2006 vs. 2010

My progression as an official has been interesting. There are times I wish I could go back and mentor myself, because it would have been great to have gotten better faster. I was fortunate to find some folks that took a very keen interest in giving me brutal and honest feedback after about 7-8 years, and after taking 2-3 years of that, I finally found a comfort zone and figured a lot of stuff out. 2005-2006 is when all the pieces finally started fitting together, and I understood how to manage a game, while at the same time understanding when I did not have to manage anything.

I have continued to make changes the past 4-5 years and they continue to help me. I have made some recent changes that go against what I believed 4-5 years ago, but my experience is showing me that I was wrong. I want to list some for you to think about. There is no right or wrong on these, but they have been good for me.

1. I call less travels that I did 5 years ago. I have learned that most advanced officials (higher level and/or just great officials) will tell you that it is hard to call traveling well, and that they flat miss more travels than they would like. Dave Hall missed a bigtime travel in the Husky game last week, letting a player get up with the ball after he dove to get it. It happens. But that is better than calling the phantom travel. I think as a younger official it makes sense to get what I call the "baby" travel. It shows you understood he traveled and were right on top of it to make the call. Over time, I think that when you get the big travels that everyone knows is one, and leave some of the subtle or unclear ones alone, it's better for the game and helps with how you are perceived as on official. It is easy to call a lot of travels, and it does not make you a great official. Last point on this--if the defense makes a player travel, you must get that, period. That does show you understand the game, and that the defender won that play. Gotta give that one to him.

2. OOB calls. This is a great one. 5 years ago, the top guys would tell you that if there is a slap foul and the ball goes out of bounds, and it is not really clear, to skip the foul and let the ball stay with the offensive team. That was how to "manage the game" and keep the foul count lower and the coaches happier. Of course, I took that to another level. Big foul, player loses ball out of bounds in full view, and I keep it there. I then tell the angry coach that I passed on a foul (because that's how good I am) and kept the ball there (justice). Bad move. That's never a good explanation, the film shows you suck, and it's a lot easier to call the foul. End of story.

3. Reminding coaches of TO's. That's cool--you are showing the coach how smart and aware you are. The last 2 years, my attitude has been, if they don't know, so be it. The home book is what I will go to, every issue or debate arising from that is between the schools. No need for me to be involved. That goes for JV kids playing too many quarters, too. "Don't make what is not your business your business." I'm still working that idea across the board, as well.

4. Evening out fouls. 3 years ago I had a game that was 10-1, with the team with 10 pressing out of control all half long. Of course, every call after 5-1 was met with howls of protest. The half ended 10-1. It should have ended 13-1. None of the 3 were in my primary, but I could have helped on all 3 of them, and I passed because it was 10-1. Guess what? The team with 10 was a much worse team all game long. They made a ton of 3's in the second half and won the game by 2 points. If we call the fouls in the first half, I honestly believe the game would have turned out differently. So did the coach that lost. I learned a huge lesson from that--you call the game the way it is played and let the film be your judge.

5. Allowing crappy teams or teams getting blown out more leeway. The thought process was that this may help prevent hard feelings and frustration, helping stave off cheap shots or non-basketball plays borne from them. I now disagree. For the same reasons above, let the film be your guide. The subs compete every bit as hard; ref your same game.

6. Not calling fouls at the end of game that are not competitive. For the same reasons as #5, call it til the end. Subs deserve your effort, the parents who showed up deserve to see their kids who don't play much be judged the same way, and the strategy might backfire--some subs are trying to prove something, and not getting calls may results in something bad happening. Call the game until the final buzzer.

7. Getting it right versus the speed at which you do it. Get the game going. If you cannot get a definitive answer quickly, have the R make a decision and get it going. Prolonged stoppages are never good for anyone, no matter how cool it looks on TV when they go to the monitor. I bet you don't think it's cool on NFL games. It's 10 times worse in a HS or small college gym. Trust me.

Paul Simpkins, a local official done good, will say that officiating has gone away from a "feel" type game to a "science" game. The new philosophy is to be more robot. With all the gray areas in basketball officiating, it is still more art than science, but when you can, if you think about what the film will show, it will be you ally more times than not. That probably explains the items above and how I approach the game differently today than I did 4 years ago. It's also why I am a lot better, too. Hope some of this does the same for you.