Rookie Kicks a Time Out Call
 

Hello,

Tonight in only my 3rd game ever, white team coach sez I want a 30 second timeout....when my team gets the ball back. Blue has possession of the ball and is running up the court towards basket.

I BLOW my whistle and grant the time out to White..which I kicked that since they did not have possesion of ball.

MY RULING: Even though should not have granted timeout, once time out is granted there is NO rescinding it. Since Blue had the Ball at time I blew Whistle, I resumed play at point of interruption with BLUE inbounding the ball to resume Play.


Comments from the Vets...Did I fix my screw up correctly???:mad:

You had an inadvertent whistle, and you were right to grant the TO once the ball was dead. And you were also right to go to the POI, which was the ball back to the team in possession. Good call!

[QUOTE=The_Rookie;716003]Hello,

Tonight in only my 3rd game ever, white team coach sez I want a 30 second timeout....when my team gets the ball back. Blue has possession of the ball and is running up the court towards basket.

I BLOW my whistle and grant the time out to White..which I kicked that since they did not have possesion of ball.

MY RULING: Even though should not have granted timeout, once time out is granted there is NO rescinding it. Since Blue had the Ball at time I blew Whistle, I resumed play at point of interruption with BLUE inbounding the ball to resume Play.

Good Fix!

5.8.3. Situation E: A1 is dribbling the ball in his/her backcourt when Team B head coach requests and is erroneously granted a time-out by an official. RULIING: Team B is entitled to use the time-out since it was requested and granted; once granted it cannot be revoked and is charged to Team B. All privileges and rights permitted during a charged time-out are available to both teams. Play will resume with a Team A throw-in nearest to where play was stopped.

Yes you screwed it up but handled it correctly so in the end, no damage done - except you probably lost a little respect from the Blue team's coach and may question a lot of your calls if you call another one of his games.

But I stopped worrying about what coaches thought of me a long time ago :D

Just one comment on this.....

Note that while it's fine to warn an official about an upcoming timeout request, the white head coach or one of his players has to again request that timeout when they do get the ball back. By rule we can't grant timeout requests for some future indefinite time.

I'm not a mind reader...
 

Last week I had a coach lecture me because, "You should have known I was going to want a time out."

They were visitors and down by at least five. We were administering FTs for a "coaches strategy foul" at the other end. I'm T. His team grabbed the made second FT and threw it in quick. By the time I actually heard him, checked, and granted the TO, the ball was in bounds.

"Now my kids can't run the end line." (At least he didn't call it a baseline.) I gave no response, but I thought several things, including: Have your players call the TO before they throw it in and you won't have that problem.

I don't want to bail on a lane violation, but do you pay attention to this much at all? How much anticipating, if any, do you do?

If it's the end of a game and it's a time-out situation, the officials should be aware and ready for a TO request. That should be pre-gamed. Usually the off-ball official(s) can sneak a quick look at the bench. The coaches should also be smart enough to be giving a visual as well as verbal TO request.

Good coaches will come up and tell you they want a timeout on a made FT, too. And in the spirit of good game management, I'm happy to grant such a timeout based on just that (at the requested time, too).

The coaches should also be smart enough to be giving a visual as well as verbal TO request.

Around here, after meeting with the team captains, we go and shake hands with the coaches. During this greeting I have been asking the coaches to visually and verbally indicate when then want a timeout. I would like to report that this request has been very effective, but only about half the coaches give a visual signal when they want a timeout. I got my arse chewed out a while back from a coach for not giving him a time out. Told him I didn't hear or see him requesting it. So, the next night, same coach, I'm lead and hear what sounds like time out. (His team has the ball) I look over at his bench and see him looking like Moses parting the Red Sea. I blow the whistle and yell time white, Coach looks at me as I'm moving to report the time out, he says I didn't call time out, I was saying widen out. Me, oh sorry, ball back to white and we keep moving. (Most of the coaches around here visually request time out with a fist in the air, or the "T")

Good advice, but what I wonder is why players simply don't mirror their coach when calling time out? If they know their coach wants a T.O., help the coach out a little.

This hasn't happened, hardly at all anyway, since they gave the coach's the ability to request a TO. Players just don't mirror it.

I've actually been mentioning this is my pregame the last couple of years, to both coaches and captains. It is not catching on.

Let The Good Times Roll ...
 

Most, but not all, basketball officials played some type of organized basketball. That said, most officials should be able to anticipate when a coach might request a timeout. Opposing team goes on a 12-2 run. Or, team is down a few points with less than two minutes to go. Be sure to look at the coach after the other team scores a basket. Rules and mechanics don't demand that we do this, but good officials will always do this.

Maybe they're not listening. :D Try adding a joke first.

Gone Fishin' ...
 

... for Mark Padgett.