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 does a player do to deliberately miss a free throw but not get called for essentially not trying to make it? Situation: 2 seconds left, down 2 pts, one free throw coming. My kid wants to miss and get a tap in. Thanks.

Asked by Rod K almost 11 years ago

A free thrower is not obligated to make the free throw. He must hit the ring and not violate other free throw provisions (entering the lane early, etc.). Most players in that situation should throw a flat shot towards the ring, barely ever going above the rim.

O1 is standing in his lane and is about to get a three second count when his teammate takes a shot that never touches the rim or backboard. O1 catches the ball and then dribbles in the lane before passing. Is this a three second violation?

Asked by Alfredo about 11 years ago

In NFHS rules, the three second restriction is lifted when a legitimate try for the basket goes up. Note that it does not say "when the ball hits the ring". So the first part of your question's answer is no, there is no three second violation because once a try goes up there is no team possession anymore. Secondly, in NFHS rules any player can retrieve an air ball shot as long as it was deemed a legitimate try. Once retrieved, team and player possession are reestablished, and he gets a new 3 second count if he is still in the lane.

As a referee, is there a code of conduct in place that would disqualify a parent from refereeing his own sons AAU championship game? The opposing team attempted to have a parent ref his sons game. Isn't there rules against this?

Asked by Kaylee about 11 years ago

I am not an expert on AAU rules but common sense would tell anyone to avoid officiating your son's game in competitive play. It would be different if it was a "house" league, but this is inappropriate for traveling basketball.

So I am coaching as a volunteer children (8-10) we came to a critical point in the game and I called "TIME TIME TIME" -- The ball was then turned over and the ref turned to me, with me saying nothing, and he said"you have to say TIME OUT" Is this so?

Asked by konopisos@yahoo.com almost 11 years ago

The NFHS rule book lists one of the officials' duties is "granting time-outs". It does not specify that the words "time-out" are used. For example coaches can get a time out by signaling his hand in a "T". So if I heard a coach yelling time, time, time, I would grant that time a time-out.

Can you explain how a charging violation is determined when player A leaves his feet for a shot attempt and lands on player B before touching the ground. Is this a charge? Does it matter if the defense if moving? Thanks.

Asked by PJohnston - Chicago over 11 years ago

The defender must legally obtain the vertical space BEFORE the offensive player alights for a shot. So, if player B legally obtains a place on the floor and Player A crashes into him while coming down from a shot, player control foul on A.

The defensive player can be moving, but the rulebook says he must be moving obliquely, which means the defender cannot move directly into the path of the offensive player. For example a player who is backpedaling and is run over by the offensive player would draw a player control foul on the dribbler. You can also move sideways and backwards as a defender and still draw a charge.

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 almost 10 years ago

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

I'm not sure if there is another page where I can ask this question or not, if there is just let me know... I'm currently in the military and we run an intramural league and we follow the NFHS rules, we are trying to clarify a proper call to further help educate our league/ refs/ and coaches..... We had an instance where a shooting foul occurred, so the Shooter went to the line, however before the first FT the opposing team made an illegal substitution which resulted in a technical foul. So dead ball, technical foul the team gets to shoot whoever they choose to shoot those technical FTs. After those FTs, what should the refs do? They had a shooting foul before the Technical, does the shooter still get their FTs? To they get their FTs and the ball? Or do they get the tech FTs and the ball out of bounds? We tubal you for your time and any help clarifying a rule in a situation like this would be greatly helpful

Asked by Paul over 10 years ago

Sir, thank you for your service! The answer to your question lies in a simple rule of thumb: administer fouls in the order they occurred. So, clear the lane, let the original player shoot his free throws or one and one. Then, the same team can choose any player on the floor to shoot the technicals, then award the ball at half court for the same team.