New OT Rules
 

This one is new to me. I did not have any OT games this year in HS, but thought you all might enjoy a couple of experiences that were relayed to me.

I have a friend who has kids that play for one of the local jv teams. At the awards ceremony, the coach is talking up their season and mentions their win-loss record. It just so happens that their season record was 17-6-1....That's right they had a tie game!

The team had been involved in a 3OT game and it was still tied at the end of the 3rd OT. The official on the game said that the game ends in a tie since there are no more OT's after 3.

Also earlier in the season, we had an official put 5 minutes on the clock for OT and they swore up and down that this was correct.

You give 'em books and all they do is eat the pages :D

"New OT Rules"

What's an Off Topic rule? :confused:

Off Topic?
 

I think he meant Old Testament rules. Moses called them Commandments. Somewhat like our Definitions, but more stringent consequences for breaking them.

I was thinking "Old Trafford" rules where ManU gets as much added time as needed to win or equalize.

Wow.

I had a 2 OT game this year, and jokingly asked one of my partners (on my way to administer my 5th toss of the two game night), "At what point to we just call this a tie and let the varsity game start?" He was going to be working that varsity game. I had the F/JV double that night, and 3 OTs between them. On top of all that, it was senior night, so the 7:00 varsity game started around 8:45.

In all seriousness, they probably should institute a local adaptation for sub-varsity games that allows for a tie when there's a varsity game to follow. There's really no need to hold up a varsity game that long.

Some of the conferences around here do have a "No OT for non-varsity" rule, for that very reason.

One league also has a "4 timeouts instead of 5" and "No double-bonus" rules that are also intended to keep the non-varsity games from running too long. Of course, the no-double-bonus rule seems to be ineffective to me... it seems to encourage teams that are behind to keep fouling for longer then they would otherwise.

The last time I worked an OT game was last year, spring travel tourney. The rule was simple: sudden death.

Before the OT jump ball, I looked at the dozens of fans and announced "sudden death!" Both sides cheered. It was over in about a minute, missed shot on one end, 15-foot jumper on the other.

Beats a tie any day, IMO.

OK - seriously now (for a change), our local kids rec league plays no overtimes in 3rd and 4th grade games. If it's tied at the end of regulation, it's a tie. In 5th through HS, we play a single two minute OT. If it's still tied, then it's a tie. One of the main reasons for this is the time constraints. We only have the gyms for so long each game day, and we have to be out at the indicated time. We usually play 6, 7 or 8 consecutive games on Saturdays and 3 or 4 on Friday nights and if they don't start on time, we have to make some kind of an adjustment later, such as cutting the times inbetween games (the preferred method but sometimes that's not available to do), cutting halftimes (but they're only 3 minutes anyway), cutting the number of timeouts or even shortening the game (a last resort).

If we're not out of the gym buy the designated time, the school custodian must report that to the school district and we can end up paying a fine. Also, in some of the gyms, another group (the local "competitive" organization) comes in right after us and they don't like to have to delay their starting times.

Sudden Death
 

We did sudden death for our youth league all-star game this season, and it was great. The crowd was going great, the kids loved it, and it saved us about 10 minutes or so for the two other games slated for that night.

I would love to see this for all non-varsity games, or at least, after the first overtime. Heck, why not for the varsity as well. Still tied after the first OT, first one to score wins. Talk about exciting.

The big-school league in our area has rules that call for a 2-minute overtime in all sub-varsity games; if this period ends tied, we go to modified sudden death (first to hold a 2 point lead, a free throw won't do it).

If You Can't Tie Your Shoes, at Least Tie the Game
 

I say let 'em end in a tie. Then give all players from both teams participation trophies. Kinda like youth soccer. Sorta.
:D

HAHA! Consider it stolen. Will give credit.

This may have already been answered...
 

...but sub-varsity (edited to add: or any non varsity) games can be shortened by mutual consent of the coaches (5-5-3).

In our rec league we have no OT until the end of season tournament. Then it's one overtime followed by sudden death, must win by 2. Had a girls 11-12 game end overtime still tied, then played sudden death for 45 minutes before it finally ended. At the end, there were two players left on the court for each team.

:eek:

(Cue scratching needle sound effect.)

You mean to tell me that a bunch of players fouled out, and no-one could hit their free throws until it was 2 on 2?