Basketball's toughest calls - anyone read it?

[boro_ref]

Anyone read this book? Review?

Amazon.com: Basketball's Toughest Calls: Block/Charge, Traveling, Contact/Displacement (9781582081335): Todd Korth, Ross Bray: Books

[JugglingReferee]

Never heard of it.

It likely doesn't have too much to offer to a veteran official.

IMHO, the toughest violation to call is travelling, and the toughest foul to call is the B/C.

[stir22]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

Never heard of it.

It likely doesn't have too much to offer to a veteran official.

IMHO, the toughest violation to call is travelling, and the toughest foul to call is the B/C.

It's not that I disagree, but was wondering if you would expound on your thoughts about travelling. Thanks!

[Mark Padgett]

The toughest call is to not toss a coach.

Seriously, I agree the toughest foul to call is the B/C. No question.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by stir22

It's not that I disagree, but was wondering if you would expound on your thoughts about travelling. Thanks!

If you think about the violations that can be called, traveling stands alone in the complexity of the criteria used to call it.

The occurrence of the following are all easy to determine....

• OOB
• Any count
• thrower stepped inbounds
• FT didn't hit the rim
• player in the lane before the ball hit
• double (illegal) dribble
• kick
• backcourt
• GT/BI

These are easy to determine due to their black/white nature or their rather uncomplicated combination of factors to consider when it may occur. Of course, the backcourt rule is complicated but it is easy to call once you understand the rule.

Traveling, on the other hand, requires several elements to all align to call correctly....holding the ball relative to the release on a dribble/pass or the catch from dribble/pass relative to the foot movement (some of which is legal and some isn't).

[tref]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

If think about the violations that can be called, traveling stands alone in the complexity of the criteria used to call it.

True, but we can make it easy on ourselves by stopping the guessing. For me, if I dont have a clean look at the feet + ball status, then it didnt happen. I'd rather miss one that happened than call one that didn't.

[Camron Rust]

Originally Posted by tref

True, but we can make it easy on ourselves by stopping the guessing. For me, if I dont have a clean look at the feet + ball status, then it didnt happen. I'd rather miss one that happened than call one that didn't.

That just proves the point. Just because you can't seen it clearly enough to see whether it happened or not doesn't mean that it didn't happen. It just means you didn't see it.

For all of the others, they're usually very easy to see and to judge.

[stir22]

Originally Posted by Camron Rust

If you think about the violations that can be called, traveling stands alone in the complexity of the criteria used to call it.

The occurrence of the following are all easy to determine....

• OOB
• Any count
• thrower stepped inbounds
• FT didn't hit the rim
• player in the lane before the ball hit
• double (illegal) dribble
• kick
• backcourt
• GT/BI

These are easy to determine due to their black/white nature or their rather uncomplicated combination of factors to consider when it may occur. Of course, the backcourt rule is complicated but it is easy to call once you understand the rule.

Traveling, on the other hand, requires several elements to all align to call correctly....holding the ball relative to the release on a dribble/pass or the catch from dribble/pass relative to the foot movement (some of which is legal and some isn't).

Many thanks!!!

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by stir22

It's not that I disagree, but was wondering if you would expound on your thoughts about travelling. Thanks!

Sorry I couldn't say more when I originally posted, but I had two Varsity football games to prepare for.

Camron's points are right on the money.

[JRutledge]

I have never bought that a block/charge is that hard of a call. It usually calls itself if you referee the defense. I think it is one of the easier calls on many levels. I also think traveling is one of the tougher calls because players are often very fast and can do things that are hard to call in a split second, which is why this is often incorrectly called either way.

Peace

[APG]

Originally Posted by JRutledge

I have never bought that a block/charge is that hard of a call. It usually calls itself if you referee the defense. I think it is one of the easier calls on many levels. I also think traveling is one of the tougher calls because players are often very fast and can do things that are hard to call in a split second, which is why this is often incorrectly called either way.

Peace

This...if we're refereeing the defense, this the block/charge call isn't too hard. And I totally agree with traveling...the higher the level, the faster players are able to do things and the harder it can be to determine the pivot foot.

[stir22]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

Sorry I couldn't say more when I originally posted, but I had two Varsity football games to prepare for.

Camron's points are right on the money.

That's what I was thinking...thanks.

[Rob1968]

For me, one of the hardest calls to get right, is the tap on the forearm of a jump-shooter. A1 makes his move, into the lane, or on the perimeter, and goes up for a jumpshot. B1 reaches up and towards the shooter's arm, and it's so difficult to be sure of the contact, which is often minor, but does affect the shot. Sometimes, a secondary indicator, such as the apparent terrible arc of the shot - short and flat - has to be considered, and that makes the call seem late.

[Scrapper1]

I've changed my thinking on this, but only a little. I do think traveling is very hard to get right consistently because of the reasons stated above. But I think that because it happens so infrequently, basket interference (on a putback, in particular) is the most difficult. You're far away, you're usually at a weird angle, you're probably surprised that it's that close in the first place, and it's just one touch. When the ball is coming off the rim and the rebounder just taps it back, it can be very tough to judge if the ball was completely out of the cylinder or not.