Unsportsmanlike or not?

[Mark Padgett]

Ran into a fellow official at the store this morning and he related this to me. This past season he was working a JV boys game. A1 made a clean steal in his front court and took off on a breakaway. While he was going toward his basket, Coach B started yelling "TIMEOUT, TIMEOUT, TIMEOUT". A1 just continued and layed the ball in. Coach A lobbied the refs for an unsportmanlike T on coach B for doing that, claiming he was trying to trick A1 into pulling up. My buddy told Coach A there was nothing they could do in that situation. We then briefly discussed some variations to see if a T would ever be warranted. We both agreed that we might call it in a low level kids recreational game whether or not it had any effect on the player's drive, but not in any situation other than that.

What do you guys think? It was obvious to my buddy that Coach B really was trying to trick the kid and not that he might have thought he really good get a timeout granted then. Of course, to know that exactly, one would have to be able to read a coach's mind, and we all know that's like trying to drink from an empty cup.