I\u2019ve watched a lot of high school basketball. Here are the five most missed high school calls over the past 45 years, from someone who has watched the game as an official, coach, parent, school administrator, and fan: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most referees would say that the block\/charge is the most difficult call we make as basketball officials. Several years ago, a veteran college official (John Clougherty) suggested that whether we allow a defensive player to block a shot or not is far more difficult than the block\/charge, especially when it comes to high school officiating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Whenever a defensive player achieves verticality in the air, meaning their body is parallel to a vertical plane from the tips of their fingers to the tips of their toes, then that defensive player has a right to block an offensive shooter\u2019s try. If the defensive player has achieved verticality and maintains that verticality, then it is nearly impossible for the defensive player to be called for an illegal contact foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, let\u2019s make sure that, if the defensive player blocks a shot above, we are careful not to call a body foul below. Remember, if the defense legally blocks a shot, then the airborne shooter rule is no longer in effect. That means that any subsequent contact to the ex-airborne shooter by the defense must be judged as either illegal (breaking verticality) or incidental (maintaining verticality).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Displacement usually occurs during rebounding play and can occur both on the floor and while players are in the air. Displacement is when one rebounder pushes another rebounder to gain an advantage when both are trying to secure the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most displacement plays occur off ball and many occur on the side of the court where the ball is absent (think weak side rebounding). When refereeing potential displacement plays, make sure to see the whole play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If a player places a hand in the back without any pressure, more than likely you do not have displacement. But if a player applies pressure so their hand pushes their opponent in the back, therefore displacing them and gaining an advantage to secure the ball, more than likely that is a foul.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The same principle applies with other parts of the body \u2013 hips, shoulders, butts, etc. Players are strong these days, so displacement can be very subtle. Again, make sure you see the whole play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Traveling has always been a challenge to referee, but it\u2019s become even harder since players have become quicker establishing and then moving their pivot foot. This remains a tough call many officials miss since many referees just don\u2019t do a good job locating a player\u2019s pivot foot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Recently, with the introduction of the spin move and the Euro-step, calling a traveling violation (or not calling a travel violation) has become more controversial than ever \u2013 so much so that there are states now mandating a traveling violation be called on a spin move, no matter whether the dribble starts before the pivot foot is lifted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But we can get better at officiating traveling. Here\u2019s a suggestion:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Look at what the rule book says about traveling. Then, take two shoes and literally place the shoes down according to how the basketball rule book explains traveling. Once you see with your eyes what the written rule states, traveling should become much easier to officiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally \u2013 make sure to locate the pivot foot!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too many times we still hear \u201cOn the floor\u201d when an offensive player has started their shooting motion. If you are going to disallow a try because something happened that would nullify the attempt, the best thing to say is \u201cNo shot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The \u201cact of shooting\u201d begins when the offensive player begins their shooting motion toward the basket. The offensive player could move the ball toward the basket an infinitesimal distance and still be considered \u201cin the act of shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the offensive player appears, in any way, to be shooting the ball, reward the effort by declaring them to be a shooter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And please stop saying \u201cOn the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Too many games either begin with the first foul not being a good foul, or the same foul not being penalized on both sides of the floor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is meant by \u201ca good foul?\u201d If we\u2019re going to stop the game for the first time, let\u2019s make sure the contact is clearly \u201cillegal\u201d and not \u201cincidental.\u201d Often times, when a crew whistles the first foul when it was really \u201cincidental contact,\u201d it invites other \u201cincidental contact\u201d to be whistled as fouls farther into the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with whistling a good first foul, crews should work hard to see the game through a consistent lens on both sides of the floor. When a travel is called in the post, the crew should be aware of refereeing post traveling when the ball goes to the other end of the court. More than anything, in my experience, coaches are looking for and appreciative of \u201ccrew consistency\u201d \u2013 when a crew sees the same game from the opening tip to the end of the game, on one side of the floor and the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And here\u2019s a sixth, for good measure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The timeout rule (4-43-1) states that teams have either 30-seconds or 60-seconds in their huddles before resuming play. What that doesn\u2019t mean is that a team has 15 more seconds beyond the 30 or the 60 before leaving their bench huddle. I would much rather see the penalty for this type of holdup be part of the \u201cWarning for Delay\u201d rule (4-47) than \u201cResumption of Play,\u201d (4-38; 7-5-1; 8-1-2) especially for those teams who continually take advantage of excessive time in the huddle. But until that type of holdup is included in the delay section, do your best to get the players out on the floor and ready to play, or be ready to exercise the \u201cResumption of Play\u201d procedure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that\u2019s \u201cThe Primary Focus.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I\u2019ve watched a lot of high school basketball. Here are the five most missed high school calls over the past 45 years, from someone who has watched the game as an official, coach, parent, school administrator, and fan: Most referees would say that the block\/charge is the most difficult call we make as basketball officials.… Read More »The Top 5 Missed High School Calls<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":49,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"","neve_meta_content_width":0,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[17,18],"class_list":["post-959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-primary-focus","tag-basketball","tag-the-primary-focus"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/49"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=959"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":960,"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959\/revisions\/960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/desmoinesofficials.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}