Every great official needs to know where his hole is. I know a lot of officials whose hole is just under their nose, but everyone has an area they have not been strong in. Even the best officials have areas that they have been lax in, and need to refocus on certain things that have slipped. To that end, I will list some of the mistakes I have made this year.
I have let several crashes go without calling a block or charge as a lead. It's probably happened 4-6 times, and I just did not pull the trigger. One of my games, it happened twice, and I then called a charge across the key as the lead to the chagrin of my partner. I was so irritated at the two crashes I let go, and a few others that occurred, that I was insistent that it would not happen again. I got the call right, admitted my protocol was wrong, and got on with life. I am completely focused on ensuring that crashes have a whistle from me as the lead for the rest of the year--with a late whistle if the C doesn't make his call... ;)
First kicked ball in HS I was unaware that the shot clock resets to 35. Both partners enjoyed educating me on that. At least I was aware that it was reset...
The new block call under the basket in college has been interesting. It took until my 8th game to see someone actually call it. I had a previous game when someone called an odd block call with less than 1 second in a half, with no chance for the player to score from where he was driving behind the backboard. Coach started yelling, and I told him it had to be the new rule of the secondary defender being under the basket. He had asked for that before on a block/charge that the same guy made, but I told the coach the call was good because the defender was well outside the basket area on the crash. Anyway, partner told the coach it was not an under the basket call, so my partner save went awry. Good thing that coach trusts me.
Had a situation where two players basically fouled a rebounder, and I picked the one I had the best look at. Coach wanted the call to be on the other guy. I boldly told him I had it on the right player. In retrospect, the better response would have been to acknowledge they both could have gotten it, and I chose the guy he didn't want--that would have been smoother. I don't think it did any damage but my thinking could have been quicker.
Missed a crash from the C on a baseline drive, and got the nastiest look you can imagine from the L who took the whistle and got abuse for his decision. I had little chance to see the crash, because there were a lot of bodies between where the drive started and ended. Not sure where I could have moved to see it, and I'm guessing thet L should have rotated over. I don't even know if he got the call wrong or not, but he certainly took it from the coach. Not really pleased that occurred.
I have not been overly happy with my shot clock awareness. I would estimate that I am doing the math as T about 1/3 of the time. That needs to ramp a lot higher. I've also been told that my crews have missed a couple of shot clock resets. I know we've caught several, but being told you missed some is still irritating.
I probably have missed some help calls that I should have gotten. I am consciously working to allow others to live and die with calls when they have good positioning. My biggest mistake I have made in several years was a phantom charge from the T when the L was right there seeing a flop, and since then I have really tried to have ultra-high certainty when going out of my area, especially when my partner is expected to be very competent. The end result is that I am calling less fouls than in the past, but I wonder if at some point my crew will take some damage on some of the ones I pass on out of my area. That's always a fine line you have to fiddle with.
One great thing about this year--the number of bad apples, players who disrupt games by being bad citizens, cheap shot artists, or are just plain mouthy, seems to be a lot lower than in the past. There have been some very gracious players this year, especially when things don't go their way in pressure situations. I've been really impressed with a lot of the kids, which is really cool. I hope that continues.
Hope this helps you guys. Enjoy the flip to 2010.
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