Mark,
Let me tell you a little story of a young official at his first division 1 camp. After many weeks of preparation, and brush up on the college rules, this official felt very comfortable before camp. The camp begins, and this official knows the rules front and back, and calls his game accordingly. He is on center court with some big division 1 final four officials as his critiquers. Steve Wellman, Bobby Jackson, and Bobby Hunt carefully watch this official until halftime and then pull him aside. The young man is gleaming with confidence because he caught every foul and violation he saw and called it correctly. Then the dose of reality from the critiquers hit him. Bobby Hunt proceeded to tell him that he needed to quit calling "ticky tack S--t" and let good players play through contact. After adjusting his judgement to fit the skill level, this official proceeded to have a great camp, and was picked up by 2 conferences the following year. The young official in this story is me. One lesson that I learned more than any other, is that game management, and advantage/disadvantage are HUGE as you try and move up. You can quote this rule or that rule section blank rule 4 etc.. until you are blue in the face, but it will get you nowhere unless you call the WAY the commissioners want you to call. If that conference commissioner wants you to call that weak camp-out under the basket, well then call it. But I have been to over a half dozen camps and have YET to have anyone tell me that I should call that so I don't. If we want to call our games by the black and white of the rule book, we won't move up very fast. All that talk of "established position anywhere on the floor" is good lip service, but won't fly with me in this particular instance. I am also a firm backer in the safety issue. Let's call this a block or nothing and get these kids to play defense where they should!!!
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