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651 Questions

Last Answer on September 20, 2019

Ref,
In our city league. A team hit a game winning three but the clock never started so it is not clear if he had enough time to shoot. The ref counted the basket and said it "looked" like it took less than two seconds. Should the shot count?

Asked by Typhoon over 11 years ago

The referee (as opposed to the other officials) has the responsibility to decide matters upon which the timer and scorekeeper disagree. Furthermore, "the referee shall make decisions on any points not specifically covered in the rulebook."

There is no explicit provision in the rule book to address the situation you describe. So, the referee has to decide what would be consistent with the intent of the rulebook.

1072 Votes

If a person has the ball with two hands and keeps their pivot foot...can u touch the ball on the floor to abstain from falling? Does the ball touching the floor count as a dribble even though it never leaves your hands?

Asked by Ty over 12 years ago

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.

1072 Votes

Can a referee instruct the bench to keep the clock running due to a blow out (>60points)? This is club representative basketball.

Asked by Australia over 11 years ago

There is no provision in NFHS rules for a running clock. Club or AAU traveling rules may allow for a running clock.

1071 Votes

You are wise beyond your years. Thanks for the quick responses!

Asked by dhatch almost 13 years ago

Thanks for the kind words!

1070 Votes

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But that's not basketball-why not have the two coaches arm wrestle-only the player holding the ball should be able to call a timeout-coaches should not be able to stand except during timeouts-tech foul otherwise- game is the players not coaches!

Asked by daveb over 12 years ago

I understand your point. In nearly all sports, coaches make moves that help determine the outcome of games; time outs, call in plays etc. I think the NFHS needs to decide if they want to completely eliminate the "everyone in the gym knows it is an intentional foul" being ignored or called as a common, or leave it unevenly called as it is. In the past they have tried to issue guidelines, but the gray area for interpretation is a mile wide. Don't know how much noise they hear about this issue, but NFHS has not settled on a good solution yet.

1069 Votes

Can another basketball over-rule another on a bad call, if he has the better angle to see what actually happened on the floor?

Asked by Karen over 12 years ago

There is no provision in the mechanics or rule books for NFHS. In fact, although one official is designated as the "referee" and the other two are "umpire 1" and "umpire 2", the referee is not enpowered to overrule the others. Here's how I handled this: In the pre-game I asked my partners to agree to this. If they think I got the call wrong, approach me and tell me what you saw, and I will decide whether to overrule myself based on your input. That way, we could undue a really bad missed call, but if I passed on a call for my own reasons (advantage disadvantage for example) I could ignore my partner's input. Also, if I changed my call I could better explain to a coach why it was reversed. Most of the people I worked with agreed to use this system.

1069 Votes

If a player receives his fifth foul which results in free throws can the first free throw be shot before the player that has fouled out is removed from the game

Asked by Rick over 12 years ago

No. The correct protocol when a player fouls out is this: the scorer normally informs the ref that the player assessed with the last foul has fouled out. The ref lets the coach know that the player has fouled out and he has 30 seconds to send in a substitute. Once the fouled out player leaves the court and the substitute is beckoned in, then the free throws can start. By the way, if there are other subs at the time the player is being replaced, then all of them should be beckoned in. Normally you would wait until there is only one free throw left (or a one and one) before sending subs in.

1068 Votes

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Basketball Referee

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Ref,
In our city league. A team hit a game winning three but the clock never started so it is not clear if he had enough time to shoot. The ref counted the basket and said it "looked" like it took less than two seconds. Should the shot count?

If a person has the ball with two hands and keeps their pivot foot...can u touch the ball on the floor to abstain from falling? Does the ball touching the floor count as a dribble even though it never leaves your hands?

Can a referee instruct the bench to keep the clock running due to a blow out (>60points)? This is club representative basketball.

You are wise beyond your years. Thanks for the quick responses!

Also on Jobstr...

But that's not basketball-why not have the two coaches arm wrestle-only the player holding the ball should be able to call a timeout-coaches should not be able to stand except during timeouts-tech foul otherwise- game is the players not coaches!

Can another basketball over-rule another on a bad call, if he has the better angle to see what actually happened on the floor?

If a player receives his fifth foul which results in free throws can the first free throw be shot before the player that has fouled out is removed from the game

Basketball Referee

Ask me anything!

What do YOU do?

Ref,In our city league. A team hit a game winning three but the clock never started so it is not clear if he had enough time to shoot. The ref counted the basket and said it "looked" like it took less than two seconds. Should the shot count?

If a person has the ball with two hands and keeps their pivot foot...can u touch the ball on the floor to abstain from falling? Does the ball touching the floor count as a dribble even though it never leaves your hands?

Can a referee instruct the bench to keep the clock running due to a blow out (>60points)? This is club representative basketball.

You are wise beyond your years. Thanks for the quick responses!

Also on Jobstr...

But that's not basketball-why not have the two coaches arm wrestle-only the player holding the ball should be able to call a timeout-coaches should not be able to stand except during timeouts-tech foul otherwise- game is the players not coaches!

Can another basketball over-rule another on a bad call, if he has the better angle to see what actually happened on the floor?

If a player receives his fifth foul which results in free throws can the first free throw be shot before the player that has fouled out is removed from the game

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Ref,
In our city league. A team hit a game winning three but the clock never started so it is not clear if he had enough time to shoot. The ref counted the basket and said it "looked" like it took less than two seconds. Should the shot count?