4 defenders in with a minute left?

[Baxter48]

Having been a college official, this is a true statement. You can play with four if no players are available

So did you count each team players after a time out? Like I mentioned ESPN said the refs are supposed to count the players to help the coaches, or is espn full on crap?

 

[Big bo fan]

If Rhule only had 10 on the field and it cost the team a game, this place would have imploded.

Hoiberg owned the mistake. Attempting to put this on the refs is simply deflecting. During the TO you can't tell me that they didn't go over the defense they were going to play and who was going to guard who and how they were going to handle switches or what they were going to do if a player broke hard to their basket for the long outlet. Someone, be it Mast or whoever, wasn't paying attention in the huddle and didn't go in.

It’s as simple as this .

 

[PvilleHuskerTim]

So did you count each team players after a time out? Like I mentioned ESPN said the refs are supposed to count the players to help the coaches, or is espn full on crap?

In high school, JV, and JH games, it is customary to count the players after coming out of EVERY timeout. Mainly to ensure there are no more than 5 players on the court, which happens most frequently. It isn't done to "help" the coaches but to ensure there are only 5 players on each team. If an officiating crew counts each team and notices one of them only has 4 players on the court, it is customary to inform the coach. The official(s) not inbounding the ball (either in a 2-person or 3-person crew) should signal to the referee inbounding the ball that they are ready for play. If the college-level officials don't do that, it seems like a failure to properly manage the game.

End result is that it is still the head coach's responsibility, but proper/fair game management by the officials also comes into play. Especially at the most critical juncture for end-of-game situations.

 

[Zeke Husker]

In high school, JV, and JH games, it is customary to count the players after coming out of EVERY timeout. Mainly to ensure there are no more than 5 players on the court, which happens most frequently. It isn't done to "help" the coaches but to ensure there are only 5 players on each team. If an officiating crew counts each team and notices one of them only has 4 players on the court, it is customary to inform the coach. The official(s) not inbounding the ball (either in a 2-person or 3-person crew) should signal to the referee inbounding the ball that they are ready for play. If the college-level officials don't do that, it seems like a failure to properly manage the game.

End result is that it is still the head coach's responsibility, but proper/fair game management by the officials also comes into play. Especially at the most critical juncture for end-of-game situations.

I take it officials helping coaches have the correct number of players in the game doesn’t apply to football. They don’t stop you either way. Did it determine the outcome of the game? Might have but not scoring many points in the last 3-4 minutes sure does.