idaho state tournament video, fun referee examples
 

check out this video:
http://www.idahosports.com/gamestrea...ley_3_3_07.asp

you will see the mistake on the one and one versus 2 shots, find it at:1:11:10

you will see an intentional foul followed by technical foul on the opposing team, it was handled correctly but you will love listening to the announcers and how lost they are, plus, check out the arm signals of the referee who calls and reports the intentional foul, classic, find it at: 1:20:45

enjoy

Brad Hadley is the L on the botched one-and-one. Must've been a complete brain fart cause Brad's the District 6 interpreter and perhaps the best official in the state. (IMO, of course)

brad looked like a very solid official, I am sure he felt terrible about it, I love his hand gestures though on the intentional foul

I would add that it is really hard to ever say someone is the best official in the state; unless you watch a lot of basketball and travel the state, you will have only seen a fraction of the best officials. I can tell you that boise has a number of top notch officials that never even make it to state because of the limited number of spots and the quota system for choosing officials; the coaches pick the refs, which is hardly a system for finding the "best in the state." Plus, and this is just my opinion, the top guys are all so similar; trying to say one is the best is basically a crap shoot; they all do a great job and have nearly identical philosophies -- stay the heck out of the way, referee the defense, and use perfect mechanics.

On another note, since you seem to have watched the game, not sure if you noticed the push from the star player for Skyview that occured only moments before the intentional foul. Neither official approached him to settle him down and tell him that it would be a stupid way to finish his high school career (or however you choose to give warnings). Either they completely missed it, which is unfortunate, or they decided it was minor. We will never know, but preventative officiating might have avoided the ensuing intentional and ugly finish to the game. Might! He also may have completely ignored the warning. Just something else I took away from that game.

Not official bashing, just some lessons

I covered Idaho high school ball for a couple of years for the Post Register and got to know ALL of the officials on the eastern side of the state and most of the western.

You're point is absolutely correct though. I'm definitely Hadley biased (BTW, shout out to Brad's brother Dave who coached the Shelley boys team to the state title!!) There's no real reason for saying anyone is "the best," but Brad's definitely up there IMO. His partner for that game is a good guy too. District 6 has some really great officials.

3-Man
 

You would think Idaho would adopt the 3-man crew to get more guys in the big game, plus six eyes on the ball is always better than 4...:D LoL

hope that wasn't a shot at Idaho officials :)

No shot at Idaho officials... My reference was to the six eyes on the ball, meaning if that was the case, then you would have a crew of ball watchers. Which is no-no in my crews, and would probably be reiterated during halftime.

I have to tell you I was very confused by the hand signals before the reporting of the intentional foul. I was not sure what he was signaling and to what side. Also he did not need to use signals or point during the discussion with his partner. You should always avoid gestures as much as possible during those conversations.

Peace

Agreed. Way too much arm swinging.

Also, enjoyed listening to the befuddled announcers trying to figure out how the refs could award 2 shots on an intentional foul in which the basket counted. Sadly, the Idaho BB announcers are basically on par with Billy Packer.

I was confused too, looked like he was directing traffic.

lets just say he got a little excited, the best part was the commentator's commenting on it and saying that every young referee should have to watch and try and decipher :) I bet the ref has had a good laugh at himself after watching the video

very wierd mechanics. I havent seen them in the NCAA or the NBA. Its funny how the announcers don't know the rule on the intentional foul on a made basket.

'nother f..up
 

1:24:30 they shot a free throw with only 1 defender in the 1st spot.

That's what you get when you let the coaches pick the refs!!!

I Think part of the excessive hand motions had to do with what I believe is an old mechanic that is still sometimes used, and that is, when reporting fouls, as you verbalize the color of the offending team, you also point to their bench. That mechanic has never been around as long as I've been calling games, but I've seen a number of officials that have been referees longer then me do it and seem to recall someone saying that at one time, that was the proper mechanic.

Yeah - we used to do that. We also had to check the ball at halftime to make sure there weren't any splinters from the peach baskets, too. :D

And then five subs enter for Green following that FT, but only four players exit. The second FT is then administered with six team members on the floor for Green, and this results in a technical foul. You can count the players @ 1:24:51 and you will see the coaches trying to get the extra kid off the floor and Green #10 comes over to the bench right at the end of the FT @ 1:25:01

Not a good sequence.

Absolutely hilarious listening to the announcer try to figure out the fouls and free throws!

