MEMORANDUM

January 12, 2016

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 11, 2016, 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

I. The first thing I would like to discuss is to say thank you to all the Coordinators of Officials. I have seen some of the communication you are sending out regarding the directive to reduce physicality and I appreciate your efforts and support. The beginning of conference play is always difficult for Coordinators because all coaches think they will be the ones to hoist the trophy on April 4, 2016. Keep up the good work, continue to communicate the need to call displacement fouls on physical play. Most importantly, hang in there and maintain your sanity.

Relative to the directive to reduce physicality, I would like to share what I am seeing nationally in each of the 6 areas. Please note, that in general officials are engaging the directives – we still have room for improvement.

A. Hand checking/body bumping the ball handler – Rule 10.1.4. The officials are doing well at addressing impeding progress fouls on the perimeter. Keep up the good work.

B. Physical post play. We are still having difficulty calling the first displacement. While I realize that judging incidental vs. illegal contact can be hard, I sense that it is more of a philosophic shift that needs to happen. Continue to encourage your officials to call the first foul in the post!

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C. Rebounding. There will always be incidental contact during rebounds. We need to do a better job of calling fouls on obvious displacement on rebounds. It doesn’t take much contact to displace an airborne rebounder. In addition, we need to engage more during free throws to call rebounding displacement.

D. Freedom of movement. As stated in multiple communications, we are calling freedom of movement fouls on North/South plays. Keep up the good work. We still need additional focus on East/West plays near the baseline. Cutters must be allowed to cut without being impeded.

E. Screening. Officials are doing well addressing the need for screens to be stationary. Keep up the good work! We can still improve our adjudication of blind back screens. A blind screener must give the opponent a step to change direction or go around the screen.

F. Offense initiated contact on legal defenders. I am proud of our officials for their progress on offense initiated contact. The problem is that there is a higher number of these plays this year. While the result of these plays may look ugly, if the defender is legal a no call most often is the best call.

We are almost 2 weeks into conference play. The directive to reduce physicality is a marathon not a sprint. Continue to encourage your officials to call displacement fouls and impeding progress fouls. We can no longer default to the no call.

Dan Gavitt, NCAA Vice-President of Men’s Basketball championships, has joined our conference call today and would like to address the freedom of movement directives.

II. Dan Gavitt, NCAA VP, comments:

• He is proud of the efforts of the coordinators and officials in implementing the directive to reduce physicality in order to create freedom of movement.

• He complimented coaches, players and officials for adjusting, even before the season, more this year than ever before.

• The statistical data that is evaluated weekly shows some reason for concern. There are many variables that go into the data. Early adjustment by coaches and players as well as fewer block/charge plays because of the 4’ arc are two examples.

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• Fouls per game when adjusted for the increased possessions are flat compared to last season and down 2% from 2013-14.

• He is cautious as evaluates the statistical data and the games he has observed in person. There still seems to be 2-4 plays per game that are being no-called that fit into the category of physical play.

• He encourages officials to be diligent in calling the first foul specifically in the areas of physical post play and contact off the ball (cutters).

• The initiative will be judged by coaches, media and fans by what happens over the next two months. Fouls per game are actually up since before Christmas, which is an important development as we start conference play to prove commitment.

• He thanked all of the stakeholders of the game for collectively working toward making “the game” better.

III. Art Hyland, Secretary Rules Editor, comments:

A. Clarification – Instant Replay/Basket Interference – Goaltending. When basket interference or goaltending is injected into plays involving instant replay reviews in shot clock situations, several different rules apply.

First, there can be no review for a shot not being released before the horn sounds unless the try is successful. (Rule 11-2.1.b.4) Second, there can be no monitor review to determine whether basket interference or goaltending occurred. (Rule 11-1.4.b)

B. Play Sequences. Play 1 – Shot/horn/whistle for shot clock violation/basket interference or goaltending occurs.

Play 2 – Shot/horn/no whistle for shot clock violation/basket interference or goaltending occurs.

