Nets
 

I had a game last night in a gym where the home school has apparently modified the nets. It's a little bit hard to describe, but it looks like they have created slits all the way around the bottom of the net by cutting the bottom two or three threads, then bunched up each slit and wrapped it with white athletic tape. I say the home school has apparently modified them, because I spent 30 minutes after I got home last night on the web and can't find anything close being sold anywhere.

The nets make a great sound when a jump shot passes through, but the problem is that the net is constantly getting wrapped around the rim. In a girl's varsity game last night, I didn't count, but I bet we stopped the game at least a dozen times to get the nets down. In fact I joked with the visting coach (who won by 15) that I thought one of my partners was probably the high scorer for the night due to the number of times he made a layup to bring the net down.

Besides the delay factor, this could take away an advantage from a team that wants to get the ball in play quickly and run the floor. I asked the AD if I was the first official to say something about the nets, and he just smiled and said "haven't you heard of homecourt advantage"? I don't believe there is specific rules coverage for this situation. Anyone run into something like this before?

As Chuck Elias once posted, "I never stop the clock to fix the net. If it's really a problem, tell the home coach to put a kid at that end and have him fix it every time the ball goes to the other end of the floor. Never stop the clock to fix the net."

"And really, how many times have you ever seen a shot affected by the net being flipped up?"

I didn't see that post, but I think that is great advice. I have a boys game at the same school next week, and I think that is exactly how I will handle it.

Can't say I've seen that before, but it's an interesting situation certainly, as there isn't too much in the rules governing specifics of the net. I don't see nets get tangled too often, but when I do I'll only stop the game to fix it if the defense is falling back and not pressing after a made basket, but then like you pointed out, that could potentially be a disadvantage to a team that wants to inbound quickly and move the ball down court to catch the defense off guard...

Since it continually got wrapped on itself you could probably say it was a problem and have them replace the nets, citing the rule (exact citation escapes me) which basically says we can make decisions on items not specifically covered within the rules. But that can be a hairy situation, as a lot of people (officials included) say that if something isn't specifically declared illegal in the rulebook, then it's legal. If it were me, and I hadn't known about the nets ahead of time, then probably after the 2nd or 3rd time it happened (assuming it happened early and regularly), I'd have them change the nets right there. Afterwards I'd call my assignor and let him deal with it.

I would have only fixed the net when the visiting team scored.

I would be tempted to contact my assignor and make them aware of the situation. This is something that your state association might want to look at and declare the ruling. I would consider this an irregular court situation and they need to rule on it. Just my thoughts

-Josh

(raises hand)

OK, that's one!

In how many games? So, the percentage is still fairly low I would imagine. ;)

Several official do stop it on a flipped net.

I'd stop it the first couple of times and then, if it continuted to get stuck, ask that someone be stationed there to knock it down when needed after we got to the other end of the court.

Right up there with forgetting to mow the football field before a speedy opponent comes to town.

The fact that an AD is in on the shenanigans is disturbing.

+1