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
Thanks for the kind words!
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See my answer about nine questions back where Cody asked, "Who has the authority to throw a fan out of a game?"
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The rulebook provisions of the 3 second rule is that a player cannot be in the lane for 3 seconds or more while his teamates have established team possession in their frontcourt.
If a player has either foot on the edge or line which defines yhe lane, he is in the lane.
There is an interesting exception to a 3 count. A player can legally be in the lane for as much as 6 seconds as follows: he is in the lane for a count if 2 and receives the ball, the holds the ball for 2 counts and dribbles - he gets another 2 count. Then he must shoot .
But to your point, most experienced officials rarely call 3 seconds. You see newer referees at freshman games call it way too often. Most officials are taught that 3 seconds should only be called if and only if it results in an undue advantage. Thr principal is called Advantage Disadvantage. This means that when it is called it is ususlly a late call.. for example a player is camped out and normally when the shot goes up the 3 seconds restrictions are lifted, but if that player gets the rebound because he was there for more than 3 seconds the official should call it then.
A good preventative officiating move is for the official to shoo players out of the paint verbally to avoid having to call 3 secs too often.
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There is no provision in the NFHS rulebook which addresses any foul after the game. Each state has bylaws which might impose penalties for unsportsmanlike conduct outside the auspicies of the on-court officials. The referees' jurisdiction ends after they have validated the score and they leave the confines of the court. If something happened after the end of the game I was officiating I would write an incident report and send it to the state for action or disposal.
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Yes you can in NFHS rules as long as the shot was a legitimate try. If the referee deemed it not to be a legitimate shot it should be called traveling.
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I understand your point. In nearly all sports, coaches make moves that help determine the outcome of games; time outs, call in plays etc. I think the NFHS needs to decide if they want to completely eliminate the "everyone in the gym knows it is an intentional foul" being ignored or called as a common, or leave it unevenly called as it is. In the past they have tried to issue guidelines, but the gray area for interpretation is a mile wide. Don't know how much noise they hear about this issue, but NFHS has not settled on a good solution yet.
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Out of bounds calls should not be missed because in a 3 man crew, every line has an official with primary responsibility. If this really is a trend it is not good.
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