Rate my partner

[Mark Padgett]

When I do an eval, I look to five main areas: 1) court presence, 2) mechanics, 3) judgment on fouls and violations, 4) rules knowledge and application, 5) resistence to overtimes (OK - just kidding on that one). Yesterday, I had a partner who was excellent on the first three. You tell me how she did on the fourth. Here were some of the calls she made in the one game I did with her. BTW - this was a varsity girls spring league tournament, and I was just working with her - no formal eval, just my perception. I never worked with her before and I was told she was a five year vet. All of these calls happened in her area.

A1 inbounds to A2. A2 is in frontcourt, jumps, catches ball in midair and lands in backcourt. Partner calls over and back violation.

A1 dribbling in frontcourt. B1 bats ball. Ball hits A1 in the head and goes into backcourt. Ball is retrieved by A1. Partner gives "tip" signal. No call.

A1 dribbling. A1 dribbles ball off knee. Ball bounces away. A1 catches up with ball and continues dribble without holding ball. Partner calls travel.

A1 grabs rebound in air. As A1 comes down, she falls to ground still holding ball in both hands. No call.

A1 to inbound on endline after basket by team B. A2 jumps OOB on endline. A1 passes ball to A2. As soon as A2 touches ball, partner calls inbound violation (not 5 seconds).

A1 to inbound. B1 reaches over the boundary. It was the first warning. She wants to give B1 a technical because "her intent was to hit the ball."

Here's the kicker. Team A scores. B1 picks up the ball and steps OOB. A1 requests a timeout. Partner Ts A1 for "requesting a timeout when one cannot be granted." I have to admit, I never heard that one before. BTW - team A had two timeouts remaining and she knew that, because we just had checked the table during a break for team fouls and timeouts, so it couldn't have been for requesting an excessive timeout.

Also - she called an intentional foul on B1 for fouling A1 in the act of shooting (good call) - the ball went in and she wanted to award A1 only one free throw because the ball went in. I cut her some slack on this one, because there are quite a few refs I have worked with who get this one wrong.

And yes - I discussed each call with her.