Partner told me this today

[Mark Padgett]

Worked some MS spring league games this morning with an experienced guy. He told me that last week he was working with a second year guy. Here's what happened in one of their spring league JV games.

Team A scores and puts on a full court press. B1 inbounds to B2 and team B is having a hard time getting the ball across midcourt. All of a sudden, his partner blows his whistle and calls a three second violation on A1. Yes - A1. He was standing in what was his frontcourt lane but, of course, his team didn't have the ball.

My partner said he went over to the guy and asked him why he made the call. The guy replied that A1 was in the lane for three seconds and that he (the partner) had even yelled at him to get out of the lane twice!

My partner calmly explained the rule about three seconds requiring team control and the guy said, "Are you sure?" My partner said he replied, "Am I sure? You're asking me 'Am I Sure'? What are you - a coach?"

He then announced there was an inadvertent whistle and they resumed play.

He told me that was a new one for him. I told him it would have been a new one for me too.

[JugglingReferee]

Not sure if this newbie had 1 year of experience twice, or not.

[Tio]

perfect example where common sense could have helped.

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by Tio

perfect example where common sense could have helped.

Common sense has nothing to do with it. Simply properly understanding and enforcing the rule as written would have handled the matter perfectly.

[amusedofficial]

Who declared the inadvertent whistle?

[ABC Coach]

Send that new ref here to Africa with us...he'll fit right in with our refs!

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by amusedofficial

Who declared the inadvertent whistle?

Obviously, it was the experienced guy. BTW - I asked him how the rest of the game went and he said it wasn't bad. Apparently the other guy thought every foul he called was a "hand check", however, since he used that mechanic pretty much every time regardless of what the foul was really for.

Ironically, I watched a young kid do that same thing in a park district league game in which one of my granddaughters was playing a few months ago. It wasn't the same guy, but maybe they got the same training or something.

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Tio

perfect example where common sense could have helped.

Why common sense? Rules knowledge would have been sufficient.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by Nevadaref

You left out the most important part.

Why is it the most important part? The OTHER TEAM HAD THE BALL. That is all we needed to know. If there is no team control, location is irrelevant.

[Nevadaref]

Accurately reading the post is also important.