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

SubscribeGet emails when new questions are answered. Ask Me Anything!Show Bio +

Share:

Ask me anything!

Submit Your Question

651 Questions

Share:

Last Answer on September 20, 2019

Best Rated

Player A dribbles into front court, passes to Player B who has not established position in frontcourt. After the pass, Player B jumps into front court before the ball gets to him to not get called for backcourt violation. What is the right call?

Asked by Coaching Youth over 10 years ago

Backcourt violation is the correct call because a player who catches the ball while in the air is considered to be in the court position from where they last touched the court. For example, if a player is out of bounds and leaps up, as soon as the player touches the ball it should be whistled dead on an out of bounds violation.

In your question if an offense player leaps from the backcourt to touch a ball which has been established in his team's front court it is a backcourt violation. Two exceptions to this rule: 1) on a throw-in, a player can jump from either side of the centerline, catch the throw in and land on the opposite side, and 2) a defensive player who leaps from his backcourt to intercept a ball which came from his front court (which was in possession of the offense before the interception).

can i box out an opponent before their offensive player takes a shot ?

Asked by Kobe54 about 10 years ago

Boxing out is the process of legally getting to a spot on the floor before an opponent gets to the same spot. Most people think of this when you achieve inside rebounding position, and you are able to anticipate your opponent's movement in such a way that you prevent him from moving around you by "blocking" his way. Note this definition is without specification regarding a shot or no shot.

In my experience, the player blocking out is tagged with a foul when he blatantly backs up and dislodges his opponent when making contact, but not usually when both players move laterally.

In a high school game in 1963: Player A is fouled severely on a shot & gets two free throws. He is injured on the play and leaves the game not to return. Player B makes both free throws & stays in game. Question: Who is entitled to the points??

Asked by Lonnie H. Duke over 10 years ago

Player B is awarded the points for the free throws he makes. There are no points awarded for drawing a foul - at least not in NFHS rules.

Player A is taking the ball out of bounds and passes it in to player B. Player B quickly passes it back to the inbounder (player A). Does player A have to have both feet inbounds or does she have to place one inbounds to be established as in?

Asked by lauren over 9 years ago

one foot down inbounds is ok as long as the other foot is in the air and not out of bounds.

Is there a rule in Indiana High School re: Can a coach play a freshman player who is not on JV roster in some games / not all games whch takes out a JV player who is on JV roster, he isn,t even able to dress in uniform and sit on bench with team.

Asked by Jackiejdp about 10 years ago

I do not know. Each state association sets rules for eligibility so you will have to check with Indiana's high school association.

Is Carrying still a foul. I see it at every level of basketball.

Asked by Jim over 10 years ago

"Carrying the ball" is not a foul. It is a violation that used to be called an "illegal dribble" but several years ago NFHS added the carrying signal as its own violation.

Is it legal for the official to remove a player from the game after a flagrant foul:
There was about 5 secs left, our point guard intentionally(harshly) fouls opponent, is ejected, the ref attempts to scoot him off, our player shoves off, legal?J.H.

Asked by Casey about 10 years ago

A single flagrant foul results in a disqualification in NFHS rules.