Signal the '3' then wave it off......

[ma_ref]

Originally Posted by Kelvin green

My opinion waiting to mark the three until he comes back to the floor is going to be way late and cause more problems than waiting

The kid gets fouled and you have not marked it as a three, you are going to have a hard time selling something. (If he is back on the floor; he no longer is in shooting motion)...

I signal the three as he is going up (signals that he is in act of shooting) so if he gets foued, it's easy to know it was a three...

As you say, going up with the ball a good deal of the time will result in a shot, but not always...I've seen many times kids go up for what should be a shot, then see the nearby defender and dish it off at the last second to a teammate, thinking the shot will be blocked. If they're still fouled during the pass, then it's not in the act of shooting, and they only get FTs if their team is in the bonus. So now if you've got your 3 signal while he was going up, you've got to explain to the offensive team why you've signaled 3 points, yet they're not getting any FTs (unless in bonus, in which case you explain why it's 1 and 1 or 2, instead of 3). This is why, getting back to my previous assertions, I think you hold off on the 3 signal until the ball is released, and by then you know if the horn has gone off and whether or not the ball was released in time. If they get the ball off in time, go up with your signal. If not, then no 3 signal, and wave everything off...

And it's not going to be "way late" for returning to the floor. These kids don't have Jordan-esque hang time. After they release their shot at the top of their jump, you've got maybe a half-second or so before they return to the floor.