How is the preseason in your area?

[26 Year Gap]

1st scrimmage this Saturday. 2nd one on Monday. 3rd one on Tuesday. Then the season starts.

[Scooby]

My first scrimmage is tomorrow. My first game is next week.

[jkumpire]

I have not officiated Bk in a long time, say 12-15 years, except for some JH/MS stuff to help some people out.

This year, I have done a lot of HS boys and girls BK, pre-season scrimmages for them. My pre-season has been great:

1. 3-man is stealing compared to 2 man stuff. I can count the number of times I was out of position on one hand, though I still react a little too slowly to TO's when I am Trail. that's fixable.

2. The game is much more physical, and since I called a tight game in the past, it has been a transition for me. There is too much reaching and grabbing, and defenders seem to believe that if I don't extend my forearm very far I can ride the driver, or block him from the cut to the hole. To me, I see a lot of fouls others don't call. I may need to make adjustments, but I have a hard time not calling blocks/holds on defenders who ride hands on a hip down the lane, lead with a forearm, or constantly hand check/off/hand check. The contact may be cheap, but advantage/disadvantage is crucial here, and I see too many defenders giving the slight to medium bump or hold, and thinking they can get away with it since it's not heavy contact, but it affects the o players drive.

3. Post players are really sloppy, everyone wants to move all the time, with motion offenses, no posts offenses who flash four or five different people in, but none of them can move inside well, or make a legal move inside w/o a travel. On the same side, everyone wants to run, and play up tempo games, and so many teams settle for bad shots, cheap TO's, or make some stupid play with the ball into a bad shot because they hear Coach A say, push it, push it.

4. I've sen too many quarters end up in a hackfest, esp. when one team plays full court and the other team has quick guards that abuse the pressure. It's either give up the layup, or give the foul, and too many people give the foul instead of just playing good old fashioned half court man.

5. Another reason why play is so physical is that shooting is so bad these days. Man alive, can't anyone hit a 15' j anymore? No let's throw up a 3, or an out of control drive then send 3 or 4 to the boards and and win the scrum inside. Yuk!

But, I got a say, for all the complaints, it is fun to be doing it on the court again. I never realized how much I missed it. Just like I miss so much being in the circle, another change I am making...