Today We Will Not . . .
 

Offered for peer review and feedback, editing, corrections, additions, etc. . . .

TODAY WE WILL AIM NOT TO . . .
(document in development--edits in italics)

. . . allow the teams to line up the wrong way at any jump ball. Rather, all officials will verify the jumpers are on the correct side of the division line before the jump ball is about to begin.

. . . allow the ball to be made live with more than ten players on the court. Rather, we will observe our partner’s prominent “stop sign” as he brings in the subs, makes sure of the correct number of players who have become bench personnel, and we will not make the ball live until he takes the “stop sign” down and points to us.

. . . deal with a 2-10 Correctable Error by allowing more or fewer free throws to be shot than is correct. Rather, each official will flash the correct number of free throws to each other prior to the ball being made alive.

. . . allow subs to enter without authorization. Rather, we will beckon them onto the court with a whistle, waving them in with a single wave of the arm.

. . . allow the scorekeeper to enter the wrong number of a player who had fouled into the book due to our lack of clear reporting. Rather, we will stop in the reporting area and accompany our verbal report of the color and number of the fouler with clear, non-rushed finger signals.

. . . leave our partners wondering “What Happens Next?” after we make a call. Rather, with clear signals and vocalization upon each call, we will clarify what the foul or violation was, who is shooting what, or where the ball is next to be awarded for a throw-in before leaving the area of the call.

. . . increase the angst of the coach whose player just fouled by pointing to the bench prior to reporting the foul (“the accusatory point”). Rather, we’ll verbally and clearly report to the scorekeeper the color and number of the fouler and carefully report the number of the fouler with the fingers of the hand toward that player’s bench.

. . . allow the wrong team to inbound the ball. Rather, the official responsible for making the ball live on a throw-in will pause to reflect on who’s standing there ready to take the throw-in.

. . . make it easy for the wrong team to shoot at the wrong basket because of our inadequate communication. Rather, we will prominently point the direction of the team inbounding the ball.

. . . take our eyes off the players on the court by chasing down a loose ball. Rather, we will keep our eyes on the players and let whatever player is nearby go to get the ball for us while we post up in our proper positions.

. . . blow the whistle unless accompanied by an arm in the air. Rather, we will clarify the nature of the call or situation by accompanying the whistle with either an open hand or a fist or a stop sign or a held-ball signal.

. . . allow a held ball ball become an opportunity for aggressive play. Rather, we will close down quickly on any held ball, ready to issue a tactful, verbal caution should aggressive play begin.

. . . “get caught up in their rat race”. Rather, if one or both teams want to play a lightning fast, up-tempo game, we will be careful to take our time especially during dead balls so that we don’t “get caught up in their rat race” and thereby allow a mistake to occur on our part due to rushing.

. . . miss an obvious block/charge call. Rather, we will referee the defense, noting when the defender has established an initial legal guarding position prior to illegal contact on the torso by an offensive player. This we will be able to do well as L by hustling back in transition to allow the play to come toward us while observing the defender setting up in his legal guarding position. In the event of a “pass and crash”, the L will stay with the crash and the lead will remain attentive to the pass.

. . . not use the words “On the Floor!” when calling a foul when the player, though still 'on the floor', is in the act of shooting. Rather, we will assess whether or not the offensive player’s act of shooting had or had not begun and clarify the result of the play as either “ball OOB”, one-and-one, or “two shots” or “and one”, etc.

. . . miss an opportunity to begin a five-second closely guarded count. Rather, if a count begins in our PCA, we will immediately signify that in a prominent manner such that the players, the coaches, and everybody in the gym knows we’re counting.

. . . leave the lead in the position to be the only one to monitor rebounding action. Rather, instead of “bailing on the shot so as not to get beat in transition, when the shot goes up, each of us as T and C will take two steps down to assist with rebounding action in the areas closest to our PCA’s.

. . . miss a last-second shot judgment. Rather, we each will be conscious of when the clock gets down below a minute, signaling to each other who is responsible for the last-second shot.

. . . allow a score keeping error to have impact at the end of the game. Rather, the R will dutifully check the book at the end of each quarter, and at some time during a break in the action toward the end of the game.

. . . cause a coach to choose to come out on the floor in order toto get our attention to request a time-out. Rather, we will be diligent to recognize a potential time-out scenario and keep an eye on him in case he makes a request.

. . . grant a time-out request during action on the courtwhen that team does not have player control. Rather, we will hear and see the request, check to see that it is the head coach making the request if coming from the bench, verify that that coach’s player has control of the ball, then grant the time out if allowed.

