The RoundBall Referee

Liberty University men's basketball coach, Ritchie McKay, joins us to talk about the relationship between coaches and officials. From a coach's perspective, how should officials be prepared to officiate a game? From an officials perspective, how should a coach be managed in tough situations? Coach McKay has four observations to pass along to officials. They are: Coaches see the outcome of the game as a reflection of themselves. Officials need to come prepared. Officials must work together...

At the time of this episode upload, 5 of the Top 25 teams in men's NCAA D1 basketball are in the ACC. With teams like Duke and North Carolina, and 13 other outstanding basketball programs, Bryan Kersey has a very important job. He assigns all the officials for ACC. What does it take get great refs for the upcoming schedule, all the while thinking about building for the future? With some of Division 1's top officials (Roger Ayers, Mike Eades, and Teddy Valentine) on his roster Kersey loves...

The RoundBall Referee returns for the 2017-2018 season with a confession and a word of encouragement. Borrowing from the title of Brené Brown's book Daring Greatly I pick up on the theme of what it means for me and this podcast to dare greatly, and doing so for those of us in our basketball officiating. At the end of the show I preview the conversation I had with next week's episode guest, Bryan Kersey (ACC supervisor of officials).

Mark Lindsay has been an NBA Referee for the past ten seasons. He recently took over as the new director of the Proactive Referee Officiating Camp. The camp is held each summer in Philadelphia, PA. This is a premier camp to help you get to the next level. Mark came on to the show on May 23, 2017 to get the word out about the upcoming camp. But he also spent a lot of time discussing some very important aspects for improving your game as an official. Toward the end of the show he shared a...

When a team is purposely trying to foul as a strategy for winning, how do you distinguish between a common and an intentional foul? Long-time, veteran high school and college official, Nuf Perez, encountered this very question. He shares with us the end-of-game situation he and his crew recently had that became a first-time learning experience. At the beginning of the show I share a personal story of how Juice Plus+ has made a huge difference helping me maintain my physical health during...

J.D. Collins NCAA National Coordinator of Men's Basketball Officiating joins us to discuss this year's six areas of emphasis related to "freedom of movement." They are: Hand checking/body bumping the ball-handler Screening Freedom of movement for cutters Offense-initiated contact on legal defenders Physical post play Rebounding For more information, check out these links: USA Today (November 30, 2016) - College Basketball Rules Will Again Emphasize Reducing Physicality USA Today (May 5,...

What does it take to officiate basketball at the highest level? For the guys who get there, what's it really like? Officiating insiders, like ourselves, ask these questions. When you sit down to watch a game on any sports network, you wonder: who's working that night, how'd they get to that point, what's demanded of them? Bob Katz, who has written for Sports Illustrated, the Boston Globe, the Chicago Tribune, and the New York Times, has written a book about the very thing we've so...

If you want to become a great referee, you must develop great mechanics. Freddy from myvirtualofficialsassociation.com joins me to talk about some of the common mechanic-errors officials make. He has come up with some catchy phrases to help you keep these good-mechanic practices in mind as you're refereeing a game. theroundballreferee.com bryan@theroundballreferee.com

Joe DeRosa (Wikipedia) - former NBA official and current NCAA D1 official - joins us to talk about officiating apparel. He's very well known for being one of two officials to have worked both the NBA Finals and the NCAA Final Four. But he's also the man behind the "S" printed on the shirts we wear. The "S" stands for Smitty Official's Apparel. In our conversation, Joe tells the story of how he got this business started and what it has become today. He also talks about the different styles...

Rarely do we officials think about the significance of that piece of plastic we have sticking out of our mouths during a basketball game. It's just there - always there. And if it's not, we're in big trouble. We call it a whistle. And if you think about it for a moment you quickly realize this is the one piece of equipment we can't referee without. You can ref a game with or without shoes. Pants or shorts doesn't really matter. Striped shirt, grey shirt, collar or no collar. But no...

Do you ignore it? Enforce it? Love it? Hate it? Rule 3.5 will drive officials crazy. There's a lot to pay attention to. And it seems that every year slight changes are made. And that drives us all the more crazy. Fortunately for us, fellow official, Freddy Krieger, has studied the rule in depth and has found ways to teach this rule in a very understandable way. You may want to download the PDF or PPT presentation Freddy put together that will help you visualize the particulars he walks us...

I am so excited to bring to you this conversation. Darryl and I enjoyed our conversation over an early morning breakfast at a local restaurant. As you listen, you'll find yourself right there at the table with us as we discuss basketball and officiating. Our conversation has all the noises of the local diner mixed in with all sorts of reffing wisdom and insight Darryl brings to the game. Darryl was the recipient of the NFOA Awards 2014-2015 Boys Basketball Official of the Year. He now...

Wrapping up Section 2: Officials and Their Duties this short episode goes through a few final cases. The NFHS Case Book 2015-2016 once again proves so helpful for officials needing to prepare themselves for critical game-time situations. Reading the NFHS Rules Book is necessary. But knowing how to apply those rules is where the rubber hits the road. bryan@theroundballreferee.com @theroundballo

On today's show, and episodes 006 & 007, I'll be reading through a number of cases in the NFHS 2015-2016 Case Book. My purpose is that you can play these episodes again and again while driving to your game assignments. Nothing gets you in the right reffing frame of mind better than reviewing case plays. Shout Outs on today's show: myvirtualofficialsassociation.com -- weblink The creator of this website and blog is trying to do the same thing I'm trying to - helping others become great...

Michigan High School Athletic Association Assistant Director, Mark Uyl, discusses some important issues officials face both on the court and off. As an administrator, he talks about what's involved in assigning hundreds of officials to post-season tournament games. He also discusses the impact Title IX has had on basketball officials. Having over 25 years experience officiating basketball, football and baseball, Mark offers knowledge and wisdom for becoming a great basketball official. You...

In this episode I tell my story.

...that every game at every level is officiated well. Here is the launch episode. In it I share my beliefs, hopes, and dreams.