I saw the last half of the Argentina/Serbia game and most of the USA/PR game. Working this level with a 2 man crew is not easy and it was not my intent going in to "observe" these guys but overall I was underwhelmed by the officiating. For instance, far too many long distance calls (in the US game I saw 2 double whistles when the ball was at or above the free throw line extended, one was on a 3 pt shot). There were times when the T failed to maintain a good angle through the dribbler/defender, once he seemed straightlined from behind as the dribbler was coming up the middle of the court. In the opening minutes the L gave the ball to the US team on an OOB inbounds when it was PR's ball, they had to blow it back just before the easy layup (I didn't see if the clock started or not). Maybe it's FIBA vs NCAA/NF rules but there were a few times when the ball seemd to be inbounded at the wrong spot after a violation. The crew seemed to allow more contact for PR than the USA team, especially in the post & lane, but I'll admit I don't know what the final foul count was. On the other hand I thought the crew had the last second shot right in the Argentina game and in the USA game they were able to manage an obviously upset USA team well through the blowout.

But, as I said, oveall not very impressive at all.

Watching PR/USA, I remember several times where the calling official was out of position to make a call. The C official definitely would have helped. Like you said, they're getting straight-lined, long-distance calls and if they can't see the play they're guessing something happened. I can't believe they're using 2-person crews.

I, too, was umimpressed. I had a tough time figuring out what we be a foul and what would not. It didn't seem to have much consistency. PR grabs US players on breakaways several times and a normal foul is called. US grabs a PR player once on a breakawy and they call it intentional. Duncan's offensive rebounding foul where PR's big guy ended up on the floor under the basket was really a huge acting job and the ref, becasue of 2-man, only caught the tail end of it when he went to the floor. He didn't know how he got there. Dwayne Wade's midcourt steal and dunk was only possible because he shoved the guard to the floor after tipping the ball up in the air. The official was either straightined or was watching the flight of the ball. The guard had no chance to contest for the ball as a result.

I used to have a printout of the FIBA rulebook and they do stress advantage/disadvantage, which may be a source of observed inconsistencies.

I didn't notice that they only used two officials, but you'd think with something as high-level as Olympic Games, they would use 3 person crews.

One more thing about intentionals. The FIBA term is Unsportsmanlike Foul and under new rules effective September 1, two unsportsmanlike fouls disqualify (eject) a player.

The PR-USA game officials were from Spain and Serbia. Both officials were not from the premier leagues (ACB and Adriatic) because of the FIBA-ULEB dispute. (ULEB officials cannot work FIBA games. ACB and YUBA are both ULEB leagues.) An ACB and Adriatic official would call the game differently than officials from the national federations. The US is sending NBA officials.

Also starting September 1, FIBA will use three officials. A slow mover. Another Hank Nichols recommendation will also ask that the NCAA's three-man manual be used for officiating, which means FIBA and NCAA officiating procedures are the same.

fiba already has a 3 man manual out. I'm not sure how consistant it is with the NCAA manual, as I don't have a copy of a CCA mechanics manual.