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

Thank you sir

Asked by Casey about 9 years ago

you are quite welcome!

Why isn't it an offensive foul when a shooting player jumps into the defender? The shooter creates the contact but is always rewarded.

Asked by Crcsda about 8 years ago

If an offensive player jumps and causes contact within the defender's space it should be called a player control foul, unless the contact did not change the play in a material way (Advantage Disadvantage Theory of Officiating).

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.

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 about 8 years ago

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

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 almost 9 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.

A player dribbles the ball and picks it up with two hands. He then drops the ball, can he pick it up without impunity?

Asked by Arthur Puritz over 8 years ago

It is a judgement call. If the player did not intentionallyvdrop the ball it is a muff or fumble and he can pick it up ... but not dribble again.

Would you call this a foul or a block when a player goes for a simple underhand layup and the defender puts his arms across your body and cups the ball on top preventing you from extending your hand up and going forward.

Asked by RonanC almost 8 years ago

Assuming the arm across did not cause contact, then when 2 oppposing players push the ball simultaneously in opposite directions it is a jump ball.