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

The player catches the ball under the basket with both feet planted. He then hops backwards landing on both feet and shoots the layup. is this a travel?

Asked by Coach Joe over 10 years ago

As you describe it, it is traveling. If you catch the ball with both feet on the ground, when you lift one of the feet the other becomes the pivot. But if a player hops, neither foot is a pivot and it is traveling.

When a player gets fouled but the coach sends another player to shoot the free throw?

Asked by Dave over 10 years ago

Yes, the referees are in charge of designating who is entitled to shoot bonus or shooting fouls. Coaches designate who will shoot technicals.

As a best practice, when the foul calling official calls the foul, the nearest other official should come in and point to the shooter and verbalize, "I got the shooter". This is better than the other official saying, " the shooter is number XX" because to reporting official can get tangled up with the shooter and fouler's numbers.

Airborne player A-1 attempts a 3-point field goal. After returning to the floor B-1 fouls A-1. The try is unsuccessful. The official awards A-1 three free throws. Is the official correct?

Asked by mIKE over 11 years ago

No. After returning to the floor the player is no longer in the act of shooting. It should be a non-shooting common foul.

Does the ball have to be in play for a foul to be called? I coach a youth team (ages 10-12) & I instructed one of my players to foul a player on the other team, and he did so, but the ball hadn't been in bounded yet, and it wasn't called. That right?

Asked by Brian M. over 10 years ago

If the ball is live, then any foul can be called. If the ball is dead, the only foul which can be called is a technical.

On a throw in, the ball is live (even though the clock is not running) when it is at the disposal of throw in player ... in other words when the referee hands or bounces the ball to the player. So, yes a common foul can be called before the clock runs.

Hi Ref,

Player A1 dribbles then stops and holds the ball with both hands. Defensive player B1 smacks the ball from A1 causing it to hit the floor and bounce up to A1. What options does A1 have?

Asked by Peter Johnston over 11 years ago

A1 can dribble pass or shoot because B1 knocked the ball away and A1 no longer had player possession.

When does an assist begin & end. ex. If a player inbounds the ball to another player & the second player dribbles down court & scores does the first player still get an assist?

Asked by Jim about 11 years ago

This is a tough question. There was a Wall Street Journal article which addressed the grey areas of what an assist is. Here is a quote from that article:

"The NBA statistician's manual says an assist should be "credited to a player tossing the last pass leading directly to a field goal, only if the player scoring the goal responds by demonstrating immediate reaction to the basket." It sounds simple enough. As assist is a pass made to a shooter who scores. But when you try to apply this definition during a game, it gets murky. There are no details about how many steps shooters can take after receiving a pass; nothing about shot-fakes, head-fakes or pivot moves and no hard guidelines on how much time can elapse between the pass and the shot.

Can I email you a video and can you tell me if it is travelling? I have an ongoing argument and I need to put it to rest. Thank you.

Asked by Mike about 11 years ago

Sure. put in your email address and I will contact you.