. . . miss off-ball fouls and violations. Rather, we will be diligent to survey the competitive matchups and play that occurs in our respective PCA’s, resisting the inclination to watch the ball when it is in a partner’s area.

. . . pass on a “crew-saving” call outside our areas if we see it and it needs to be called. Rather, we, if this becomes necessary, utilizing wider court awareness, will close down on the area of the violation or foul and make the call that might have been missed by a partner in his area due to being straight-lined, blocked, or otherwise unaware of that particular action.

. . . allow the table to goof up the possession arrow. Rather, the official opposite table will make sure the arrow is switched properly immediately upon the end of an AP throw-in, and also after the initial jump ball, prior to halftime, or beginning the overtime period. After any throw-in team violation prior to the end of an AP throw-in, the nearest official will communicate to the table that that team loses both the throw-in and the arrow.

suggested edits in italics


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Mind If I Steal It ???
 

Good pregame.

Use or abuse as desired or revised, as per my law firm Dewey, ... you know.

What Happened To Cheatem And Howe ???
 

No express written consent needed?

When in China, it is best to speak Chinese. When you say "on the floor" everybody knows what you mean. I, personally, do not have a problem with it.


Nothing we do causes the coach to come out on the floor. Coaches wanted the right to request the timeout, and they have it. The coach should tell his players to be alert to his timeout request and help relay it. Most players don't seem to be aware of this at all.



I can go along with this one, just so we don't get carried away with what a crew saving call is.

The tossing official doesn't have to make sure they are lined up correctly?

The only way to not allow the scorer to enter the wrong number would be to actually watch him write it down. You are talking about reporting the foul, not about what he actually writes down.


Whistle with arm in the air signaling....stop clock, stop clock for foul, held ball...stop sign? How does that work?


What exactly makes a call obvious? Trying to note when the defense has established legal guarding position means you will not miss an obvious charging call?


You say "and one"?


You must mean a closely guarded count.

What does knowing who is responsible for making the call have to do with not getting the call incorrect?

I don't think there is anything you could do that would cause the coach to come out on the floor. Why don't you just say "watch for timeout requests"?

You should say this only applies while the ball is live. Someone is going to read this and be confused about timeouts while the ball is dead. Even more confusing is that during a throw in there is no player control yet the team may call a timeout.

You can't be sure that "today will will not miss off-ball fouls." You keep acting like if the officials talk about it before the game then their judgement will be perfect during the game.

Possession arrow.


There are a few you use weird terms instead of the rulebook terms. The whole "WE WILL NOT" thing seems pretty weird. You don't know what is going to happen during the game. "Let's try not to..." would be a better way to start off.

My Daughter-In-Law Is From China ...
 

Good luck with that. When in China, you had better be able to speak Mandarin, Wu, Cantonese, or Min, or you're not going to get very far. In fact, English will probably serve you better than Chinese, a lot better.

Great Project ...
 

Freddy: As you make changes to this work in progress, using suggestions from just another ref, Cobra, and any other Forum members, please be sure to eventually post your final draft.

Document "On the Fly"
 

See edited portions in italics as this is a "change as suggested changes are submitted" document.

“In the event of a ‘pass and crash’, the L will stay with the crash and the lead will remain attentive to the pass.”

I thought the L was the lead‽

Excellent, Freddy! Thanks!

And that is not the way we do it here....

Each official takes the half of the play closer to them. Pass to the lead's side, lead takes the pass while trial takes the crash. Pass to the trail's side, trail takes the pass while lead stays with the crash. This gives a lot better coverage than the lead trying to cover a pass to the trail's corner.

Pass And Crash ..
 

Sounds like what we do. We stay in our primary for the pass, and the other official takes the crash in the lane.

Our association has been instructed that we are not to use the whistle to acknowledge subs because the horn does that just fine.

When in Nome . . .
 

Great point. Better do what your association requires in this instance.
Two observations from a former skeptic regarding this "whistle in the subs" thing, which is new in our state:
1) It has served to expedite substitutions a little better, especially in instances where the horn for subs isn't always as reliable as it should be; horn or no horn, players are getting into the habit of waiting for and regarding the whistle.
2) It also prompts the "that guy" partner to note that his partner has subs coming in and thus serves as an extra alert for him (sad that he even needs it, I know) to look at that official and regard his stop sign before making the ball live.
I didn't expect these beneficial outcomes, but am gratified to see them.
Skeptic won over.