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

Now days knee pads are very common. We love the idea in that it promotes effort and aggressiveness but... if a player starts to slide, then grabs a loose ball and.. continues to slide another foot or three... Is this traveling?

Asked by Jeromy over 8 years ago

If a player has possession of the ball and slides it should be travelling.

Would you ever give a coach a technical with 30 seconds left in a tied game if he were arguing with you, you tell him to walk away, and he walks away about 25 feet away, and says something that is not audible 2 the ref 2 another person about the call

Asked by molio64 almost 9 years ago

I would not call a foul on a coach who says something that I did not hear. However, if the coach defiantly tried to show me up with body language designed to attack my integrity I would T him up.

Having said that, in 20 years you could count on 2 hands the technical coach's fouls I called.

Sometimes a ball will rest/balance itself perfectly on the bracket & stay.So what happens on a last sec. shot to tie/win the game. Seems like they'd just have to stay all night to see if it falls thru. What would you do in this situation.

Asked by Tony r almost 8 years ago

Give it a couple seconds to move. If not, the shot is over and so is the game.

Thank you sir

Asked by Casey almost 9 years ago

you are quite welcome!

That seems to be the generic answer to the slamming/spiking the ball issue. So shouldn't it state this in the rule book? Otherwise, I agree, it could be used arbitrarily by some less than idea ref to punish one team over another.

Asked by Daniel over 8 years ago

The rule book does not spell out all the ways of committing a technical foul. I believe that working your way up through ranks sifts out most referees with poor judgement and thin skin, not always but at most levels it is so competitive that the better officials tend to move forward and ref the better games. That is how the system cultivates good judgement - and I'll admit there are officials who come in with a chip on their shoulders and stretch their judgement unfairly against a team or player, but it is the assignment chairman's job to weed out these kind of officials.

What is considered a pass to yourself? If I am in the triple threat position and have not dribbled how far does a ball have to go in the air to be considered an illegal pass to myself?

Asked by Doug over 7 years ago

There is no distance specified in the rule book.

Would it be legal if i were going for a rebound and touched the ball inbounds to save it from going out of bounds, then stepped out and back in bounds, and then got possession of the ball?

Asked by Frank Grillo over 8 years ago

It is a violation for a player to leave the floor for an unauthorized reason. So if you step out of bounds purposely then a violation occurred and the ball is awarded to the other team. But if, in the judgement of the official you did not purposely step out of bounds, then no violation.