And I'll be happy to explain to an upset AD that it's his decision, here are my reasons why I'd prefer the layout as requested, and go from there. I can handle adult conversations.

I find that administrators are normally appreciative of officials who want games to go as smoothly as possible.

Tableservice
 

Last Friday the home team had the timer in the middle, the visiting book next to him, then the official book at the end closest the home team. I didn't like it, but my R didn't particularly see a need to shift things around. Nothing came of it, though it seemed goofy to report fouls to a person at the end of the table instead of a person towards the middle.
I'd prefer the official book next to the timer, as the manual suggests. I'd also wish the official scorer would wear stripes. Easier to report to, and it would more fully visualize the fact that the scorer is a neutral entity.

And I prefer to stay out of issues that are not under my authority.

I have never had a scorer wearing stripes. I personally don't care where anyone sits; I'll find out who the official scorer is prior to the game anyway, so it all works out.

I actually quite often forget who the official scorer is while reporting. But I'm so loud and tall it hasn't be an issue yet, no matter with whom I'm making eye contact.

I never had a scorer wear stripes either, that is until this last Sat. I had the privilege of working my second DII game of the year and this particular table had the scorer wearing stripes, and it's probably no coincidence that it was the best table I've ever worked with.

For us that have never had a scorer wear stripes, we wouldn't think twice about it, but now that I've worked with it, I wish it was more than just a recommendation.

Our school has striped "pullovers" like the construction workers wear - but in the black and white stripes. I like being able to look across the court and know who is "official".

Trust, then Verify
 

One other beneficial thing about knowing to whom to report at the table is this. On the floor, communication between officials is essential. And much communication transpires by the visual cues we each give each other: the slight nod of the head, the discreet thumb-up, the brief hand to the chest confirming one has the last shot, squaring up on the play to show one is on-ball, the open hand to delay making the ball live, etc.
Does anyone else sense how such visual cues also seem to be important when communicating with the official scorer?
Knowing to whom to report offers the opportunity to verify that he/she "got it". Usually this verification occurs when, after receiving the information, the scorer looks down, turning his/her attention from receiving your communication to the book to record it. Other times it comes by a slight nod of the head.
When a quizzical look on the face of a scorer takes place after reporting a foul, for instance, that's when I know I better clarify what I'm trying to communicate so we get things right.
I had a scorer last Thursday who, while we would report a foul, always had his head down, recording the foul based on what he thought he saw on the floor rather than what we were reporting. Drove me crazy until I discreetly told him to wait until after we reported it.
About as crazy as when timers click the next team foul forward before we report it so that when we look up at the board to see if it'll be a one-and-one, we see the number of fouls resulting from the call we haven't yet reported. Many correctable error situations could be avoided if the timers wouldn't do that.

Scorers that don't look at me when I report fouls drive me absolutely NUTS. I hate it with a passion.

I had a scorer and timer in a JH game this fall that were absolutely AWFUL. Scorer wouldn't look at us when we were reporting, they were constantly talking, missing things. When we would remind them of things, they were condescending. We got the "Yeah....okay" a few times. They were just very flippant and rude the entire time. They were two female teachers from the school and didn't take it seriously at all.

Other than that day, the table crews we have are usually very good, especially for Varsity/JV nights. The one thing I notice is that most timers have no clue about the replacement interval for a DQ or injured player. I usually try to remind them before the game about when the horn should be buzzed.

Me too, atleast I haven't dove for a loose ball yet!

Stripes are nice...the scorers and timers wear stripes at our State Tournament games.

My only preference is that the scorer sit behind the big "X" on the floor. :cool:

Don't they get in the way when you're at Xavier? :cool: :p

For the past few years I've been doing scoreboard/timer & shot clock, I've had copies of "Instructions To & Duties of the Scorers" & Instructions To & Duties to the Timers", as well as the current copy of the WIAA Shot Clock Operation Instructions with me at all times.

The one big problem, however is when those doing books are high school students & the only person they'll listen to is the coach. Unfortunately at the same time, those same HS students doing book, have either a cell phone glued to their hand or friends sitting with them.

Generally at my alma mater, there is no specified setup asked for from the AD for the table, it's however the table sees it fit.

Copy of Instructions To & Duties of Scorers & Timers of Basketball Games:
http://www.nfhs.org/Workarea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=2867

Copy of the WIAA Shot Clock Operation Instructions:
http://wiaa.com/ConDocs/Con133/Shot%...Rules%20_2.pdf

At the sub-varsity level, you are lucky to get a conscious human being to do the book and the clock. You get what you get. I will not allow the official scorer/timer to be on the phone during my games. If I notice there are people distracting the scorer/timer, I will make the distractions leave the area. You do the best you can with what you are given. At the varsity level, the table crew is usually pretty good. You strike me as a little more fanatical about the job than normal.