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

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 10 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".

is there a rule about which referee gives the ball to the foul shooter - does it have to be the ref under the basket throwing it to him or can it be one of the outside refs handing it to him?

Asked by seth almost 12 years ago

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).

Rndballref,
How do you determine if a kicked ball is intentional or not?

Asked by Bball Right almost 10 years ago

It is entirely referee's judgement. Look for lower leg flexing or ankle rotation.

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 about 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.

But the other teams girls had the ball and fell with it not tripping over another players foot just fell down [now we all know thats a travel easy call no brainer] refs didnt see it that way i stood up in surprise and asked wasnt that a travel?

Asked by Ronald Poke over 10 years ago

seems reasonable...

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 11 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.

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 about 10 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.