Ruling – Given the above rules, Play 1 would not be reviewable unless an official called basket interference or goaltending. This call would result in a successful try and therefore the shot clock violation would be reviewable. These two violations are separate and distinct, but without a successful goal, there cannot be a review for a shot clock violation. The first whistle for a shot clock violation stops the game clock but the ball is not dead per Rule 6-6.1. Therefore, any official can make a BI/GT call subsequent to the initial whistle for the shot clock violation. If the BI/GT call is made

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on the floor and the monitor review of the release results in no shot clock violation, the official should count the goal. If there was a shot clock violation, then wipe off the goal.

In Play 2, in order to get to the monitor, an official must call a BI/GT violation. That call results in a made basket which then allows for a shot clock monitor review and subsequent decision.

Please let me know if there are any questions by emailing me at [email protected].

IV. General Information:

A. As the Regional Observers and I observe games, we are paying specific attention to those officials that are embracing the directive to reduce physicality to create freedom of movement and officials that are using proper mechanics.

B. It is important that we keep the optics of bench decorum in mind as we officiate our games. I am still seeing too many coaches out of the box. I am also observing that officials are not doing a good job of addressing these situations with the coaches. When we remind coaches of where their box is located, they most often will respond favorably. If not, issue a bench warning and subsequently call a Class B bench technical.

C. Mechanics Review: a) Time-outs: We have seen some officials that are not slowing down the beginning of the time- out reporting procedure. We need to stay diligent with giving warnings and Class B technical fouls for delaying putting the ball in play. This process needs to continue for the entire length of the game. By slowing down the beginning of the time-out procedure, we will effectively help ourselves at the end of the time-out. Officials should be persistent in this process; it will pay dividends.

b) Foul reporting: I am seeing too many officials reporting from fouls from long distance especially from the lead position. Officials should clear the players, clear the 3-point arc, stop and report.

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c) Substitution reminders: Rule 3, Section 6. Art. 1.i states that substitutes shall not be permitted until the results of an instant replay review have been reported to both head coaches, when there is a review in the last two minutes of the second period or the last two minutes of any extra periods.

In addition, please review Rule 3, Section 6. Art. 1.h.1 & 2. relative to substitutes in the last 59.9 of a game after a score.

d) Trail Position: I have noticed that some officials are not in the habit of getting near center court on preliminary free throws. Please see page 27 of the CCA Mechanics Manual for the new mechanic.

The trail official should close down (step to toward the rim) on shot attempts. If we are going to reduce physicality on rebounds, we must have our trail official engaging every shot attempt.

I would like to remind everyone that when there is less than 30 seconds left in a period, the Trail official MUST have a visible 10-second backcourt count. By rule, we are not allowed to use the game clock for our count in these situations.

e) Center position: On arc plays, the center MUST be active and engaged. If the defender’s feet are “in, on or above” the arc, the center must engage the lead to offer information on the play.

The center official should close down (step to toward the rim) on shot attempts. If we are going to reduce physicality on rebounds, we must have our center official engaging every shot attempt.

f) Lead Position: The lead must mirror the ball and close down to get the best angle possible on plays to the rack. I am still seeing officials setting up too wide at lead and even backing out when the play is coming to the rack. In addition, closing down will allow the lead to be in a better position if a rotation is necessary.

g) Old habits: We are all creatures of habit. This year more than ever requires each of us to embrace new habits. I am still seeing officials that are not attempting to use the mechanics/signals listed in the CCA Mechanics Manual like stopping the clock on all fouls and violations. This most often happens on B/C plays and OOB plays. Encourage your officials to use proper mechanics/signals.

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Please emphasize to your veteran officials that they have a leadership role in enforcing the directive to reduce physicality; slowing down the beginning of time- outs, enforcing delay of game warnings and using proper mechanics.

Lastly, the NCAA Tournament evaluator assignments were released last Friday. If you have any questions regarding that information, please contact Brad Taylor. If you did not hear from me or receive an assignment, there will be additional opportunities in the future.

V. Question and answer.

VI. Call Adjourned.

NCAA/01_12_2016/JDC:AH:wh