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

Team A shoots the ball. A long rebound to the 3pt line. Both teams trying for possession, Team A tips the ball into backcourt. Team A secures rebound in backcourt. Is this over and back? There was no possession in front court after shot.

Asked by Rmwttn about 10 years ago

If team A controlled the tap, then they established team control, and it would be a backcourt violation. If in the judgement of the officials team A did not control the tap, then no violation.

Follow-up: Is this the correct call to make? Calling the technical % wise giving the advantage to the offending team. Free lay-up is guaranteed 2 points. Assume FT% is 80% and avg team fg % .3-.4. Calling the tech seems to remove there advantage.

Asked by Ryan over 10 years ago

True. It is the same halt in advantage as an intentional foul which stops a breakaway. The rules try to take care of this by awarding 2 free throws plus the ball. However, I agree. Although I never ran into an intentional T to stop a breakaway, it would be good practice to let the player finish the layup or jump shot and then call the T.

Dear ref,

How much u get $ per a match ?


Thx
John from Czech republic

Asked by jan.lejcko@gmail.com over 11 years ago

High school varsity games pay about $60 - $75 for single game assignments. Underclass double headers (i.e. 2 freshman games) pay $80 - $100. I know that some states will give the referees a percentage of the gate for well attended, big match ups. These are rough numbers - it varies by location, parochial vs public, suburban vs city, etc.

Can a referee order a player to retrieve a basketball that has gone out of bounds? Saw a player start then stop to get a ball that was rolling off the court and went out of bounds. The ref could ask the player to help but can't compel that act

Asked by Chipjr almost 10 years ago

You are correct. There is nothing in the rule book which would compel a player to retrieve the ball for an official. The only related rule deals with a player not giving the ball to an official or touching the ball when the other team has possession, like after a basket by your own team. This would be a delay of game.

Player A and Player B are fighting for a ball that is heading toward out of bounds.
Player B in his efforts ends up out of bounds and keep in mind has not touched the ball while going out of bounds, so it is still a live play
Player A while still in

Asked by Jeff over 10 years ago

The ball is inbounds until the ball touches any out of bounds area, or it touches a player who is out of bounds. If A is still inbounds and the ball is still inbounds, it is not out of bounds until an out of bounds player touches it.

team A inbounding ball under their offensive hoop. ball is thrown in, inadvertently the horn goes off {20 left on shot clock}, Team A lays it in. good hoop or not?.. call made was inadvertent whistle, no hoop {neither ref actually blew a whistle}

Asked by midd44 over 10 years ago

There is a long running example of this in previous case books from NFHS: "If the scorer signals the horn when the ball is live, the officials shall ignore the signal if a scoring play is in progress. Otherwise the officials may stop play to determine why the horn was sounded."

In your scenario, count the basket, then blow the whistle (because a scoring play was going on while the horn was originally sounded.

A1 fouls B1, B2 fouls A2 with two officials calling the fouls at the same time. Team B is in the bonus, Team A is not. Do you shoot a bonus for Team B or do you resume play at point of interruption?

Asked by RefnDre over 10 years ago

If the officials determine that the fouls were simultaneous then no free throws are shot, and it goes back to the point of interruption. If the simultaneous fouls were committed with no team possession (for example while rebounding) then it goes to the possession arrow.

If the second foul was intentional and committed after the first foul it would be a technical. Then you would administer the penalties for the first foul (free throws if in the bonus or on a shooting foul), then you would administer the technical foul and the ball would be taken out at half court by the opponent of the technical foul shooter.