re:facials

[Joe Hironaka <j.hironaka@unesco.org>]

Hi:

Regarding putting a hand in a shooters face, I do it fairly often
because I'm very short for a center, the position I play on defense for
my UN team.  During a tournament last week in Italy, one referee
politely told me he would call it as a foul the next time I tried it,
and so I stopped. Is this only a foul under European/International
rules? Or do all refs have the leeway to call it as an unsportsmanlike
technical, even if a defensive foul wasn't committed according to the
rulebook?



P.S. Out of curiosity, is shouting, making loud footsteps or clapping
your hands near the shooter a defensive violation in a regulation
basketball game?