because too much happened in the 8 plus seconds. Also, this adds the possibility of further penalizing home team if there's a quick steal, or fouls take place.

If there is a monitor present, do we try to determine elapsed time or replay from the time of the inadvertaint stoppage?

Just interested in some thoughts on if you think we could've better handled the situation and still been within the rules.

My thought is that you couldn't have handled it any better. You handled it by rule. You have to use the tools that you have.

Good job. Not to worry.