Last night I officiated a HS Boys Varsity game, two man crew. Team A had a player who was 6'9" tall and weighed 295lbs (going to college on a D-1 football scholarship). The kid had great footwork, agility, etc. but as you can imagine from my description was very big. My question involves how you guys out there officate a kid that size, playing against much thinner and smaller kids. Every time he posted up or played defense, his size and bulk caused contact that often times displaced the defender or offensive player just with body contact. The type of moves I'm talking about would be just typical low post moves that typical size kids make but because of his size and body build move people. Also when he set screens, often times the player who ran into him ended up on the floor. The screens were legal just the little guards just went flying. Just curious. In simple terms, when one team is simply physically stronger than another, what guidelines do you use in judging contact? I've done college games that have big men but this kid was huge!

First of all, don't penalize him simply because of his size.

Secondly, don't let him get away with things simply because of his size.

Those are the two ways that officials usually go -- either call everything (read: things that are not fouls) on him OR call nothing even when he is fouling.

IF it is the normal movement of his body i.e. turning but not dipping his shoulder, not a foul on the him. If he goes for the rebound and he displaces and the displacement is the same type displacement as a another player where you would call a foul then its a foul on him. He has a right to the same kind of movement and contact as other players. When i get this kind of player i make sure i get the obvious illegal advantage.

walter,
you bring up a good situation. guys this size are incredibly tough to officiate. take nigel dixon(florida state) for example, he is a very large guy. and when he is on the court you have to take special care to make sure what he does is legal. often times he will pivot inside his space and the D will go flying, but get called for offensive foul. if the refs are not concentrating on this matchup they can get surprised.
in these situations you have to ref the matchup and not just the defense. the majority of the time the lead has this matchup so he needs to trust slot and trail to ref where he cannot, and also the slot and trail need to identify this matchup that the lead has and be aware of the players around him. communicate before the game or during breaks of how you want to handle this situation.

tony, what does it mean to ref the matchup, but not just ref the defense? I've never heard that phrase before, so I'm just unclear on what would be the difference between reffing the matchup vs. reffing the defense. If you're reffing the defense, then you should know if the defender has leaned into the "big guy's" vertical plane, shouldn't you?

Please understand this is an honest question. I want to know if I should incorporate this approach into my game.

Chuck

chuck,
in this situation it could help your judgement on the play if you know what both the offense and the defense is doing. when officiating the big man vs smaller man, you want to be able to see the entire picture as well as the entire play. when a less athletic bigger player is matched up with a more athletic smaller player(dixon-fl st. vs boozer-duke) the matchup becomes very competitive. you have strength vs ability. boozer is much quicker than dixon and has the ability to go around dixon, but dixon is stronger and can hold his ground fairly well.
on the reverse side dixon on offense-his game has improved quite a bit, and he now has some legit offensive moves. he can spin, he has figured out how to take a step without traveling, and he gets called for some good moves though.

it is difficult now, and judgement is very crucial. you cant just watch the defense, you have to see what the offense is doing as well. it helps to take a step back and be very patient. see the out come of the play and then take in all the information to make a decision, whether its offensive, defensive, or nothing.

to define "ref a matchup"- right now i cannot give you a great definition, but i hope i have given a good example to help. when i get better and am able to give a better def. i will.

I know this guy is big but..
 

I am looking for verticallity. I see this kind of size mismatch more commonly in girls games, especially jr high or lower.

Re: I know this guy is big but..
 

You have girls in your area that are 6'9" and weigh 295?? :D

Re: Re: I know this guy is big but..
 

...especially in jr high or lower! :eek:

Re: Re: I know this guy is big but..
 

No but with the younger girls, some are much bigger and stronger within the same age groups