Boys V Game tonight between 2 pretty good teams. Anyway, I am C and A1 drives down the lane to the hoop. B brushes him at the foul line but I let it go since A has an easy lay-up (which he makes). At next dead ball coach of A asks (actually quite nicely) why I didn't call a block on B. I said because his player had a clear lay-up and if I called it it would have been on the floor and no points. He didn't buy it and said I should have called it anyway (not sure why since he got 2 points).

My question is should I have answered like this? I mean, should I have aknowledged that I saw the foul but chose to play the advantage or just say "coach, I didn't see it like that" and continue on?

I probably would have said, "Coach I did not see any contact that affected the play." He can take it or leave it at that point. But it is easy to say that here and I might say something different if I was confronted with the situation in a real game.

Peace

Jeff,

Thanks. As soon as I said it I thought I probably should have said something else,but it was too late.

I have been there too Johnny.

My rule of thumb is to say less and not be as descriptive when they ask questions. That does not mean I always follow that to the letter. ;)

Peace

Less usually is better. The other night a coach asked me, "what do I have to do to get a foul call down there?"

Kind of stumped me so I said nothing. He asked again later and all i could think of was, "coach, we'll watch for it".

Sometimes coaches just want you to know they are being heard I think.

Thanks
David

I'd say," I'm not taking away the lay up coach."

I was at a camp once and they were not keeping track of the fouls, and at the 10 minute mark of each half all non-shooting fouls were 1 and 1.

One team had a couple of 6' 7" kids and the other team had nobody over 6' 1". The small team would front and tug the big kids on the entry pass, and if the contact did not stop the catch we'd pass and allow the dunk or lay up that would follow. The coach was going nuts, because we were not calling the holding fouls against his big kids, we tried to explain, but he would not listen, so we got together and said fine, he wants it we'll give him the call.

His big kids shot about 3 for 20 from the free throw line and his team lost by 20, of course after the game it was all our fault his team lost.

I see no problem with what you said. I have said, "coach, I didn't want to take two points away from your player" before. Usually they understand. Some coaches aren't going to be satisfied no matter what you say.

Z

My response would be: "Coach, I did observe a little contact, but the contact did not warrant a foul being called since there was no disadvantage to your player and recall that Rule 4-27 states that all contact does not necessitate a foul. I'll give your team the same consideration on the other end of the floor."

That was a good no call. I have been trying to do the same thing when is comes to things like that. Why stop the play and interupt the flow of the game. Most of the time, player will play thru the contact unless its hard contact. Continue what you are doing and just let the coach know that you are watching for contact, but it was your judgement that the contact didnt inhibit the player from making the layup. He was probably looking for an and-1!

johnnyrao:

I have two questions. If the contact had happened out front in what was once called the "mid-court area" would you have called a foul on B1? Had A1 picked up his dribble prior to the contact by B1?

MTD, Sr.

I never thought of that. I blew that one last week by calling a shooting foul on what should have been a non-shooting foul so I was working hard last night not to let that happen again.

Yep, most coach think they are suppose to get that during the long drive to the basket! I made that mistake and everyone was hollering NBA! My evaluator told me that we were not in the NBA. It was funny and we all laughed.

IMHO, too much.

IREFU2:

What didn't your evaluator like about you continuous motion call? Could you please describe your play in detail? Too many people don't realize that a shooter can cover quite of bit of court while in the act of shooting and if he is fouled at any time while in the act of shooting is entitled to the points if his field goal attempt is successful.

MTD, Sr.

exactly! If you get a coach to listen to that long winded response you are holding up the game and sounding like a pompous....

Well the drive actually started at the free throw line and I called the foul right as she crossed the line and she was on her way to the basket. Of course I blew the whistle and she continue and scored while the rest of the players stopped at the whistle. This was during my first year. Since then, the long drives are blown dead unless the player is actually shooting.

Johnny,

You did just fine. You might want to make a note in your scheduling book to NOT officiate any more games that include this coach. He obviously doesn't understand game management! Any coach who wants you to call a foul and take away his 2 points is certainly a coach of which I don't want any part.

Maybe it would've been the 4th foul on the star player (forcing the opposing coach to sit him) or something like that.

I'm not saying the foul should've been called there. I agree it was good to let it go. I'm only saying there might be a legitimate reason to trade two points for one foul.

Which is why I'd tell the coach that his star player will get the same treatment at the other end of the floor.

Please tell me you do NOT really believe what you wrote and that you are being sarcastic!

I'm probably not making any comments remotely simular to that one, in fact I'm not even thinking it.

C'mon guys. Don't you think he was just KIDDING?

I don't know if he was kidding or not. I have seen things like this happen and I thought it was too much. If he is kidding then OK but there is someone out there somewhere that needs to know this is too much.

Indy_ref, I hope you was kidding when you posted what you would say to a coach about his "star" player. Right?

IREFU2:

By drive I am going to assume that A1 was dribbling toward Team A's basket when she was fouled by B1. Was A1 fouled by B1 before or after she stopped her dribble?

MTD, Sr.

Chuck,

It was first half so it wasn't a 4 foul situation, and, quite frankly, I would not have known anyway. Thanks for your response because I just learned an important lesson about game management.

Last week I had a coach say, "Why didn't you call a travel?" I said, "Because I didn't see a travel." Was that sufficient?