Do you make this call?

[Matt S.]

Here's my situation tonight... I'd like to hear from both HS and college officials about how they handle:

HS girls varsity, competetive game.

Team A (home team) down 3, 3 seconds left, inbounding with end line privileges. I'm the C, A1, at free throw line, slides laterally towards top of key to set an illegal screen on B1, bumps her off her line (she's guarding A2, who's cutting across the court to receive inbounds).

I call the illegal screen, we put B1 on the line for 1 & 1, game over after shots. Coach of Team A says, "you're gonna do that to these girls?" All I said was, "when you watch the film, tell me it wasn't an illegal screen."

So, in your opinion, does time and situation matter here? Thanks for the feedback.

[Adam]

Great call. Time and situation don't matter, except that this play is more likely to happen with the trailing team desparate to get the ball in.

[Terrapins Fan]

+1

[Rich]

+2

[RobbyinTN]

+3

Make the same call the last 3 seconds of the game as you would the first 3 seconds.

[biggravy]

+4. And I liked your answer too.

[BktBallRef]

Originally Posted by Matt S.

Here's my situation tonight... I'd like to hear from both HS and college officials about how they handle:

HS girls varsity, competetive game.

Team A (home team) down 3, 3 seconds left, inbounding with end line privileges. I'm the C, A1, at free throw line, slides laterally towards top of key to set an illegal screen on B1, bumps her off her line (she's guarding A2, who's cutting across the court to receive inbounds).

I call the illegal screen, we put B1 on the line for 1 & 1, game over after shots. Coach of Team A says, "you're gonna do that to these girls?" All I said was, "when you watch the film, tell me it wasn't an illegal screen."

So, in your opinion, does time and situation matter here? Thanks for the feedback.

Is the same play a foul with 4:53 left in the 1st quarter? That's all I need to know.

[biggravy]

Matt the more I think about why you're asking, the more it makes me think you heard about it from someone besides the HC. Maybe a partner, evaluator? Did you? See there are plenty of officials who don't have the sack to make that call. Thankfully, those kind of officials don't hang out here trying to learn and get better. Really, on this board, a question like this is rhetorical. The only answer you will likely get it the ones you already have. If someone got on your case about the call my advice is don't "agree" with them, just say something civil yet designed to end the conversation i.e. "we will have to agree to disagree" then make a mental note of who you just identified as a spineless tool.

[Matt S.]

Gravy, the only other people that said something were assistant coaches on the way off the floor. Partners didn't see the play, no evaluator or anything like that.

I know it was 'the right call,' it's more of a philosophical thing that I was asking about. I know at some camps they talk about time and situation--I've heard it in the past...and wanted to pick the board's collective brain about this particular deal.

Thanks to everyone for the quick replies!!

[Adam]

If you'd have let it go, and they used that foul to free a player for a game-tying shot, you would have decided the game. As it is, the players decided it with the foul; you just enforced their decision.

[Welpe]

Good job! These are the types of things that make me hate the old bromide "the best officiated game is one where the officials are invisible."

[bainsey]

I'm sure you did the right thing, Matt. The problem, as I see it, is the way basketball officials are viewed, as compared to those of other sports.

The myth is that there are certain calls that a basketball official shouldn't make in the last minute or so, because he could -- God forbid -- affect the outcome of a game. That's a big load of crap, and I believe basketball officials hear it more than any other sport, so let's look at parallels.

Let's say in a football game, a team is down four points in the last minute, 4th and goal from the 9 yard line. The QB drops back, finds a receiver in the end zone, but that receiver is pushed by a defender, and the ball falls incomplete. People generally expect a flag in this situation, even though it would affect the outcome of the game.

I could draw other parallels from other sports, but you get the idea. What is it about basketball that there's some stupid taboo about making a routine call late in a game? Without that taboo, Matt, you wouldn't be worrying about whether you did the right thing. Besides, the reality is, in a close game, every single call throughout the game affects the outcome.

[refiator]

Good call. First quarter or OT. As long as you have been consistent, good call.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by RobbyinTN

+3

Make the same call the last 3 seconds of the game as you would the first 3 seconds.

You mean you'd call a jump ball violation at the end of a game?


But seriously (to the original topic, not Robby's statement), make the call if you've called similar plays the same way throughout the game. If similar plays have occured and you've been passing on them, don't call it now.

[CMHCoachNRef]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

...make the call if you've called similar plays the same way throughout the game. If similar plays have occured and you've been passing on them, don't call it now.

Agree with this 100%. If the coach goes back and watches the film and sees one or both teams setting the "same illegal screen" all game long WITHOUT a call, you better not call it with 3 seconds to go. On the other hand, if you have called illegal screens as they have happened all game long, then, by all means, make the call.

As Snaqs pointed out earlier, an illegal screen (or two) that frees the team's best three point shooter has created a very unfair advantage for the attacking team.

But, in my opinion, consistency is the key -- during the game. Don't decide to start reading certain parts of the rule book more closely with three seconds left.

Personally, I don't think that there is a "safe side" for us in these situations (that's why we make the big bucks -- except in Louisiana, of course). If we MAKE the call, the offending team's coach is livid. If we DON'T make the call, the defending coach is chewing on us for allowing the illegal activity that may lead to the game-tying/game-winning shot.

Conventional wisdom says it takes more "guts" to make ANY call than it does to not make ANY call. At the end of the day, the outcome is the same. Approximately 50% of the coaches are going to be livid and the other half very happy REGARDLESS which direction we go with our call or no call.

Bottom line: BE CONSISTENT with the call. If you are, the 50% who are livid with you at game's end can look at the tape later and see that the call has been made earlier in the game.