I'm amazed by this board - I've read through all the replies, and appreciate the kind words of encouragement. My boss always told me, your only friend on the court is your partner, but when he's even greener than me, it helps me so much to know from experienced officiating crews that I'm not completely off-track.
To be more specific about the play, the drive started on the T's side (opposite side of the lane from me, near the key) and ended up right in front of me (my side of the lane) - I was standing about 1-2 steps out from the lane, and the guy went flying right past me on the edge of the lane (from his vantage point, started at the top of the key, went to his left, crossed over and changed directions, went through the paint diagonally, tried a right-handed layup and the right side of the backboard when he got pushed). I was pretty screened from the push - I guess you could connect the dots and make a straight line with me, the offensive player, and the defender who pushed (who was behind the offensive player). As soon as the guy went down, he started yelling when he didn't see my arm up, so my subconcious ego kicked in and there was no way I was going to call a foul just to placate his anger! And as for the gasp of the crowd -
- his
One thing I hear a lot here is to scoot back - usually I'm right on top of the play, maybe a step away from the baseline. Do most here stay even farther back than that - and does it help that much? Another question I have is, is it okay to really "pace the line" and move around a lot when on the baseline? And the last question is (sorry!), when T on a 2-man, where should I be standing when the ball is a) at the top of the key, b) on the far side away from me, c) in the corner near my side, and d) when it's in the paint?
I get frustrated because IM games are really sloppy, and the level of competition can range from people who have never played organized basketball before to others who can/have played on big ten teams, so it's hard to call "my game." But still, I can at least work on these mechanics and get those down - is there anything else anyone recommends?
Thanks again for all the good words here, it makes me look forward to going back out and doing another game to try these new spots out (and after i missed that call in the last game - my attitude was far from wanting to do another game!).