The Toughest Calls in Basketball

[Mark Padgett]

That's easy - it's the false double multiple non-contact personal technical foul during a dead ball with the coach out of the box and a timer's error combined with basket interference during a free throw by the non-shooting team in double overtime when the visiting team has their captain wearing a hard brace.

I mess that one up all the time. But I do get icing correct most of the time as well as a balk.

DAMN - where's those meds???

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

That's easy - it's the false double multiple non-contact personal technical foul during a dead ball with the coach out of the box and a timer's error combined with basket interference during a free throw by the non-shooting team in double overtime when the visiting team has their captain wearing a hard brace.

I mess that one up all the time. But I do get icing correct most of the time as well as a balk.

DAMN - where's those meds???

Mark:

Your play is easy to call I would expect my first year students to make that call. The most difficult call I find is whether to have Italian or Chinese for dinner after the game.

MTD, Sr.

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.

The most difficult call I find is whether to have Italian or Chinese for dinner after the game.
MTD, Sr.

Huh, I usually have food.

[JRutledge]

I think handling bench decorum is by far the thing that separates the best official from the guy who cannot stop working JH games. This part is so subjective and changes from one game to another and sometimes one quarter to another. Block/Charge are often easy, traveling is one of the most difficult calls to make as well, but nothing compares to how you handle coaches and players in very confrontational and difficult situations.

Peace

[Old School]

I think the toughest call to make in basketball is the right call. When you know something just happened but because you where in transistion, got straight-lined, or somebody just stepped in front of you. You can't guess, either you saw the disadvantage or you got a no-call. Sometimes a no-call is the best call. Sometimes there can be contact on the play and it's not a foul. Sometimes the player can step out of bounds, but because you didn't see it, you got no call, even if the entire gym saw it. Getting the right call is not as easy as you think.

[rainmaker]

Originally Posted by Old School

I think the toughest call to make in basketball is the right call.

Well, that's getting specific, isn't it...

[Adam]

Originally Posted by rainmaker

Well, that's getting specific, isn't it...

Well, it is tough to make the right call when you don't know the right rules.

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by Old School

I think the toughest call to make in basketball is the right call. When you know something just happened but because you where in transistion, got straight-lined, or somebody just stepped in front of you. You can't guess, either you saw the disadvantage or you got a no-call. Sometimes a no-call is the best call. Sometimes there can be contact on the play and it's not a foul. Sometimes the player can step out of bounds, but because you didn't see it, you got no call, even if the entire gym saw it. Getting the right call is not as easy as you think.

Old School:

Let me let you in on a little secret. If you did not see it you cannot call it.

MTD, Sr.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I think handling bench decorum is by far the thing that separates the best official from the guy who cannot stop working JH games. This part is so subjective and changes from one game to another and sometimes one quarter to another. Block/Charge are often easy, traveling is one of the most difficult calls to make as well, but nothing compares to how you handle coaches and players in very confrontational and difficult situations.

Agree with that completely. It's almost impossible to make hard and fast rules on how you'd handle a certain situation without actually being there and being able to exercise your own judgment. Every coach and player is different, and so is every situation. You just do what you feel is right for that particular play at that particular time in that particular game. The officials that can adjust and defuse these situations instead of throwing gas on the fire are usually the ones that are going onward and upward.

There's a time to be a hardazz and there's also a time to turn a little bit of a blind eye. The better officials can recognize those times.

[refnrev]

Originally Posted by Mark Padgett

That's easy - it's the false double multiple non-contact personal technical foul during a dead ball with the coach out of the box and a timer's error combined with basket interference during a free throw by the non-shooting team in double overtime when the visiting team has their captain wearing a hard brace.

I mess that one up all the time. But I do get icing correct most of the time as well as a balk.

DAMN - where's those meds???

_______________________

You're scaring me again, Padgett! Any exciting badmitton or croquet tournaments lately? (We'll see if the meds ar working now!)

[Mark Padgett]

Originally Posted by refnrev

_______________________

You're scaring me again, Padgett! Any exciting badmitton or croquet tournaments lately? (We'll see if the meds ar working now!)

Funny you should mention that. I just spoke with someone who was associated with the croquet match I worked a few years ago and she said they may want to do it again next month. They're also looking at possibly putting together a grandpa-grandson basketball game.

FYI - these events are sponsored by a local Lions Club in a retirement community right next to my city (King City, OR). All the proceeds from these events go to the Lions Club camp for blind kids. I offer to volunteer whenever they have something like this going on. It's a lot of fun and a great cause. BTW - if they get the basketball game scheduled, I'll be looking for a partner....hint, hint.

[Junker]

For me personally, the toughest call is granting a time out. I've been bitten a couple times in my career on this one. Last year, in a close varsty girls game, I'm bringing the ball up as T with a 1 on 1 match up in front of me. I think I hear "time out" from the bench. When I finally have a point where I can look at the coach, he's just standing there. I ask if he wants a time out, he says yes, and as I'm getting the whistle back in my mouth, we have a steal going the other way. Next time down he got his time out, but needed part of it to have a discussion with me. It was his own fault for not being more visible or llouder so my partners could pick it up, but it was still a not great situation.

[Old School]

Originally Posted by Junker

For me personally, the toughest call is granting a time out. I've been bitten a couple times in my career on this one. Last year, in a close varsty girls game, I'm bringing the ball up as T with a 1 on 1 match up in front of me. I think I hear "time out" from the bench. When I finally have a point where I can look at the coach, he's just standing there. I ask if he wants a time out, he says yes, and as I'm getting the whistle back in my mouth, we have a steal going the other way. Next time down he got his time out, but needed part of it to have a discussion with me. It was his own fault for not being more visible or llouder so my partners could pick it up, but it was still a not great situation.

Though I don't always remember to do this. I try to tell the coaches to give me the TO signal or 30 - Full when I look at you in the pregame. In a close game you got to keep yelling it and calling it. If I'm sure the coach called a TO and when i checked, he/she confirmed it. I go back to where the ball was when the coach asked for the TO.

A side note to this is at a recent game. I had a coach turn around and kick his chair after the opposition scored a 3 point goal. I immediately bang him with a T, giving the T signal. Opposition coach thought I called a TO and his players rushed the court to congradulate their teammate. I'm trail 2 person and report the T to the table. I go to ask the opposition coach who going to shoot the T and his entire bench is at half-court. I ask the coach, did you call a TO? He said no, you did. No, I called a Technical foul. Coach: but you gave the timeout signal. Okay, I'm going to give your bench a technical foul for being on the court. So what turned out to be a potential 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 point swing in their favor. I made it a double technical, we don't shoot, POI, both coaches seat belted. Man was that coach mad....

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Junker

For me personally, the toughest call is granting a time out. I've been bitten a couple times in my career on this one. Last year, in a close varsty girls game, I'm bringing the ball up as T with a 1 on 1 match up in front of me. I think I hear "time out" from the bench. When I finally have a point where I can look at the coach, he's just standing there. I ask if he wants a time out, he says yes, and as I'm getting the whistle back in my mouth, we have a steal going the other way. Next time down he got his time out, but needed part of it to have a discussion with me. It was his own fault for not being more visible or llouder so my partners could pick it up, but it was still a not great situation.

This is why coaches ought to teach their kids to mirror TO signals.