MEMORANDUM January 9, 2019 VIA EMAIL TO: NCAA Divisions I, II and III Coordinators of Men's Basketball Officials. FROM: J.D. Collins National Coordinator of Men s Basketball Officiating. Art Hyland NCAA Men s Basketball Secretary-Rules Editor. SUBJECT: Bulletin No. 3 January 7, 2019 Teleconference Follow-Up. Because of the importance of this information, we appreciate your consideration and effort in providing this bulletin directly to all officials and head coaches in your conference. We believe that providing this information to each institution demonstrates a continuing commitment to maintaining and improving the officiating in every game. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. This information will also be available on the Coordinator s Meeting section of the men s basketball officiating website at www.ncaambb.arbitersports.com 1. After speaking with all 16 Division I Coordinators of Officials, the Regional Advisors, John Blazek and Jim Haney, I offer the following. Officials are addressing the directive to reduce physicality in order to create freedom of movement with varying levels of success. a. Handchecking/body bumping the ball handler Rule 10.1.4. We have done a good job in the last month addressing this issue. Continue your efforts to not let 10.1.4 physicality enter back into our game. b. Freedom of movement for players without the ball or cutters. Similar to 10.1.4, we cannot allow physical teams to chuck and bump the ball handler after he gives up the ball. c. Screening make sure all screens are legal. We are addressing screening well. Specific attention should be given to excessively wide screens. d. Rebounding call displacement fouls. The center and trail need to be more active in rebounding physicality. Get to a good position, close down and focus on rebounding. Our efforts on enforcing the hook and hold have had a positive effect on opening up rebounding activity.
Page No. 2 e. Offense initiated contact on legal defenders. Continue your efforts to not reward offense-initiated contact on legal defenders. Officials should focus on the legality of the defender. If the defender is legal, do not reward offenseinitiated contact. Pay specific attention to drives down the lane lines. We have made some progress in the last month but must continue to get better in this area. If we will call the first foul on the bump, bump, bump play, the defenders will stop flopping. If the defense is legal, do not reward the offense. Instructional video #10 will address offense-initiated contact. f. Physical post play call the first displacement. I believe we have made some progress in this area. Bottom line call the first foul. Defaulting to the no call will only encourage physical play. The center official must be active in observing post physicality. In addition, when rotating from trail to center, do it quickly. This may be the only opportunity to see the initial set up in the post. g. The rules committee also gave a directive to give additional focus to the following four areas: (1) Traveling We are inconsistent and struggle with traveling. Officials MUST find the pivot foot. We are still having officials not calling obvious travels in the post and on the perimeter. Also, we are having officials call traveling on plays that are not travels. We are inconsistent in adjudicating travel plays and must get better in this area. Positioning is key to getting traveling plays correct. The center and trail must get to a good initial starting position and close down. Finding the pivot foot is a given. (2) Elimination of the hook and hold play After a 2½ months of the season, we are in a good place in adjudicating these plays. When an obvious hook and hold happens, review it at the monitor and penalize it appropriately. Now that conference play has begun, do not back off of the enforcement of hook & hold plays. (3) Screen and roll plays focus on who gets to the position first. Whether it is the offense or the defense they own that spot on the floor. (4) Strict enforcement of the coaches box and bench decorum I am disappointed in our handling of this issue. We are ignoring the problem. At minimum we should be addressing it with the coaches. More often than not a warning should be issued and/or issue an immediate technical foul. We must do better in this area. h. Overall, we are making progress on the directive to reduce physicality to create freedom of movement and we must stay diligent in adjudicating all of these directives. We have proven that when we blow the whistle our call accuracy is outstanding. When you see a foul, call it.
