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

In a recent college game an offensive player receives a pass and he is standing inside of the three point line. Without dribbling he steps back behind the three point line sets his feet and shoots the ball. How is that not traveling?

Asked by Dean444444 over 9 years ago

Was it the Michigan State player? If it is the play I was looking at it was a close call, but I probably would have called traveling.  

So here is the play: A player catches the ball with both feet in the air. Going backwards the left foot comes down first (it will be the pivot). Then the right foot comes down beyond the 3 point arc. He lifts the left (pivot) foot. At this point he is ok if he alights or stays on the right foot and then passes or shoots. As soon as his left foot touches the floor or he hops on his right it is traveling.

Is it illegal for a player to stand directly in front of the defender and be in-between the person with the ball and the defender and to remain there. It restricts the defender to guard his shot and may cause a foul on the defender for going into him

Asked by Alex Orlando about 9 years ago

Yes it is legal. In the rule book it is called a screen (assuming it is legally obtained).

Hello, while on the offensive, is it legal to block/make contact with the defender's hand with your other hand when you dribble past him to stop him from gaining distance/protecting the ball?

Asked by Marv over 9 years ago

No this move is not legal because even though the offensive player has the right to the vertical space once he has attained a legal position on the floor, he cannot initiate contact by slapping the opponents arm.  

The defensive player can penetrate that vertical space but cannot make contact in that space.  So, a defender can reach into the vertical space of the offensive player to try to steal the ball as long as there is no contact.  But if the defender reaches into the vertical space and initiates contact it is a defensive foul.  

But what if the offensive player initiates contact inside his legally obtained space?  If for example, the offensive player jumps vertically and crashes into the defender - foul on the defender.  

But what if the offensive player slaps the defender's hand? The offensive player caused the contact, and most likely it occurred outside the offensiive player's vertical space, so  it is a foul on the offensive player for initiating contact.

I know that many coaches teach the dribbler to put up a bent arm as a barrier to the defender but when the dribbler initiates contact by pushing or slapping the defender it is a player control foul on the dribbler.  Most often, the dribbler is NOT entitled to the space where the defender is reaching in. In my opinion, this is not called enough.

By the way, there is no defintion in the rule book of "reaching in".  If reaching in was illegal, you could never steal the ball from a dribbler.

5th grade boys basketball. Running clock 20 minutes first half, 9 minutes left and realized teams going to wrong goal. Should we have kept going or made them correct?

Asked by Don Pritchett over 9 years ago

Stop the game. Turn the teams around. All points fouls time outs which occurred stand.

On a full court inbounds pass that goes the length of the court but is never touched, but a foul is called when the ball sails over the players head. Where is the ball thrown in from after the foul?

Asked by Cliff over 9 years ago

The ball should be spotted at a point near the foul. It only comes back to the original thrown if it is not touched or there are no fouls called before the ball is out of bounds.

There is 1.2 seconds left in game. Your fouled on a three point attempt you miss first two third shot is shot to get rebound ref says never hits rim no time runs off clock he reverses call that he did hit rim what happens?

Asked by Greg over 9 years ago

This is horrible officiating and there is no provision to fix this, so the referee has to do the best he possibly can do. If I were the referee and I thought that my crew erred and the ball really hit the rim, I would think the following:1) the whistle blew and stopped the clock before it started when the official thought the ball missed the rim. Therefore, no time should have expired.2) if there is an inadvertent whistle during a time when there is no possession, it can only be resolved by the possession arrow. Reset the clock to 1.2 and go to the possession arrow.3) I think that is the best that can be done in a lousy referee-caused situation.

While on offense (a teammate has ball), can a defender follows and put his arm straight out and push you out of the way even you do not walk into his space. Is it considered boxing out?

Asked by Alan over 9 years ago

No it is not a proper box out.  Boxing out is when a defender moves legally to a space that an opponent is trying to get to, thereby boxing him out.  Using your arm to create space (whether by the offense or defense) is a foul.