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

Is Carrying still a foul. I see it at every level of basketball.

Asked by Jim over 10 years ago

"Carrying the ball" is not a foul. It is a violation that used to be called an "illegal dribble" but several years ago NFHS added the carrying signal as its own violation.

As a referee, is there a code of conduct in place that would disqualify a parent from refereeing his own sons AAU championship game? The opposing team attempted to have a parent ref his sons game. Isn't there rules against this?

Asked by Kaylee over 10 years ago

I am not an expert on AAU rules but common sense would tell anyone to avoid officiating your son's game in competitive play. It would be different if it was a "house" league, but this is inappropriate for traveling basketball.

Hi Ref, can a player blow in another players face? In my daughters game player B1 was playing defense by standing in player A1's face (within 12 inches) even when play was stopped and would repeatedly blow in A1's face. Legal? Thx

Asked by P_Johnston almost 10 years ago

I would warn the player that blowing air in the face of an opponent is unsportsmanlike and the next occurance would be a technical foul.

Player A dribbles into front court, passes to Player B who has not established position in frontcourt. After the pass, Player B jumps into front court before the ball gets to him to not get called for backcourt violation. What is the right call?

Asked by Coaching Youth over 10 years ago

Backcourt violation is the correct call because a player who catches the ball while in the air is considered to be in the court position from where they last touched the court. For example, if a player is out of bounds and leaps up, as soon as the player touches the ball it should be whistled dead on an out of bounds violation.

In your question if an offense player leaps from the backcourt to touch a ball which has been established in his team's front court it is a backcourt violation. Two exceptions to this rule: 1) on a throw-in, a player can jump from either side of the centerline, catch the throw in and land on the opposite side, and 2) a defensive player who leaps from his backcourt to intercept a ball which came from his front court (which was in possession of the offense before the interception).

Under what circumstances can an official award a team 4 free throws for a technical foul?

Asked by Brandon Jackson almost 10 years ago

In NFHS rules each technical is 2 free throws and the ball. If the official awarded 4 free throws then I assume 2 technicals were called.

I saw something tonight I have only seen twice in my career. A shooter shoots the ball and air balls it but he then catches it. Is that a violation? Or as long as he is shooting and not passing the ball is it a legal play.

Asked by Scott almost 10 years ago

In NFHS rules, a shooter can retrieve an airball shot before any other player touches the ball as long as the shot was a legitimate try.

If a game start at 9:45AM. Team B do not have 5 players show up at 9:45AM. At what point you will consider team B lose?

Asked by Lawrence over 11 years ago

I never had to call a game a forfeit.  If a team was late, I tried to work with the athletic director to understand why the visitors are late, and what a reasonable start time might be.  The rule book calls for a technical foul toul to be called if the coach has not submitted the roster and designated the starters no later than 10 minutes before start time. Again, I recommend that no official invokes this rule.  Once a team was stuck in Chicago traffic and my partner told the coach when they arrived 45 minutes late that the game would start with a T.  Horrible mistake.