Defender counting out loud during inbound

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by twing1115

I'm a coach and would like to get some clarification. When an offensive team is inbounding the ball I instruct my player who is defending the inbounder to count out loud to five. Yesterday I was told that my players were not allowed to do this. The ref said that I could say anything else "Apples,Apples Apples" but not numbers. I have been searching high and low in a rule book for a rule preventing a team from doing this. The ref gave a warning and said that we could be called for unsportsmanlike or disconsertion. I've read about disconcertion and have only seen explanations that relate to free throws. Please help me out.

Try this, instead. Have your player on the ball try to mirror the ball to make the throw-in difficult, have the other four players deny their men the ball really hard, let the official count to five, and then work on your under-the-basket inbounds play.

There are many other unsporting acts that you can "teach" your team to commit (disconcerting the FT shooter, etc.) in the name of creating a competitive advantage for your team. Unfortunately, none of them is legal. Lots of ways to create anxiety on the part of the opponent. Most involve simply playing hard.