[Rooster]

I had two specific plays and I’m trying to figure out the best way to handle them. In camp I’ve been concentrating on reffing the defense and avoiding watching the ball, especially on shots from perimeter. When I’m trail I take the shooter up, bring him down, and then get the rebounding action while watching for the ball hitting a strap or overhead equipment or even the air ball. But as lead with a shot from the perimeter I’m not watching the ball. There are two situations that have zinged me on this.

(1) I’m lead. A1 shoots a three and it goes in. At the time it sounded funny to me and out of the corner of my eye it didn’t seem to slow down, so I thought “air ball.” B1 grabs the ball, stops but is dribbling, starts forward, stops again, still dribbling, and looks at me. I tell him “Let’s go.” He never did take the ball out, but remember, I’m thinking air ball so… let’s transition. A2 loses his mind: “Are you kidding me?! Come on! You have got to be kidding me!” I look over and see that he’s addressing me. Whack. I learned later that I kicked the OOB violation because A1 made the shot and B1 didn’t take it out. (This was A2’s third outburst so I’m good with the T. The first one was mild and raised my antennae; the second one was medium-hot and got the stern warning.) Here’s the prob: If I’m lead and staying off the ball, how do I see that I’ve got an air ball or a pretty swish on a loose net. I know that the ball lands in a certain area on a made basket but this one was different. Out of the corner of my eye it had the angle and momentum of an air ball so I was corn-fused. I feel bad for T’ing the kid (after the fact) for my screw up but of course I’m not going to let him hoot and holler the way he did.

(2) Again I’m lead, A1 takes a shot from the perimeter and the ball goes in but comes out of the freakin’ side of the net because of a broken thingie on the rim (you know, that little squiggly thing that attaches the net. What’s that called?). B1 grabs it and starts to transition. Coach A is hollerin’ about how the ball went in. I blow the whistle to stop the play and confer with my partner, who’s even more of a rook than I am. Yes, the shot went in.

Soooo here’s my question: How do we get the pushes in the back and other rebounding shenanigans at lead without missing whether the ball went in or was an air ball? Is this just a “open yer court vision” thing and if so is that something that will get better with time? Argh! So much to watch.


Thanks.