Unnessary Mechanic?
 

Sometimes after a 3 second lane violation I'll have a coach ask me as to which of his players violated. I've had it asked of me much later in a time out when heck I can't remember. So now after a 3 second call I motion the 3 with my arm coming to a rest at the hip. With my arm still down by my leg I'll give a quick player 4 2 while in direct eye contact with the coach. They seem to appreciate it and give me a little nod of thanks.I don't think that the fans even notice it. Thoughts?

I will verbally state who committed a violation:

"White 32...Three second violation!"

I refrain from verbalizing a number unless asked by the coach as I've seen it cause confusion for the table crew and a foul gets erroneously recorded.

As a coach, we appreciate it so we know who to yell at, I mean teach.

My experience...in the rare 3 seconds violation that is called...the coach, more likely than not, is gonna ask who the violation is on. I'll just preemptively identify the person before he has to ask me.

Is This a Legitimate . . .
 

. . . Debate Question?
"If it isn't obvious which player committed a three seconds violation -- if the official needs to signal on whom he called the violation --, was it really significant enough that it had to be called?"

Maybe.

What ?? My Best Player Fouled Out ???
 

Agree. That's exactly what we teach rookie officials here, in my little corner of Connecticut. A good high school varsity table crew probably won't make that mistake, but a bad freshman, or middle school, table crew might. Plus, it's not the proper technique according to the (IAABO) mechanics manual.

Maybe a team has two players (on the floor at the same time) who spend a significant part of the time in the lane.

Now, the coach will want to know which one stayed in too long.

How do any mechanics ever get changed? Someone tires something different, and it works, so it gets adopted.

I do recognize that it's a slippery slope between trying something, and having everyone use his/her own mechanics.

Change Is Inevitable, Except From A Vending Machine (Robert C. Gallagher) …
 

I worked with a young, up, and coming, official a few weeks ago, that used his own version of a three second signal. Instead of having his signal hand down by his upper leg, he had it up, slightly below, his shoulder. It was easy to see by all, coaches, fans, table crew, and me, his partner. I encouraged him to show his "new, and improved" three second signal to our interpreter, who could pass it on to IAABO.

If change is for the better, I'm all for it, otherwise we would still be climbing the ladder and taking the laced ball out of the peach basket.

I would say, yes, it could be significant enough. We're paid to watch "off ball." Sometimes coaches and other spectators have to be informed about violations and fouls that they might not have been watching (they're eyes are glued to the ball) - rebound fouls, illegal screens, holds, three seconds, etc.

I always give a number verbally for a three-second violation. It's a fairly uncommon violation, so I want to know who it was if I get asked.

Everytime I read y'all talk about infrequent and significant on three second calls, I want ya to come talk to some of the MS refs we see, who are far more aware of the guy in the key for 3.0001 seconds (or 2.3 secnds, but that's another story . . .) than the fact that the airball on the five foot shot was caused by the shooter's arm being whacked . . .

Get a whistle in your mouth and go do a MS scrum game and see how often you can get every call. They are terrible to work,but it's where you should start. Perhaps the 3 was before the hack and what does the key have to do with anything? AND SOOOOO CAL....... READ,READ,READ,TEST AND GET A WHISTLE
GET BACK TO US WHEN YOU CAN ALSO COUNT TO 5 AND THEN 10

Who says it has to be obvious to everyone?

If you're the L, and the ball is not your PCA, most everyone else is ball-watching, while you remain focused in your area. If you're the only one that has seen the post player remain in the lane, and show no sign of getting out, you have a job to do.

"Not that there's anything wrong with that"
 

Gross violator last night. Just for gits and shiggles I gave the coach a "forty-two" after the call. She thanked me when I went running by. Girl never dawdled in the lane again the rest of the game.

Well, you completely missed the point of my post. (I actually have done MS games -- albeit with no training when I was in HS and when no refs showed up for a game as an adult, but that's beside the point.) And I ref a lot of soccer.

I wholly get that calls get missed -- as a coach and parent I regularly tell my team and kid that BB is the toughest sport to ref and they have to play with what is being called on that day, whatever it is, without getting upset about it because calls will always be missed, even at the hightest levels. (And I tell my kid, who is usually the tallest kid on the court, that with a lot of MS refs, he flat out isn't going to get calls just because he's the tallest kid on the court).

The frustration I get with 3 seconds is that some newbie refs (and some who are the classic ref with 1 year of experience 10 times) seem so focussed on counting to three that they aren't watching the more important aspects of the game. The experienced refs on here say things about making sure a three second call is significant, not wanting to be a "good three second ref," and so forth. The bad rookies (like new soccer refs who focus on bad throw ins and whistling any time a ball touches a hand), seem to view three seconds as "hey, I know that rule!" and call it with great enthusiasm and rigor -- sometimes with a very fast count because they get excited about having something to call -- while not paying attention to overly physical play, undercutting jumpers, and blatant arm slaps on shots. Just as I tell new soccer refs to worry less about throw ins and pay attention to what is happening during the throw in that matters more, I'd love to have someone actually mentor some of our BB refs about where they could focus to referee the game rather than the key.

Yup, looking forward to HS next year and a different group of refs to observe. (And maybe once my kids get a bit older and slurp up less time, I may add basketball to my referee plate . . . but for the moment, I'd rather stay married than ref hoops.:cool:)