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
In the violations section of the rule book regarding free throws, it states that the free throw shooter shall have neither foot beyond the vertical plane of the edge of the free throw line which is further from the basket.
This restriction ends when the ball hits the ring, backboard or until the free throw ends.
So no, a player cannot soar through the air leaping from the semi-circle to dunk a ball - he would have to cross the vertical plane of the free throw line.
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No, by rule they cannot, but it depends (and the following discussion assumes the offensive player does NOT have the ball):
Coaches teach the armbar technique but if the arm in the back prevents an offensive player from moving to another legal spot, it is holding.
If the armbar is set within the verticality the defender is entitled to, and the defender's forearm is used to keep from being pushed backward by the offensive player then there is no foul, or an offensive foul.
I always looked to see if the armbar moved foreward to push the offensive player off his spot, then it is a foul. If the armbar did not push the opponent, I would not call it
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No. The correct protocol when a player fouls out is this: the scorer normally informs the ref that the player assessed with the last foul has fouled out. The ref lets the coach know that the player has fouled out and he has 30 seconds to send in a substitute. Once the fouled out player leaves the court and the substitute is beckoned in, then the free throws can start. By the way, if there are other subs at the time the player is being replaced, then all of them should be beckoned in. Normally you would wait until there is only one free throw left (or a one and one) before sending subs in.
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After a made basket, or after a timeout after a made basket the team with the ball can pass it from one out of bounds player to another, and then throw it in bounds (along the endline only). Here's the play:
Team B is pressing with no defender on the out of bounds thrower in player A1. A2 is on the other side of the paint but he is guarded by B1. A1 has the ball out of bounds. A2 steps out of bounds leaving the defender B1 no one to guard. A1 passes the ball to A2 who is out of bounds. A1 steps in bounds and receives the pass from A2.
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Hotel Employee
What was the craziest request you ever got from a guest?
Stand-Up Comedian
Did your career blow up after you performed on the Tonight Show / Conan?
Air Traffic Controller
Have you ever ordered a pilot to abort mid-takeoff?
In a local baseball league, they implemented a rule that if a player or parent was tossed from a game, the player was ruled ineligible until the parent umpired a game at his/her level of choice. The league has a handful of letters of apology from parents who tried (quite unsuccessfully) to umpire games.
If I might be so bold as to suggest that you become patched for basketball in your state, attend summer camp to get trained, and work some games next year. You will gain a better understanding of the game, probably help your daughter's game and you will watch her play a little calmer.
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This is a close one. Who is entitled to a space on the floor? Answer: the player who gets there before another player leaves his feet to get to the same space. If in your example the defender is "riding" your backside in lockstep towards the basket, each of you are entitled to the straight line toward the endline. So unless either player leans into the other and dislodges, I would say incidental, legal contact.
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Read my answer to the above question, and add this. If I was observing an official who called a foul on a half court tip a shooting foul, I would do all I could to keep him from working a varsity (also a sophomore) game. I will grant you that a player can go through the habitual shooting motion of a shot anywhere on the court and if fouled it could be a shooting foul, even from the back court (as in the end of the quarter), but a tip from half court is unskilled and undeserving of a shooting foul - I would always call a halfcourt tip foul a common foul.
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