Pre-Game The "Automatics"

The past couple of years, the powers that be have required that basketball officiating should become more science than art. Part of that has been the introduction of "absolutes" that allegedly MUST be called. Most officials have developed their own styles and philosophies based on the rule book, their knowledge of the game, and the instructions and feedback they receive from peers who are higher on the food chain, and supervisors who can help them advance or keep them down.

"Rough play" has been an emphasis for years. As a former "let them play" official, I initially bristled at the NCAA and supervisors telling me that I had to call certain things every time. Last year, they spoke of automatic consequences for coaches being out of the coaching box. My initial reaction was, "Gee, I can handle coaches. This sucks. I don't want to do that." I eventually followed that directive, and it really was not a big deal. I realized that if I did not enforce that, and something went wrong, I'm vulnerable. 99% of the time, nothing would occur if I let the coach roam out of the box, but why take the chance? This year, they have told us that crashes on drives where both players go to the ground--better have a whistle. Dribbler goes to the floor and there was any contact at all from a defender? Foul on defense every time.

I figured there was no way this would be enforced. Then I saw a UW game in November. 4 times within 2 minutes, a dribbler 30 feet from the basket going east-west (nowhere good) went down on minimal contact, and all 4 got called. Romar went ballistic on every one of them. He may have gotten T'd. Crowd went crazy. I'm thinking, "Did they really have to call them?" After reflection--yes they did.

More robot, less traditional "game management". That's where basketball officiating is headed. It's why I talk a lot about understanding what the film will show, and ensuring that your judgment is good enough that the film can be your best friend, and that you will be aware enough to admit weak or wrong calls, but be firm when you now you have it right. That is how you become a great official.

All that said, there's a bell curve for everything. Many officials don't care about this. Many are incapable of picking it up and incorporating it into their game. That's where communication--and pre-gaming--can be a huge help.

I had a game last weekend where I am not sure if my philosophies meshed 100% with my crew, and I went and called a couple of "absolutes" with late whistles. We had a chance to chat about it, and after the chat, I believe that we all moved closer together in terms of what we would all be calling, and it helped. I also realized that I could have talked about "absolutes" in the pre-game. Even if my partners don't agree, the discussion could have moved us closer to alignment and agreement, which is better than not moving closer at all. "Absolutes" should be discussed in a pre-game!

For the foreseeable future, the questions I will ask in the pre-game with respect to absolutes:

1. All crashes in the key where both players go to the floor have to have a whistle, and I will try to always get one. Are you guys going to do the same?

2. Dribblers going to the floor need to have a whistle. In my primary, it is automatic. Will you guys do the same? I probably will NOT call that out of my primary, just want you to know what I will do so you can do the same or be aware of the difference in case our explanations to coaches differ.

3. Coach out of box coaching? I'm going to ask him to get back in and not mark in the book. Coach out of box yelling on a non-obvious call? Same thing. Coach being irrational out of the box? Warn, then T on 2nd infraction. When will you warn in the book, and when will you automatically T in terms of where he's standing? We need to be the same here and I'm willing to change what I'd normally do to match you guys, if necessary. Need to be the same here.

For me, the first 2 are very important. You may have other ideas. My point is to try and define automatics. I've been around a lot of guys who talk the game and then don't walk the game. They'll tell you a coach out of the box is a automatic T, then have a coach accost them on the floor and they'll do nothing. But by pre-gaming, you're maximizing your chances of success. Makes common sense to me.