Delayed foul call
 

A1 hip checks B1 near basket as shot goes up. I'm the L, 2 man. I hold whistle. A1 as a result of the contact gets rebound. I blow foul on a1. B1 shoots 2 shots on double bonus.

What are your thoughts on holding whistle on rebounding fouls until rebound is made or until the direction of the rebound is going?

I try in general to pass on rebounding fouls when the player who was fouled gets control of the rebound without being displaced.

I should have blown whistle immedaiately and got an earful from the coach of A. Explained the call and he seemed to understand.

Me, too.

Nah. Unless the whistle come 5 seconds after the foul, I think you did the right thing.

Late is great. Although there is a time limit when a late call is so late that nobody in the gym knows what is happening.

Some rebounding contact is so obvious that there needs to be a call no matter what. It sounds like yours wasn't so bad but it created an advantage so you came in late and got it. Good call.

Some coaches don't get it. Don't sweat it.

Sounds like a great, patient whistle to me. You made sure you saw the whole play before calling the foul. Nice job!

It's usually not my nature to be contrary, but........

I think that that I'd need a little more information about the nature of the "hip check" before saying either way. If it's a subtle little move that <b>might</b> gain an advantage, then call the foul <b>if</b> it does gain an advantage. If it's a hockey hip check that's moving a rebounder waaaaay out of position, then just call it. If it's fairly obvious too but maybe not that excessive, you might want to call it just to clean up the rebounding action. Letting deliberate <b>excessive</b> contact go is just gonna give you nothing but headaches later on, especially when you end up getting a <b>similar</b> hip check at the <b>other</b> end. It's the difference between <b>incidental</b> contact and illegal contact. Jmo.

I agree with JR. From the sound of things, this particular play involved more subtle contact which warranted a patient whistle. Otherwise we've got to come up with something quickly.

This kind of call can lead to problems though. If a rebounder A1 pushes and pushes and pushes B1 until he's under the hoop, then goes exactly straight up and gets the rebound easily and there's a patient whistle calling him for the initial push(es), there may be some confusion; i.e., he may think he's being called for jumping straight up.

My suggestion, if I may be so bold, is to come up with a hipcheck or push foul on a rebound right away, regardless of what happens next, in the first two minutes of the game or second half. That way the players will know they can't get away with it and will stop. If we just have patient whistles all the time, we run the risk of having the rebounders push all day with only a few calls going against them, and all it takes is one bullied rebounder to throw an elbow because his opponent isn't being called for it.

Just my thoughts. I try to referee preventively as much as possible, which is where I'm coming from with this.

The Authority has spoken.....I say AMEN.

Message to OLD SCHOOL: Please note I have also quoted the authority to support my belief that JR does not have a contrary nature.

Just a picky point, but if you don't call it, how can it be a rebounding foul? Iow, if you judged the contact to be incidental, then the player actually didn't get fouled, right?

I agree with the other posters about patient whistles. It helps you determine if there is any illegal advantage gained as a result of the contact.

More Info
 

The play occurred with 2 minutes left in the game. B down by 2 and both teams in the double bonus. We had blown at least 4 hard pushing rebounding fouls immediately at different points in the game.

Nice explanation of a distinction that newer officials sometimes have trouble understanding and that completely escapes fans.