What is the purpose of the Black Boxes NCAA Officials wear during games?

[LDUB]

Originally Posted by observer

Thus, one of his/her hands is used to hand the ball to
the thrower, the other hand is on the devise...No hands left to start
or chop the clock.

Why would the official signal for someone else to start the clock when he could push a button and start it himself?

[observer]

That's my point, all three officials at the same time
reach for the magic button to start the clock. Wonder
how they all know when to start on the touch in bounds
when the ball is not thrown into their primary area?

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by observer

That's my point, all three officials at the same time
reach for the magic button to start the clock. Wonder
how they all know when to start on the touch in bounds
when the ball is not thrown into their primary area?

Part of the system has the clock being activated by someone at the table. So it has been suggested that you use similar mechanics as usual to allow the table as well as all 3 officials starting the clock when necessary.

Peace

[Back In The Saddle]

Like Jess mentioned, it's the standard government-required "little black box." It is used to monitor NCAA referees, ensuring that they don't log too many miles in a single day, that they're taking required rest breaks, and that they're not traveling too fast. NTSB inspectors are currently evaluating the data from Steve Welmer's little black box after he suffered a serious mechanical failure during a game recently.

[Back In The Saddle]

Originally Posted by observer

That's my point, all three officials at the same time
reach for the magic button to start the clock. Wonder
how they all know when to start on the touch in bounds
when the ball is not thrown into their primary area?

Well, let's think about this for a minute.

In standard 2 person high school mechanics, the administering official chops the clock. No matter where the ball goes, no matter whose primary it ends up in. So a throw-in from the baseline (hehehe, just twisting the tails of the "endline" folks) to the division line will have both the lead, who administered the throw-in, and the trail, whose area it landed in, watching on-ball. At least briefly.

In NCAAW, a throw-in on the end line has the L administering and counting 5 seconds, while the T is supposed to keep at least a partial eye on the throw-in because he has the chop. If the throw-in goes into the L's area or the C's area, the T is having to look over there to watch for the first touch.

That's nearly as appalling as all three officials starting the clock when using PTS.

But then, the reality is it just isn't that big a deal for any official to sneak a peak at the throw-in. If we didn't, how would we know whose area the throw-in is going to? As a non-administering official, how would I know to pick up a throw-in that came into my area if I'm not keeping at least a partial eye on the throw-in?

In other words, it's a non-issue.