Wrong Way to Start the 4th

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by crosscountry55

Middle School basketball can be an interesting laboratory.

Never saw this before, but I'm the R setting up to inbound the ball at the start of the 4th. I point (with verbal color) the correct direction as the players come to the ball, and also just before I give the ball to A1. I also correctly put the thrower between myself and his basket. And my partner is taking up a spot as the new L under A's basket.

Nonetheless, Team B is asleep and setting up to play defense on the wrong end of the court. Team A goes right along for the ride, but I can't tell for sure if the thrower and his pass recipient are aware of this or not, so thinking they may want to take advantage and score an easy bucket, I put the ball at A1's disposal.

...And of course A2 gets the inbound and starts dribbling toward B's basket. Doh! Team A gets a shot off and misses. At this point I'm thinking, "I let A go the wrong direction, so to be fair maybe I should let B go the wrong direction, too, and hope that they figure it out in the process." They didn't....and scored, and then finally I blew the whistle. My partner and I credited the basket to A, and then we went the correct direction.

My question is....the rule states that when by mistake, the officials permit the teams to go the wrong direction (usually this happens after the opening tip or sometimes after halftime), when recognized, count all the stats to that point and just go the correct direction. But what happens when the officials don't make a mistake and the teams go the wrong direction anyway? Did we do this right, or should I have been more insistent before the quarter started when it was clear Team B was playing defense on the wrong end? Or maybe after one (vice two) possessions we should have blown it dead to correct it?

I actually have no idea what the proper procedure or protocol is here. Looking for some advice so I do it right the next time this happens. Thanks.

Originally Posted by johnny d

Your concerned about proper procedure in a middle school game? I cant remember the last time I did a middle school game, but I would handle the situation as follows. First, I would have told B they were defending the wrong basket before I ever allowed A to inbound the ball. If the A coach doesn't like that, too bad for him. He will either get over it or he will get a tech. Second, if you knew they were going the wrong direction, and you had told them the correct direction, then when B got the ball, they were in team control in the front court, and they took the ball into the back court before they scored. If I had allowed the situation to get to the point you had (which I would not have) I would have stopped it with an over and back call. You might have had one on team A as well, depending upon where they inbounded the ball.

We do not like it when Coaches want to officiate the game for us. We do not coach the players in the game we officiate. We don't know if Team A is trying to fool Team B in order to get an uncontested layup.


I would say you were very very wrong for whacking a HC who may have set up a play as I described in my paragraph above.


You and your partner were 50% correct. Score the FG for Team B, and then put them in the correct direction.

MTD, Sr.