Final Game(s) Report - Girls 8th
 

End of season tournament (8th Grade girls A-Team) -
Nothing of note Friday or Saturday's early game. That brings me to the championship game.
The Play-
20 pt lead 3 minutes left in the 4th qtr. B23 forearm push from behind to A1 while shooting a "clear path" layup. All other defenders trying to catch-up with the play. Weaker of two officials on the play.

U calls the foul and reports, no cross. Coach allowed to attend to A1. R stays with A1 until coach arrives. R and U meet and discuss. No additional signals given. 4-5 minutes of delay later as A1 is being tended to, R gets A1's sub to shoot free throws with lane cleared.

B23 did not return to the game.

Of course the crowd is rumbling as same two teams played last week in season finale and B23 committed same type of foul on same A1 (I didn't witness that event as I was at sons BB practice). One less-intelligent and uninvited parent went to the scene of the crime. Then her spouse joined, not sure why, maybe to extract the buttinsky. Nothing but murmering and vocal complaining came of the event. The play itelf was cheap as opposed to B23 not knowing how to foul properly, IMO. At dinner later with a teammate's family I explained that the situation was handled as it should have been from a game point of view.

The question that I don't know the answer to is:
Some kids surprise you by doing stupid things. If a kids stupid actions doesn't surprise the coach, is the coach at fault for inflicting that player upon other players?
Is it a coaches responsibility to not play a known knucklehead?
(Not by any BB rule I am aware of).

I will attempt to get ask the R what the ruling was.

Interesting question - While you're looking at 8th graders and what a coach should do/know about what an immature child/young adult or a troubled youth/teen will do, ask the question, what should Dennis Rodman's coaches have done? Ya knew he was gonna do something right?

I have coached troubled youths and there is a very fine line between trying to give them something to be good at, grow, mature, build confidence, as you try to coach and mentor them, etc. and oh my goodness I can't believe he did that!

One of the first U10 Rec games I ever reffed in a fairly nice suburb involved a young man who had "issues" that were noticeable to me minutes into the game. Eventually, he intentionally kicked a boy while on the ground and I had the coach sit him down the rest of the game. He had a great coach who was trying to help him. After the game and handshakes as they were leaving the gym, this 10 yr old "jumped another boy" and had to be restrained. Sad. League took care of it.

As a ref and coach, you can only do so much.

O.J.Mayo??

Ha, ha, sorta. But that brings up an interesting point.

Some of us who have been on the Forum for a while discussed OJ Mayo and his antics several yrs ago while he was in HS (technical, suspension, court, ESPN game, etc). I for one was curious as to what he would turn into in college/the pros. Example - would he more like Ron Artest or Lebron?

I know some of his issues in college (USC), but am just curious - other than apparently playing some pretty good ball, has anyone heard of any issues, problems, negative press? I haven't. I'm hoping he has matured and can be smart with his money and fame and has seen the light other unfortnately never do.

Not much you can do as a ref about a player who has issues. But I don't understand why that wasn't an "intentional" foul. Either for excessive contact, or for a non-basketball play, or both. Seems pretty obvious to me.

Seems like they ruled it an intentional or flagrant, even though there was no signal given to indicate as much. The FTs were shot with the lane cleared.

I will attempt to ask the R what the ruling was.

Saw A coach yesterday, she said the officials ruled the contact as flagrant.

Sounds right, then. There's no signal for flagrant, so not doing "the cross" here is appropriate.