Advice on how to handle mouthy players

[BillyMac]

Players, and assistant coaches, get a really, really, really short leash. Head coaches, and sometimes, captains, get a slightly longer leash. I just ignore fans.

[Rich]

Was working the end of a blowout BV game last night -- we're inside of 30 seconds. Kid from the losing team tries to go through a kid twice his size who has legal guarding position -- he bounces off of the defender and ends up on his back. Ball goes in the hole. Nothing to call, really.

As I head down the floor, the kid is screaming at me. It continues up to half-court (and my "had enough" meter was probably at an 8 of 10) when he swore at me. Whack. 20 seconds left in my fourth HS game and my first technical foul of the season.

The captain came up to me as I was administering the free throws and started with, "There's only 20 seconds left....." and I told him that no player was going to swear at me. After the final horn the kid intercepted us as we were going into the locker room (the locker room is a door on the end line) and apologized to both of us. Probably told to do so.

The visiting team committed 16 fouls in the first half -- 8 on the home team. Both teams were in the double bonus the second half. It was a long night.