Poor Mechanics mostly
 

11:30 Backcourt long switch
11:45 Same arm used to count inbounds as 10 sec count
12:25 lead official in free throw lane 1st of 2 attemps
12:29 green contact with free thrower/no warning
12:34 trail official doesn't close down goes other way on second free throw
12:55 trail puts arms out to side to indicate no 5 second count (not a high school mechanic)
13:30 trail official does not close down on 3 pt attempt
14:29 never seen that foul call mechanic in book
14:54 Trail moves over to see ball on other side (nice job)
15:13 Lead positioned under basket to give to thrower
15:42 trail moving away from nasket on 3 pt attempt
15:47 trail finally gets back to referee the play
16:38 trail moves down as ball moves into leads area(nice job)

Some things I saw watching a few minutes.

Perhaps you are the one who needs some work on your NFHS mechanics. :p

Remember these officials were using the 2-man system, and in the 2005-07 NFHS Officials Manual on page 38 there appears: (the bold is from the NFHS, not me)
"234. The officials shall always change positions after each foul is called. The "free" is responsible to force the change of positions prior to putting the ball in play. It shall be emphasized that the procedures for calling a player-control foul, or one of the nonshooting fouls, are the same as for any other foul call described, including the changing of positions before the ball is handed to the thrower."

So the officials were correct by the national mechanics manual to switch on this rebounding foul against the offensive team, which occurred in the new backcourt. Perhaps your local association teaches not to make this switch. There are a few which do that. However, you need to understand that it is your association which is doing the mechanics incorrectly, not these two officials from Idaho.

Connecticut No Long Switches
 

Connecticut IAABO Mechanics:
Arms extended not closely guarded signal.
Point to floor for two-point field goal try.
No long switches when foul is called in the backcourt and there is no change of possession or direction.
Team members are not allowed to congregate at midcourt during introductions.
Coaching Box must be marked. If home coach and/or home management refuse to designate coaching box with tape, the home team will not use a coaching box for that game. However, the visiting team will be allowed a coaching box. Notify Board Secretary or Commissioner the next day.

So what's your point? Other than that IAABO doesn't follow the NFHS mechanics. The Idaho officials are not IAABO members.

As I said some local associations teach not to switch in the backcourt in 2-man. IAABO would fall into that category.

BTW nowhere does your post specify whether these mechanics are for 2-man, 3-man, or both.

As a new official I found the time markers and the comments from the more experienced referees to be helpful (very, even).

For me, and I'm sure many other newer officials as well, I would love to see more threads like this. I know it's probably a lot of work, but I appreciate it.

Kudos.

The two best ways to improve are court experience and watching film of yourself and good officials. Quality preparation isn't far behind.

This was my only question. If this was a state championship, why only a 2-man crew?

Idaho won't go to 3-man, whether it is because of a money question or what, I don't know. It is 2-man in league, and I can understand an argument that the refs and players have done 2-man all season, and you wouldn't necassarily want refs using a system they haven't used all season.

It is about the same reason they don't have a shot clock, even after a full-game stall, in the state championship game, about 5 years ago. That's the way Idaho has always done it.:(

Yeah, how silly of Idaho and those 42 other states which don't use a shot clock. :rolleyes:

Nevadaref, I believe that the mechanics listed by BillyMac are used in Connecticut only. They are Connecticut adaptations of IAABO mechanics. IAABO does not recommend the use of the "not closely guarded" signal or pointing at the floor on a 2-point attempt, etc. (as far as I know).

IAABO only differs from the FED mechanics on a couple of points (one good and one bad, IMHO) and none of them is listed in Billy's post.

Not our IAABO board.

Thanks for clarification. I know that IAABO does have a mechanics manual and does a couple of things differently such as positioning on time-outs.

It looks like you only strengthen my point that SOME LOCAL associations alter the mechanics of the NFHS.

From Scrapper1: "IAABO only differs from the FED mechanics on a couple of points (one good and one bad, IMHO)"

Scrapper1: If you have time, can you highlight some of the differences between IAABO and NFHS mechanics? Also, I'm curious, which is the "good" one and which is the "bad" one?

Nevadaref: The Connecticut mechanics I listed are only for Connecticut, and, I believe, they are for two man games. In Connecticut, most regular season games are two man games, the last rounds of the state tournament are three man games.

So your point in posting that Conn info was to support my statement that some local associations alter the NFHS mechanics, right? :)

Thank you.

I'm only aware of two differences in the 2-whistle system (which is mostly what I use).

1) NFHS says for the officials to stand on the blocks during a full time-out. IAABO says to have one official at the spot where the ball will be put in play and the other official at midcourt. That's the good one.

2) NFHS says that the Lead official is responsible for the nearer sideline all the way to the other endline. IAABO recommends an "optional" coverage in which the Trail official is responsible for the Lead's sideline above the FT line extended. When the Trail makes a call on that line, the offcials don't switch. I don't like this mechanic. Mostly just because it's not what I'm used to.