Call Consistency as a Crew

[Nevadaref]

Originally Posted by cewingate

At camp I received a great deal of praise for refereeing the defense and my call selection/judgement relating to fouls. I come back and I work with officials that call the game in a different way than I was taught. Any feedback on how to work through is would be helpful.

How about this?
Call your game. Stay in your primary area and don't worry about what calls are made by your partners in their areas.

[Nevadaref]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mwanr1
I disagree with the above statement. I find that more often it is a block than a charge.

A philosophy I picked up from a veteran D1 official is that if both players are going into each other, as shown here: i -> <- i, then we have a block.

If it is i<-i and in result to this: \<-\, then it's a charge.

The key is to referee the defense. Pick up the secondary defender IMMEDIATELY. If I missed the secondary defender and I have to guess, I'm going to be wrong.

I'm also a big fan of this pictoral representation of block/charge situations. It isn't perfect, but it certainly will cover the vast majority of plays.

[btaylor64]

I am just going to reply to the original post although I have liked a lot that has been said and disliked little (great thread-just talking bball-i love it).

Call consistency and having great crew dynamics is great to have for your game, but you can't sacrafice and determine that an incorrect call (IC) after incorrect call is being consistent. You have to chuck the first call up as a miss and move on and continue to get your plays right.

Someone said something about staying in your primary and not worrying about what they call. I am only using this to illustrate my point that you have to have an awareness of what your partners are calling, so in the possible chance that you have had some 50/50 plays go one way, you can recall that situation on those previous 50/50 plays in your area and do the right thing for the game by balancing the game out when those play come to you. Now i'm not saying you have to balance the floor back out when you are getting plays coming to you that are a little below obvious, it needs to be a play that fans, coaches, and players alike say "that was a play that could have went either way."

Good luck to you and listen to these guys that are telling you to be humble and keep learning. You might have the tools and the talent, but if you act like the know it all after your first year, you might be discredited quickly no matter how good you are. Only you can be your hardest critic, so go out and out work yourself night in and night out. Watch tape, get advice from people you believe to be credible, and always be a sponge. If you are eager to learn it will shine through and people will notice and be willing to help you in your ascension up the officiating ladder.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by btaylor64

Someone said something about staying in your primary and not worrying about what they call. I am only using this to illustrate my point that you have to have an awareness of what your partners are calling, so in the possible chance that you have had some 50/50 plays go one way, you can recall that situation on those previous 50/50 plays in your area and do the right thing for the game by balancing the game out when those play come to you. Now i'm not saying you have to balance the floor back out when you are getting plays coming to you that are a little below obvious, it needs to be a play that fans, coaches, and players alike say "that was a play that could have went either way."

I don't buy all this. It is up to us to look at the play that the fans, coaches, and players see as 50/50 and make the correct call as best we can. It was probably 50.05/49.95. If your mind is clouded by the last close call, it can easily serve to tip the delicate balance to the wrong side.

[truerookie]

Originally Posted by just another ref

If your mind is clouded by the last close call, it can easily serve to tip the delicate balance to the wrong side.

I affirm this statement. You have to treat each play individually. The calls will sort themselves out.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by just another ref

It is up to us to look at the play that the fans, coaches, and players see as 50/50 and make the correct call as best we can.

I agree with this part of your statement. As part of a crew, I need to be aware of what my partners are calling, so that I try to call plays with the same philosophy as them. If my partners are calling hand checks on the dribbler, I better be calling them as well, and not passing on them just to "let them play". If my partners have decided these are big boys and they can play through some contact, I better not be the one calling every bump.

There can be an overall crew philosophy that develops, and I had better be a part of that. If I feel we aren't on the same page, we better get together at a TO and discuss it. Sometimes my partners have had to tell me to get my head out of my a$$ and get with it. Sometimes I've had to reel in a partner. But don't ever get caught in the trap where you think, "I don't know what the hell they're calling; I'm just gonna call my game no matter what". Then the crew will definitely be inconsistent.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by M&M Guy

I agree with this part of your statement. As part of a crew, I need to be aware of what my partners are calling, so that I try to call plays with the same philosophy as them. If my partners are calling hand checks on the dribbler, I better be calling them as well, and not passing on them just to "let them play". If my partners have decided these are big boys and they can play through some contact, I better not be the one calling every bump.

There can be an overall crew philosophy that develops, and I had better be a part of that. If I feel we aren't on the same page, we better get together at a TO and discuss it. Sometimes my partners have had to tell me to get my head out of my a$$ and get with it. Sometimes I've had to reel in a partner. But don't ever get caught in the trap where you think, "I don't know what the hell they're calling; I'm just gonna call my game no matter what". Then the crew will definitely be inconsistent.

Your post deals with working to develop a consistent officiating philosophy as a crew. I agree with this and think anyone would. The above post dealt with make up calls.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Your post deals with working to develop a consistent officiating philosophy as a crew. I agree with this and think anyone would. The above post dealt with make up calls.

No, I don't think it did. I think it had to do with being aware of what your partner called, so you can make the same call on a similar play.

Let's take a block/charge - some plays call themselves. However, there are a lot of these calls where they are so close (did the defender have LGP immediately before or immediately after contact?), you can effectively call them 50/50 plays. How many videos of these types of plays have been posted here, and even after watching replay after replay, in super slo-mo, we disagree? So, in these plays, if I see my partner come out with a block, I am not going call a similar play in front of me a charge just because I think too many blocks are being called. A similar play should have a similar call from all of us. That's what consistency means.

