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

What is the ruling on this.
Team A inbounds from baseline . Team B touches the ball near division line. Team A2 also touches the ball, then the ball goes into back court, Team A2 recovers the inbounds and gains possession. Ruling Backcourt or no call

Asked by Carlos almost 10 years ago

To have a backcourt violation a team must first achieve possession in their front court. There is no team possession on a throw in.

So, in your scenario Players B1 and A2 touch the ball, but neither have achieved possession. Therefore, no backcourt violation when A2 retrieves the ball in his backcourt.

Thanks for confirming my question on the out of bounds/jump ball. I have seen this call "blown" so many times and can't understand why. Seems like it happens a lot that calls are missed down on the baseline, such as stepping on the line, etc.

Asked by gbauman43 over 10 years ago

Out of bounds calls should not be missed because in a 3 man crew, every line has an official with primary responsibility.  If this really is a trend it is not good.

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 10 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.

How do you check a ball for proper inflation at game time?

Asked by rimbreaker about 10 years ago

Some officials carry a small gauge, but most referees hold the ball head-high (about 5 3/4 feet high) and let it drop.  It should bounce up to the official's elbow when the upper arm is held parallel to the floor.  Higher bounce than the elbow means over-inflated, bouncing under the elbow means it needs more inflation.  The referee usually checks the game ball after making sure the book contains at least the number of players who are warming up (and the starters are designated),  around 10 minutes before gametime.  Try it sometime when you are on a wooden floor.  Note, if the game is being played on an indoor soft rubberized floor (as in underclass games in the fieldhouse), the ball will need more air than on a wooden floor.

Can you eject a player after a high school basketball game is over?
Is he allowed to play the next game?

Asked by Kim almost 10 years ago

The jurisdiction of the officials ends when the score is approved and the referees leave the visual confines of the court. Each state decides, with bylaws, what penalties will be assessed for player and coach ejections. There is no rule or penalty in the NFHS rulebook that an official can assess after a game is over. So the official should write up a game report and send it to the state (or league) for further adjudication.

I was fouled and the ref under the basket called 2 shots. Shot and missed the first one, caught it and threw it back to the ref. The side ref said it was a one and one after I gave it to the ref and they ended up calling it a jump ball.

Asked by Harlin Wolfe over 10 years ago

Since awarding the 2nd free throw was in error, and even if it was correctible, play resumes from the point discovered, and all points scored and fouls remain intact.  So the ref should have dropped the ball and play on.  There is no provision to use a jump ball to fix a misapplication of a rule.

As a practical matter, awarding a jump is less awkward than the chaos of handing it correctly.

Opening tip. Our center tipped the ball along the midcourt line but no one touched it before it went out of bounds. Sure, ball to the other team now, but what about arrow? The ruling was the arrow for other side b/c our center "possessed" ball. Thx.

Asked by RodK almost 11 years ago

Sounds like a bad call.  The center for Team A does not establish team possession by tipping the ball, but by knocking the ball out Team B gets the ball.  Because neither team had possession and B got the first ball the arrow is set for Team A's possession on the next one.