Well, we're getting into the last few weeks before the regular season starts.

Over the off-season, many of us have been to camps and clinics.

My question is, what would you say is the most important thing you learned in the offseason that you want to implement in your game as soon as the regular season starts??


For me, I've learned a lot about game management and dealing with the coaches. I'm too quick to dismiss the coach, warn him and then T him up. This season I'm gonna work on my "people" skills and try to diffuse the situation before I have to resort to throwing T's around.

Good, we were afraid we'd need to start calling you Whackman.:D

What I learned this summer
 

IAABO Camp: 1. Too many refs deciding which rules they will and will not enforce, i.e. 3 Sec violations. Some refs think it is a sign of a good official not to make this call - IAABO's position: "Call the early 3 Sec violations and be done with it for the remainder of the game". 2. If the airborne shooter is fouled after releasing the shot and one foot (or both) are on the floor the foul is "after the shot". (If basket is good and the offensive team is in the double bonus this could be a 5 point play.) 3. Too many refs are missing the carry when the ball handler goes behind his/her back with the ball. 4. Forget the rubber band etc on the wrist and/or the whistle in your pocket, keep the AP arrow in your head. You are more apt to forget to change the rubber band or the whistle. 5. On OOB plays, fouls by either team before you hand the ball to the player is a dead ball technical foul, fouls after you hand him/her the ball are live ball fouls. 6. Leave your whistle (s) attached to your shirts between game nights.


[Edited by jdccpa on Aug 31st, 2004 at 07:17 AM]

1) Some evaluator's think that it is the sign of a good official not to make a 3-second call unless the player in the lane is gaining an advantage. I agree with them, not IAABO.
2) By rule, an airborne shooter is no longer an "airborne shooter" as soon as he/she returns to the floor(NFHS rule 4-1-1). If the basket is "good", the ball becomes immediately dead. After the ball becomes dead(after the shot) and the shooter is no longer airborne, any contact by the defender should be ignored unless it unless you rule it intentional or flagrant(NFHS rule 4-19-1NOTE). The "bonus" FT rule never comes into effect.
3) You wash your whistles?

[Edited by Jurassic Referee on Aug 31st, 2004 at 08:21 AM]

at my camp ...
 

Trusting partners more.
gained a better understanding of my area as the lead and covering the area during the flex.
positioning and angles.

From Dave Hall's Camp
1. As a lead in 3-man rotate early, as soon as the ball is at free throw line extended be ballside.
2. When a shot is taken, as the lead back out to where the three pt. line meets the basline to improve your angle during rebounding.
3. Work hard on officiating during dead balls (game management)

Re: What I learned this summer
 

As long as we have assignor's with power who have "preferences" that conflict with the preferences of the governing body (IAABO, NFHS, NCAA etc.), official's will do what their assignor's wish rather than their governing body. Official's will aim to please the person(s) most responsible for giving them quality games.

Z

I did not just learn this, but a philosophy that I always make note of.

"What happen last year good or bad, happen last year."

No matter the successes or the failures, I cannot worry about what happen in the past.

Peace

Whackman, eh? That has a nice ring to it :cool:

Re: What I learned this summer
 

Best way to do this, which I just learned this year: Instead of counting One-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three, etc., count red-arrow-one, red-arrow-two.

No matter what you're counting (inbound 5-second, closely guarded, backcourt, FTs), use the "color-arrow" counting method and you'll automatically remind yourself every trip down the floor.

Re: Re: What I learned this summer
 

Great idea!! That is, as long as what you're repeating over and over to yourself is correct...

Re: Re: What I learned this summer
 

After your last game and a shower, you decide to jump in the car with some folks & head down to the local grill (and bar) for a light salad and a few liquid carbs. As you sit there pretty much minding your own business a camp director offers to buy you a shot of your favorite adult beverage to thank you for the 4 T's you handed out during a game he was responsible for. It's impolite to refuse, it's downright inhuman to not buy a second round. What I learned: leave the bar after that second one.

Re: Re: Re: What I learned this summer
 

So wait a minute! Did you stay for graduation? I looked all over and didn't see you! Didn't even get to say so long!

Who bought the first round? The director of the officials camp or of the players camp?

I heard of the T-fest from one of your partners. She was a little fuzzy on details. Email me the events, as well as any other positive feedback?

Re: Re: Re: Re: What I learned this summer
 

No, I left before the big to-do. I only threw 3 T's in the game you speak of (I came in second), my 4 T game was the evening before. Sorry I missed you before I left, I'll send you the details but the quick answer is neither.

