Inadvertent Whistle. Maybe.

[JoeT]

Would love to hear your collective opinions on this:

Confusion on the court

The lead official claims not to have blown his whistle. Everybody else thinks they heard one (including at least one other official). In either case, A1 carries the ball to A2 (no call) - who passes to A3 for a made 3ptr.

Crazy.

Thoughts, comments? How would you have handled this?

(This is a varsity game in the Chicagoland East Suburban Catholic Conference - a good conference with a pretty strong group of officials.)

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[A Pennsylvania Coach]

If no whistle (I didn't hear one) this has to be a travel. No idea how they all missed the travel, especially the trail, who had time to shout back at the bench after missing it.

[Camron Rust]

I heard a noise but it sounded more like a shoe than a whistle. The L's body language didn't suggest he was blowing a whistle either and I wouldn't expect a whistle on that play from anyone else.

Not sure how they missed the egregious travel, however.

[JoeT]

Originally Posted by A Pennsylvania Coach

If no whistle (I didn't hear one) this has to be a travel. No idea how they all missed the travel, especially the trail, who had time to shout back at the bench after missing it.

I was one of the coaches on the green team's bench, and I said offhandedly to the official who'd been in the trail, "I thought I heard a whistle." He replied, "so did I."

[Indianaref]

I didn't hear a whistle as well, perhaps a sneaker against the floor? Travel should have been the call.

[Terrapins Fan]

This is a varsity level game. So, I don't think this happened ( my story ) But my first year, I was watching a play and I saw a small foul, but I decided to pass on it because the offensive team kept the ball. Everyone stopped. Strange, I thought. My partner comes running to me and says " What do you have?" I said ": What do I have?" He says, " Yeah, you blew your whistle". I was shocked...live and learn. It has not happened again since.

[maven]

Another reason not to stop paying attention after the whistle blows. The T needs to get the travel here, once he figures out that nobody had a whistle for a foul.

[Tio]

Obviously, based on the reaction of the players, they thought a whistle had been blown. If not someone needs to get a travel on the green player.

[rockyroad]

Sure sounds like somebody blew a whistle...either it was a half-assed whistle or it came from the stands. Either way, the player travelled and the T was too busy yelling at the bench to call the obvious travel. Wonder what was going through the crews minds???

[JoeT]

Thanks for your perspective everybody.

I do chuckle a bit when I watch Royale (our #25 - the one who walks with the ball) just stand there through the whole thing with his palms up questioning what's going on.

jt

[johnny d]

Once all 10 players on the court stopped, my inclination would be to blow this play dead and award the ball to green for throw-in. Since they elected to allow the play to continue, I dont see anyway they could not call a travel and let green shoot that 3-pointer.

FYI, the official on the lead is by far the least experienced person on this crew. The trail official has alot of experience and should have taken control of this situation. The center official is the most experienced, he is also too old, slow, and fat to get himself into position to help on this play.

[just another ref]

How did they not call the travel? White's bench had 3 coaches standing and making the signal.

[ODog]

The best part is the T *****ing out the White coaches about the coaching box and then glancing up at the last second to mirror a successful 3 he never even saw go up (not that seeing the attempt matters; just amusing in this case).

I hear what sounds like a whistle. That does not sound like any shoe squeak I have ever heard. In a loud gym shoe squeaks don't stand out like that. I suppose I could capture the audio, run it through my frequency analyzer and compare its pitch to that of a Fox 40 whistle, however that process would be fraught with error.

I am wondering why the Trail points to the Lead, and then to the bench? What is he trying to do there?

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by johnny d

Once all 10 players on the court stopped, my inclination would be to blow this play dead and award the ball to green for throw-in. Since they elected to allow the play to continue, I dont see anyway they could not call a travel and let green shoot that 3-pointer.

FYI, the official on the lead is by far the least experienced person on this crew. The trail official has alot of experience and should have taken control of this situation. The center official is the most experienced, he is also too old, slow, and fat to get himself into position to help on this play.

Wow, are you bitter that he got the assignment instead of you?