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

No one's ever been able to explain this to me: why do NBA announcers say "shooting one, plus the penalty, for two" when a player's about to shoot 2 free throws? When EVERY foul that results in free throws is two shots in the NBA, no?

Asked by GLuv over 13 years ago

The only exception to 2 free throws being awarded in the NBA that I know of is in the last two minutes of the game it is 1 free throw plus possession. There is a good chart of NBA free throws on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_throw So who knows what the announcers are saying? They also say that some fouls are "over the back" and others are "reaching in", neither of which are defined in the rule book.

If team A has the ball on the inbounds for a throw in , Team A pushes someone on Team B committs a foul ? what happens then

Asked by Coach Hawk over 13 years ago

The NFHS rules were changed for the 2011/12 season to rule that during a throw-in by team A, team A has ball control when the ball for the throw in is at their disposal. So if your team commits a team foul during control it is team control foul and no free throws are rewarded. Exception: if the push is considered flagarant.

Hi, I was wondering if there are any rules on referees refing their own childs game during a tournament? Is it allowed?

Asked by Amy over 13 years ago

There is nothing in the Ferderation of High School rule book, but common sense should prevail. Most assignment chairpersons around here ask if you are connected in some way to a school, and they try to avoid booking conflicts such as hiring a referee at the school where they teach. In Illinois when you make your dates available to work the state tourney you can exclude schools you are connected to.

our game was forfeited because we have only 7 players playing. is this allowed? tnx..

Asked by brian over 13 years ago

Football??? In Federation rules for basketball, you must start the game with five players.  If, because of disqualification or injuries you lose players, you can continue to play as long as you have at least 2 players.  If you had only one player, how would you inbound a throw in?  So, you must start with five per side, but after the game begins you can play with at least 2.

If a player is fouled while shooting at the other teams basket, is it a shooting foul?

If a player shoots at the other teams basket & one of his teammates swats the ball away as it is about to enter the basket, is that goal tending? 2pts for opps?

Asked by Richard Troth over 13 years ago

A shooting foul is defined as a player on a try or tip at his team's basket. So, if a player is fouled shooting at the "wrong" basket it is a common foul. If the ball is in the cylinder and batted away by the defensive team it is goaltending and 2 points.

If a team, is up by one and plays good defense for the last 20 seconds of the game, do you find it reasonable when refs call last second fouls on that team, so that that team loses? In other word, do you like when refs call last second fouls?

Asked by dh over 13 years ago

In theory, a foul is a foul is a foul. If the leading team commits a foul late in the game that I would have called in the first half, I would call it in the last 20 seconds. My experience is the opposite. Unless there is a crushing foul many (unprincipled) refs will eat the whistle to avoid possible overtime. That's bad, but worse is calling a foul late in the game that had been ignorred earlier in the game.

What makes a referee favor one team more than the other? Is it because one team is more "professional' or where a certain team is from/located?

Asked by Yohann over 13 years ago

A referee should not favor any team, but officials are only human. I think perceptions are the issue here. For example, urban Chicago teams tend to play high paced running and pressing games, while suburban teams tend to play more patterned offenses (stereotypical, I know, but generally true). So when an urban teams plays in the suburbs they might encounter referees who are used to calling a slower paced game with tighter calls, while Chicago refs might allow more contact. So, do the suburban officials favor suburban teams, or are they just used to that style of play? In theory, a foul is a foul, but all of us have degrees of what we don't call (see advantage disadvantage theory of officiating). However, if you find a referee who clearly favors a team (not style), he or she must be sanctioned