Delay following a timeout
 

NFHS 7-5-1 says that after a time out, if the offensive team is not ready, you place the ball down and start your 5 second count. My question is, what happens if the offense is out on the court and ready for throw in, but the defensive team is still in the huddle?

I had this exact situation last night. I hit them with a delay of game after 3 attempts to break it up, which got their attention, but I think I was wrong. My partner suggested that I just hand the ball for a throw in (as in 7-5-1a), but my fear is that once the offense gets going, there will be a mad rush off the bench area and that would just cause confusion. I also felt that a T would have been too severe, but as I am reading the rule book today, i think that is what I should have done.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Just put the ball in play. You won't have any problems getting teams out of their huddles after that.

The main thing to make sure of here is not to penalize one team when you don't penalize another. If you gave Team A time to get out last time, don't put the ball in play immediately next time because Team B didn't come out. Handle this situation early in the game and you won't have issues.

Put it in play. If the offense scores, start your count after a second or two. Call the violation if you get to 5. Rinse and repeat, but if you get to a second violation (on the same sequence), issue the T.

The Throwiner ???
 

Remember, you can also do this on any throwin, if a "throwiner" is not made available right away, not just after a timeout.