The OSAA could be ready to take the next step in the use of three-person basketball officiating crews.

This season, for the first time, the OSAA gave leagues the option of using three-person crews. Nine leagues jumped on board across the state, including the Metro League and Portland Interscholastic League.

The feedback was generally positive at the OSAA delegate assembly meeting Monday, mirroring a survey of coaches and athletic directors that the OSAA conducted after the season.

In that survey, the question was posed: If your league is not considering using three-person crews next season, would you consider doing so if the OSAA used three-person crews in the postseason? Seventy-five percent answered yes.

“Right now we’re at a real crossroads with this thing,” OSAA assistant executive director Cindy Simmons said. “I’m real excited about where we are and the opportunity for the future.”

The OSAA also asked in the survey if it should mandate the use of three-person crews for the regular season. Sixty-one percent said no.

So it appears that the next step in having more leagues employ three-person crews is for the OSAA to begin using them in the state playoffs. For the three-person crews to work smoothly in the playoffs, though, they need experience with the mechanics of it during the regular season.

“It’s a little bit of a chicken-and-the-egg problem,” Simmons said.

“We have to kind of resolve that somehow,” added Jack Folliard, a basketball official and executive director of the Oregon Athletic Officials Association.

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