I can't say I've put this much thought into it. I've only had a few games where the ball was obviously out of spec. At 5'10", hold the ball a few inches above my head and drop it. If it bounces up lower than my chest, we're good as far as I'm concerned.

I have all three in my bag. I carry a needle in my jacket and the pump and gauge are in my bag in the locker room. Not much good there unless they give us the game ball in the locker room, which does happen on occasion. I would have to dust off the pump and gauge though, as I can't remember the last time I used them in Basketball.

Interesting
 

Here the common thought is we like to use a harder ball for girls - especially at the lower levels - to make the rebounds bounce farther to where there are fewer girls to help eliminate some of the many jump balls.

influence
 

Why does our preference or desire for a certain ball type matter? Simply because I like a "flatter" or "bouncy" ball is irrelevant.

It's not irrelevant -- the ball must bounce within a certain range, after all -- and since it's our job to ensure the ball is in that range, we can make it at the high end or the low end of the range if we so choose.

Really? We only have one jump ball per game _ unless we go to overtime. :rolleyes:

Seems like you'd want softer ball so they wouldn't bounce off the rim so are with the hope that they'd go in the basket rather than bouncing out.