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

Youth basketball (13-14) ball is in play & scorekeeper hits buzzer in error; some players continue the game (clock still running) & no whistle was blown. A basket is made & then the whistle blows & referee claims no basket. Was this a correct call?

Asked by Debbie about 10 years ago

Players should play until a whistle is blown. In your scenario the refs made two mistakes: 1) if there is not an advantage by the team in possession when the buzzer sounded, they should blow the whistle and find out what the timekeeper wanted, and 2) once they let the game continue then they should count all activities until the whistle.

While the shot clock is winding down a player throws a pass and it hits the rim. After it hits the rim the shot clock goes off. His teammates catches the ball. Is this a shot clock violation or a new shot clock?

Asked by Max almost 10 years ago

There is no shot clock in NFHS rules. In NCAA men's rules it is a violation for a team to fail to make a try for a basket AND have the ball touch the ring or flange before 35 seconds.

Notice the rule states "a try …" which means that a pass would not qualify even if touched the ring. Not sure what pro rules state.

In District play offs can the referee call a foul in the last 4 seconds ? Example A player from the opposite team fell and the other teams player jumped over him and didn't even touch him but they got to shoot because they said he touched him !

Asked by LouLou about 9 years ago

A referee can call a foul anytime during the game, as long as a foul has been committed. If there was no contact and no unsportsmanlike behavior then no foul should be called.

Hi Ref,

Player A1 dribbles then stops and holds the ball with both hands. Defensive player B1 smacks the ball from A1 causing it to hit the floor and bounce up to A1. What options does A1 have?

Asked by Peter Johnston almost 10 years ago

A1 can dribble pass or shoot because B1 knocked the ball away and A1 no longer had player possession.

One player on defense loses his shoe while the offense is running a play. The Ref calls for play to stop so the player can put his shoe on. Seems to me he should have waited till the play was over. What do you say?

Asked by Mike almost 11 years ago

The ref should stop the game right away if a player is injured or in imminent danger.  The ref can delay the play stoppage to allow the offensive team to complete a play if there is no immediate danger to any players.  The refs are also to stop play immediately if there is a vision issue such as lost contact lense or glasses knocked off someone's head.

In your situation, I would have let the offense finish the play - BUT if the offense was driving to the basket and then kicked the ball back out out to reset the play, I would have stopped the game, 

can an official Basketball match start with 1 referee on the court?

Asked by Samer Taha about 10 years ago

While it is not ideal, a game can begin with 1 referee. It seems that it happens occasionally at the lower levels but rarely at the Varsity level because if the Varsity crew is short a ref, they will invite a ref from the pre-lim (usually sophomore) game to stay and work the game with them.

When I have had to ref myself, I find that play under the basket gets rough because the players know that you can only follow the ball. You also miss a lot of line calls.

Are the votes in the q and a for the question or the answer?

Asked by rimbreaker over 8 years ago

It is subject to your interpretation.