Rndballref
20 Years Experience
Chicago, IL
Male, 60
For twenty years I officiated high school, AAU and park district basketball games, retiring recently. For a few officiating is the focus of their occupation, while for most working as an umpire or basketball referee is an avocation. I started ref'ing to earn beer money during college, but it became a great way to stay connected to the best sports game in the universe. As a spinoff, I wrote a sports-thriller novel loosely based on my referee experiences titled, Advantage Disadvantage
Fifteen minutes before the game, the officials are to take their positions on the court. An Umpire (U1 & U2) stand on the sideline at approximately the free throw line extended. While walking to their positions, all officials are to look for obstructions, short throw in areas, proper bench locations, and proper coaches boxes. The referee stands at half court. The umpires are tasked with 2 things: get a count of the players and look for faulty or illegal equipment (metal clips in hair, unauthorized uniform variances, etc.). The referee takes the player count from both umpires and between 10-12 minutes before gametime the referee checks the scorer's book to 1) ensure that the book has at least as many entries as there are players warming up, and 2) that the starters are designated in the bokk no later than 10 minutes before game time. Once the book is verified, the referee calls the umpires together along with team captains and coaches. The referee normally conducts the pregame with mandatory state-required admonishments. Then the referees go back to their positions and right before the nationa anthem stand in front of the scorers table.
I never found a coach trying to take advantage of equipment except there have been over or underinflated balls that I have adjusted. Many referees carry an inflation pin in case they have to let some air out of a game ball.
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I call it bad preventative officiating. One of the officials should count the players after each time out, and prevent the play from starting until you have ten players on the floor. However, once the play starts the fifth player cannot come back in until there is a dead ball whistle.
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Carrying the ball is one of ways the rule book states that a dribble comes to an end. So the very next dribble should be called as a double dribble if the player carried the ball prior to the subsequent dribble. My opinion is that refs have allowed too much carrying to go on - the dribbler gains too much control of the basketball if you let a player cup or turn over the ball.
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There is no provision for a referee to overrule another official in the Federation rules book, however in practice one official is designated as the referee in a crew with a responsibility to resolve simultaneous calls. My experience is that before the game this situation is discussed between officials. I think it is important to get the call correct, but each referee has his own area to watch. So if I make a call that one of my partners sees a different way I want that official to approach me, tell me what they saw, I give my perspective and then I decided if I will overrule my own decision. That way I can defend the final outcome. So, a few principles: 1) a ref should be watching their own area - that is why you have 2 or 3 of them, 2) there is some overlap and sometimes a second look sees something you can miss, and 3) officials should decide how they will consider overruling each other before the game. Based on your description (that the shot was clearly made from inside the 3 point line), regardless of how the ref's changed the call they apparently got it wrong.
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OK, we need some common sense here. Normally after a time out and the warning horn sounds, a player would be denied entering the game. This is to eliminate delays due to substitution gamesmanship (in pro hockey for example the home team has "last substitute"). But in the case where a coach has 30 seconds to replace a fouled out player this rule should not, and does not apply to either team. If common sense prevails, the officials should let A-6 in the game.
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The answer is yes. A rule change for this coming season (2014-15) in NFHS rules states: Arm sleeves, knee sleeves, lower leg sleeves and tights are permissable as long as they meet the color and logo restrictions.
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When you catch a ball in the air you are considered to be in the court where you jumped from. So you might think that this play is a violation, but there are two exceptions ... 1) by a defensive player intercepting the ball, and 2) by either team on a throw in.
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