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

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

Asked by FTO over 11 years ago

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

Do you feel refs are biased against teams with large student sections? my school has a huge one, and although never disrespectful to refs, I feel like we definitely get less calls for us at home games with the student section there.

Asked by Marcus Ravt over 10 years ago

I can honestly say I have never noticed that.

when a player dribbles behind another player (much like when a running back follows a blocker) as when coming up the court (or anytime) and the non-dribbling player obstructs the would be defender - is this a moving (illegal) screen?

Asked by Ralph Sita over 11 years ago

yes.

What is considered a clear possession after jump rebound? Do i need to have to both feet on ground + 2 hands holding the ball?

Asked by Anh almost 11 years ago

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.

Opening tip. Our center tipped the ball along the midcourt line but no one touched it before it went out of bounds. Sure, ball to the other team now, but what about arrow? The ruling was the arrow for other side b/c our center "possessed" ball. Thx.

Asked by RodK over 11 years ago

Sounds like a bad call.  The center for Team A does not establish team possession by tipping the ball, but by knocking the ball out Team B gets the ball.  Because neither team had possession and B got the first ball the arrow is set for Team A's possession on the next one.

I heard that if you shoot the ball after a ref blows the whistle to call a foul or something, you can get a technical for shooting after the ref stops the play. Is that true?

Asked by emmers over 10 years ago

If the ref calls for the ball you should give it up. If you defy the ref it could be construed as disrespectful by a thin-skinned official. So yes, it could be called. BUT I never have made that call and I advise refs not to.

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 over 11 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.