Mass High School Tourney problems

[BayStateRef]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

An observation I am going to make. How do you expect officials to serve the game better if you only allow them to use a system during the post season and not during the regular season as well?

Indeed. There are definitely problems with veteran high school officials, who only work a 2-person system all year, having to work a 3-person system for the state tournament.

Most tournament assignors try to get at least one college official on each crew, so one person has solid 3-person experience. But that does not always happen. I know of games where the most-seasoned official had exactly one game working a 3-person system (the one he worked two days before with a college guy.) There are special clinics offered by most officials' boards in February on 3-person mechanics, but a single clinic and working actual games are hardly equal.

The issue is money. Schools are not willing to pay an additional fee 20 times per year (10 boys and 10 girls) to have 3-person crews. This year, schools that were going to the tournament were encouraged to use 3-person crews in February as a "warm-up." I have not heard of any school that actually did.