Virginia-Georgetown

[TGR]

This is an excellent example of officials communicating with one another and the table. Obviously, the officials knew that the team had no timeouts left. As you said, nice job of preventive officiating.

Here is a situation I had and would like others to comment on. With 2 seconds left in the half, Team A was inbounding under Team B's basket. A 1 threw a long lob pass down court in hopes of a last second shot. B 5 jumped high to intercept the pass, gained possession and returned to the floor. B 4 signals to me for a timeout. I blow my whistle and grant it. The coach for Team B is visibly upset and thinks that I should have passed on the timeout. To add more fuel to the flames, the clock shows 0.1 seconds remaining. I tell the coach that the timeout stands. During the timeout, I consult my partner as to the starting of the clock. He tells me that he is certain that I blew my whistle with 1 second remaining. Since only 0.9 seconds elapsed, I left the clock where it was. We ended the half with B 1 just tossing the ball to B 2; no last second shot even attempted. Now, for my own sake, I called the timeout by B 4 because I truly felt that Team B could have gotten a shot off. Unfortunately, only 0.1 remained. Please respond with comments.

[mattbray]

Anyone see the Virginia-Gtown game last night. If the Virginia player really did call time out, it seems to me the ref did a great job of preventative officiating with a no call. I am still amazed at the response of Georgetown head coach. Would anyone out there in that situation give the TO, technical, and game winning free throws? What an idiot!!!

[Todd VandenAkker]

quote:

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Originally posted by TGR on 03-16-2000 12:36 PM
This is an excellent example of officials communicating with one another and the table. Obviously, the officials knew that the team had no timeouts left. As you said, nice job of preventive officiating.

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So where were you when Chris Webber was calling for a time out? Was it Webber that screwed up, or really the officials because they granted it?

quote:

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With 2 seconds left in the half, Team A was inbounding under Team B's basket. A 1 threw a long lob pass down court in hopes of a last second shot. B 5 jumped high to intercept the pass, gained possession and returned to the floor. B 4 signals to me for a timeout. I blow my whistle and grant it. The coach for Team B is visibly upset and thinks that I should have passed on the timeout. ... Now, for my own sake, I called the timeout by B 4 because I truly felt that Team B could have gotten a shot off. Unfortunately, only 0.1 remained. Please respond with comments.

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Here is where the danger of the preventative officiating perspective comes up in this situation. "White wants a time out, but they don't have any left. Do I grant it, then give them a technical? Let's see . . . how much time is left? If I call the time out, could they get a shot off? If I ignore it, but the coach really wants it, how will he react? If I ignore it, will the opposing coach go nuts? Etc., etc., etc." When we start taking it upon ourselves to ignore a legitimate request, we're opening the door for more trouble than we want. Yea, we might sometimes get a pat on the back for making a good "no call" on that time out request, but we might also get a good ear full from one or the other coach. And is it our job to decide when to ignore it and when to grant it? Not that it can't or shouldn't EVER happen (depending, for example, on the level of the game, or whether it's a blowout anyway), but it seems to me the safest (and most proper?) course of action is to grant the time out when the coach or player asks for one. Then, if the clock runs out or shows zero time without the horn going off, maybe you could rule that the time out cannot be granted because the quarter or half is over. The coach who gets the time out here might be mad, but it was not the official who requested it. That's my take on this one, anyway.

[DrC.]

Sorry guys, I am going to play devils advocate. I'll go along with not granting the timeout if it's an 8th grade game or less and it is an intown REC league. Otherwise, I don't think it's our right to not grant a timeout if one is requested. That coach has the right to be mad. If we told the coach and made the effort to tell him/her that they have NO timeouts left, then it is the responsibility of the coach to alert his/her team they have NO TIMEOUTS LEFT. This is a mental part of the game the coach and players have to deal with. There aren't too many mental parts of basketball for them to remember. Anywhere from the jumpball to the last tic of the clock. If they request a timeout a second into the the 2nd qtr or a second left in the 4th OT, I'm granting it to them and let the coach deal with the player about clock mgmt. A player doesn't MEAN to foul the opponent, doesn't MEAN to
create a violation but he/she does and we call it. Why should we treat the calling of a timeout any different ???
Boy, I had alot on my chest about that one!!!

[Brian Watson]

I think at the HS level and up we need to call it like we see it. Personally, I think the coach should be giving the player, not the official the earful, and I think most good coaches do. Should the officials have ignored the infamous Chris Webber TO back in '93? Until I hear the horn, I'm going to call the TO. Otherwise we become part of the game, and that shouldn't happen.

And before anyone states the obvious, yes, I know we are part of the game. My meaning is; I know a lot of officials who want to "let the players" decide the outcome of close games. They will let quite a few legitimate fouls and violations go, to avoid from having their call "decide" the game. I think if we look the other way and make a no-call we are doing just the opposite, we start shaping the outcome, rather than letting the players do it.

[Bart Tyson]

I've had times where player momentarily gets trapped. About the same time the player gets rid of the ball or breaks the trap the coach standing next to me says T.O. I see player breaks the trap so i don't grant it and the game plays on.

[Madine30]

I think during live ball action we must grant the timeout. But here is a preventative officiating situation. We have all seen the play where team A player is falling out of bounds, and asks for a timeout to keep possession. But what if he steps out of bounds just before he calls the timeout. Are we going to give the ball to team B, and grant the timeout to team A. In this situation I am going to give the ball to team B, and ask the team A player if he still wants the timeout.