Had a couple of weird things this weekend with respect to game management that I wanted to toss out there.
Subs at the table is an interesting subject. For the last 10 years, I have been very good at being aware of when subs are being put in by a coach. I saw it as great game awareness and good game management to put my hand up to allow time for the sub to come in, or hold the ball until I gave it to the thrower. I watched some games earlier this year on television, and the Pac-10 guys are not doing that. I found that strange,but have really noticed since then that if the sub is not ready at the table, the ball goes in...And nobody bitches about it. I have started to not worry about waiting, and to be honest it has made game flow better. No more line of subs staggering one at a time into a game like a bunch of hobos. No more sending in a sub without really knowing who is coming out. Where does this help? In the end of a blowout game, when subs are staggering in haphazardly, and we are just waving them in without really paying attention--and the losing coach wants a T for 6 on the floor. We have no excuse for that. Coaches need to be organized. You are doing the game, and yourselves, a favor by not prolonging the stoppage of play. Whatever you gain by looking game aware or accommodating the coach is NOT worth the risk. As always, make your choice, but this is a choice I have made this year, and I think it is the best thing to do.
Another one--when discussing things with a player, coach, or another official, give them an out. I had my favorite occurrence recently, players chesting up and yapping resulting in the double T. Things then got really interesting when someone asked why racist statements can be made on the floor. I never heard anything racist, but there was a lot of energy about it. My response was, "I'm not saying it did not happen, but I did not hear it." Understand that everyone gets emotional and has opinions. By giving them an out, it prevents bad feelings. Avoiding absoultes, unless the film will show that you are without question 100% correct (which happens far less frequently than you think), you are always better off acknowledging the opinion without saying they are completely wrong. "I hear you coach, I just did not pull the trigger," works a lot more often than, "It was not a foul, coach." There are times for absolutes. I have found that most of us can minimize or lessen our use of them, and it will help your relationships with players and coaches, without succumbing to them. Trust me, they know when they are wrong, and sometimes it takes a day for them to realize it, just like it takes us a day sometimes to realize and admit we could have done something better. Giving someone an out is always a good thing to do during conflict.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Red/Yellow/Green
Got a great little philosophy from Will "The Thrill" McKay last week. We've all noticed that the NBA and NCAA D-1 guys have seemed to call tight out front and loose near the basket. Thrill picked up a way to understand that at a camp last summer. I've added a twist to it that I think further accentuates this.
Think of the basket as the capitol city of the basketball court. The offense wants to invade and take the city by scoring. The defense wants to protect its basket and prevent the invader from scoring. The offense can launch missiles with finesse by gunning long-range 3's, or they can grind out close-range shots by setting screens, crashing to the basket, and using physical dominance to get there.
Thrill will tell you to divide the front court into 3 areas, the Red Zone, the Yellow Zone, and the Green Zone.
The Red Zone is above the top of the key. The only scoring attack from here is a long-range bomb. It's not near the battle front of the war on the basket. Hand-to-hand combat should be rare. You don't need or want rough post play 30 feet from the basket. Therefore, you should be intolerant of physical play when you are more than 20 feet from the basket. Bad screen 30 feet fro the basket is not going to provide an imminent scoring threat, so it will be called tightly. Finesse and quickness rule the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone inside the 3-point arc but outside the key. Screens may be set, guys start to drive the basket. However, you are still quite a way away from the basket. It will not be an area of all-out defense. The offense is still trying to position themselves to attack the basket. You will want to let a little more go than in the Red Zone, but still understand that the offense has not gotten into the Green Zone yet, where victory becomes imminent, and the defense may get desperate.
The Green Zone is the key and the post area. Ball gets in there on post play, the defense will rush down there to protect the basket. Coaches will scream at the defense to prevent open lay-ins. Players will try and play through contact in the final push for the position or shot. Just like Russia piled millions of people to protect Moscow to the last man in World War 2, the good team will desperately try and prevent the basket when the ball gets in the Green Zone. Again, the threshold for a foul here is higher than in the Yellow Zone, and lot more than the Green Zone.
Fouls are fouls. But the strategy of the game is to score baskets. Understanding how physical the game should be with respect to how far away from the basket the basketball is, and where the offense is trying to go with the basketball, will help you get the right balance of when fouls should be called, and when you should pass. This metaphor and description may illustrate a way to think about it and give you something to think about. Or, it may not. I liked it--it's what I see on TV, and there is a reason they're there and most of us are not.
Think of the basket as the capitol city of the basketball court. The offense wants to invade and take the city by scoring. The defense wants to protect its basket and prevent the invader from scoring. The offense can launch missiles with finesse by gunning long-range 3's, or they can grind out close-range shots by setting screens, crashing to the basket, and using physical dominance to get there.
Thrill will tell you to divide the front court into 3 areas, the Red Zone, the Yellow Zone, and the Green Zone.
The Red Zone is above the top of the key. The only scoring attack from here is a long-range bomb. It's not near the battle front of the war on the basket. Hand-to-hand combat should be rare. You don't need or want rough post play 30 feet from the basket. Therefore, you should be intolerant of physical play when you are more than 20 feet from the basket. Bad screen 30 feet fro the basket is not going to provide an imminent scoring threat, so it will be called tightly. Finesse and quickness rule the Red Zone.
The Yellow Zone inside the 3-point arc but outside the key. Screens may be set, guys start to drive the basket. However, you are still quite a way away from the basket. It will not be an area of all-out defense. The offense is still trying to position themselves to attack the basket. You will want to let a little more go than in the Red Zone, but still understand that the offense has not gotten into the Green Zone yet, where victory becomes imminent, and the defense may get desperate.
The Green Zone is the key and the post area. Ball gets in there on post play, the defense will rush down there to protect the basket. Coaches will scream at the defense to prevent open lay-ins. Players will try and play through contact in the final push for the position or shot. Just like Russia piled millions of people to protect Moscow to the last man in World War 2, the good team will desperately try and prevent the basket when the ball gets in the Green Zone. Again, the threshold for a foul here is higher than in the Yellow Zone, and lot more than the Green Zone.
Fouls are fouls. But the strategy of the game is to score baskets. Understanding how physical the game should be with respect to how far away from the basket the basketball is, and where the offense is trying to go with the basketball, will help you get the right balance of when fouls should be called, and when you should pass. This metaphor and description may illustrate a way to think about it and give you something to think about. Or, it may not. I liked it--it's what I see on TV, and there is a reason they're there and most of us are not.
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.
"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.
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