Selling a block/charge no-call

[Mark T. DeNucci, Sr.]

Originally Posted by La Rikardo

Probably not, honestly.

Maybe my description of the play to emphasized the lack of fault on the part of B1 more than I should have...replaying the play in my mind, I still feel like the no-call was correct here. I'd love to be able to see it again, but I don't have video of the game.

Then again, in hindsight, I also probably could've saved myself a headache by calling PC. I guess all of this comes with experience.

I officiated H.S. soccer for 12 years and since you state that soccer is your primary sport, I get the feeling that you are trying to apply soccer's advantage philosophy to basketball. When officiating basketball forget soccer's advantage philosophy.

In basketball there is the Oswald Tower Philosophy of Advantage-Disadvantage but is not the same as soccer's advantage philosophy.

MTD, Sr.

P.S. Finally Good Night.

[johnny d]

Originally Posted by La Rikardo

In a close game like this I wanted to give A the benefit of the doubt, and with that in mind this just felt like a no-call. I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do differently in the future to let everyone know that I clearly saw the contact and decided not to call a foul rather than not blowing my whistle because I was unsure.

The first part in bold, should not factor in your decisions whether or not to call a foul. This philosophy will do nothing for your career other than cause you trouble.

Who cares what "everyone" thinks as to whether or not you had a no call or a missed call. By not blowing the whistle, you made it clear that you thought the contact was incidental. You can explain your no call to either or both coaches when they ask. Hopefully you give them better reasoning than you used on the forum to justify the no call.

[egj13]

Originally Posted by La Rikardo

I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do differently in the future to let everyone know that I clearly saw the contact and decided not to call a foul rather than not blowing my whistle because I was unsure.

Simple answer is no...outside of maintaining confident body posture and not "showing" you seconding guessing yourself there is no signal for a no-call in basketball. I do sometimes add a simple shake of the head...but you have to show confidence in the fact that you didn't call anything.

IMO...without being there of course...I would have made a call one way or the other.

[just another ref]

Originally Posted by La Rikardo

A's coach went crazy, yelling that I can't no-call here, that he just wanted a call one way or the other.

Here was your chance to fix it.

Don't overthink it. When a player is setting up to try and draw a charge he wants a call to be made. Give him what he wants. He knows he is taking a risk, but the reward is getting a charge call. Unless the dribbler stops at contact (i.e. he doesn't go "through" the defender) you gotta call something.

[VaTerp]

Originally Posted by La Rikardo

Under a minute left in a boys JV game, A has blown a double-digit lead in the second half and now trails by three. A1 makes a steal and goes on the fast break. B1 obtains LGP in front of the basket before A1 goes in for the layup. A1 moves to avoid B1, but still makes some contact and B1 falls hard and awkwardly to the floor. I decided not to call a foul and I'm confident in my decision. If I had called a foul it would've been PC on A1 -- B1 was certainly not guilty of a foul in my mind and A1 made an effort to avoid contact.

A's coach went crazy, yelling that I can't no-call here, that he just wanted a call one way or the other. With as hard as B1 hit the floor, I imagine that my lack of a whistle could come across as indecision. As some of you may know, my background is as a soccer referee, and when we make a big no-call we sometimes give a big NO! signal with the arms to let everyone know that we saw the contact and decided not to call a foul. Obviously this doesn't work so well in basketball, so does anyone have any tips to help sell a no-call in a situation like this?

If you have to sell a no call that hard that means you should have had a whistle. And everything you described indicates that it was a PC foul.

The reasons you gave for not calling a foul are going to get you in trouble. Don't overthink and complicate things. Just call what you see and if you are not sure then always err on the side of the rules.

There are things that some officials do to indicate a no call. A few years ago some NCAA officials would put both hands straight up to indicate the defender maintained verticality but I havent seen that recently. There is the get up sign to a player that may have flopped. There is the hitting of both hand together to indicate "all ball." The problem with all of these things is they have the potential to make you look bad on tape, especially if one of your partners comes in with a whistle or if you clearly missed the call. I will sometimes shake my head no on a block/charge no call but am trying to eliminate that as well.

The best thing you can do is simply look confident and keep officiating. If the appropriate time comes where the coach asks you about the call you need to be able to communicate with him using language that is supported by RULE. He "made an effort to avoid contact" sounds silly when there was in fact contact as you indicated. The fact that it was late in the game and you "wanted to give A1 the benefit of the doubt" are also horrible reasons that sound silly for not calling obvious contact.

You can say something to the effect of "that contact did not cause that result" or "the contact did not displace the defender," etc. But that's not how you described the play.

I would worry less about selling no calls and more about getting plays right and displaying strong, confident mechanics.