Basketball Referee

Basketball Referee

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

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Last Answer on September 20, 2019

Best Rated

a player dribbles the ball, before going out of bound he releases (untouch) the ball, and get out of bound. After he gets back in court from out of bound, can he pick up the ball and continue the dribble?

Asked by Antuxity over 9 years ago

It is a violation for a player to leave the floor for an unauthorized reason. The ball is dead when the player goes out of bounds and is awarded to the opposite team.

To clarify, "Why couldn't he pick up the ball"?, because he had already stopped the dribble, and was looking to pass. As he went to pass the ball, he changed his mind but the ball already left his hand, & hr moved as if dancing to block def. playe

Asked by ed almost 10 years ago

I was suggesting that if he dropped the ball unintentionally (called a muff) he could pick it up. If he tried to pass it and then changed his mind and dropped he he could not pick it up but he could block someone out if he blocked out legally, To block out legally, a player has to legally obtain a position before the opponent alights or moves toward the spot he occupies to block out. In other words if I get to a spot before you leave your feet or step into that spot then I can block you from that spot by occupying it.

Can a defending player push on an offensive player with his body when he is not posting up. He appeared to be doing for the sole reason of aggravating the player into a foul. I do have a video clip.

Asked by docbar85@gmail.com about 9 years ago

Pushing an opponent is a foul. but the severity must be judged by the official. If it is immaterial to the play I would generally ignore (unless it is escalating into a potential pushing fight).

Can you remove all your players from the free throw lanes during the opposing teams free throw attempts, and huddle them together at the sideline for a huddle and strategies for final 15 seconds of the game?

Asked by Mrclutch about 10 years ago

see answer above.

For NFHS, the new rule for the end of a free throw includes the ball striking the backboard. Can free throw shooters now bank the ball directly back to themselves?

Asked by Dunkster over 9 years ago

I believe that although the free throw ends when the ball hits the backboard, it is still a violation if the free thrower fails to hit the ring.

Further to the backcourt question, once team A (offense) achieves front court status, and then team A dribbler attempts a pass to his team mate, if it hits his team mate's hand (but not in control of teammate) and goes backcourt, is this a violation?

Asked by MJ over 10 years ago

Yes, it is a backcourt violation because team A never lost team control.

Youth basketball (13-14) ball is in play & scorekeeper hits buzzer in error; some players continue the game (clock still running) & no whistle was blown. A basket is made & then the whistle blows & referee claims no basket. Was this a correct call?

Asked by Debbie about 10 years ago

Players should play until a whistle is blown. In your scenario the refs made two mistakes: 1) if there is not an advantage by the team in possession when the buzzer sounded, they should blow the whistle and find out what the timekeeper wanted, and 2) once they let the game continue then they should count all activities until the whistle.