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

Thanks for confirming my question on the out of bounds/jump ball. I have seen this call "blown" so many times and can't understand why. Seems like it happens a lot that calls are missed down on the baseline, such as stepping on the line, etc.

Asked by gbauman43 about 10 years ago

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.

I am a registered official with two other USOC sports and have officiated on a National and World level. At a recent AAU State tourney I watched a ref behave in a way that would be an Ethics or Code of conduct Violation. Where do you report this?

Asked by AAU Basketball Dad over 9 years ago

I certainly encourage you to report this. Most people officiate because they love the game, and if you love the game you have a duty to do anything in your power to advance the avocation of refereeing. I suggest you find out who ran the AAU tournament and voice your concerns. Because of your background, meaning you have training and experience and do not appear to be simply a biased, ticked off untrained parent, the AAU tournament director should be willing to tell you who the assigner of the officials was for the tournament and you should contact him/her directly.

I think most states would not allow an official complaint at the state licensing level because AAU tournaments are not normally state sanctioned contests even though they only hire "patched state officials".

Can basketball referees throw people out of high school games for talking to them?

Asked by FTO about 10 years ago

See my answer about nine questions back where Cody asked, "Who has the authority to throw a fan out of a game?"

A player had control of the ball and fell to the ground, but he used the ball to brace his fall. He maintained possession, but the ball hit the ground first. Is this traveling or would the ball hit the ground count as a dribble and play continue?

Asked by Joe - Youth Ref over 9 years ago

If the player had two hands on the ball and pushed it to the ground it is double dribble. If the play had one hand on top of the ball and pushed it to the ground it would be a dribble. If he then picked the ball up, he could not dribble again.

What is the ruling on this.
Team A inbounds from baseline . Team B touches the ball near division line. Team A2 also touches the ball, then the ball goes into back court, Team A2 recovers the inbounds and gains possession. Ruling Backcourt or no call

Asked by Carlos over 9 years ago

To have a backcourt violation a team must first achieve possession in their front court. There is no team possession on a throw in.

So, in your scenario Players B1 and A2 touch the ball, but neither have achieved possession. Therefore, no backcourt violation when A2 retrieves the ball in his backcourt.

I was fouled and the ref under the basket called 2 shots. Shot and missed the first one, caught it and threw it back to the ref. The side ref said it was a one and one after I gave it to the ref and they ended up calling it a jump ball.

Asked by Harlin Wolfe about 10 years ago

Since awarding the 2nd free throw was in error, and even if it was correctible, play resumes from the point discovered, and all points scored and fouls remain intact.  So the ref should have dropped the ball and play on.  There is no provision to use a jump ball to fix a misapplication of a rule.

As a practical matter, awarding a jump is less awkward than the chaos of handing it correctly.

How do referees decide which side of the court to take the ball out on after a timeout called when the ball is in the front court?

Asked by George over 10 years ago

The placement of a throw in after a time out is the same as the placement after a violation or a non-shooting foul.  The spot should be perpendiclar to nearest sideline oe endline.  So imagine a diagonal line from the elbow of the free throw line to the corner of the sideline/endline. If the ball was on the sideline area of that line then find a perpendicular line to the sideline. If it is on the other side of the diagonal then the ball goes to the endline.  If the ball was in the paint, then it is taken out on the endline at the closest line of the paint - never on the endline directly under the basket.