Why does this happen?

[Dan_ref]

This seems to be happening a lot this year on free throws:

Me: (stepping into lane) "Two shots guys"
Player on low post (as I'm backing out): "Hey ref, how many shots?"

[mick]

Huh?

[Mark Padgett]

Let me guess - these are all public schools?

[just another ref]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
This seems to be happening a lot this year on free throws:

Me: (stepping into lane) "Two shots guys"
Player on low post (as I'm backing out): "Hey ref, how many shots?"

I see the same thing. Kids not only are not paying attention, but are clueless about so many things. A shooting foul on the first possesion of the game. Isn't everybody supposed to know that it's 2 shots? Beginning of the game. Which goal is ours? Where did you warm up? Duh... Start of 2nd quarter: Hey ref, whose ball is it? This one is the one that really kills me. See that little arrow on the table over there......

[rockyroad]

Originally posted by Mark Padgett
Let me guess - these are all public schools?

Ok, now that hurt...even better yet is I step into lane and say "Bonus"...player on low block saya "Hey ref, is that the same as one-and-one"...I thought I was gonna puke on his shoes!

[dhodges007]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
This seems to be happening a lot this year on free throws:

Me: (stepping into lane) "Two shots guys"
Player on low post (as I'm backing out): "Hey ref, how many shots?"

On the next one, just look at him and say O-N-E.

[devdog69]

The one that kills me is after a team calls a timeout. They always come out of the timeout and ask "who's ball"? Well, son, there's a new rule in town, a timeout is a turnover it's their ball.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by Dan_ref
This seems to be happening a lot this year on free throws:

Me: (stepping into lane) "Two shots guys"
Player on low post (as I'm backing out): "Hey ref, how many shots?"

I tell them to ask a teammate how many free throws.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally posted by devdog69
The one that kills me is after a team calls a timeout. They always come out of the timeout and ask "who's ball"? Well, son, there's a new rule in town, a timeout is a turnover it's their ball.

Just this fall in a girls varsity game the coach requested a timeout while his player was holding the ball right in front of us. When the timeout was over the same coach asked me who was getting the throw-in and where.

[Ron]

A few possibilities, Dan.......

1. Kids tend not to pay attention (probably the likely reason),

2. If it's happening alot, as you say, and if it's always a player in the lowest lane space, perhaps you're getting too close to the FT line when stepping into the key to administer, or........

3. Your fellow officials have conspired with several players to make you think you're crazy.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally posted by Ron
A few possibilities, Dan.......

3) Your fellow officials have conspired with several players to make you think you're crazy.

Aha! Just as I suspected!

It's Chuck's fault!

[pizanno]

Good advice I've received over the years:

* Players often "hear" only the last word of your statement. I've since had more success just stating "TWO" or "be ready...ONE and ONE!"

* Even though the rule has changed to allow subs only on the last FT, I still tell subs that replace players in the first two FT positions "one shot, okay?"...then state "ONE!" to everyone else. Good preventative mechanic.

Regarding Timeouts:

I actually had a HS player beleive me when I told him "The first team out of a time out gets the ball". Subsequently, he helped get his team out without delay, much to the delight and surpise of my partner!

[Hawks Coach]

Originally posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.
[QUOTEJust this fall in a girls varsity game the coach requested a timeout while his player was holding the ball right in front of us. When the timeout was over the same coach asked me who was getting the throw-in and where.

We played great defense yesterday, earned a 5 second count, and as our players were lining up for the throw-in, B called time out. We set-up for a sideline inbounds against their press. When we returned, the ref gave the ball to B explaining that they couldn't have called timeout if they didn't have the ball. When we reminded him of the five second count, he changed his story and said the five second count happened after the request for TO. Never mind that we all saw B's coach get up to make the request after the 5 second call and and we saw the ref grant it while he was standing OOB awaiting to administer the throwin a good 5-10 seconds after his initial call.

Suffice to say, anybody can lose concentration and screw up (although I didn't like this guy covering his screw up by creating an alternate reality).

[Dan_ref]

Originally posted by Jurassic Referee

Aha! Just as I suspected!

It's Chuck's fault!

I knew it!!!!

[Back In The Saddle]

In my profession (software engineer with emphasis on human-computer interaction) I have had cause to study some about the limits of human mental ability. I did not do the research on this, I only have read what others have written about it. Still, I find it rather fascinating.

Our conscious and our subconscious are both plugging away, all the time. While the subconscious can handle many tasks at once (e.g., walking and chewing gum ), our conscious can only handle one stream of thought at a time.

So, while a player is lining up along the lane and desparately trying to remember what his coach said about free throw situations, he is not even capable of also consciously paying attention to the ref. He has got to focus on one or the other.

The player is taking it all in, of course, but subconsciously. We don't yet understand how information goes back and forth across the boundary from concsious to subconscious, but it's an imperfect process. Perhaps especially so when it happens in a moment of panic, like when a player suddenly realizes that he doesn't know how many shots.

It's entirely plausable that he can pull the last thing he heard from the ref across the boundary, but lose all the rest. That being the case, I think pizanno's advice is right on the money--make sure that last word is the important one.

The "usability guy" in me wants to get on the soapbox about it being rather unfair to characterize players as "not paying attention," as if they are somehow misbehaving. They're doing just what the coach wants them to do--think! It's the limitation of the conscious mind that allows only one stream of thought. But I'll resist the urge.

BTW, it's that same "limitation" that allows us to focus on the game and not notice all that is going on around us off of the floor.