More thoughts from John Adams

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

This was one of the things that raised my eyebrows. This sounds, frankly, like a coach's perspective, not an official's perspective. I think that in the vast majority of cases, the players have no idea if you got the play right. Players and coaches almost always look astonished that you could have possibly called a foul on that play. There are, of course, obvious plays where everybody in the gym knows that there was a foul; but in those cases, why would we need to check to see if we got it right?

I think I understand what he's saying, and I agree with it. Have you ever had a ball go OOB in front of you, and you're not initially sure whose ball it should be, and before you ask for help you see all the players start walking to other end of the floor? They know whose ball it is. And there really is a subtle difference in player reactions when they really are astonished/confused at the call, as opposed to the "I've gotta look amazed so coach doesn't chew my a$$ for that stupid foul". You've probably also seen that look when you blow the whistle for the foul when there are two defenders there - one of them will give you the truly amazed look, then relax after you tell them the call was actually against their teammate.

It's not a 100% accurate barometer, and it doesn't happen every game, but there really are instances where a player can indicate whether or not you got the call right or wrong.