Full or 30

[Rusty Gilbert]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

Have you ever kept the arrow in your head?

If you've ever had an incorrect arrow, how do you resolve it?

I don't keep the arrow in my head, but I do keep up with it using a small, flesh covered rubber band on my finger as an aid to making a quick directional declaration when a "held ball" situation develops.

We have, by rule, a visible indicator (the arrow) on the scorer's table that communicates the direction. As officials, we have responsibility to determine that the arrow is correctly set at the start of the game, and then that it is correctly changed at the appropriate times. However, it is the official scorer who is charged with keeping track of these changes (quarter/time/team).

There are case book situations that speak to incorrect administration of possession arrow throw ins.

Bottom line, when an official mistakenly allows an A-P throw-in to be completed by the wrong team, you can't "take it back and have a do-over." The team that should have had the A-P throw-in initially is still entitled to the next A-P throw-in opportunity.


A couple of other responses to responses:
When I wrote, "Coach, I'm not sure about that. You'll have to check with the scorer's table for that information," BillyMac said, "Be careful. I don't believe that he's allowed to leave the coaching box to do this."

Somebody for that team is (or should be) able to verify accurate information from the official scorer. If the head coach thinks it is incorrect, the head coach can then go to the table to request a timeout "in order to prevent or rectify" the scorer's mistake, during which time out the officials will determine whether or not there was a mistake and, if so, determine whether it can be prevented or rectified. If there was a mistake and it was prevented/rectified, then the team is not charged a timeout.


BillyMac also asked about the phrase "where the water hits the wheel." I'm not sure of its origin, but the phrase is often used to refer to the point at where the theoretical and the practical meet.
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