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
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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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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from the NFHS rulebook, " A player is in control of the ball when he/she is holding or dribbling a live ball inbounds". There are a few exceptions such as a jumper on a jump ball obtaining the ball before it touches the floor or a non-jumper.
Notice it does not exclude jumping in the air nor does it require 2 hands on the ball.
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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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SWAT Team Commander (Retired)
How much protection do those bomb disposal suits really provide?
Swim Instructor
Do parents ever get angry at you personally if their kid isn't learning fast enough?
Radio program/music director
What's your take on the whole Don Imus racism scandal?
It is entirely referee's judgement. Look for lower leg flexing or ankle rotation.
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There is no provision in NFHS rules for a running clock. Club or AAU traveling rules may allow for a running clock.
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It is not a rule, but rather it is a mechanic perscribed in the NFHS Handbook. It used to be that the trailing referee would hand the ball to the free throw shooter for the first attempt and the lead (on the endline) would administer the rest of the free throws. Maybe ten years ago, it was changed so that the proper mechanic is for the lead official administer all free throws from the baseline. Most referees cannot advance if they do not follow the perscribed mechanics. Most importantly, mechanics set a consistent way of working a game, so that you can easily work with people you have never been assigned with, and secondly, following perscribed mechanics sets a professional expectation for coaches and assignment chairpersons to evaluate (in addition to judgement, hustle, and rules knowledge).
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