7B boys game. Tall kid for visitors on the line. He aims and aims and aims. I'm trail and doing the count and all of a sudden realize I'm at 10! To be honest, I was so caught off guard that I didn't blow the whistle! The kid finally got the shot up at around 12 seconds.

I said something to the coach at halftime. He said the kid was 2 for 17 from the line in their last game, and they told him to slow down. His first time to the line in the 2nd half, he nailed two straight before the count got to 5.

"1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 9.5, 9.6, 9.7 9.8, 9.9, 9.99."

:-)

Z

I would never coach a kid to take that much time (and I am sure that is not what his coaches had in mind). I would be surprised if he made that FT after 12 seconds of aiming it. That usually just leads to bad thoughts, tense release, and bad results. What happened with the long count FT?

In a jr hi game I played in, many a yr ago, I got called for a 10 second count by a ref who was not visibly counting -- who called it as I released the ball. Most folks, including my coach, thought it could not have been more than 7 or 8 secs (I'm not even sure I knew there was a 10 second rule at the time and it didn't feel like I took significantly more time than usual) -- looked like the ref thought: oh no, I haven't been counting, seems like a long time, tweet. (Coach got 2 Ts on that one, back in the days that it took three for an ejection . . . .)

<i>What happened with the long count FT?</i>

He missed...

just curious, hawk. if you were shooting a FT, how do you know if he had a visible count? especially as a junior high player?!?

chuck

Trying not to bring up the NBA, But remember a few years back when Karl Malone would shoot free throws he would take a long time, and the fans would count how long it took him.

AK ref SE

exceptional peripheral vision?

No personal knowowledge -- as I said, I don't think I even knew that rule existed at the time. The reason my coach went ballistic was that he said there was no count, and my dad, who watches officials out of curiosity (guess it's a family trait) made the same observation. And we know that my dad and the coach were completely unbiased and could not possibly have been mistaken . . .

I understand what you are implying; not to call a 10 second violation. Many officials have given me insight on what to call and what not to. For example, I blew a minor oob violation on a junior high 7th grade game along the end line after a made basket. Pressing wasn't even allowed (until after both teams 5th game) and there wasn't a defensive player within 20' of the inbounding player. These same officials have also told me not to call three seconds without first warning (at this level). My question with the ten seconds free throw count; would you call it at a varsity level or stall as you imply here. Are we not making these calls at the lower level as a means of instruction? I do let the players know, away from other players and not in front of the coach, when they are violating on these types of infractions. Again, I'm talking about JH and lower level games.

Me thinks the key is executing the visable count. I notice few (zebras) do it but its in the rule book as a must do.

Its part of our contribution to the game. Let the other players see it and learn. We are teaching BB rules that coach's don't. Thats cool.

I'm always impressed how just initiating a dramatic "closely garded" count gets the ball moving out front. I'd be real hard pressed not to go to 12 but all I can do is:

show the count (by rule)
enforce the rule (by count)

Just be consistent.

Ya know _ I work strictly recreation ball (jrNBA affiliated) And alot of my partners are saying we're trying to teach them basketball. Well - Supposedly its a progressive calling league (as you get it older it gets tight) and I agree with that. Our oldest cross court (7 boys)I call alot of 8-9 and 10-11 games (some 12-15) and when a partner tells me to back it down some at 8-9 I cant help but to say and there gunna learn its not ok to do this when? So we sit here and say MS is for "learning" the game. Then lets teach it. Call the violation. Even in the 12-15 year old league (basically MS) I dont hesitate to give a quick explanation to the kid. Clock is stopped why not? Coaches wont have a problem with it. Now one coach questioned my judgement about as to why i explained a travel to one kid but not the other. Simple- One kid wasnt half the basketball player as the other. I may be out of line here but call the 10 sec and explain it to him. If he's got one more shot say one shot play the miss. If it was his second - B's ball. Teach them by calling, Not by not calling. If they make it to high school your reeking havoc on those referees and those coaches to have to teach it when it should have been taught at the MS level. One thing that got me was I was observing the game before my first game today and the referees were only calling reaches and over the backs... I thought to myself
"Man these guys are killing me if/when I get these two teams"

I didnt know reaching in had its own signal?

Anyway...
I'm sure i'll a different opnion next year if I get accepted to TASO and can call MS ball.

The eye in the sky, doesn't lie. Visible count = a violation when you get to 10 sec. I have a slow count, so when i reach the visible count for a violation, i will call it. About a week ago i called a 5sec. throwin violation. I can't remember the last time i called a 5sec. throwin violation. It has to have been at least 5 or 6 years ago.

So you would call a 10 second violation on a foul shooter,Bart?In college,too?

Absolutely. When (if) I reach ten flicks of the wrist - it's a FT violation.

Of course, per the laws of physics, the air is more dense for these waist-level counts, so they take quite a bit longer.