Educating the Fans
 

From today's Bangor Daily News...

Can You Pass This Officials' Test?

Good article.

Looks like the fan failed miserably based on his comment.

Interesting. #1 and #13 don't give quite enough information, but they are "generally" correct.

Apparently, Maine has a Nevadaref in their midst commenting on newspaper articles.

I agree...some information was missing in some of the questions, but for the purposes of the article, they did their job. Gotta love some of the comments to the article too haha.

Are you and Gap refering to JoeSchmoe? If so, there's an ulterior motive for that comment.

Long story short: Bangor is getting a new arena with money raised from a local racino. The city council approved it, but the author collected signatures so that the citizens could vote in it.

Nice to see Snaqs checking in with a comment on our local front!

All far and above my understanding, I was just noting his reference to an old referee.

I'm confused
 

In addition to the problem questions mentioned above, what is the difference between questions #6 and #11? Evidently "retrieves it" is not the same as "picks it up".

Also, the way I read the first part of question #3, A2 touched the ball while out of bounds. It would have been better to say "Player A2 jumps from the playing court toward the out of bounds in his frontcourt and taps the ball into his frontcourt before landing out of bounds, then....." Based on the answer, I think that is how we are to read the question.

I like the idea of trying to educate fans and debunk myths, but I fear the wording of several of the questions only adds to the confusion. Oh well!

6: Fumble-dribble-fumble. Legal.
11: Dribble-fumble-dribble. Illegal.

So bainsey if they fail Cim's test, do they then forfeit their "rights" to piss and moan at the upcoming tournaments? BTW, I'm going to list Nostrajimus as a "fail."

3. Player A2 jumps out of bounds in his frontcourt on the endline and taps the ball into his frontcourt, then steps in bounds and picks the ball up without any other player touching the ball. Official rules violation. Correct?

If he jumps out of bounds and taps the ball, it is a violation. But I guess we know what he meant.

Cim should have closed with that sentence!

It's like the guy sitting near me at this past weekend's UMBC/Maine game, berating stripes, then turning to me asking, "What's the rule on that?"

So I missed questions #2 and #15. Good to go on the rest.

Help me out on #2.
2. Team A has three subs enter the court and their team captain asks for a lineup. Official denies request. Correct?

In a youth game, especially with any mods on no-zone defense I always line em up or ask if everyone knows who they are guarding before inbounding. However if I ran into this in a Quad-A or HS game I would have failed it.

Can anyone cite (NFHS) where it says official must grant a team the opportunity to match up after subs come in?


I decided to through #15 out the window because it appears to be something the School or the League has the control over. If coach gets 2 directs and a ticket to ride I don't have any care in the world as to what the AD does with him later.

15. For the coach in question 14, (2 T-fouls and ejected), the athletic director decides the coach won’t do the next scheduled game. Correct?

Is this something the officials are supposed to be involved with?

3-3-1e

Generally, no, that's up to the state. But I don't know of a state that leaves the "decision" up to the AD.

The state of Maine may have a rule that automatically suspends a coach. Otherwise, it would be up to the AD (he could extend it).

Check 3-3-1e for the match up. As for suspensions, that's none of our business but it is useful to understand your league's or state's policy.

I could be wrong, but I don't know of any such rule in our state. Perhaps that's what the author was addressing.

By the way, I'm trying to explain #3 to someone.
I don't think this was worded perfectly, but I catch his drift. Can anyone help me with a rules/case citation?

And, I hope your reply was, "You've got them all right so far. You tell me."

Can somebody explain to me how this matchup thing works in reality?

If Maine doesn't have any such rule, then the AD could certainly decide the coach will sit out the next game. I'm assuming your state does have the rule in place. I could be wrong, but if I am, I'd say the author is wrong.

Look for the definitions of player location and ball location. I think the question is supposed to address the myth that it's a violation for a player to return to the court and be the first to touch the ball.

For me, I'd simply give the requesting team a quick few seconds to match up. I've never had it come up, though.

I think the author meant the player went out of bounds but was in the air and had not touched OOB when he tapped the ball. He then landed and went back in bounds as described and was first to touch.

That's what I'm thinking. I looked at player/ball location, and I see no cases which answer the question specifically.

I suppose one way to word an explanation is, "The ball is where you were when you last touched it. If you didn't touch it out of bounds, it isn't out of bounds. However, if you step on the line during a dribble, then you're out of of bounds." Thoughts?

That's one way.

I prefer "There's no such violation."

There is such a rule in our state. Ejection from a game carries an automatic suspension for the next game of the same level. A situation similar to question #15 was applied within the last month. Varsity game in Central Maine, coach is ejected for back to back direct T's. Coach is suspended automatically for the next game. The school then followed that up by sitting the coach for the game following that one.

Regarding question #2. I always understood the rule to mean the opposing team could request a matchup if there were three or more subs entering the game. I never thought about the team making the substitutions requesting a matchup. Now I see the rule says "a captain may request.....", but doesn't specify either team. I'm still waiting for someone to request this during a game.

When a team subs three or more player, the coach or captain (either the mute or speaking captain) can request a match-up; that is call out who they will guard and make sure everyone is accounted for. In over 8 years, I had my first match-up request this season. It was cool to grant.

There are a handful of middle school girls games where they match-up every single time they come out of a time-out or intermission. You could place the ball on the floor and start counting if you really wanted to, but in these games, they just wouldn't understand why. One might even pick up the ball and hand it to you ("you dropped this, sir").