Speaking of timeouts....
 

Had an interesting game tonight. BV 4A school against a 1A. 1A jumped all over them in the first half, leading by as many as 17 or 18. 4A righted the ship and started to chip away. Game was tied late in the 3rd, then 4A went up by 10 early 4th. But, a couple of quick scores sandwiched around a couple of missed free throws and suddenly it's a 4 point game in the last minute. 1A knocks the ball loose and covers it on the floor like a football fumble. Two players (at least) signal timeout..........which they didn't have. Coach had an attack. "I didn't call timeout"

"Your players did, coach."

He turns to the kids and asked who called it. They all denied it. Go figure.

He asked what number, and I didn't know.

Question: Does everybody report who requested the timeout? This is something we always used to do, but it kind of went away. I realize now that at least part of the reason is that players are so seldom the ones that make the request.

And if you don't know, do you consider this to be a big mistake?

A footnote: On the way home, I realized that the one thing we did wrong was not have a timeout at all. Once I got the facts straight, we went directly to the free throw line.

Final question: If a team is granted an excess timeout, can they specify full or 30?

It is pretty rare for a player to request a time out any more, and I forget to get the player's number more often than I remember. Before I report it though, I'll try to spot the kid and get his number. If not, I just report the time out and don't report the requester. It's not right, but it's a pretty small deal.

I'm not aware of any "protocol" published for exactly how to handle this. However, since we are granting the excess time out request as if it were any other time out, I'm going to allow the coach to choose 30 or full. They will take their time out, then we'll resume play with the technical foul free throws.

case book concerning excess time-outs
 

10.1.7 SITUATION: A1 requests and Team A is granted a time-out late in the fourth quarter. Team A had already used its three 60-second time-outs & its two 30-second time-outs.

RULING: Team A is granted the time-out and is charged with a technical foul. No indirect foul is charged to the head coach.

The only question I have is why is an excessive time-out called yet according to the case book play no indirect is called against the coach, or is this a direct against the coach?

Why do you think this should be on the coach?

What section of Rule 10 is this infraction listed under? Find that, and you've found your answer. ;)

I believe you have a rule book with you. Look through rule 10 and find which section contains the part about excessive timeouts.

Another thought, towards the back of the rule book is a page that charts the various technical fouls and their penalties. Find that chart after you find the rule.

It's under rule 10-1-7 on page 58 of the rules manual.

On Page 71 of the rules manual on the Technical-Foul Penalty Summary, it states that when an escessive time-out is called, a team foul is charged & assessed against the team as well as the 2 FTs and Throw-In at Division Line for the opponent. An excess time-out is considered to be an administrative technical.

I had only my second player-requested timeout this season on Monday night. PG got trapped about 30 feet from the basket out in front of the table and I granted it as Trail. The funny thing was that my partner came flying in granting it as well, which led me to figure out that he was ball-watching quite a bit. Oh that and the fact that after a rebound when I was the new Trail, he called a travel on a player laying on the ground who caught the ball and then turned his shoulders to pass to his teammate. Keep in mind the player was laying on the block of the lane about six feet in front of me and my partner was the new Lead on the opposite side of the court.

He also refused to give a T for a player entering the court without being beckoned (Said it would just make people upset), and didn't like it that I warned one of the benches for their assistant coach running his mouth.

Rant over.

Oh, yes I report the player's number if he/she requested the timeout.

Absolutely. Every time!

Has happened to me once this yr already - player on the floor before he got tied up for a jump ball. (that's when I normally see it)

Players Have Numbers, What A Surprise ...
 

Good point. Thirty years ago, when only players could request a timeout, we always got the players number. Now that coaches call almost all timeouts, we've gotten so accustomed to reporting that the "C" requested a timeout, it surprises us when a player requests it. Coaches don't have numbers. They're all "C".

Happened to me yesterday (except it wasn't excessive). Coach said, "I didn't call TO." I replied, "I know, Number 3 did."

Coach shrugged and went into his team's huddle.

(And, no, I didn't correct him on the use of the phrase "call TO".)

The only real time I see players requesting time outs is in the situation JAR described. Loose ball on the floor, someone recovers the ball and tries to save a possession with the time out.

For what it's worth, I'm pretty good and identifying which player requests the time out and reporting it to the table.

I've found that scorers are less interested in getting the number -- by the time I've gotten to the point where I report the number, they're already looking down.

But maybe you should correct BillyMac on the post right above yours. ;)

Don't Blow My Cover ...
 

I'm undercover, pretending to be one of, "Them".