Quote:
Originally Posted by chartrusepengui
How long does an average basketball game take? We also have to take into consideration the movement while clock is not running. I don't think basketball officials go 5 miles in a game but would not have a problem with 3.5 to 4 miles a game. Several guys in our association did the pedometer thing and 3 did the math angle. The final average came to 3.767 miles per game. We had a great time with this at over fermented malt beverages following the meeting.
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Chartruse,
Actually, my original numbers are listed below. I was merely doing a sanity check on a 5 mile number in a 32 minute game. Yes, you may do some running from time to time to reposition while the clock is stopped, but I still don't think 5 miles is close to being reasonable.
Typically, teams get about 2 possessions per minute of play meaning that there will be closer to 128 possessions in total. Plus, let's assume a 94 foot court (most of the HS gyms I work in are this length). If we assume that the trail works to the 28' line and that the lead works 4 feet beyond the baseline (oops, endline -- special for you Cobra), each trip is more like 70 feet -- 56 feet going C to C (94 feet - 38 feet). Further, assume the average referee (oops, I mean official -- ditto) makes one rotation every other possession (resulting in an additional 25 feet of movement). Then you have additional distance for each foul reported (let's say 10 fouls per referee) which means an additional 30 feet for each of the 30 total fouls called. Finally, you have about 8 time outs granted during the game in addition to the extra distance covered between quarters (about 50 feet per each time).
My math shows:
70 feet * 85 possessions (2/3 going L to T or vice versa) or 5950 feet +
56 feet * 43 possessions (1/3 going C to C) or 2408 feet +
9 feet * 85 possessions (2/3 going T to C or vice versa) + 765 feet +
20 feet * 43 possession (1/3 crossing lane as the lead) + 860 feet +
30 feet * 32 fouls or 960 feet +
50 feet * 12 timeouts/intermissions or 600 feet
for a total of about 2.19 miles or 11,543 feet
Obviously, 2-man requires more running each possession. Assuming HS JV, using the same floor and a 28 minute game, the numbers would be slightly different:
73 feet * 112 possessions or 8176 feet +
15 feet (more movement required to cover entire trail area) * 112 possessions or 1680 feet +
40 feet * 28 fouls or 1120 feet +
50 feet * 12 timeouts/intermissions or 600 feet
for a total of about 1.91 miles or 10074 feet.
These numbers seem to be closer to the 1.75 miles to 2.00 miles mentioned earlier. By contrast, a College Soccer Assistant Referee typically runs 3.2 to 3.6 miles in a 90 minute game. High level club soccer games result in similar numbers for both ARs and center referees.
Even if you add 40 feet per possession for "angle improvement" by each official (a REALLY big stretch for most officials), you are still only adding about 4500 feet or about .85 miles. It would be a truly rare game, indeed, in which a referee were covering more than 3 to 3.5 miles in a regulation 32 minute HS basketball game, in my opinion.
In a game with 10 second possessions -- a real up-and-down affair, you would have close to 200 possessions. Of course, you would not be rotating as much since the ball would be going up pretty fast. Even if all other metrics remained the same, you would end up near the 3.3 mile mark -- about 4 miles with the extra "angle improvement".
I know many trails who do not get close to the 28 foot mark -- likely closer to the 40 foot mark. This alone, would knock off about 1450 feet or over .25 miles. If the number of possessions remained the same and the court was only an 84 foot court, the distance would be cut by another 1100 plus feet. With a crew that likes to "settle in" each possesion on a 84 foot floor with teams slowing the game down a bit -- to 96 possessions as Freddy originally proposed, and the number is much closer to a 1.0 to 1.25 miles or so.
Bottom line: I would say that 2 miles is about average. Some games may be down in the 1.00 to 1.25 mile range with some pushing 3.50 to 4.00.