No. 2 Seed Michigan State Falls

Michigan St. joins the ranks of No. 2 seeds that have fallen to No. 15 seeds in the NCAA Tournament.

Big XII NCAA Tournament Preview

7 teams in the Big Dance.

2015 Final Four Officials Named

The NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Committee has approved 10 game officials recommended by John W. Adams, the national coordinator of officiating, to work Saturday’s two national semifinal games and Monday’s national championship game. A three-man crew will work each Final Four game, while one official will serve as the standby official for all three contests.

The NCAA has notified these 10 individuals selected to work the 2015 Final Four, which will be played at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis:

• Pat Adams, Mobile, Ala.;
• Jeff Clark, Cheltenham, Pa.;
• Joe DeRosa, North Canton, Ohio;
• Pat Driscoll, Syracuse, N.Y.;
• Mike Eades, Princeton, W.Va.;
• Verne Harris, Denver, Colo.;
• John Higgins, Omaha, Neb.;
• Bryan Kersey, Carrollton, Va;
• Doug Sirmons, Virginia Beach, Va.; and
• Michael Stephens, Providence, R.I.

“These 10 men represent the best in NCAA men’s basketball officiating, having been evaluated after each game and receiving the best grades,” said Adams. “We look for officials who have great communication skills with coaches and student-athletes, while also getting the most calls accurate while enforcing the written rules of the game.”

Harris will officiate his eighth Final Four, while Higgins will be calling his sixth. This will be the fourth Final Four for Adams, Driscoll and Stephens and third for DeRosa and Sirmons. Eades will be calling his second while Clark and Kersey will be calling their first Final Four.

There are some great officials on this list, Higgins is one of the best known and DeRosa used to officiate in the NBA.

The officiating assignments for each semifinal game, as well as Monday night’s national championship game, will be announced an hour before each game.

The 2011 Final Four Referees Will Be....

96 NCAA officials started out working 1st and 2nd round games.

12 worked Elite 8 games at the four regional sites.

Here are the 12 Elite 8 Refs:

Mike Eades, Tony Greene, Ted Valentine

Pat Driscoll, Verne Harris, Randy McCall

Karl Hess, Jamie Luckie, Michael Stephens

Antinio Petty, Doug Shows, Doug Sirmons

Looking at data I've compiled and experience and statistics of these refs, here is my guess for the Final Four officials we will have in Houston for the semi-final games.

Mike Eades - He refs games mostly in the ACC and Big South with a few Big 10 game thrown in.  He is known for calling roughly the same amount of fouls on both teams.  Virginia Commonwealth is 2-1 with Eades blowing the whistle this year.  He saw UCONN a couple times this year, Kentucky a few times, and umped Butler's first round win over Old Dominion in the tournament. 

Tony Greene - Greene works mostly SEC and Big East contests.  He's fair with the whistle and doesn't foul many players out.  That could help a Butler or VCU; teams that don't go too deep.  Kentucky was 6-0 in games this season with Eades on the floor.   

Antinio Petty - A solid official who works a lot of Big 10, SEC, and Big XII games.  He does call a lot of fouls and isn't afraid to foul players out.  He was on the floor for the Butler/Pitt game.  He has not called a VCU game this season.

Karl Hess - A very reliable veteran official who has worked 87 games so far this year.  He worked one VCU game early in the season.  The only Butler game he worked was the win over Florida.  He's seen UCONN a bunch and I don't see that he has worked a Kentucky game.

Randy McCall - A very well respected ref who mainly works games in the western half of the country.  Hasn't seen Butler, VCU, or UCONN this season.  That makes him a good choice in my opinion.

Ted Valentine - Ted is a workhorse.  He worked 92 games this season, Big 10 teams know him well.  He worked the VCU/Kansas game and has seen Kentucky.  He has not worked any Butler or UCONN game this season.  Be careful, Ted has a quick whistle when it comes to technicals.

Ted Valentine

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