Page No. 3 2. Relative to mechanics and signaling, I am asking the coordinators of officials to continue to support the following: a. Proper positioning will enable us to get the calls right. (1) Get to a good initial starting position. (2) Move to get a better angle. (3) Close down to officiate traveling, rebounds and post play. (4) Mirror the ball at the lead position. We are having too many lead officials positioning themselves to wide, not closing down and calling across the paint. Most often when we do this we miss the call. The lead should mirror the ball, close down, rotate with a purpose and see the whole play. b. When the play is leaving you, it is entering someone else s primary. This does not mean you don t call a foul when you are 100%. It does mean that you must be aware of diminishing angles when the play is leaving you. c. The center official needs to be aware of post activity when he does not have an active matchup. When rotating from trail to center, the center official must do it more quickly. We need to have our center official active in every game. d. Our center and lead need to focus on free throw rebounding activity. We cannot allow the player in the second lane space to push or body walk the defender in the first lane space. e. The lead official should be the only official using the legally walled up signal. The lead should wait till the play is finished prior to using this signal. We are having to many lead officials using it prematurely while the center or trail is calling a foul. f. The lead official needs to clear the players, clear the 3-point arc, stop and report fouls to the table. Put some zip into it it is not that hard. Walking out from the lead position to report a foul is unacceptable. What will it take for us to correct this behavior I am asking each coordinator on the call to reinforce this message. g. When a timeout is called, the two off officials should move toward half-court to manage team crossovers. It is conference season and intensity has gone up. Being proactive on this issue may prevent a major brawl. See page 142 of the CCA Mechanics Manual. h. If we encourage our officials to stick to the basics listed in the CCA Mechanics Manual, we will do a better job of having the right official in the right position to make the right call. 3. Again, as I spoke to the Division I coordinators this week there were reoccurring plays that I would like to comment on that need our attention:
Page No. 4 a. Offense initiated contact on legal defenders: I know I have addressed this issue already on this call. It will take additional focus by each official to more accurately address this issue. This includes the offensive player backing down the defense and displacing him by bumping him 2-3 times. Officiate the defense if they are legal do not reward offensive players that initiate contact. b. Monitor reviews I have several comments on this subject: (1) Officials must be aware of the length of time spent at the monitor. Get in and get out! If the game is in the balance, it may require more time to get all of the angles necessary. In addition, the protocol should be: foul called on the floor, report the foul to the table, discuss need for review and then go to the monitor. (2) When possible tell the talent the reason you are going to the monitor and the results. Informing them can assist in them representing you and the play well. (3) Use the monitor when the health and safety of a student-athlete is in question. I have seen several games where we should have gone to the monitor and didn t. Always keep the health and safety of the student-athlete in your mind. (4) Don t overuse the monitor. I have seen simple plays being reviewed at the monitor. I understand the need for protection, but we must officiate with instinct. You are working college basketball because you are good at your craft. Trust your instincts more. (5) Relative to monitor use, I offer the following statistics as it relates to the quantity of F1/F2 reviews as it relates to hook and hold monitor reviews: DVSport statistics (20 Division I Conferences): Date: Ave per game % of total F1/F2 11/6/18 11/24/18 1.53 per 26% 11/25/18 12/14/18 1.65 per 25% 12/15/18 1/5/19 1.39 per 20% Comparable information: 2017-18 year-end results: Average was 1.13 reviews per game 14% of all reviews were F1/F2 Total # of games: 3566 2018-19 year-to-date info: Average is 1.51 reviews per game 24% of all reviews were F1/F2 Total # of games YTD: 1693 c. Officials need to be ready to officiate: (1) Officials have responsibilities during pregame warmups. Be sure to check uniforms for legality during warm ups, specifically the use of tights. (2) Get your mind right during the 20 minutes of pregame. The game needs us to be ready to officiate from the tip.
