NBOSTRIPES

Referee schedules for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 8, 9 and 10 have been released. Please read through the schedules carefully and text your confirmations to Brent at 402-618-2859 or Jim at 402-215-1740. There are still some openings available. REMEMBER, this will be the first weekend where all Elkhorn Attack and Elkhorn Elite game officials will be paid $30 per game.

Looking ahead, please mark your calendars for Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 15, 16 and 17 as the Elkhorn Attack and Elite Holiday Hoopfest Tourney will be played at Elkhorn area schools.

The Elkhorn Attack Boys and Elkhorn Elite Girls Youth Basketball Programs have come to an agreement to pay officials $30 per game effective immediately, beginning this weekend, December 8, 9 & 10.

The announcement was made by Elkhorn Attack and Elite President Todd Jakopovic, on the eve of one of its bigger youth baskeball tournament weekends. The Elkhorn Elite “Girls Rule” Tournament will be held this Friday night, Saturday and Sunday at Union Bank and Trust Sports Complex (South) in Elkhorn, as well as several Elkhorn Middle Schools. The Elkhorn Attack Boys Annual “Santa Shootout” will be played Friday night, Saturday and Sunday at the Iowa West Fieldhouse in Council Bluffs.

“We continually strive to give youth the best opportunity to play basketball in a great facility with great competition,” Jakopovic said. “I have been negotiating with Brent Robinson and Jim Sauer to provide us with the best officials we can offer. This new financial arrangement gives eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa youth basketball officials the fair and consistent compensation they deserve. We appreciate everything they do and look forward to a great working relationship.” 

The agreement means ALL officials will receive $30 per game. A tier structure had been used in the past, but Jakopovic said Robinson and Sauer advocated for the officials to all be treated equally. 

“Brent and Jim felt this was the right way to do this,” Jakopovic said. “With the shortage of officials, they felt EVERY official is important to the success of our tournaments and our program. We couldn’t agree more, and that is why we are doing this now.”

Officials wanting to work Elkhorn Attack and Elite Tournaments can send availability to Robinson at 402-618-2859 or Sauer at 402-215-1740. Officials can still turn in availability for this weekend.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 8, 9 and 10 will be a big weekend as the Elkhorn Elite Girls Rule Tourney will be held at Union Bank and Trust Sports Complex2 South and Elkhorn Middle Schools. Meanwhile, the Elkhorn Attack Boys Santa Shootout will be played at the Iowa West Fieldhouse. Officials should text their availability for these two tournaments to Brent at 402-618-2859 or Jim at 402-215-1740.

The Boys Santa Shootout at Iowa West Fieldhouse will be experimenting with a new schedule, playing games every 55 minutes. This allows you to referee more games in less time.

We will once again allow officials to take courts all day if they want to put together their own crews. We will also pair up officials that would like to work all day. Please text your availability as early as possible. Thank you!

Tonight is always one of the best nights of the year — the tip-off to the high school basketball season. For the next four months, you can find a high school game just about every night. We thank you for your time and dedication to working these games for Nebraska Basketball Officials.

Also, this weekend is a huge weekend for youth basketball! We have just under 600 games, Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. We do have just a few openings left to fill on Saturday — of course they fall right around the time of our Metro High School games. Following are the few games we still have available…

Saturday, 12, 1 and 2 pm at Iowa West Fieldhouse on Court 4

Saturday, 2 slots at 4, 5 and 6 pm at Papillion Liberty Middle School on court 1. (If 2 officials want to work these as crew, let us know.)

Saturday, 2, 3, 4 at Papillion LaVista High School on court 3.

If you can work any of these games, please text or call Brent Robinson at 402-618-2859 or Jim Sauer at 402-215-1740.

Referee schedules for the Cornhusker Youth State Basketball Championships and the Tale of Two Cities Tournament have been released. There are still openings available for both tourneys. Please text your confirmations to Brent at 402-618-2859 or Jim at 402-215-1740.

In order to get the schedules out as early as possible, the schedules do have some open time slots available. You can contact Brent or Jim to claim the open slots.

Looking ahead, we will have 2 tournaments again during the December 8, 9 and 10 weekend. We will request availability either Wednesday or Thursday of this week.

There are 2 tournaments on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 1, 2 and 3. Many of you have already texted your availability. If you have not, please text your availability for these dates to Brent Robinson at 402-618-2859 or Jim Sauer at 402-215-1740.

You can request as many games as you wish on Saturday and Sunday. Friday night limited games are available.

Looking ahead, we will also have 2 tournaments on the weekend of December 8, 9 and 10.

Nebraska Basketball Officials will be meeting tonight at 6 pm in the Omaha Burke High School Cafeteria. We will go over new rules and points of emphasis for the 2023-24 season and then review this year’s NSAA Part 1 test. Officials wishing to pay dues and register for NBO will also be able to do so at the meeting.

Please bring a copy of the test from the NSAA website for the review. We hope to see you there tonight.

The referee schedule for the Battle of the Borders tournament games at Union Bank and Trust Sports Complex2 South have been released. Games are scheduled for Friday night, as well as all day Saturday and Sunday. Please text your confirmations to Brent at 402-618-2859 or Jim at 402-215-1740.

When texting your confirmations, please text the day, venue, court and times you are working. Thanks!

The referee schedule for this Friday, Saturday and Sunday’s Fall Hoops Challenge, sponsored by Elkhorn Attack/Elite, has been released. Please text your confirmations to Brent at 402-618-2859 or Jim at 402-215-1740.

Games will be played at Union Bank and Trust Sports Complex2 South on Friday night, Saturday and Sunday. Games will be played at Elkhorn West Bay Elementary and Elkhorn West Dodge Station Elementary on Saturday and Sunday. Addresses for the elementary schools are listed on the referee schedule. If you have any questions, please contact either Brent or Jim.

Looking ahead we wanted to have you mark your calendar for two large tournaments the weekend of December 1, 2 and 3, including a cash tournament that weekend.

Here are the weekends we will be assigning through Christmas:

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, November 17, 18 and 19

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 1, 2 and 3

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 8, 9 and 10

Friday, Saturday and Sunday, December 15, 16 and 17

Friday, Saturday, December 22 and 23

Friday, Saturday, December 29 and 30

All,

I want to bring a couple key dates to your attention!

Today, October 31, is the final day for previously registered NSAA officials to pay their NSAA registration fees and not be charged a late fee. You must be registered by midnight tonight by going onto the NSAA website and paying your fees. You have until November 14 to view the online rules presentation and you have until November 17 to take the Part 1 (50 questions) Open Book test.

We will be having our NSAA Part 1 test review on Wednesday, Nov. 15, at 6 pm in the Omaha Burke High School cafeteria. Please mark down this date to meet as a group and go over the questions and answers with our Nebraska Basketball Officials Board members.

Also, if you haven’t already done so, you should pay your $75 NBO registration fee for the 2023-24 season. We have begun assigning games, but we are only about 1/5th of the way through the schedule. Many of you still need to register. Please contact myself or Brent Robinson if you still plan to register.

Our emails are monaco.nbo@gmail.com or robinson.nbo@gmail.com.

Thank you,

Al Monaco