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

Our AAU league posted a notice on its site that starting in spring, players need gov't issued photo ID. But it did not say how the rule was to be enforced or when or by whom ID's would be examined. Do you have any more on that? Thanks.

Asked by rodk over 10 years ago

I do not have any special knowledge of AAU league or tournament rules. I do know that age verification is a perpetual problem in traveling basketball.

you call a foul and the table does not tell you it should be a bonus situation. B1 inbounds the ball and scores. then the table informs you the previous call should be a bonus. is it correctable.

Asked by tony over 9 years ago

This error is correctable, as long as it is discovered during the first dead ball after the clock has been started. When B1 scores, the ball is dead and the free throw should be awarded. The points scored by B1 shall remain counted.

While the shot clock is winding down a player throws a pass and it hits the rim. After it hits the rim the shot clock goes off. His teammates catches the ball. Is this a shot clock violation or a new shot clock?

Asked by Max almost 10 years ago

There is no shot clock in NFHS rules. In NCAA men's rules it is a violation for a team to fail to make a try for a basket AND have the ball touch the ring or flange before 35 seconds.

Notice the rule states "a try …" which means that a pass would not qualify even if touched the ring. Not sure what pro rules state.

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 about 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.

On a designated spot throw in. Can a player take one step forward to adminster a throw in

Asked by Rox about 10 years ago

On a spot throw-in, a player must stay within a 3 foot area along the out of bounds boundary. That three foot area extends from the out of bounds line all the way back to the wall, or the first obstruction (bleachers, table, etc.).  

So to answer your question, as long as the player does not step in bounds before releasing the ball, he can take as many steps forward short of breaching the out bounds line.

can an official Basketball match start with 1 referee on the court?

Asked by Samer Taha almost 10 years ago

While it is not ideal, a game can begin with 1 referee. It seems that it happens occasionally at the lower levels but rarely at the Varsity level because if the Varsity crew is short a ref, they will invite a ref from the pre-lim (usually sophomore) game to stay and work the game with them.

When I have had to ref myself, I find that play under the basket gets rough because the players know that you can only follow the ball. You also miss a lot of line calls.

One player on defense loses his shoe while the offense is running a play. The Ref calls for play to stop so the player can put his shoe on. Seems to me he should have waited till the play was over. What do you say?

Asked by Mike over 10 years ago

The ref should stop the game right away if a player is injured or in imminent danger.  The ref can delay the play stoppage to allow the offensive team to complete a play if there is no immediate danger to any players.  The refs are also to stop play immediately if there is a vision issue such as lost contact lense or glasses knocked off someone's head.

In your situation, I would have let the offense finish the play - BUT if the offense was driving to the basket and then kicked the ball back out out to reset the play, I would have stopped the game,