Reporting numbers after a foul

[Vinski]

At camp this last weekend an evaluator corrected me on my verbal communicating of numbers when reporting fouls. I always say “white two – one” or “green one – three” while signaling in unison. He said I should be reporting the number as a whole, i.e. “white twenty one” or “green thirteen”. I guess I’m OK with that. However, when reporting numbers in the teens, it seems awkward. Verbalizing “green thirteen” while signaling a one and then a three doesn’t feel right.
What do you guys do?

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Vinski

What do you guys do?

I report the player's number. Is the player's number "1-3"? No. It's 13. So I say "thirteen". I used to say "1-3" like you. It was actually Bktballref on this forum who first brought the difference to my attention. It made sense to me and I've been reporting the number as a whole ever since then.

[Mark Padgett]

If you say the entire number properly, i.e. "twelve" or "thirteen", there is less chance of the scorer marking the foul down for the wrong player, such as number 1. While I agree that it's not a factor on 14 (the scorer might act on just hearing the first part of the number which is a number itself), since it is a factor on all the other numbers it's best to be consistent.

[JRutledge]

I say "one-three." I do not like to say "thirteen, fourteen, and fifthteen" because if the scorer (or other table personnel) do not see exactly what you report, when they hear the "teen" part of the number that can cause further confusion. I always have said it this way and only once have been told to say it another way in camp. And that camp was not a big time camp and the clinician that told me to say "thirteen" was really new at his particular level and was repeating what someone had wanted him to do. The veteran clinicians (at the higher college levels) that have been around seem to not care one way or the other what you say as, long as you are clear.

Peace

[Mwanr1]

JRutledge brought up an interesting point. Since we have no way of measuring this, I just want to get a perspective of what you think. Do scorekeepers rely on hand signals or listening to the numbers when recording fouls?

[Mwanr1]

I'll start first by saying I never EVER pay attention to the referee's hand signal when recording fouls. I always look and hear what the ref says. But then most of the time I'm watching the game while score-keeping so I'm usually clear on who committed the foul.

[JRutledge]

I think they use both. There are times when they probably cannot hear very well. I am sure there are other times they hear part of what you say and personally I want to avoid the people only hearing the end of the number. I also feel that part of this has to do with your signals and how clear they are.

Peace

[Smitty]

There have been times when I've said "thirteen", "fourteen", or "fifteen" and the scorer thought they heard "thirty", "forty", or "fifty". Saying the numbers specifically: "one three" can alleviate that confusion.

[Lcubed48]

Originally Posted by Vinski

At camp this last weekend an evaluator corrected me on my verbal communicating of numbers when reporting fouls. I always say “white two – one” or “green one – three” while signaling in unison. He said I should be reporting the number as a whole, i.e. “white twenty one” or “green thirteen”. I guess I’m OK with that. However, when reporting numbers in the teens, it seems awkward. Verbalizing “green thirteen” while signaling a one and then a three doesn’t feel right.
What do you guys do?

Two years ago at a camp, a guest speaker (a D1 official) suggested in his presentation the use of saying the whole number instead of the individual digits. I liked his reasoning behind the mechanic so I switched from the latter to the former prior to the start of the next season. However, it took some practice in front of the mirror because the timing with one syllable numbers as opposed to two syllable digits. It felt awkward for a time, but now it's part of my foul reporting mechanic. I never had any one tell me that it had to be done one way or the other.

[Splute]

For what it is worth, in Texas, we are taught to verbally report, color, number (whole) and signal with one hand each digit, followed by the appropriate infraction signal. Since I have also kept score, I prefer to hear the "whole" number rather than digits and then I confirm what I hear with the digits signal. When I hear "1 - 3" instead of "13", my brain thinks 1 - 3, not 13. To me it simplifies it to hear the whole number and see digits. Just my 2 cents.