I'm in my seventh year of officiating boys basketball. This is my second year of varsity ball. I'm having a horrific time adjusting to the varsity level. Just as I start feeling comfortable, something seems to happen that sets me back. Either it's a coach or something stupid I did. Last night, I blew an inadvertant whistle. The court's OOB area was a red color almost two foot wide. In the fourth quarter, I'm the lead and a pass goes out to my right on the baseline. I quickly look over and observe the player's foot on a black line that is painted on the floor about 6" away from the OOB. Yeah, you guessed it. I blew the play dead just as he released a good three pointer. To top it all off, my partner and I kicked the enforcement. We scored the goal and went with the arrow. STUPIDITY, in action! The coach realized he lost the arrow on the next held ball. We saw him after the game and informed him that we kicked it. Surprisingly, he was very civil about it and took it in stride. It helped that he won by double digits.

When did you guys start to feel comfortable at the varsity level? Did it take a few years? Several officials on my board tell me they went through the same thing. Don't get me wrong, I feel great some games and feel I did a good job, then the setback!

Setback? Not a setback, learning experience! Learn from your mistakes and grow from there.

I am in same boat, and lovin it.

This forum is a great tool!

Was the ball still in the shooter's hands or in the air? And now that you've had time to think, what was the proper enforcement?

I blew the whistle, as soon as he caught the ball. He released a shot almost simultaneous with the whistle. I believe the ball was in the air, by the time I got air into the whistle. My partner and I spoke briefly as he wasn't quite sure what had transpired. He took the lead and announced to the coach that the ball was in the air (he was also in the lead position). We incorrectly counted the basket and to add insult to injury awarded the ball to the defense utilizing the AP Arrow.

The goal should have only counted if the whistle had sounded after the ball went in. In that case, we would have counted the goal and awarded the ball to the defense for a normal throw-in after any made basket. No need for the AP Arrow.

The defensive team's coach tried to reason that the whistle was for an OOB Violation, therefore the play should have been dead for that reason (with the catch). If so, the offense would be given the ball back at the nearest OOB spot and we would of or should have played on. No AP Arrow.

I guess I'm learning the hard way. Unfortunately, I can't say I love learning through my mistakes.

There are just some floors that are plain horribly marked. They try to put so many different markings on the floor it becomes easy to get confused.

There are two around here that have exceptionally confusing lines. After doing something similar to what you did, I started reminding my partners and myself before the game starts specifically about the lines.

Will you make the same mistake again? No

Everyone here has learned from their mistakes!

Everybody misses calls. It doesn't matter how long you've been calling varsity, college, whatever. Don't let it shake you up so badly. Keep working hard and just try to avoid making the same mistakes over and over.

Hmmm, seems we've had this discussion before. As I recall (and my recollection ain't always as good as my grammar), if the ball is in the air when the inadvertent whistle blows, the shot counts. Rather than go to the arrow, the non-shooting team gets the ball oob on the endline for a throw-in with the ability to run the baseline. Am I wrong? :confused:

I thought so as well, however, the case book 7.5.4 differs. An official sounds his/her whistle accidentally:

a) while A1 is dribbling and in player control
b) while Team A is in control and passing among teammates
c) while A1's try attempt is in flight and there is neither player nor team control
d) after A1's try had gone through the cylinder for a successful field goal

RULING: The ball is put in play in (a) and (b), by team A with a throw-in at the nearest out-of-bounds spot to where the ball was when the whistle was accidentlly sounded.

In (c) the ball is put in play by the team entitled to the throw-in using the AP procedure.

In (d), even though by rule, there is no team control during this dead ball period, the ball would be gived to Team B for a throw-in anywhere along the end line. Team B would have clearly received the ball had the official not accidentally sounded the whistle.

Hope this helps!

I'd still use D, because otherwise you are ruling the ball dead on the whistle.

So hopefully, you see the reason I asked what the correct enforcement was. You actually did it correctly. Shot's away, so it counts; no team control, so go to the arrow.

Lousy situation, which you hopefully won't repeat; but you did what you were supposed to do after the mistake.

Why oh why oh why? If the shot counts, why on earth would they want us to go with the arrow? There is never team control when the shots away, and we never go to the arrow after a made basket. It violates the law of least astonishment in a major way! :eek:

It depended on the level of varsity game you were talking about. My first full season of varsity was with both boy's and girl's basketball. Girl's basketball was the easiest transition. The crowds were smaller in those games and they has the atmosphere of many freshman games. They really did not bring that big of a challenge to me and I got used to those games. But when I first did them it took me some time to get over the fact I was working a varsity game. The next transition was working Boy's games. The crowds were much bigger and intense and the scrutiny was much higher. That took some getting used to with a packed house and more people getting on you. But by the end of my first year I was alright with that level. After that I found I was more and more comfortable. There even was an adjustment on the Boy's side when I started working bigger schools (Class AA here). The talent was much better, but the crowds were not always bigger than Class A schools. I just had to get used to having to call things above and near the rim consistently or seeing play above the rim. I just recently got used to working the bigger games where I was not almost hyperventilating before the game. All I can say it is a process and you will make mistakes. I have made many mistakes, but if you hustle and get the obvious calls right you will be fine. There is no magic bullet except for working more and more games.

Peace

Back to the subject. First I think you got too comfortible at the JV level. If you get comfortible with a position and then they move you up it is probably more difficult then a steady improvement. I know in my case, I always called Varsity during the summer, even my first year. Then when I called it during the season, the only thing that got to me was the crowd. The level of play and the level of coaches was not a problem. This is espeicially true when some of the varsity coaches were also coaches that had grown with me and had been subvarsity coaches as I was working the subvarsity games. I still am not comfortible doing introductions and I have now been doing varsity regurally for 4 years.

The case play doesn't differ. In Play (c), there's simply a shot. The play does not say the shot goes in. Therefore, it's just a shot and the AP rule applies.

If the shot is in the air and goes in, play resumes with Team B getting the ball, just as it does in Play (d).