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

When shooting a hook shot I go up with two hands on the ball. when I release my off hand and it moves away from the ball but stays between the ball and defenders hand that is trying to block the shot. Is it an offensive foul if contact is made?

Asked by Post player over 10 years ago

Usually this would be incidental and not called, UNLESS your arms flailing whack the defender.

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 over 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 over 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).

A player commits 5th foul. Ref confirms with official. Replacement player enters game. 4 mins. later, the player who fouled out re-enters the game. The official scorer now says he only has 4 fouls. Wasn't the player ineligible to return?

Asked by Brooks over 9 years ago

The table official's book is the final word unless the referee has certain, personal knowledge. So assuming the official has not kept track of how many fouls a player has, if the scorer discovers a counting error of a player;s foul, he should conference with the referee (head of the game officials), explain what happened, and if a player really had 4 fouls it should be explained to both coaches and the player should be allowed to reenter the game.

A player jumps from outside the court line, catches the ball mid air and lands inside, is it still out of bounds? And with backcourt violation?

Asked by Max almost 10 years ago

A player who alights in the air is considered to have court position from where his feet last touched the court. If the player jumps from out of bounds and touches the ball before he touches the court inbounds, it is a violation. There are 2 exceptions to this rule: 1) a defender who leaps from his front court to intercept a pass and lands in his backcourt, and 2) a defender who leaps from his front court to intercept a throw in and lands in his backcourt.

In District play offs can the referee call a foul in the last 4 seconds ? Example A player from the opposite team fell and the other teams player jumped over him and didn't even touch him but they got to shoot because they said he touched him !

Asked by LouLou over 9 years ago

A referee can call a foul anytime during the game, as long as a foul has been committed. If there was no contact and no unsportsmanlike behavior then no foul should be called.

Followup "intentional foul". Why not declare any non-shooting foul in the last 2 mins of a game a "intentional foul"? But I'd keep both the shots and ball; if just the ball, the fouling team gets the chance to get the ball back on the inbounds.

Asked by daveb over 11 years ago

That's a good idea too.  But playing devil's advocate, many coaches like the strategy of being able to slow the game down when you're losing by a few points by putting the other team at the line and stopping the clock.  Late fouling in a tight game shifts the game to a chess match (and free throw pressure cooker) and I believe many coaches like having the ability to get back in a game.  This wouldn't be such an issue if we had a shot clock for the entire game.