Bonehead play of the season. (I think I am the only one who posts these, I have no pride) JV Girls game last nite. Check the ball, seems a little flat, but it bounced fine. I ask the coach if this was the game ball he looks at it and says that is the game ball. No big deal. We play the game, a TON of fouls, and about 1:45 later we finish. Varsity officials take the floor. They confer around the table with the game ball and ask the varsity coach if there is another one they can use this one is a little flat. He comes over, with the JV coach and they get another ball. They compare the two "game" balls and discover something interesting. The game ball we used, and the varsity almost used, was a BOYS sized basketball!! They did not have a "game" ball for the girls so for the varsity game they used a "practice" ball.
I can't WAIT for the next set of schedules to come out. I will probably be doing all "B" games located at least 45 min from town!! At least the Varsity guys did not pick it up either!

We started a girls game out with a boys ball once. We walked out to the scorers table with the girls ball. We went over to the table to retrieve the ball for the opening jump and the scorekeeper handed us the ball. There was a boys ball under table also. We made it up and down the court a couple times before one of the girls made a comment. Now before I toss the ball, I look at it again.

AK ref SE

We did that a couple years ago in a Varsity game.
Plus, we were on TV for 15 seconds as a little extra bonus. ;)

I can't tell a boys' ball from a girls' ball. I have huge hands, and it's all just round to my feel. I always ask both coaches if "this ball is okay" and then go with it. If it's not right, at least they both had the chance to change it.

Been there done that. Given the size of high schoolers these days I don't know why all don't use the mens ball.

Sad day!
 

The girls ball is has a minimum circumference of 28.5 inches. Therefore, the 28.5 or 285 is always stamped on the ball. Look for it.

I don't know if I'd call it a "sad day". It happens pretty often, especially to those of us who do primarily boy's games. The larger ball feels perfectly normal, so sometimes it just doesn't "click". It shouldn't happen, but it does. I also think the girls should use the larger ball at the HS level and above.

By the way, once you start the girls' game with the larger ball, you have to continue for the whole game, since it's not correctable under 2-10! :D

Chuck

Glad to see others have made this error. (With the exception of BktBallRef) Chuck is right, it just didn't click. Since this is girls season, I am not even sure why there was a boys ball out there. Like I said I was glad that the Varsity guys did not notice the size difference either! Needless to say, that is one of those mistakes you only make once!

fletch,
The reason we had a Boys ball on the floor was that the girls' season was winding down and the Boys' was turning on.
We only had one official touch the ball before the game, so we pinned it on him.
But, quite honestly, even though this happened to me, I don't really give the ball much thought as long as the bounce is satisfactory. :)
mick

Yeah, it took big balls to write that :p

As a girl's coach, I always try to check the ball they intend to use so that we don't have this issue. And I always have a good quality game ball ready when they don't have one. But then again, we play some leagues where a boy's game frequently precedes a girl's game, and you always want to have the right ball on the court.

And since I mainly handle the 285, I immediately notice the difference when I pick up the men's ball. It is distinctly heavier and sits in the hand differently. But I can see that if you are always using the men's size, you would think nothing of tossing it up at the start of a girl's game. But any good girl's player will note the difference immediately.

I think it is easy to tell, the girls balls always have 285 stamped somewhere on the ball.

That is why it goes under the category of OOPS! I will be looking for now on for the nifty 285 on the ball. Like I said one of those mistakes that you won't make again. Neither will my partner or the varsity crew!!

fletch,
I noticed you didn't use the word "never".
Good call. :)
mick

Good call.

It is rare but been known to happen!!