I had a situation in a BV Game where I passed on calling a backcourt. The game had a good flow to it and I believe at the time the defense was down by about six points. The dribbler was encountering some pressure as he caught a pass high above the key. The pass momentarily got away from him and he recovered towards the division line. The defender, who was applying pressure, ever so slightly bumped him. The bump caused one of his feet to extend about two inches into the backcourt. It was either call the foul on the slight bump, backcourt violation (which I would not even consider), or pass. I passed. The coach probably saw the same thing as he didn't complain. I don't know that for sure because strangely enough, both coaches coached all game and didn't say a word to us. Must have been something in the water!

Your call - you made it and it's over.

My statement/question: When coach's players and fans SEE a referee "let one go (pass on a call)" that is a pretty clear and obvious violation, doen't that encourage carping and complaining when you do make any call?

I debate in my mind the concept of "I'll pass here ... there was no advantage gained", because then rules enforcement becomes subjective and hence open for critisizm on everything. Advantage is in the eye of the beholder.

That said no referee can get all the calls, and even so we'll miss some that are made even with best efforts by the crew.

I also am relecting on your awareness and observation of the coach's response to this situation. Arn't you judging your calls by there reaction a little too much?

If you wanna pass on a call - pass. I just warn you then about the next time, or later, that you do call a "slight touch" on the shooter, a slipped pivot toe, a three pointer just on the line, a three second lane violation or heaven forbid a T - what would you think the coach will do with that?

Calling all of the obvious from the tip off has game-long benefits. If you start off selecting when and where to call obvious violations, it frequently creates a Catch 22 and causes the coach's, players and fans to work their influence on your determinations.

Our role is rule enforcment. Unbiased.

Respectfully submitted.

There are definitely situations that you can defer to advantage/disadvantage during a game to allow for better flow. However, it's tougher to pass on a call based on the lines that divide areas of the court. The lines are just about the only non-judgement calls available to us. When someone violates by stepping across one of the lines, regardless of wanting to keep the game flowing, I think you have to call either the violation or the foul. If someone has a toe on the 3 point line or out of bounds line, you make that call every time. Why would you pass on a division line call?

I agree.

Blow the whistle and either put a fist or a palm up in this case.

I agree also - the only judgement here is whether to call the foul or the violation.

Advantage/disadvantage and game flow considerations should be thrown out the window in this situation. The lines are there for a purpose. If you see this you should go get it as a violation or a foul (as described). This is an easy one to make, just decide if you got the foul or the violation, I would think you would lean towards the foul as it was the contact that created the violation.

The bump caused a violation which (should have) prevented "normal offensive maneuvers". So, it's a foul, even thought the same bump elsewhere on the court might not have been a foul.

Right or wrong, left or right, up or down, make a call! Calling the obvious, advantage or "flow" has great merit and certainly helps to establish the "flow" and tempo but it should never be confused with calling violations that are clear and indisputable. You passed on the bump (which occured first) but now you MUST call the violation of backcourt.

It's tough enough with others second guessing at every whistle, don't start second guessing yourself - put some air into it on the line calls. Two wrongs never make a right kinda thing.

I have a foul in this situation.

The pass on the slight bump was your effort to creat 'flow' to the game. In your judgement, the slight bump caused the offensive player to violate the b/c rule. Delayed whistle, fist up, foul on defense.

We can only go so far in trying to allow for the flow to develop and we need to exercise caution when doing so AND not be afraid to put the ol'air in the whistle when the players are unwilling, by their illegal actions, to allow that flow to develop.

I sympathize with you man. It sounds like what you did worked out well... so maybe it was alright that "you didn't see it."

Two inches into the backcourt is the line width (the line is in the backcourt) so I'm assuming that his toe was not extending beyond the line. Perhaps the coach didn't know the rule (for shame! Imagine that!) Or perhaps the coach didn't see the violation. Possibly he understood. (It's happened before.)

It is a treacherous ground to forego making calls for game flow and maintenance of advantage/disadvantage. But we all do it. Repeatedly. Every game. Sometimes it stings but generally it is sweetness.

I can't count how many times I've had players and coaches start to complain about the lack of a call only to stop in mid-complaint when they realize that I'm right in the middle of it, looking at the exact same thing they are looking at, and I didn't make a call.

