I had a count

[APG]

Originally Posted by Paul LeBoutillier

How many of you guys actually talk to the person running the clock before the game? How about during any TOs? Maybe during the final TO of a close game?

I'll talk to the table crew to get a general feel of experience. To the person running the clock my questions are:

"Have you done this before?
Any questions as to when to start/stop the clock?
Will team fouls be kept track of on the scoreboard?
Will the scoreboard count down :30 and :60 timeouts? If not (this is usually at the middle school level), give us a warning horn with 15 seconds left."

For the official scorer I'll remind:

"Give us a warning at 6/9 team fouls so we know the next foul we'll be shooting free throws (this is especially true if the team foul count is not being kept track of on the scoreboard).
Tell us when a team has used their last timeout (as a caveat, I do like it when the scorer tells us a team has used their last :30 or :60 timeout).
If a player has 5 fouls, tell us right away."

Finally I tell both the scorer and timer, "If there is any questions about fouls, bonus, etc, to get our attention as soon as possible. If it's during a live ball, wait until there's a lull in action."

This usually takes 30-60 seconds at most. Usually don't have a problem at JV/Varsity level, but anything below that, I make it a point to ask these questions.

And finally during a close game game, if we have a timeout, I'll make sure we don't have any disceprancies between the books/scoreboard and remind the timer when to start the clock, especially if the table has been shaky earlier.