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
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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Well, the referee is considered to be part of the floor where he is standing. If he is out of bounds and the ball touches him, it is out of bounds. If he is in bounds and the ball touches him, play on.
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Read my answer to the above question, and add this. If I was observing an official who called a foul on a half court tip a shooting foul, I would do all I could to keep him from working a varsity (also a sophomore) game. I will grant you that a player can go through the habitual shooting motion of a shot anywhere on the court and if fouled it could be a shooting foul, even from the back court (as in the end of the quarter), but a tip from half court is unskilled and undeserving of a shooting foul - I would always call a halfcourt tip foul a common foul.
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I don't like the pro game because of how it has evolved, especially in the east. Post a big player on the block, slow the game down to half court, never full court press, winners are too predictable and players turn on/off hustle instead of playing hard the entire game. So I am with you. if I had to pick a player whose game I admire it would Kevin Durant. I despise how Wade, James and Bosh colluded to put their team together, and could have started a league-ruining trend. I like the college D1 game. There are upsets and coaches can piece together unique game plans to try to win. Much less predictibility.
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In a two man crew there are occasions when the trail official should call three seconds. Imagine the ball in the corner near the sideline and endline (baseline), on the lead official's side of the court (the lead is the ref on the endline). The lead should drift toward the sideline with the body angled away from the basket. That leaves the trail official responsibility to look into the paint, and possibly call 3 seconds. By the way, I rarely called 3 seconds in Varsity games - because I think it is the perfect advantage/disadvantage call. That is even though someone is camped out for 3+ seconds, I would only interrupt the game for 3 seconds if that player received the ball or captured the rebound.
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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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I am not sure what you mean by trap. Are you saying the defender steps closer and prevents the dribbler from moving because of the outstreched arm of the dribbler? Then yes, the defender can move as long as he is entitled to the spot on the floor. But if you are saying the defender somehow holds the arm of the dribbler it is a common foul. If I have missed the point of your question rephrase it and I will try again.
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