RebKell's Junkie Boards

[Hoops9092]

I am so sick of watching guards just do a dramatic jolt of their heads now anytime they run into a screen and it's called a moving screen. This seems to be more of an issue as of late.

Any reactive motion by the defending guard seems to now result in an offensive foul called.

[Conway Gamecock]

It's the same as flopping. The officials in WCBB are just not competent enough to properly discern and officiate technically sound/unsound screens, so the guard drama will continue, if not escalate.

This issue has been around the WCBB scene for years, if not decades. Certain teams like CT have profoundly capitalized on the dysfunction of officials accurately observing moving screens over the years, and calling them out. Now, teams are trying successfully to capitalize in the other direction.

Again, its totally the same as with charges/blocking fouls. The officials cannot find a clear bead on what a proper screen is/is not, so teams are trying to define them FOR those officials. Really, it is a logical move for competitors - if you don't make the rules and make them consistent and fair, then WE will make them FOR you...

[Ex-Ref]

[tfan]

Moving screens seems very common to me. But there is apparently some leeway. The screener doesn't have to freeze like a statue.

[ClayK]

Of course it's the officials' fault. They're always to blame.

OK, consider the situation. You're the official on top and the screen and roll is coming. There are four players involved and the ball.

You have to pay attention to the ball. The ballhandler refusing the pick could easily carry the ball while reversing direction.

You have to pay attention to the on-ball defender. She may reach in. She may bump the body of the ballhandler. She may legally slide over the screen. She may illegally contact the screener.

Then there's the screener. While you're watching the ballhandler and on-ball defender, you also have to watch the screener, who's coming from out of your vision. Is the screener set? When did she get set? When was the last time one of her feet moved? Did she give the defender enough time? Did she lean forward or to the side and thus illegally contact the defender?

Oh, and let's not forget the screener's defender, who has been known to push the screener into the defender, or may jump out and hard-hedge the ballhandler, including a reach-in or body bump.

Simple call. Of course everyone here can make that call in real time, and there are plenty of people who could make it who are officiating somewhere else. (They're not in the NBA, though, because it's an impossible call to make there too.)

Try it sometime. Get a whistle and a shirt and do a CYO game where everything's slower. I'm sure you'll watch all four players and be 95% accurate.

_________________
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[linkster]

It doesn't matter who actually fouled if the screener moved, the big always gets called for a foul if the smaller player falls down. In fact it's almost become a requirement that someone must fall down. I've seen small players run hard and straight into a stationary big and because the big didn't go down, no foul is called. In fact I've seen small players charge into bigs, fall to the ground screaming and the big gets the foul.

I wonder what % of wcbb refs played guard.

[ClayK]

[myrtle]

To me, it's one of the things called way too often.
If the ref hasn't seen it clearly, then he/she should not make the call either way. If they stop calling it continually, then the flopping will decrease. JMO

The other call that irritates me is the travel call if the ball hasn't quite hit the floor before the movement. Sometimes it's so petty. The ball may be 2 inches from the floor and it's legally a travel....but why call that. OTOH the "Euro step" is very often a travel but that is celebrated rather than calling it a travel.

[ClayK]

The Euro is a travel depending on the "gather" -- that is, the point when the dribble is judged to have stopped and the shot motion begin. Grey area ...

The one travel that is never called is the "hop jumper." Sabrina Ionescu "hopped" during her three-point show. The idea is to jump off two feet, which is fine, but it means that the ball must be caught while the shooter is in the air. She then lands and takes off from two feet, no travel.

But if she catches with one foot on the ground and then "hops" to two feet, it's a travel. But it is never called. (Hannah Jump is a classic hop shooter.)

_________________
Oṃ Tāre Tuttāre Ture Svāhā

[pilight]

Basketball is a very hard game to officiate, probably the hardest of the major sports

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[GlennMacGrady]

I've argued for decades—at least to myself, if not often publicly—that basketball (and all sports) fans must accept the inevitable law of entropy.

Entropy, related to the second law of thermodynamics, is the fundamental law of physics that says that all closed systems will always tend to greater disorder. Applied to sports, this means that mistakes will always and inevitably be made—by players, by coaches, and by referees/umpires making calls.

Nothing can be done about stopping or reversing entropy, and hence there is nothing that can be done about people, including basketball referees, making mistakes. I don't know what the best percentage of "right" basketball calls is under the law of entropy, but I'll guess about 90%. That means about 10% of calls in every game, on average, will always be "wrong."

Accept entropy. Stop blaming refs. Live a more placid life. (You can also stop worrying about your messy room.)

_________________
http://www.youtube.com/MagicBusBasketball

[Howee]

To me, a TRULY 'moving' screen oughtta be easy to call, but yeah....the Flop Fests in some of these games make it a challenge. I love it when Audi Crooks flops....😂 I never saw anyone in ANY of her games that could defy the laws of physics and knock her over.

I know I've kvetched enough about refs before, but let's be real: WE get to see a play unfold from a camera angle that's well ABOVE the level of even the tallest ref. They're down there, at floor level and simply cannot see all the nuances we can, never mind all the replays we get.

_________________
Oregon: Go Ducks!
"Inévitablement, les canards voleront"

[patsweetpat]

[linkster]

It's not a matter of blaming the official but rather blaming officiating in general. Just because it's tough to do well is not an excuse for incompetency.
The problem with officiating screens is the inconsistency I see both within a game and even more from game to game. I see moving screens called simply because a screener shifted their weight while their feet were close together and remained stationary. Then I've seen screeners take a lateral step of 2 feet and literally trip a defender without a whistle. And this happens all the time.
Beyond just screens, sometimes it seems as if the rule is that in any collision between two players the foul is on the larger player, by definition.

I'd like to see a survey of refs to see what position they played. I'd bet that the vast majority were guards.

[summertime blues]

[summertime blues]

[linkster]

[pilight]

You asked for it, you got it

_________________
I'm a lonely frog
I ain't got a home

[Rock Hard]