[jritchie]

in our state, kentucky, we have two state tourney's for the boys and 2 for the girls.. the first is an all "a" school tourney, which is for the smaller schools and it is said that the small schools vote on who they want to ref no matter how many times they have been there, so it is mainly a popularity contest or a who you know thing with this tourney....
as for our major sweet 16 tourney...we have 16 regions and all the regions have there top officials from the ratings from coaches/assignors combined....usually the #1 officials get to go to the state tourney no matter how many times they have been, no limitations...also there are some "at large" bids that are covered by the kentucky assignor of officials, so he can get the people that he wants that maybe didn't finish in the top of their particular regions... i agree that there should be some sort of regulations and that would be great for all officials over the state that are always close to the top but never get there....not much difference in #1-#5 in most regions!!!