Weekly Report - 1

Dear Referees.

Thank you for your efforts and contribution to the exciting beginning of the BCL Competition.

At the end of the first round, we can see that from the 16 games, 9 finished within a 4-point differential and we had a 50-50 split of home and away team victories.

Data collected from the Video Observers' Reports

UF situations

We had 9 UF decisions, 0.5 per game.

Wrong UF decisions - 3 or 33% - too much as a statistical number.

Incorrect not called UF - 3 situations.

If we collate all 3 elements together, you can see that from 12 UF situations we were incorrect with 6 situations or 50%.

So, the message is very clear....

IRS usage

The IRS was used 16 times by the Referees, an average of one per game. All final decisions were correct.

Games with IRS usage - 11

Games without the IRS usage - 5

Coach's challenge

We had 9 coach challenges.

Home coach challenge - 2

Guest coach challenge - 7

Initial decision changed - 3 (2x PF to UF, 1x clock correction)

Performance level

Above Standard - 8

Standard - 39

Below Standard - 1

Regarding the overall performance, we cannot be satisfied with this current level. We have too many standard performances. Especially after the WCQ Window games in August and the high-quality EBM2022 games in September, I was expecting a much higher performance level. You are the best group of officials in FIBA Europe and our aspirations, and your performances must show this. Above standard should be our standard with many of you aiming consistently for very good, especially our most experienced and highest-ranked Referees, for whom many only received standard level marks.

Gentlemen, our current standard is too low level for such a great competition like the BCL.

Officiating at the edge of your primary

I wish to point out one element for improvement - officiating at the edge of your primary. It is evident that we officiate in our primary area of responsibility, but this focus has become too small and too narrow. We need to extend our focus. We must officiate to the edge of our primary and at times, support our colleagues at the edge of their primary coverage. During these first set of games, we have had too many incorrect no-calls which means we either have officials who don't like double whistles, or we have selfish officials who only call when the play situation is 'in my primary'. We are a team and team members support each other. We must officiate to the edge of our primary and understand the edge of my primary area is also the edge of a colleague's primary area.

Concentration

As you will remember, during EBM2022 we had between 5 and 7 decisions which gave a negative stamp on our proper officiating during the competition. For me, in those cases, the point was not a lack of your quality, the point was your lack of concentration. Wrong (no)calls, together with no possible IRS check. A lot of people, many with little or no officiating understanding, had a low-level image of our overall good job during the EBM2022 competition. Now, during the first BCL round, we again have cases of lack of concentration. Again, a negative stamp on our overall solid job.

My question is - How much longer will we continue to shoot ourselves in our own legs?

Dear Referees.

I wish you a week of great officiating, with a big focus on your improvement. The standard is high, and high is our standard.

Davorin