Selling a block/charge no-call

[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.