2) By rule, an airborne shooter is no longer an "airborne shooter" as soon as he/she returns to the floor(NFHS rule 4-1-1). If the basket is "good", the ball becomes immediately dead. After the ball becomes dead(after the shot) and the shooter is no longer airborne, any contact by the defender should be ignored unless it unless you rule it intentional or flagrant(NFHS rule 4-19-1NOTE). The "bonus" FT rule never comes into effect.

Just asking: So if the shooter has returned to the floor and is fouled (not intentional or flagrant) and the ball goes in. The foul is ignored.

What is the call if the shooter is fouled after returning to the floor and the ball does not go in.

Re: Re: What I learned this summer
 

Best way to do this, which I just learned this year: Instead of counting One-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, one-thousand-three, etc., count red-arrow-one, red-arrow-two.

No matter what you're counting (inbound 5-second, closely guarded, backcourt, FTs), use the "color-arrow" counting method and you'll automatically remind yourself every trip down the floor. [/B][/QUOTE]

Great idea!

If the ball does not go in the ball's not dead, so the foul could be any non-dead ball foul (if that makes sense).

The dead ball occurs on the made basket and reverts to the officials whistle on the miss, but neither wipe out the foul.The ignored contact is about AFTER the ball is dead. In this situation you had a shot attempt released, contact on a non-airborne shooter i.e. a non-shooting foul, and a LIVE ball. The ball becomes dead when the basket is good or is missed, by rule contact at this point is ignored unless intentional or flagrant.;)

Just make sure that you get the sequence of the two events correct:
1. Shot released, shooter returns to floor, he is fouled, ball then goes in. = basket good and penalize the foul with ball OOB or 1-and-1 or 2 FTs

2. Shot released, shooter returns to floor, ball goes in, lastly the foul occurs. = basket good, dead ball contact is ignored unless intentional or flagrant

Are you saying that the ball becomes dead whether the shot goes in or not? If that's what you're saying, that's not correct.

The ball is dead after a made basket and becomes live again when it is at the disposal of the inbounder. If the shot is missed, the ball remains alive.

I'm talking about this situation not every situation. In this case, we have a released try then a whistle, so the ball remains live until we find out about the try. It becomes dead when the shot goes in, or when it becomes a miss.

Gotcha.

I learned that the "T" in three man, needs to have a much more active role than I previously thought.

For a second there, I thought u were making reference to handing out technicals in threeman ;)

No, I left before the big to-do. I only threw 3 T's in the game you speak of (I came in second), my 4 T game was the evening before. Sorry I missed you before I left, I'll send you the details but the quick answer is neither. [/B][/QUOTE]So..........?? Whatinthehell happened, Slappy? Working on your game management skills again? Seven T's in two games? Wassup?

Et tu, Chuckie! How did your camp go?

You should've gotten an email by now, JR. If not, drop me a note and I'll resend it.

I got it. Just thought that others might wanna share your camp experience. Minus the tofu-eating and dietcoke-drinking, of course. :D

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: What I learned this summer
 

Wow! Sounds like you guys were really Dextering at that camp!

Yea, Chuck, quit being modest! (hint, hint)

Although you should always go by what your evaluator says, I can't think of too many situations where the offensive player being in the lane for longer than 3 seconds doesn't in and of itself convey an advantage to the offense. It forces the defense to cover the post for a longer period of time than should be necessary, and forces defensive rebounders to box out for a longer period of time than they should have to. Just because the player who is offending doesn't score or rebound doesn't mean that the offense hasn't gained an advantage.

The only time that 3-second violations have no effect that I can think of is where the player is oblivious to being in the lane, or is stepping one foot out and in, even though the rules forbid this.

BTW, I'm not saying to go out of your way to look for petty violations, but if you see them, call them. That's what the whistle is for.

As I said, by all means follow the lead of the evaluator, since that's who is responsible for the assignments.

Nevada, I like your use of formulas/equations. You have a good mathematical mind. It helps in remembering officiating situations. Thanks. :)

If his mind helps you in officiating situations... I want to know what is up.... :D You may be in trouble.

Nevada, are you double posting and stroking your own ego?;)

Anything you can call early will clean up the game. If a player knows you are not going to call something, then they will take advantage of it. That goes for 3 second, hand checking, or traveling.

What I learned this summer. What you learned at a HS camp about 3 man officiating is not what someone who went to a college camp learned. Know when your partner(s) don't want a double whistle. I also learned about Windows.

