Free Throw Violations - Again
 

Had a debate this morning with a colleague and fellow official about free throw violations. With the new enforcement on violations and special attention, we both agreed that many officials are debating this topic. I know there has been previous discussion on this, but a couple of weeks into the season, I am looking for additional comments on the following:

1 - Have you modified your approach to watching for violations?

2 - Are you black and white about calling violations or are you letting some things go and catching the big stuff? For instance, my colleague said he very rarely calls when a player has his/her foot hovering over the marked space line.

3 - Are you asking the T in a 3 man crew to help out with the semi-circle violations?


Any other observations?

1) Yes -- see #3

2) It's never been "black and white" for me, and it still isn't.

3) Yes -- I try to pre-game to have T help out. C needs to get to the rebounding action that is more likely to need officiating.

One violation so far this year. Coach yelled at his player.

1. Nope. Not much to modify as players in high school were not allowed to enter the lane.

2. It has to be obvious. I am not for splitting hairs on this or any violation.

3. The only thing I would ever help with is the players outside of the 3 point line.

Peace

I do the same, especially like having the Trail help out with violations. C has way too much to deal with.

I just tell the players not to knock the FT shooter off the line. Seems to work for me, at least so far.

1. I haven't modified my approach, though as T(2) or C(3) I've modified slightly what I focus on (pay a little more initial attention to the shooter and high defender than I used to).

2. Let some things go and call the big stuff. One thing I've noticed is that often the FT is near or at the rim by the time the defender breaks the plane of the FT line. So I kind of treat this like in football where you have to see the play clock expire and then look down to see if the center has snapped the ball before you have a DOG. Likewise I have to see the high defender break the FT line plane and then clearly note that the FT has not yet reached the rim before I have a violation. If there's any room for debate, I'm not calling it. Of course if the FT shooter is fouled, that's something entirely different.

3. Yes, although I'd be lying if I said we spend more than ten seconds on this during a pre-game.

I've called the violation three times this year so far (they were obvious). Twice, the coach did not understand the fine print of the rule, so we educated them. I can't tell if my state just didn't do a good pre-season job of explaining this to coaches, or if the coaches simply weren't listening. Either way, what seems crystal clear to me has been anything but to the coaches.

Our crew has move the 'C' a little closer to the free throw line extended, basically on the three pt line. We discussed responsibilities a little more pre-game than before regarding this. Hasn't been an issue so far, kids seem to be pretty aware of protecting the free throw shooter.

Most of our games the T will help with air ball, free throw line violations and protecting the shooter.