The NCAA Tournament Means the Referee Shuffle

64 teams will take to the floor Thursday and Friday as the 2011 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament tops off.

That means 98 referees or officials as they like to be called will be in action as well.  The officials picked to work NCAA Tournament games come from each and every conference.  From the Atlantic Sun to the Pac-10, coaches not only have to prepare their team for their opponent, they have to warn them that the refs working their games from this point on aren't going to be the refs they became familiar with during conference play.

I like to call it the "ref factor."  While the N.C.A.A. has done everything in its power to make the way refs call games uniform from conference to conference, fans may not realize this, but refs are human.

Mike Brey, veteran Notre Dame Head Coach said the dynamics of N.C.A.A. tournament officiating can be distracting to both coaches and players. Coaches are given the names of officials an hour before a game. An assistant for Brey would find out where they are from, and sometimes Brey would ask his assistants during a game, “What’s his name again?”

Brey said he had coached N.C.A.A. tournament games in which his players would return to the huddle after an early timeout and say, “This is a little different.”  If officials are not familiar with a particular team's style, a head coach might have to make an adjustment to the official.

Refs may also have to make adjustments.  Chances are the three refs picked for a particular game have never worked together as a trio. 

Refs are scouted throughout the regular season and the best 98 out of the 350 considered are able to work tourney games.

Along with competition between the teams on the floor, there is something at stake for the officials as well.  It's a financial reward. John Adams, the Director of N.C.A.A. officiating said officials will make $1,000 a game in Rounds 1 through 3, $1,400 for the regionals and $2,000 each for the national semi-finals and finals.

The goal is the same for both teams and refs.  Have a clean game and advance.  Here's hoping we don't have a incident like we had in the Big East Tournament, but something out of the ordinary is bound to happen.

Here's my list of the top N.C.A.A. refs that hopefully will be working the tournament.

1. Ted Valentine

2. John Higgins

3. Kelly Self

4. Mike Nance

5. Tony Greene

6. Ed Hightower

7. Mike Thibodeaux

8. Bo Boroski

9. Mike Stuart

10. John Cahill

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