NCAA Men's Tournament Officials (2018)

There are 7 guys who worked the regional level in both 2016 and 2017 but have yet to work this years regional with only the Kansas-Duke game remaining:

Doug Sirmons
Gene Steretore
John Higgins
LaMar Simpson
Roger Ayers
Ted Valentine
Tim Clougherty

LaMar is retired or injured I think. Valentine is out. I have it on decent authority that Higgins is out. So that leaves some 3 man combination of Ayers, Sirmons, Steretore, and Clougherty to work Kansas-Duke, barring a surprise.

I'm guessing Clougherty will miss out and Sirmons, Ayers, and Steretore will work in about an hour.

[Matt S.]

Disagree with AremRed.

There's been a common theme among every regional semi/final crew thus far, and your guess would break the trend.

[Multiple Sports]

A guy who works football for Gene was told by Gene he is finished....

[bucky]

Andersen, Sirmons, Ayers for Duke/Kansas game.

2/3 ain't bad. Forgot they needed a black guy and Anderson is the best between him, Covington, and Walton.

[Multiple Sports]

I've never thought any of their accomplishments were race based. Just three good referees and people who just happen to be black...

[JRutledge]

I am going to say this bluntly. Considering how many Black players are on the floor during games at this level, there should be no questioning of who Black is in those situations. It is still extremely rare to see 3 Black officials ever work a D1 game outside of HBCU conferences. And when they do it is so rare that it is highlighted. When three white guys are working a D1 game where most of the players are Black, do we say, "They got there because of their race"? Nope.

I remember when Kentucky played Indiana in Bloomington some years ago and I was an FB friend of one of the officials. I sent him a text in shock and asked, "They put three Black guys on that game?" He even said to me, "I know right." It amazes me that Blacks can dominate this game in all areas but for some reason when the officials get to a certain level we have to somehow qualify why they are there.

Peace

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by AremRed

2/3 ain't bad. Forgot they needed a black guy and Anderson is the best between him, Covington, and Walton.

Should we say they needed 2 White officials, so that's why Doug and Roger are there?

That's the equivalent of what you just said.

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

Guys, let's not act like the racial composition of the crew isn't a consideration. Based on the "trend" Matt S. referenced earlier it absolutely is. It isn't wrong of me to point that out.

[Matt S.]

I couldn't care less if they had crews where all 3 officials were black, white, Asian, Latino, whatever. I just find it interesting that every single crew, save one, during regional play had 2 white officials and one black official.

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by AremRed

Guys, let's not act like the racial composition of the crew isn't a consideration. Based on the "trend" Matt S. referenced earlier it absolutely is. It isn't wrong of me to point that out.

I believe it is a factor. It is at the high school level. But what cracks me up is that somehow the Black officials have to justify their position and never the white officials, who again are not representative of the players that are mostly on the floor.

Peace

[BillyMac]

Originally Posted by AremRed

Guys, let's not act like the racial composition of the crew isn't a consideration.

I would hope that it isn't on either a college, or high school, level, but from posts on this Forum, and from comments from my Connecticut officiating colleagues, both high school officials, and college officials, that may not be the case.

Looking through my Pollyanna, rose colored glasses, I would hope that assignments would only be based on the competency of the officials, not their race, or gender.

I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character. (Martin Luther King, Jr.)

We're not there yet, but we can hope.