Pregame Activities

[grunewar]

Georgetown vs Louisville GV.

"A pregame melee involving players from both teams is being reviewed by the schools and the Big East conference. The fight was filmed by the television crew broadcasting the game."

"The incident occurred during warmups. About an hour before the game, Louisville was running a lap around the court when one of the Georgetown players reportedly stuck out her foot and tripped a Louisville player. Words were exchanged and soon several players from both teams were throwing punches. Eventually, the sides were separated and order was restored."

"Because the altercation took place more than 15 minutes prior to tip-off, the officials did not have jurisdiction over the event at the time. No technical fouls were assessed. Neither coach wanted to comment on the incident until talking to players and viewing the tape. Georgetown also refused to let its players talk about it."

Entire article is at:
washingtonpost.com

Anyone ever see or experience anything like this? I believe in VA HS teams are not allowed to take "the pregame lap around the court" for this specific reason. But, this was well before the game.

In your pregame I suppose ya discuss calling it tight. Do you bring it up at the Captain's meeting? Coaches meeting? Thoughts?

[bob jenkins]

Originally Posted by grunewar

In your pregame I suppose ya discuss calling it tight. Do you bring it up at the Captain's meeting? Coaches meeting? Thoughts?

I do, usually along the lines of "I don't know what specifically happened, and I'm not assessing any blame, but we won't have anything like that tonight. Just play basketball. Understood?"

[BillyMac]

NFHS 2002-2003 BASKETBALL POINTS OF EMPHASIS

3. Sporting Behavior – Pre-game Situations: The committee discussed specific, inappropriate pre-game situations that must be stopped immediately. Coaches must demonstrate leadership by immediately putting an end to these practices. Officials must be prepared to stop these unsporting acts and penalize the offending team(s) if necessary. Teams are deliberately running through or disrupting the opponent’s pre-game warm-up. Teams are also competing for the center circle when entering the court or following player introductions.

Suggestions for improved behavior:

The state or local athletic conference should establish appropriate pre-game procedures and protocols. A policy could be established confining teams to their own free-throw semi-circle for pre-game huddles or rituals or that only the home team utilizes the center circle.

Coaches should take an active role and establish guidelines for their teams and permit only those pre-game rituals that promote sporting behavior and cannot be interpreted as taunting or baiting the opponent.

Officials should be prepared to assess a technical foul to a team member/team demonstrating these unsporting acts. The specific inappropriate actions of a few team members may be individually penalized or the entire team may be assessed one technical foul, if they collectively engage in any inappropriate behavior(s). Since all team members are considered bench personnel before the game and during intermissions, the head coach would also be charged indirectly with the technical foul (10-4-1d; 2-8-1).

[grunewar]

Good verbiage Bob. Thanks.

Originally Posted by BillyMac

The state or local athletic conference should establish appropriate pre-game procedures and protocols. A policy could be established confining teams to their own free-throw semi-circle for pre-game huddles or rituals or that only the home team utilizes the center circle.

In VA at our State Clinic we were informed that both teams were prohibited from using the center circle for pre-game huddles. I've had to enforce it several times this yr.

[Adam]

pregame, freshman boys last night; H was running their 3 on 2 pre-game drill, in which they sprinted to the division line before turning around in their drill. V was running a similar drill, but standing at half court in three lines instead. I had to remind V to stay on their side of the line.