"Let them play" part two
 

Thanx for the post on the first thread, learned alot.

Now how do you guys handle a playoff/finals game. Do you pre-game to let them play a little more than a reg season game? A little more physical contact? Only big fouls ect?

Well speaking not having done state finals or anything, but tournament finals and the like, it makes no difference what game you are doing. Teams get to the playoffs/finals by playing regular season games, why would they want to have the game called any differently than what they are used to seeing? Granted they might be a little more amped up early, so you might have some stuff to clean up, but there should be no difference in how an official approaches the game....

Along the lines of what you are asking, I have always said that the higher the quality of the basketball at a given level, the easier it is to officiate, and, for the most part this means fewer whistles. This is not because of the officials' philosophy, but because of the nature of the game itself.

Maybe easier because there are fewer whistles, but high level games are where your game management skills are what separate the good official from the great official. Communicating with partner(s), coaches, players, watching the clock stop and start, awareness of game flow, what defense is each team playing, what offense are they running, what plays are they running....those are the kind of things that keep a high level game running smoothly, not just whistling fouls and violations.

By the way..these are all things I'm still working on..;)

Short answer is "no". I specifically say that we want to keep the post play under control. If that means we have a few extra whistles early on, so be it.

Especially "no" to the question about only getting "big fouls", if you mean "hard fouls" or extra-physical play. Officiating that way, I think, would lead to really rough play and nobody wants to see that.

Call a normal game according to whether the player gained an illegal advantage with the contact, or whether the contact was simply too rough (even without an advantage).

Just my opinion, but I really think if you ONLY get the big stuff, you're in for more big stuff than you'd like.

This is all especially true at the higher levels. It may look to the crowd that all you're calling is the big stuff, but that's because there isn't anything else except the occasional big stuff, because the players have adjusted.

Lower levels they don't always know how to adjust so you're watching for them to let up and they don't. Then you've got to decide what to do, whether you've got the onions to keep calling it all.

Yep I've always said that a BV game is much easier (and much more fun!) to call than a 6th grade girls game....in the lower level games you really have to expect the goofy to happen, the players can't get out of each others way, etc...the higher the skill level, the easier it is on us...

I have found in the Frosh/Jv games i work that the more experienced coaches will start out aggressively to see what happens. Then in the 2nd half they keep on doing it, especially if the other team is more talented. They are ,once again, checking to see if you keep calling.

I do.

Had a coach,whose team racked up 38 fouls and still lost, come up after the game and thank me for keeping the game under control. :confused:

I think it was a compliment. He seemed sincere.:)

Ride the horse that got you there.

The horsey thing is weird. :cool:

Off to the glue factory for you.:eek:

LOL

It's just another way of saying do what you have been doing. An official shouldn't change how he calls the game because it's a "big" game. Presumably he was given the big game because of how he has called previous games. So keep calling it that way.

Glue factory, eh? Maybe I'd finally get to travel the world, assumming I get applied to envelopes and postage stamps. :D

Not really. It is always good to talk about the ramifications of the game (playoff or regular season game) so you all understand the focus of the player, coaches and even fans. I think the only officials that do not understand the contact aspect have not worked many of those games. You really do not have to explain that too many times to experienced officials, who are the people you tend to work with the most during the post season.

Peace

As someone who has done a ton of lower level (5th-8th grade rec and competitive travel) and does the occiassional 16U AAU competitive travel this is hitting the nail on the head.