I understand it's not the norm for players to ask for a timeout, but it's not THAT rare. I've granted timeouts from players a couple of times each season and certainly did my very first year I started officiating.

This is my first year and I have done 61 games and have not had a request by a player yet.

And I had it happen last week.

Had it happen twice in a playoff game Saturday night...both times the player was stuck in a trap in the back court and wisely called timeout all on their own.

I see it about once a season.

Just talked to the assignor. There has been no report, so I doubt there will be. I can't help but wonder if the video verified the request, they simply cooled off, or they thought a report would be pointless regardless. I will remember to ask about this next year. Time heals all wounds.

Coaches are biased... and it is unfair when they can influence the ratings system because they lose a game even though the crew called a good game. If he wants to scratch you, fine... if you are getting your plays right, there are plenty of other coaches who want you to work their games. Unfortunately, there are some coaches who want officials they can influence or manipulate to get calls.... Luckily, most just want guys who work hard, will communicate with them and get the plays right.

I would not tech a coach based on the facts presented. If he did not ask for a timeout... then immediately restart the game from the POI. Don't force him to take one he (or a player did not ask for).

I think you did what you could... hopefully, your partner will learn from this and will be better prepared next time he gets in a heated end of game situation.

We actually have no rating system. This was the least of my worries.

It wasn't that he didn't want the timeout. I'm still not certain that he didn't request one himself, but nobody saw him. What he didn't want was to admit that the ball was dead and the 60' game-tying shot didn't count. I told my young partner not to lose any sleep over it.

I suppose it varies from place to place, but I've had maybe one in the last three years. So here they are that rare.

I have them every year and always report the number. More players should be calling time-out. Last game I worked at a small Christian college and the home team lost b/c with a 1-point lead in the last 10 seconds of OT a player got trapped in the corner and ended up travelling and the other team scored on the ensuing possession to win the game. A time-out request would have averted the turnover.

This is a T. All day, every day, and twice on Sundays. Period. Other than physical contact, I can't name a more cut and dried one. (Well... after the Super Bowl I'm not as sure on the physical contact anymore.. :) )

I had one Saturday. Sort of. Got a good laugh out of it.

Team is down to 1 timeout, about 4 minutes to go, so I'm sure they don't want to waste one. Kid gets a rebound near the end line and thinks he's losing his balance - and puts the ball under an arm, looks right at me and puts his hands on his shoulders. I give him the timeout.

Coach says, "Time out? I didn't call a time out?!?!?!" I said, "Your player did" and pointed at the kid. He said, "I didn't call a time out!!!!" I said (while demonstrating), "So why did you do this?" He said ... "Because I seen it on TV."

Coach wasn't too hard on the kid, luckily.

I just went over the 100 game mark for the season and did about as many last year and I have not had a single player requested time out since I have been in Montana. Crazy right?

I never thought to much of it until I was doing a MS travel tournamet and a coach from out of town asked if we were going to allow players to call TOs in this tournament. I was like, umm I know of no rule otherwise. Must be a local thing here but I haven't seen a player requested TO in 2 years in Montana.

If that is the case then he was probably being a jerk for the sake of causing problems. I would just ignore him then.

It's ironic. I pick out things that have been problematic and mention them in pregame. This is one of them I use this year.

Coaches, I encourage you to tell your players to relay your timeout requests to us. I don't think some of the players even know that they can ask for timeout. When you want one the most, this will be the time when we are least likely to see you, especially with a 2 man crew.

Who knows? Maybe this coach actually mentioned this to his players.

Like I said.......oops.