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
It is entirely referee's judgement. Look for lower leg flexing or ankle rotation.
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seems reasonable...
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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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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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Sounds like an over-sensitive ref who bullies when he is wrong. Look, all of us boot calls. As long as the ref is trying and not vindictive I can excuse blowing any call during a game. I have done my share, especially early on.
However, the ref's advancement into higher levels is dependent on NOT blowing key calls. The way a ref avoids blowing a call is to be prepared and understand the rule book better than anyone else in the gym, having played or watched enough games to morph experience into good judgement, and to understand the mechanics of officiating so that you position yourself correctly to have the best possible angle to see the action.
Having said all of that I would caution you (or any parent) from becoming the overindulgent father or mother who takes on evaluating officials when you have no training or understanding what is involved. You should let your school's coaches take on the responsibility of giving feedback to the officials and the assignment chairperson who evaluates referees and books officials. If you don't, and I have seen this a hundred times, you will alienate yourself from the other parents, and you will lose credibility with your daughter's coach ahead of when you really have an issue. If you are too vocal, it may hurt the way your coach views your daughter. As a coach once told me, "you pick the player, you pick the parent."
Just to punctuate the point, I also umpired baseball games in Illinois - high school, house and traveling leagues. I can honestly say that it took me three years to settle in on a consistent correct strike zone. It just takes experience. So in my first year, my strike zone was inconsistent. During that time I was not put on Varsity games. So in middle school and even freshman games expect spotty officiating.
Unfortunately, the best officials referee Varsity games, and in some ways the best ref's are needed at the lower levels. You may be seeing young inexperienced ref's or lazy guys just picking up checks. If your daughter advances you will see better officiating.
Free advice is sometimes worth what you paid for it … so here it is. Cool down during her games or don't attend if you cannot help yourself. You are going to ruin the experience for your daughter.
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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".
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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.
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