If my partner obviously blew the call, I'm not going to have a make-up call, or make another bad call to even things out. That's not what consistency means. It does mean that I'm not going to "call my own game" no matter what my partners are calling.

[btaylor64]

Originally Posted by just another ref

Your post deals with working to develop a consistent officiating philosophy as a crew. I agree with this and think anyone would. The above post dealt with make up calls.

Whoa whoa I never nor would I ever say have make up calls! In fact I agree that for the most part, plays should be judged on their own merit. But when you have plays that are so indistinguishable and could go one way or the other I believe the crew should be consistent in their playcalling and if your crew can be consistent on those plays alone the crews credibility will skyrovket.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by btaylor64

But when you have plays that are so indistinguishable and could go one way or the other I believe the crew should be consistent in their playcalling and if your crew can be consistent on those plays alone the crews credibility will skyrocket.

So....how do you pre-game that? Do you say ALL close plays should be a block? Or do you say ALL close plays should be a charge? Do you want ALL close plays to be a block EVERY game? Or do you want ALL close plays to be a charge EVERY game? Or to you recommend alternating....one game ALL close plays are a block and the next game ALL close plays are a charge?

Please let me know so my credibility will skyrocket too.

[Adam]

Just stay away from the game interrupters, and you should be fine, JR.

[Scrapper1]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

So....how do you pre-game that? Do you say ALL close plays should be a block? Or do you say ALL close plays should be a charge?

Sarcasm aside, btaylor is exactly right, IMHO. How do you pre-game it? Exactly how he said it. If you completely screw the pooch and call a PC on an obvious block, I'm not going to intentionally screw the pooch on the next one just to make up for your bad call.

But when you judge that first bang-bang too-close-to-call crash a block, then if I have bang-bang too-close-to-call crash, it's gonna be a block. If it's NOT close, and clearly a PC, then I'm going to call it a PC. But I'm going to try to remember that the really close one that could have gone either way was a block.

Please let me know so my credibility will skyrocket too.

Fat chance.

[Jurassic Referee]

Originally Posted by Scrapper1

Sarcasm aside, btaylor is exactly right, IMHO. How do you pre-game it? Exactly how he said it. If you completely screw the pooch and call a PC on an obvious block, I'm not going to intentionally screw the pooch on the next one just to make up for your bad call.

But when you judge that first bang-bang too-close-to-call crash a block, then if I have bang-bang too-close-to-call crash, it's gonna be a block. If it's NOT close, and clearly a PC, then I'm going to call it a PC. But I'm going to try to remember that the really close one that could have gone either way was a block.

Oh, I get it now. You don't pre-game it. You wait for the first close call. If that's a block, then every close call by every official for the rest of the game has to be a block also. Or if the first close call was a charge, then every close call by all officials for the rest of that game should be a charge also. Heckuva idea, Skippy. Sure makes it a heckuva lot easier too. It takes all of the judgment and thought out of the calls. Officiate by numbers.

Of course, you do have to keep a real good watch on all of your partner's calls at the start of the game to make sure that the first call that they make was a really close one.

Naw, that's way too complicated and nouveau wave for dumb ol' me. I'll just continue trying to make up my own mind on each call as to what I think it should be.....even though all the extra thinking required does make my head hurt.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Oh, I get it now. You don't pre-game it. You wait for the first close call. If that's a block, then every close call by every official for the rest of the game has to be a block also. Or if the first close call was a charge, then every close call by all officials for the rest of that game should be a charge also. Heckuva idea, Skippy. Sure makes it a heckuva lot easier too. It takes all of the judgment and thought out of the calls. Officiate by numbers.

Of course, you do have to keep a real good watch on all of your partner's calls at the start of the game to make sure that the first call that they make was a really close one.

Naw, that's way too complicated and nouveau wave for dumb ol' me. I'll just continue trying to make up my own mind on each call as to what I think it should be.....even though all the extra thinking required does make my head hurt.

JR, every call can not be made in a vacuum. If you are letting marginal contact go when B1 is shooting in the post at one end but your partner(s) is sending A1 to the free throw line on the same contact at the other then you don't have consistency and Coach B will soon be earning a Technical foul. It most definitely has to addressed in the pre-game and, if need be, at halftime.

[M&M Guy]

Originally Posted by Jurassic Referee

Naw, that's way too complicated and nouveau wave for dumb ol' me. I'll just continue trying to make up my own mind on each call as to what I think it should be.....even though all the extra thinking required does make my head hurt.

Look, I understand what you're saying - get the call right. It's Officiating 101. Maybe this falls under Officiating 301 - it's having a wider awareness of what's happening in the game. I guess my feeling is the crew needs to get all the plays right, not just each official calling their own game. You know the "standard" for a foul in one game is different than the standard for another. So if I'm calling contact that would be a foul in a jr. high girl's game, but it happens to be a varsity boys game, I sure hope my partners would come over to me and tell me to get my head in the game and call it like they are. Maybe I'm working with another, unnamed official on this forum, and he's calling hand checks based on how his assignor told him, and I'm calling handchecks to the letter of the rule. We're both "right" in some respects, but we're certainly not consistent as a crew. Wouldn't you agree we need to be on the same page, therefore, consistent?