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

On last second throw in clock starts early & horn goes off as ball sails over inbound players untouched. Is it "do-over" or doews it below to other team and where?

Asked by Bob Moe over 12 years ago

The clock should be started when the ball is touched by an in-bounds player.  If the ball is thrown out of bounds without being touched, the clock should not have been started.  In your scenario, the clock should be reset to the exact time before the throw-in and the ball should be awarded to the other team for a new throw-in.

In the post position, is it legal for an offensive player to intentionally pull down the arm of a defensive player to receive a pass

Asked by Waldo about 12 years ago

Simple answer: no.  So again (Advantage Disadvantage), if the post player is setting up down low and swatting the defender's hands and they are in a minor way pushing or leaning on each other, then I am ignoring it or telling them hands off. But as soon as the ball is delivered to the post, and he received it because he swatted the defender's hands away from a legal guarding position, then I am calling an offensive foul.

Team A has the ball in their front court and Team B knocks the ball out of bounds on the base line table side. During the play, the trail official is table side and the lead official is opposite the table. Do the refs rotate and do you hand or bounce

Asked by Phil McGovern almost 12 years ago

Unless the mechanic changed this year, the lead official is never to bounce to the player on a throw in with one exceptionL  if the ball goes out of bounds on the sideline very close to the endline (baseline), the the lead can bounce the ball for a throw in close to the endline.  If however the ball will be put in play on the endline, the lead should always hand the ball to the thrower.  I know in the NBA they bounce the ball for an endline throw-in in the backcourt, but not in high school ball (except by lazy officials).

Ref bounce-passed the ball to an inbounder (no defensive pressure) - about 12-15 away - slightly offline (inbounder reached out). The inbounder fumbled the ball and dropped it over the line and caught it. Ref called a violation. good/bad call?

Asked by rph over 12 years ago

A throw-in begins when the ball is placed at the disposal of the player who will throw it in. As you describe the play, the offensive player does not have control of the ball until after fumbling it.  The ref should either ignore the fumble or whistle the play dead right away and bounce the ball to the in bounder properly.  Violation = bad call.

Hi Ref, in one game years back when I played a lot of ball, a player on the other team always grabbed the ball after his team made a basket and placed the ball on the floor so we had to bend down and grab it before taking it out. Is this legal? Thx

Asked by Pete Johnston (Chicago) over 12 years ago

Placing the ball on the floor repeatedly denies the other team the opportunity to grab the ball and run.  Here's how it should be handled.  After the second occurence, the ref should stop the game and issue a "delay of game warning" against the team, and ask the scorer to register a warning in the book..  If they do it again, the offending player should be charged with a technical foul.

what are the difficults of being a ref? like what makes it hard?

Asked by Alex over 12 years ago

Like most things in life it is not difficult to be a referee.  However, it is very hard to be a good referee.  Here are some of the reasons: 1) You need to study the rule book - it takes a long time to really understand and internalize them, 2) once the rules are understood it takes a long time to decide which rules should not be enforced at which levels/situations, 3) since there is a learning curve, you have to make a big commitment to it before you can be well compensated, 4) even if you develop into a good referee, you have to be lucky enough to be "discovered" and/or mentored by people in a position to help and promote you, and finally you have to have a different occupation that allows you spend your time investing in ref'ing.  Oh yeah, you also need thick skin.

starting game jump shot is tipped down court our guy gets it goes for basket. it goes in and ref counts it as shot for other team. is this correct?

Asked by donna over 11 years ago

I think you are asking this question: A1 gets the ball from the opening tip in his backcourt and shoots the ball into B1's basket (his oppponent's basket).  How is it scored? 

If this is your question, the answer is count the basket for team B, and A gets the ball for a throw in in their backcourt.