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

O1 is standing in his lane and is about to get a three second count when his teammate takes a shot that never touches the rim or backboard. O1 catches the ball and then dribbles in the lane before passing. Is this a three second violation?

Asked by Alfredo over 11 years ago

In NFHS rules, the three second restriction is lifted when a legitimate try for the basket goes up. Note that it does not say "when the ball hits the ring". So the first part of your question's answer is no, there is no three second violation because once a try goes up there is no team possession anymore. Secondly, in NFHS rules any player can retrieve an air ball shot as long as it was deemed a legitimate try. Once retrieved, team and player possession are reestablished, and he gets a new 3 second count if he is still in the lane.

Article 5 of the college bball rules says a pivot foot may be lifted, but not returned to the court before a pass or shot. But I see no restrictions on the non-pivot foot. Lift the pivot, hop all the way to the basket on the non-pivot??

Asked by JJinVista over 10 years ago

you may step on your non pivot and then lift your pivot but it you step down on what was your pivot foot, or slide or hop on your non-pivot foot it is traveling

can i box out an opponent before their offensive player takes a shot ?

Asked by Kobe54 over 10 years ago

Boxing out is the process of legally getting to a spot on the floor before an opponent gets to the same spot. Most people think of this when you achieve inside rebounding position, and you are able to anticipate your opponent's movement in such a way that you prevent him from moving around you by "blocking" his way. Note this definition is without specification regarding a shot or no shot.

In my experience, the player blocking out is tagged with a foul when he blatantly backs up and dislodges his opponent when making contact, but not usually when both players move laterally.

Team A shoots their second of 2 free throws. Makes it but ref calls lane violation on team b. Does team A get another free throw or is it team B's ball and play on. I had a ref give us another free throw and I'm pretty sure he's wrong.

Asked by Riley over 10 years ago

The ref should extend his arm sraight from the shoulder indicating a delayed call. If the free throw goes in, ignore the violation. If the free throw does not go in , then reshoot the free throw.

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 about 12 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.

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 over 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.

Also, is there a rule from preventing a player from stepping into a jump on a tip-off(to obtain a higher jump)?

Asked by Casey over 10 years ago

A jumper can step into the jump but any other player cannot until the ball is tapped.