You were literally at the top of the key? IOW, you were right in the middle of the F'in frontcourt? That's too far on the court for that deep.

If you move on the court, you should also move closer to the far end-line. Your path should resemble the 3-point arc, but be deeper than it.

If the ball is on the far sideline (but still in your area), you could be at mid-court, but you should be at the division line or in backcourt.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bob jenkins
[B]Dude, if I may be so informal :)

You can go as far over to the other side of the floor as you have to in order to officiate the play. If the defense has a hard trap in the corner by the division line on the other side of the floor, you better get over there to see the play. As was stated in an earlier reply, you must make sure that you stay out of the passing lanes when doing this. This may make you be in the back court to make the call.

Remember that there is no "magic spot" on the floor for officiating a play. You must go where the play takes you, especially as the T in the 2 person game. You may want to talk about this play in your pregame, where you have had to go all the way over to see this trap play, and then there is a change of possession. Your partner may want you to just get down the floor on the side you are now nearest, and let him slide across to change responsibilites.

Thank you for the replies.

I like your positioning bigwhistle. Good point on the possible switch. This would be something my partner and I would definitely want to pregame. I wonder if this is an approved mechanic though?

The other reply I got was to never go more than mid-court.
Hmmmm, two replies...two different answers.

Also, I was not at the F'in top of the key...the players were. I got straight lined behind them, thus the ball hit me when B1 knocked it loose from A1.

RookieDude

It's a matter of comfort level. I'm pretty fast so I follow plays aggresively. I will go close to midcourt as trail to follow presses on the weak side backcourt. Once the players are on the frontcourt, the only time I come that far out is if I step into the backcourt to cover a high weak side trap. Lead should have worked himself out to the sideline too to cover out-of-bounds.

The further out on the court you feel you have to go, the higher you should work in order to avoid incidences like the one you encountered.

You could pregame a situation like this...or you could just beat feat down as best you can and get back in position. Either way, you will be out of sync with your partner especially if he/she doen't pick up the switch quickly. I don't recomend getting all the way to midcourt unless lead has eight in the paint and you have two hacking and whacking in your AOR.

We have three person crews for all varsity games. It gives you a lot more coverage than two man. It is a state rule (Alabama) that we have 3 officials instead of 2.Where do you call 2 man? (Which state)

I've called in Louisiana and Illinois. Neither state has come out and ruled that schools will use 3 man crews as you say Al has done. Some associations in northern La have said they will only provide 3 man crews. In Il, the AD's have a lot of latitude. Use of 3 man crews is slowly spreading but there will alway be a place for 2 man mechanics up through JV and in most rural school varsity contests.

I work alot of 3 person mechanics, so I catch myself working like a "c" official a lot in 2 person games. I usually can get back well enough, and if I can't just button-hook and keep the angle. I feel I can help better with rebounding angles here. A lot depends on wether you are off ball or on-ball.

Working at the "C" position is great as long as you are ready and fast enough to swing back around to help weak side when your lead comes strong side.

You have been away too long.
 

This season will be the 5th year that 3 Person is used for all post-season games and this will be the 6th that I have done 3 Person games all over the place in Illinois.

And Illinois the ADs do not have latitude as much as you think. Maybe the smaller schools do, but the bigger schools (at least assignments) are done by assignors.

I have had about 45 games this year, about 41 of them have been 3 Person.

I think you have been gone too long my friend. :)

When did you live in Illinois and where?

Peace

[Edited by JRutledge on Feb 6th, 2002 at 07:09 PM]

I'm a returnee... I just moved to Carbondale in August after a 20 year stint in the USAF. There are no assigning bodies down here although I would love to see it. I guess we are just too disjointed in the south.

I came up from the Shreveport area (Barksdale AFB) where our association was the only game in town. They assigned all games in the northwest corner of the state and it has been exclusively 3 man crews for all HS contests for about 4 years now. Shreveport is a pretty big metro area but not like Chicago land.

Here in Southern Illinois, the AD’s do all the contracting. The only assigning I have seen has been at the college level. I have found three associations with pretty good membership but I have this sneaking suspicion most members are geared more for baseball and football than basketball. Don't get me wrong. There are a number of good officials here. Since they are more spread out, most don't see 50 game schedules and I think it shows. My game will suffer because I have to drop down a grade and take a number of games I would not have considered last year like fresh/soph and JV games. One has to get in front of the AD's get games down the road. Assignors? I wish!

Ron hit the nail on the head. The Trail in a two-man crew has to work the arc. Assume (I know what happens when you assume) that Team A has the ball and is shooting at the basket to the left of the Scorer/Timer Table (as you sit at the table) and the Trail is Table Side. The Trail, depending on ball position, can range around three point from below free throw line extended to his left all the way to the right of a line drawn from one basket to the other and be in the backcourt when he is in this position. When a shot is taken, the Trail as to be ready to move to his left around the arc for rebounding officiating. When a shot is taken it is also about angles. The players' positions dictate how far to the left the Trail should go.

Class AA schools have them.
 

Assignors are mainly for those conferences that are Class AA. But almost all the Class A schools are assigned by ADs unless you are close to the Chicago Area. But and if you work in Central Illinois around Springfield or Peoria, all the conferences around there (Class AA) have assignors. But then again without the assignors it can be easier to get games. It is just a matter of where you want to travel.

Peace

Girls Going to Three-Whistle Mechanics Next Year
 

In the Dayton, OH area, the vast majority of boys varsity games use three officials, but none of the girls have used three. It's my understanding that next year, the big-school leagues around here are going to three whistles for girls varsity for the first time. The small school leagues will still be two whistles for girls varsity games. Don't think it's a Title IX sitch, but rather a move to keep some of the older, more experienced officials (who maybe have lost a step along the way) in the game.

In the northern VA area we have gone to 3-person on all varsity games. We used to only do 3-person in specific districts and then 3-person in all district/regional tournaments. We also do 3-person in the private school league -- we only do the girls games. I think the boys games are done by IAABO group in DC (Board 12??). Our schools are A, AA, AAA depending on enrollment and the A & AA girls play fall ball (think this changes next year as the result of a lawsuit).