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

That seems to be the generic answer to the slamming/spiking the ball issue. So shouldn't it state this in the rule book? Otherwise, I agree, it could be used arbitrarily by some less than idea ref to punish one team over another.

Asked by Daniel over 9 years ago

The rule book does not spell out all the ways of committing a technical foul. I believe that working your way up through ranks sifts out most referees with poor judgement and thin skin, not always but at most levels it is so competitive that the better officials tend to move forward and ref the better games. That is how the system cultivates good judgement - and I'll admit there are officials who come in with a chip on their shoulders and stretch their judgement unfairly against a team or player, but it is the assignment chairman's job to weed out these kind of officials.

Is it acceptable to hand the ball to an inbounder rather than passing the ball to an inbounder?

Asked by Cholly over 9 years ago

yes, unless the mechanics have changed in the past couple years, we were required to hand the ball to the in bounders on end line throw-ins. There is an advantage of bouncing the call to the in bounder on the sidelines because it allows the on-ball referee administering the throw in to step back and take a wider view (while he counts the 5 seconds).

Would you ever give a coach a technical with 30 seconds left in a tied game if he were arguing with you, you tell him to walk away, and he walks away about 25 feet away, and says something that is not audible 2 the ref 2 another person about the call

Asked by molio64 over 9 years ago

I would not call a foul on a coach who says something that I did not hear. However, if the coach defiantly tried to show me up with body language designed to attack my integrity I would T him up.

Having said that, in 20 years you could count on 2 hands the technical coach's fouls I called.

Would it be legal if i were going for a rebound and touched the ball inbounds to save it from going out of bounds, then stepped out and back in bounds, and then got possession of the ball?

Asked by Frank Grillo over 9 years ago

It is a violation for a player to leave the floor for an unauthorized reason. So if you step out of bounds purposely then a violation occurred and the ball is awarded to the other team. But if, in the judgement of the official you did not purposely step out of bounds, then no violation.

If one or two NCAA basketball referees decides that the third referees call is incorrect or 'vindictive', can they overrule the third referee whether the third referee agrees to change the call or not?

Asked by Kamerch over 8 years ago

I am not sure about NCAA rules, but I suspect no ref can overrule another as in NFHS rules.

Would you call this a foul or a block when a player goes for a simple underhand layup and the defender puts his arms across your body and cups the ball on top preventing you from extending your hand up and going forward.

Asked by RonanC over 8 years ago

Assuming the arm across did not cause contact, then when 2 oppposing players push the ball simultaneously in opposite directions it is a jump ball.

A player dribbles the ball and picks it up with two hands. He then drops the ball, can he pick it up without impunity?

Asked by Arthur Puritz almost 9 years ago

It is a judgement call. If the player did not intentionallyvdrop the ball it is a muff or fumble and he can pick it up ... but not dribble again.