Eyes on the Shooter ?

[kamflam]

I'm lead and the shooter is low in the paint right in front of me on the strong side. Shooter goes up, I dont see a foul, but my partner in trail, deep and weakside, calls the foul.

At halftime he explains that he is responsible for any contact high on the shooter... even when its only 4 feet in front of me. I should be looking below chest level for contact and not concern myself with anything above that (that's his job, he says).

I ask whether this (trail chest and up, lead chest and down) rule applies to every shot taken in 'my zone'. He indicates that this is the way it has been for all his 7 years.

Please clarify for me. When should 2 sets of eyes be on the shooter ? Does it matter if the key is crowded versus relatively empty when it contains the shooter ? I was wondering who would be watching the other 8 guys on the court when he was also watching the shooters arms in my zone.


Any thoughts are appreciated.

[Snake~eyes]

Sounds like you're working two man, your partner sounds...how do I put this nicely... an idiot? If you both are watching the shooter who's watching, other players and rebounding action. When the ball is in your primary you have the ball and your partner has to officiate offball.

[rainmaker]

Originally posted by kamflam
I'm lead and the shooter is low in the paint right in front of me on the strong side. Shooter goes up, I dont see a foul, but my partner in trail, deep and weakside, calls the foul.

At halftime he explains that he is responsible for any contact high on the shooter... even when its only 4 feet in front of me. I should be looking below chest level for contact and not concern myself with anything above that (that's his job, he says).

I ask whether this (trail chest and up, lead chest and down) rule applies to every shot taken in 'my zone'. He indicates that this is the way it has been for all his 7 years.

Please clarify for me. When should 2 sets of eyes be on the shooter ? Does it matter if the key is crowded versus relatively empty when it contains the shooter ? I was wondering who would be watching the other 8 guys on the court when he was also watching the shooters arms in my zone.


Any thoughts are appreciated.

The answer to your question is "Pre-game, pre-game, pre-game." If you look in the NFHS Officials Manual, you'll see a 39-page pre-game that would take 4 hours if you really covered it all. But coverage areas, primary and secondary, is a subject that definitely should not be excluded. By the book, you're probably both partly right.

In reality, think about the sitch from a practical point of view. If you are only four feet from the shooter, there's absolutely no way you are going to see all the contact -- It's just not possible. Your partner sure can't see what's low, so you must. Let him get what's high. If someone came to me with the sitch you described, I'd say the lead (you) should have been farther away from the play, and taken the call. But once you're so close, I think trail is doing you a favor to cover. His rule of thumb, though, I think is for rebounding action, not shooting.

I don't have my manual right here, but I"m pretty sure the textbook way to cover this play is for lead to be six feet off the endline, and maybe out from the paint by two or three steps. THis way you get a much better angle on any possible contact. Trail should have his hands full with six or eight other players.

[FrankHtown]

Lead, in this instance, takes the shooter up, and brings the shooter back down, THEN turns to follow rebounding. That is why the trail needs to be watching off-ball. The lead is going to be busy until the shooter returns to the floor.

[gordon30307]

Originally posted by kamflam
I'm lead and the shooter is low in the paint right in front of me on the strong side. Shooter goes up, I dont see a foul, but my partner in trail, deep and weakside, calls the foul.

At halftime he explains that he is responsible for any contact high on the shooter... even when its only 4 feet in front of me. I should be looking below chest level for contact and not concern myself with anything above that (that's his job, he says).

I ask whether this (trail chest and up, lead chest and down) rule applies to every shot taken in 'my zone'. He indicates that this is the way it has been for all his 7 years.

Please clarify for me. When should 2 sets of eyes be on the shooter ? Does it matter if the key is crowded versus relatively empty when it contains the shooter ? I was wondering who would be watching the other 8 guys on the court when he was also watching the shooters arms in my zone.


Any thoughts are appreciated.

If the play is coming toward you you may not see the push from behind or hand hitting the arm. Keep in mind since the trail is farther away he/she has a more panoramic view of the entire court. That being said if the play is trailside (which is not readily apparent from your post) I see no problem with his call. If the play was on lead side if it were me and I had I wonder why he/she didn't call that I probably hold my whistle. If I had I can't believe he/she didn't call that (probably a train wreck) I've got a whistle. You're partner is correct in this sense as Lead you shouldn't be following the shot. Quite (if you're Lead) often if you call a foul you won't be aware if a basket was made or not. While the shot is going up you should be watching for pushes holds etc. during the rebounding action.

[Camron Rust]

While I don't agree with this method of coverage, I have heard it on more than one occassion. The idea does have some merit in that a person in the trail position would sometimes have a better view of action at/above the rim (why else have the trail cover all BI/GT situations).

[Adam]

I had a T call a travel right in front of me like this once. Ball is on L side. I was watching bodies for contact, and she calls the travel. coach gripes a bit about calling a travel from 80 feet (it was closer to 50 or 55) and I calmly let him know he needs to keep it to himself.
P comes up and tells me at the next timeout that she wasn't trying to take my area, but that it's the T's call on that play since the L is supposed to be watching for contact.
I just said, ""

[ranjo]

I usually pregame this with my partner for two person coverage. If I haven't worked with them before, I try to find out if he/she is one who absolutely doesn't want anyone visiting in their primary. I will usually say "if grandma can see it from the nosebleed seats and I don't call it, come and get it, but make sure you get it right!"

I also make it a point to say " When a drive goes into a crowded lane, we should have eyes on the front and back of the play.

I know this doesn't always jive with on-ball - off-ball coverage, but sometimes the end result justifies the means.

[zebraman]

In two-person, I wouldn't my trail "helping" me with this call unless it was so obvious that he KNEW I must have been blocked out. (As rainmaker said, this situation should be talked about in pregame). In 3-person, I wouldn't mind if the T made that call since it's his "secondary" area of coverage and he might have a better angle.

I think your partner had it backwards for two-person anyway. The lead is looking from waist up. If the trail saw an obvious travel, that might be a good call for him to come in and help you with (again, a good pregame topic).

Z