North Dakota Preps

First and foremost, I do understand that refereeing HS basketball is an extremely difficult job that I am NOT suited for. I have worked very hard to stay out of referee's "ears" over the years, to varying levels of success.

However, referees in ND have to do a better job of not being part of deciding who wins a game. This is unfair to the coaches and players. I saw 2 occurrences over the weekend when games were decided by very questionable foul calls late in a tie game. 1 was with 3.5 seconds left and one was with 1.5 seconds left. Both were on rebounds where no one received a competitive advantage and it wasn't clear who initiated the contact. The best call in both of these instances would have been to not blow the whistle at all. If a clear foul that gives one team an advantage over the other occurs, then you have to make that call. But outside of this, please let the kids settle it on the court. The best officials are those that are incidental to the game, not at the center of it.

When will they enforce the 'palming the ball' and actually push the kids to dribble? Watch way too many who can't handle the ball with dribbling it and instead nearly carry the thing.

Ok, now that districts are starting up at the end of this week, have you seen any difference in the way the officials have called the game. I personally have not, I do not believe that the game has gotten any cleaner. This is not intended to bash the officials, they have a thankless job

What I see is that the officials have gotten away from the points of emphasis for one reason or another. They called it close early on but gradually have fallen back into old habits.

Hinsa wrote:What I see is that the officials have gotten away from the points of emphasis for one reason or another. They called it close early on but gradually have fallen back into old habits.

Consistency is the big thing in my opinion, how can you let two hands to the back on the post be a no call but then call a hand check on the perimeter? I know refs get little to no credit and it is a thankless job but I think consistency across the board would be great. But maybe that is in a perfect world only.