3-person coverage

[SE Minnestoa Re]

I recently ran into a coach away from the gym. We were chatting about basketball in general. The conference he coaches in began requiring 3 officials last season.

He stated that he liked 2 officials better because in 3-person games, the officials seem to only look in their zone. He says when he points out something to the official in front of him, the standard line is "not in my area"
He says the lead sometimes gets blocked out and the others don't help.

How do you go about making sure the game is called without invading your partners' zones?

[Raymond]

That coach is full of crap if that's his reasoning for not liking 3-man. What prevents the Lead in 2-man from getting blocked out?

You ref your primary, and help out in your secondary.

[Lcubed48]

First and foremost, the crew needs to have a solid pregame on this subject.

"Not in my area" is not a good response on this subject. "We'll look for that", "I hear you, coach" work better for me.

[JRutledge]

Honestly, I do not care what coaches say about anything officiating and what we look at as they have no idea what we are doing. Even when you explain to them basic stuff they think we are looking at stuff we are not watching, but complain when we see things that happen against them.

Secondly what we do in the system starts with our PCA, but also involves competitive match-ups. If you are watching for competitive match-ups you will be better off. You start with your area and extend if you have no match-ups in your PCA. And it is about angles. There are angles that another official can see something you can call it if you have some secondary coverage (like ball in the lane) then you might see something that the other officials are screened from seeing.

Honestly, there are so many things you have to know and mostly working the system or watching or even going to camps will better help understand than most of us could explain. Three person is an ebb and flow to it that as things are constantly moving and changing as players move and the ball moves.

Peace

[#olderthanilook]

I agree - "That's not my area." is a poor answer.

There are alternatives. Try paraphrasing the coach if you have a couple of secs to reply verbally. i.e. "So, you want us to watch 54 Blue holding on rebounds?".

Coach knows you "listened" what he said. Most coaches like to know we aren't blowing them off.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by Lcubed48

First and foremost, the crew needs to have a solid pregame on this subject.

"Not in my area" is not a good response on this subject. "We'll look for that", "I hear you, coach" work better for me.

I agree that is not a good answer, but I know officials are not telling them this in many cases. Coaches just assume we all are watching the same things they are watching. I was in a college game where a coach got upset at all 3 of us for a play that involved goal tending. And the coach ended up getting a T because he did not understand that the lead is not the person looking at that kind of play.

Peace

[zm1283]

Originally Posted by #olderthanilook

I agree - "That's not my area." is a poor answer.

There are alternatives. Try paraphrasing the coach if you have a couple of secs to reply verbally. i.e. "So, you want us to watch 54 Blue holding on rebounds?".

Coach knows you "listened" what he said. Most coaches like to know we aren't blowing them off.

I agree.

"I didn't see it that way but I will keep an eye on it"

[egj13]

I did a two man game the other night...first time in 2+ years not having the third guy. I don't remember that straightlined when I did 2-man exclusively but man, I "missed" a lot of stuff the other night!

[#olderthanilook]

Originally Posted by egj13

I did a two man game the other night...first time in 2+ years not having the third guy. I don't remember that straightlined when I did 2-man exclusively but man, I "missed" a lot of stuff the other night!

Soapbox....

2 man just isn't fair for anyone involved in a varsity contest, imo.

There's just too much going on off ball at the varsity level that our state assoc wants officiated, esp in the C's PCA.

But, it is what it is in some places, I guess.