You found sweetness on this no call. ;)

Until it happens the other way to the other team and this time there was even less of a bump or no bump at all and the dribbler simply steps on the mid-court line and you call the violation and the coach is all over your a$$, rightfully so, because you didn't call the one on the other team. Sometimes sweet can turn into bitter in a hurry.

Face it Smitty, anything we do can turn bitter in a hurry. That's the nature of being an official.

I'm surely not advocating pass on every call. Or even to do so regularly. But I'm just as surely not advocating that we call every single thing we see. Game-flow and advantage/disavantage are integral components of our job.

We are all entitled to our opinions, but I don't think the lines fall into advantage/disadvantage. You start ignoring the lines and you will find yourself in trouble one way or another.

Re: Similar situation
 

The violation that I referred to was a step on the line. I passed and according to many of the posts, shouldn't have. At the time, I thought it was the proper thing to do. Now, after reading the posts, I'm leaning against not doing the same.

Ref Daddy's comment, "I also am relecting on your awareness and observation of the coach's response to this situation. Aren't you judging your calls by their reaction a little too much?," rang somewhat true.

At the lower level, I didn't pay any attention to the coaches comments. At the varsity level, I tend to hear them more. I know that they are aware that I am a "fairly new" varsity official and many of them attempt to work you. In "passing" on the call, I'm providing them with additional ammunition. Thanks all for the comments and help.

Re: Maybe it's just me
 

Quote:

Originally posted by eventnyc The bump caused a violation which (should have) prevented "normal offensive maneuvers". So, it's a foul, even thought the same bump elsewhere on the court might not have been a foul.

Exactly!

I wanted to first comment on the advantage/disadvantage discussion and mention that at two of the camps I went to over the summer found a little different terminology. In NCAA Women's, the ad/dis is being replaced by impact/nonimpact. At first it seemed a bit nitpicky to me and that both sets of terminology are the same. After an explanation by Barb Jacobs (Big East and NCAA Rules Committee), I could finally see the difference. She said, "A player could gain an advantage over her opponent away from the ball and still there could be no impact on the play." True...anyway, give it some thought and see what you think.

Second, I also agree with many of you that when you have lines involved, you have to call what everyone else in the arena can obviously see. If the kid touched the division line, it was over and back. If he/she touched it because of the foul, call the foul. I had a situation this year where I passed on something and it snowballed into a mess. Here is the situation:

Tie game. 2 Minutes remaining. A1 drives to basket from wing (in front of me at C). B1 sets up to take the charge. A1 does a jump stop right in front of B1. B1 flops. I pass on T for flop. The flop then causes A1 to walk. In that split second, I decide that because I passed on the flop, I had to also pass on the walk! Ouch. A1 scores and A ends up winning by three. Coach A now thinks I missed a charge and a walk! The point I am making is that when we start trying to "keep score" with how many times we have passed on a call, we are headed for trouble. In this case, I should have just called the T for the flop! That would have been a very tough and unpopular call in a heated, rivalry game but that is what I was being paid for. It is the only time in the last five years where I have to admit to a "make-up" call but that is in essence what I did and I hope I never do it again!

That should read Coach B thought I missed a charge and a walk!

I think that absolutely nothing has changed in the philosophy in the last 45 years. All that has been changed is the terminology. Every few years, some pointy-headed clinician decides that his/her ticket to the Basketball Hall of Fame is to come up with some new amazing officiating concept. To do that, they take sumthin' like the good ol' advantage/disadvantage theory and try to describe it in completely different words( even though it is the same old theory). The latest one happens to be impact/non-impact, I guess. Personally, I think that the biggest problem with these philosophies is that people are trying to drill them into the heads of newer officials who are still trying to learn "what" to call, let alone "why" anything should or should not be called. Gotta learn to walk before you can run, imo.

In Ohio, we do not work in crews so every night you're working with a different partner. But no matter who you work with, there's always one common philosophy, "Call the obvious".

In this situation you've gotta call the foul. If the bump caused the player to step out of bounds, you'd call the foul, right?

The coach has no arguement! The bump caused the violation.