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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Rule 6 Section 3 Article 3... Teammates shall not occupy adjacent positions around the center restraining circle if an opponent indicates a desire for one of these positions before the referee is ready to toss the ball.
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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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In high school rules, a player can retrieve the ball after a "legitimate" shot attempt without hitting anything. For example, you could retrieve an airball shot even though the ball has not been touched by another player. However, f the throw to the backboard is not a shot attempt and a player purposely throws it off the backboard, I would call that travelling - much like tossing the ball forward to yourself and moving down the court.
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Starbucks Barista
Why does Starbucks attract so many homeless people?
EMT
Does your crew ever fake an emergency to slice through traffic?
Veterinarian
Do you think keeping monkeys as pets is a bad idea?
Actually, a dribble ends when you put two hands on the ball. But even if you have not dribbled already, putting two hands on the ball on the floor is normally called double dribble.
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Indirectly referees and the home school have the authority. In NFHS rules there is a function called home management. It is usually the athletic director, or a representative of the AD. The rule book states that in the absence of a designated home management person, the home team head coach will assume that function.
Directly from the rule book: The officials shall penalize unsporting behavior by player, coach, substitute, team attendant or FOLLOWER.
Further the book states: ... the officials may rule fouls on either team if its supporters act in a way to interfere with the proper conduct of the game.
It also cautions the officials to be careful applying penalties so as not to unfairly penalize a team.
When I officiated, I never engaged in an expulsion dialog with a fan. I simply went to home management (the AD) and said something like, "the guy in the third row with the blue shirt has to go. Home management always complied with my request and escorted the unruly fan out (or used an on site police officer to be the escort) and the AD often apologized about a overzealous home team fan.
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After a made basket, or after a timeout after a made basket the team with the ball can pass it from one out of bounds player to another, and then throw it in bounds (along the endline only). Here's the play:
Team B is pressing with no defender on the out of bounds thrower in player A1. A2 is on the other side of the paint but he is guarded by B1. A1 has the ball out of bounds. A2 steps out of bounds leaving the defender B1 no one to guard. A1 passes the ball to A2 who is out of bounds. A1 steps in bounds and receives the pass from A2.
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