Page No. 5 d. We have had a good start to the 2018-19 conference season. Let s all commit to making this the best season possible. 4. Art Hyland, Secretary-Rules Editor comments. Over the past few weeks I have received numerous questions about the following rules: a. Rules 6-5.1.f and 6-6.2. These two rules may be applicable when a player is fouled during the act of shooting and either a teammate or an opponent fouls another player. Rule 6-5.1.f states, the ball shall become dead or remain dead when... f. An official blows the whistle when a foul is committed by a shooter s teammate before the ball is released for a try for goal. Rule 6-6.2 states, A live ball shall not become dead when a foul is committed by an opponent of a player who starts a try for goal before a foul occurs. The key difference is that, when the foul is by a teammate, the official must determine which came first the whistle for the foul or the release of the ball for a try. When the foul is by the opponent, the officials must determine which came first the start of a try for goal or the occurrence of the foul by the opponent. So, with a foul by a teammate, the key words are whistle/release of ball. If the foul is by the opponent, the key words are start of the try/when foul occurred. See also A.R. 156. b. Rule 1-23.2 Undergarments/Tights. Per my interpretation which was published since the last call, one legged tights are not permissible. If a player wears tights, they must cover both legs and be the same length and color of all teammates. Please review Rule 1-24.4 and note the types of sleeves which are permitted and the color/teammates requirements. c. Team Control, Loose Ball, Fumble, Muff. A few years ago, the rules committee adopted the concept of penalizing team control/fouls committed during a loose ball by awarding free throw(s) if the offended team was in the bonus situation. There has been some confusion as to whether a ball which is passed between teammates and is not deflected by an opponent but is muffed by the passer s teammate becomes a loose ball under Rule 4-24. The intent of the rule change was to include a muffed passed ball which has not been deflected by an opponent in the loose ball definition. Therefore, if a pass from A1 to A2 is not caught cleanly or is muffed in any way by A2, this becomes a loose ball under Rule 4-24 and any foul by a Team A player attempting to recover the loose ball will result in free throws being assessed if Team B is in the bonus. See Rules 4-9.2.b, 4-16, 4-24, and 10-1.4 Penalty c. d. Last 59.9 of second period or any extra period. Rule 2-10.12 requires the game clock to be stopped after a successful field goal which occurs with 59.9 or less remaining in the last period or any overtime period. If the field goal occurs
Page No. 6 with more than 59.9, the clock shall continue to run. For instance, if the field goal is successful at the 1:01 mark, the game clock should continue to run. Don t stop the clock when it reaches 59.9 and Team B has not yet inbounded the ball. e. Rule 4-17.6 Legal guarding position. There still appears to be a continuing misunderstanding of the rule requirements to maintain legal guarding position after initial legal guarding position has been established per Rule 4-17.4 (two feet on the floor and facing the opponent). When moving to maintain, the following key elements of the rule are important in making a correct call: i. The defender must be moving laterally or obliquely. He cannot be moving toward his opponent. ii. The defender is not required to have any feet on the floor when moving laterally or obliquely. iii. When legally maintaining guarding position, the defender may not charge into the dribbler or otherwise cause contact. iv. The defender is not required to continue facing his opponent. While there are other elements of the moving to maintain rule, those noted above are the ones that I see misapplied most often. f. Rule 4-35 Excessively Wide Screens. Rule 4-35 sets forth the screening requirements. While coaches and players are adjusting well to the enforcement of these requirements, it is important to continue the enforcement of these rules and in particular Rule 4-35.2.a regarding the width requirement for the feet of the screener. Under this rule, the inside of the screener s feet may be no wider than the width of the screener s shoulders. When the screener s feet become excessively wide, an illegal screening foul should be assessed. 5. General Comments/Questions and Answers. a. 2019 NCAA Summer basketball camps: (1) The NCAA will be hosting (4) camp sites during July 23-28, 2019. Those sites are: Grand Canyon University, University of Houston, University of Illinois and the University of Connecticut. (2) NCAA will identify and select 400 less experienced officials (300 DI and 100 DII & DIII officials) to attend camp where they will be trained by DI officiating coordinators, regional advisors, and Final Four officials in order to develop their officiating skills with the hopes of becoming the next NCAA Tournament officials.
Page No. 7 (3) The purpose is to provide instruction to less experienced officials to sharpen technique, call accuracy, and communication on the court as well as creating a forum of continuing officiating education and providing real-time feedback for officials. (4) Each Division I Coordinator of Officials will submit a list of candidates during the NCAA Tournament nomination process. There will be an additional page for each coordinator to nominate their officials. More information about this will be provided by Brad Taylor in the coming weeks. (5) More information will be e-mailed to each Division I coordinator later this month. (6) The six Consortium/Alliance directors and I will process those nominations, select the 400 officials and send invitations to those officials in late May. (7) I wanted to bring this process to your attention, give you the basic outline and ask for your support as we process this opportunity. (8) Again, more information will be shared in the future. If you have questions or comments on this issue, please contact me. I would be happy to discuss it. b. I want to thank the coordinators for the job you are doing. Our success this season will be solely based on your performance and communication with your officials. Keep up the good work and thank you. c. Please forward NCAA game evaluations on to your officials. The timing of forwarding them is at your discretion, but I believe the officials need to receive the feedback. NCAA/1_8_2019/JDC:AH:BLT