Most common mistake by refs

[DLH17]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I notice this a lot at camps I am evaluating at or ones I attend for mostly high school officials. There are a lot of calls that I see made that are clearly not fouls or that are not violations. And it really goes for traveling violations. There are many of those that just are not there or not control of the ball.

That statement reminds me of a lesson I learned early in my modest career (from the trail position on 2 man crew) - pass on the urge to call a traveling violation IF you cannot see the ball. It sounds like a no brainer - however, I got caught up in watching the ballhandler begin a drive to the bucket from my zone to the baseline where he appeared to take too many steps with possession of the ball. In fact, his back was to me....the lead official had a clear view of the ball...ballhandler had lost control of the ball....and I blew my whistle. Mistake.

Ouch.

Never again.

I see it all the time now, though. Great teaching point.