Good Intentional Foul Call

[bard]

Wednesday night, freshman boys. A ahead by 1 with 10 seconds left. B inbounding at division line and not yet in bonus.

With about 7 seconds left, A coach starts yelling "Foul! Foul!" A1 runs and grabs B1 (who has ball) by the arm and around the waist. Clearly not incidental contact and certainly no play for the ball. My P, who had not had a very good game up to now, quickly signals the intentional. The coach, who had been howling all night, goes balistic. No T, but the kid makes one and we play OT. A still wins.

Told my P he nailed the call.

[ScottParks]

Sounds like the right call. Where was the play on the ball?

[bard]

Right around the free throw line extended. I was Lead and was ready for the offensive player to drive for the basket.

[RookieDude]

...maybe it's too early...but am I missing something here?
Why would Team A want to foul with 10 seconds left and ahead by 1?
Is this a new coaching strategy?

Dude

[ScottParks]

Not new. They aren't yet in the bonus. So you force B to inbound the ball which takes more time (theoretically) than pushing for a shot.

[RookieDude]

...but to yell "Foul, Foul" is just asking for what happened...an intentional foul called. I would prefer to let my team play aggresive defense and not take the chance on the intentional foul. JMO

Dude

[Edited by RookieDude on Dec 13th, 2002 at 10:28 AM]

[BigJoe]

I had the opposite happen the other night. Team A was ahead by three points with about a minute left. The fouls were 7 for team B and one for team A. I called two quick fouls on team B as they were trying to get Team A into the bonus. Then my partner was the trail and he let a couple of slaps at the ball that hit arms go and when the player B2 fouled a little harder so they could get the call, he went intentional foul! The call itself was bad enough, but he didn't make the proper signal. No one in the gym, including me knew what was going on. Needless to say, Coach of Team A wasn't too pleased. He was screaming "what is the call". After the game we had alot to talk about on the way home. When you know a team is trying to foul, you must call the first thing that happens so you don't find yourself in this situation. I agree that if a player doesn't go for the ball that an intentional is warranted. What I'm saying is you have to recognize the game situation as well. This will be in my pregame from now on. It didn't make me look very good either. Remember, you're only as good as your partner.

[williebfree]

I do not have a regular partner....

Some nights I look like a polished veteran, while other nights I look like a first-game fumblin-bumblin rookie...

[BigJoe]

On the previous post, I made a mistake. A2 fouled and was called intentional. I called two quick fouls on team A as they were trying to get team B in the bonus. I get confused sometimes.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Last Friday night, Home team up by ten points with two minutes left in the game. H1 has the ball in his front court in front of his team's bench. I am the Trail, Table Side. Coach V(isitors) screams for everybody in the gym to hear: "Foul him!" Immediately, V1 grabs H1's left arm and then wraps his arms around H1. Easy call: clenched fists over my head. Coach V is beside himself; he asks my partner how I could have called an intentional foul, all he wanted his player to do was foul his opponent so the clock would stop. My partner had to bite his tongue to keep from laughing.

[theboys]

Hey, BigJoe.

Just wanted to make a coach's comment about calling fouls quickly at the end of the game. Had a game a year ago in which we were down by 6 or 7 with a couple of minutes left. Kids were told to be more aggressive on defense, to try to steal the ball. Each time we stepped up our defense we were whistled for fouls. After the third one I did what every good howler does - I politely ;-) asked the referee why he was calling the game so tightly at that point, when he hadn't called the game tightly up to that point.

He replied that our players were trying to foul the opposing players. I pleasantly told him we weren't trying to foul, we were trying to steal the ball.

He told me to "shut up". I did the only thing a self-respecting howler could do in that situation - I told him to shut up. I heard we didn't play any better after I left the gym.

The moral to this story: Even if you are calling fouls more quickly, don't admit it. I've thought long and hard, and I can't think of anything else I could learn from this experience.

[RookieDude]

Originally posted by theboys
He told me to "shut up". I did the only thing a self-respecting howler could do in that situation - I told him to shut up. I heard we didn't play any better after I left

You had to leave after just ONE technical?
Or had you "Politely" had other words with this official?

Dude

[BigJoe]

Hey, BigJoe.

Just wanted to make a coach's comment about calling fouls quickly at the end of the game. Had a game a year ago in which we were down by 6 or 7 with a couple of minutes left. Kids were told to be more aggressive on defense, to try to steal the ball. Each time we stepped up our defense we were whistled for fouls. After the third one I did what every good howler does - I politely ;-) asked the referee why he was calling the game so tightly at that point, when he hadn't called the game tightly up to that point.

the boys,

That is why we get the big bucks to know when you want your kids to foul or not. Most of the time it is proceded by you yelling "foul him"!!!!!
It is also your job to tell the kids to play the ball when attempting to foul so you don't get an intentional foul called against your team.
I also think it is our job to know the situation so we can avoid an unnecessary intentional foul or worse. Just MHO.

"Keep 'em straight up!"

[theboys]

RookieDude - actually I was a spectator at that one - one of son's AAU games.