Aren't the 2 sets of mechanics now nearly identical? I think the only difference now is that FED does a backcourt switch.


Is this one of the NCAA/FED differences? :confused:

The operating system? You're being really cryptic, here, Tim.

NCAA mens want you to only make calls in your area.
Work with anyone who calls it and they don't want a double whistle. FED wants lots of double whistles especially near the boarders of your area.

Windows. At camp they defined the L as having three windows.
Window 1 is at the lane line, window 2 is halfway to the 3 point and window 3 is at the 3 point line. They wanted us to start in window 2 and move with the ball, close down to window 1 then be ready to rotate. When rotating rotate to window 2.

Huh. I've been to three college level camps this summer and haven't heard that, Tim. Obviously, I'm not trying to belittle your experiences, but I don't think anyone ever said to me that you definitely should not have double whistles. What they told us is that if you have a whistle outside your primary, it should be late. You should never have the first whistle if the double whistle is outside your area. Let the primary official have first crack at it. If you think they didn't get a look, then crack the whistle. By that time, maybe the primary has re-processed the play and blown also, but the secondary coverage official should have a very slow whistle out of his/her primary. That was what I got from camp, anyway.

Gotcha. We heard the A-B-C terminology. Start at A and mirror the ball. Close down to B when the ball starts to swing. Rotate to C. We didn't get a "window" at the 3-point line, but were told that if the ball goes wide, then go wide. So we'll end up at that window anyway. It just didn't get its own number :)

Tim, I'm curious if you attended camps for women's mechanics? Maybe this would explain a little of the terminology/philosophy differences.

I've only attended HS camps. We have a lot of people in my chapter that work college and I may be confusing the men's and woman's mechanics but I've been chewed by a few this summer for calling out of my area.

Interesting... I heard about "window 1,2,3" several years ago and it has been "phased out" over the past couple few years. It's been a long time since I've heard about the "windows." At the HS camp I went to this summer (WOA camp for NFHS in Washington State), we were told there are only two positions for the Lead in 3-person.
1) Close down (what you call window 1).
2) Wide Angle (what you call window 3).

You don't ref from window 1 (it's only a "bus stop" that you stop at briefly before deciding whether to back out to wide angle or to cross over and go wide angle on the other side).

Z

All my camps were 3-whistle, so working 2-whistle tonight reminded me of something else that I learned this summer from Art McDonald. When working 2-whistle, the new Lead is responsible for the near sideline during transition. Hence, the technique of looking back over your shoulder while running upcourt. You have to officiate the OOB on your sideline, and split your attention so that you can watch any players that are advancing upcourt ahead of the ball.

In a 3-whistle game, the Lead is NOT responsible for the OOB call on the near sideline. (It's the T's call.) So there's no need for the new Lead to split his/her attention away from the players who are matching up as they come upcourt.

That "looking back over the shoulder" is unnecessary. Focus on the matchups coming to your post, let the Trail do his/her job on the OOB. It's actually a hard habit to break.

lol. It seams all the calls that I made at camp that the evaluater didn't like me making were all good calls in a two man game. And going to the L instead of the C was a hard habit to break.

After a game I officiated, a D1 official asked me what my partners first 2 calls of the game were. Without hesitation I told him that I had NO idea. Turns out that my partner made 2 similar calls against Team A. Next trip down on my end of the floor, I passed on a similar call against Team B. He said that although that's not a foul that he would call, the game must be called consistently. He didn't want me to call a "make-up" call, but wanted my partner and I to work together more to weld our 2 different officiating styles.

So now we have to wear welder's helmets to officiate? Man, that's going to slow me down bigtime.... not to mention what it will do to my field of vision.

Z

I learned that college officials bet each other drinks
on who is going to make the first foul call.

Women's 3-whistle mechanics
 

I went to one 3 whistle women's camp and worked another tourney using 3 whistle women's mechanics, and in both cases they told us that double whistles were great. They helped to sell the call, but to pause, make eye contact, and let the official report the call in his primary. If it was obviously out of your area, they didn't want us searching for fouls, but in the transition areas between primaries double whistles were good. Has anyone else been taught the same things?

shooter returns to floor
 

after returning to floor, shooter is fouled after basket did not go in, you would have a common foul....bonus would apply if applicable, if not they would get the ball out of bounds, but i see where you are going with this...if you call it when the shot doesn't go, why not call it when the shot does go???? if it's a foul, you have to call it, or you may have some extra curricular stuff going on with retalitaion..