How's your 10 second count? I timed mine today and it was right around 10.5 seconds. I timed mine because I was working with a guy whose had to be at least 12 seconds. Does anyone pre-game this with partners? I did not really notice but it might logically follow that a slow 10 second count might also mean a slow 5 second count and a slow 3 second key count. All of which could mean different officiating at different ends of the court, depending on who is counting. Drove me nuts that his counts were so long; felt like the defensive team was being penalized. Comments?

Comment? Sure. Why are you focussed on your partners
counts? Nothing else to do?

Discuss it with partners. No. With other officials in whom I watch. Maybe. I may ask in a polite way, why are they so long? But with parnters I never notice how long it is. I do notice if they are doing 5 second counts. If I am doing them and my partner isn't, that can be frustrating for a coach to develope a stratagy for how to defense they ball. Most kids have a hard time finding who to guard, much less which official has the ball to know if he is guarding closely in vain.

The only time I discuss it in pregame is if my partner is from Europe. If that's the case, I remind him not to count in metric. :)

Seriously, if you timed your count at 10.5, I wouldn't worry about it. Better a little long than short.

At least that's what I told the girls in high school. ;)

Back to seriously, I think it would be pretty hard to be way off on a three-second count.

Which is what my wife says she does during sex. :p OUCH!

Mark -- you really need to find those meds, before you post again. Shall I call Josh and ask him to help you?

Sometimes, I'll check my "cadence" with the game clock as I bring the ball up as trail. Other than that, I don't worry about it. If I'm paying so much attention to my partner that I know he's late on counts on players outside of my area, I'm watching the wrong part of the game.

If you're worried about it, consider reviewing a game tape and bring the point up about counts. Check yours and your partners...

BTW, I've seen 3 second counts run into the teens :)

Semi-random comments on the original post:

In MA, we use a 30-second shot clock, which makes the 10-second backcourt count much easier. When the ball is inbounded, I just check to see where the shot clock is and then subtract 10. If the clock gets down to 20, or whatever the "magic" number is, TWEET. If there's heavy backcourt pressure and I'm unable to sneak a peek at the shot clock, it becomes my partner's responsibility. We pregame this (see my pre-game notes in "Pre-game notes (not copy-writed)" if you're interested).

Closely guarded count is very important, for exactly the reasons stated by Tim R. If a coach stresses defense and he sees that you or your partner is not counting, you will hear about it; and rightfully so. The only intelligent comment I ever heard from a fan in the stands was in my first year when somebody yelled, "You're not even counting 5-seconds!! You're missing everything!" Ok, so it was half of an intelligent comment. The point is, this is one of those things that people really do notice.

If your 3-second count is a little long, don't worry about it. You should count 3-seconds like this:

One.

Man, am I hungry. I could go for a nice slice right now. Or maybe Slider will send me a Krispy Kreme. Mmmmmmm. Doughnuts. Man, that Homer Simpson cracks me up. I wonder what it's really like to work in a nuclear power plant. . .

Two.

Is that cheerleader looking at me? I think she's looking at me!! Nope. Darn, she's looking at the point guard camped in the lane. Camped in the lane? Oh, yeah. . . Where was I?

Two-and-a-half.

"Blue. Clear the lane!"

Yawn. Scratch. Adjust pants.

"Blue! Get outta there!"

WWMTDSD? (What would Mark T. DeNucci, Sr do?) :D

Doggone it!!

Three!! TWEET!

Chuck

paulis,

I worked a tournament this year at the local college and they have a clock in the dressing room that runs as the game clock runs. Before my game I practiced my counts. Used the count in a game and made a 10-second call. The fans went wild, calling me a quick counter, etc. But, I didn't come close to having another 10-second. Both point guards really hustled the ball to halfcourt and if they didn't, the fans reminded them to because I was a "quick counter." :)

Classic post, Chuck. Just classic.

The only thing I've noticed about my counts is that the adrenalin of the game will sometimes speed up my count.

When I practice at home (I do), I am usually quite close to 10 seconds. Mostly between 10 and 11 seconds.

I did a game a couple of weeks ago that was quite frenatic with lots of pressure in the backcourt. I noticed that I was a little fast (by comparing to shot clock). I have since tried to remind myself that if the pace of the game picks up, my 10 second count must remain steady.

BTW. For those who use the shot clock, isn't it difficult to peek at the clock and observe the players? Considering 10 seconds calls are usually only an issue when there is pressure and lots of action around the dribbler. As for Chuck comment about the partner making that call, I have never seen the lead make a 10 second call in that situation. Then again, I haven't been officiating for a long time.

Salut, Jay.

It not usually too hard, but sometimes it's tough. I've seen this called and actually called it myself once from the Lead position. Shot clock (30 seconds) started properly; I noticed it at 19 and called the violation. In my 10 years of officiating, it's only happened twice that I've witnessed, but I still go over it in pre-game. Just in case.

Chuck

Jay R.,
Have you ever worked 3-man?

The Center official is very slow and hangs back to help the Trail. Sometimes during a press, you may see an inexperienced Center counting to 10, while the Trail, who actually has the responsibility for the count, also is counting. Pretty sad.
I would be stunned if the Center actually blew his whistle on 10.
mick

Using the Shot Clock
 

I generally sneak a peek at the shot clock, ever since I watched a playoff game a few years ago where an offical friend, working his first playoff game, called a 10-second violation with the 35-second shot clock at 27. (Insert musing comments by coach here.) At half time his partner said the shot clock had started properly, and just rolled to 28 when he hit his whistle, but the clock operator was so surprised it took over a second to stop the clock. I decided I never wanted adrenaline to cause me to have a 7-second 10-second count.

What's a 3-second violation? :D

Re: Using the Shot Clock
 

It's what you start calling after you've shouted your lungs out at both teams all game long to get out of the lane.

length of count
 

I agree with the slow count. If we hold our whistle, this will stop us from making boarder line calls. As long as our count is consistant we are OK.