NCAA Men's Tournament Officials (2023)
 

Previous Assignments:

NCAA Men's Tournament Officials (2022)
NCAA Men's Tournament Officials (2021)
NCAA Men's Tournament Officials (2019)
NCAA Men's Tournament Officials (2018)
NCAA Men’s Tournament Officials (2017)
NCAA Men’s Tournament Officials (2016)
NCAA Men’s Tournament Officials (2015)
NCAA Men’s Tournament Officials (2014)
NCAA Men’s Tournament Officials (2013)


FIRST FOUR -- DAYTON, OH

Tuesday, 3/14/2023
(16) SE Missouri State vs. (16) Texas A&M Corpus Christi -- Bert Smith, Bart Lenox, Alfred Smith
(11) Pittsburgh vs. (11) Mississippi State -- Kipp Kissinger, Tommy Nunez Jr, Bharat Ramnanan

Wednesday, 3/15/2023
(16) Fairleigh Dickinson vs. (16) Texas Southern -- Larry Scirotto, Bret Smith, Tim Smith
(11) Nevada vs. (11) Arizona State -- Doug Shows, Deldre Carr, Lucas Santos


ROUND OF 64

Thursday, 3/16/2023
BIRMINGHAM
(9) Maryland vs. (8) West Virginia -- Ron Groover, Darron George, Edwin Young
(16) Texas A&M Corpus Christi vs. (1) Alabama -- Rick Crawford, Larry Spaulding, Verne Harris
(9) Auburn vs. (8) Iowa -- Bill Covington Jr, Bart Lenox, Pat Driscoll
(16) Northern Kentucky vs. (1) Houston -- Terry Oglesby, Randy Heimerman, Brandon Cruz

ORLANDO
(13) Furman vs. (4) Virginia -- Michael Greenstein, Dwayne Gladden, Jerry Heater
(12) Charleston vs. (5) San Diego State -- Kipp Kissinger, AJ Desai, Todd Austin
(12) Oral Roberts vs. (5) Duke -- Mike Reed, Tony Chiazza, Steve McJunkins
(13) Louisiana vs. (4) Tennessee -- Pat Adams, Jason Baker, Justin Porterfield

SACRAMENTO
(10) Utah State vs. (7) Missouri -- Earl Walton, Tommy Morrisey, Tommy Nunez
(15) Princeton vs. (2) Arizona -- Brian O’Connell, Kevin Brill, Rob Rorke
(10) Boise State vs. (7) Northwestern -- Michael Irving, Nathan Farrell, John Floyd
(15) UNC Asheville vs. (2) UCLA -- John Higgins, Jeb Hartness, Antinio Petty

DES MOINES
(16) Howard vs. (1) Kansas -- Tony Padilla, Byron Jarrett, Brian McNutt
(9) Illinois vs. (8) Arkansas -- Bert Smith, Brooks Wells, Sean Hull
(15) Colgate vs. (2) Texas -- Joe Lindsay, Randy Richardson, Amy Bonner
(10) Penn State vs. (7) Texas A&M -- Marques Pettigrew, Courtney Green, Chance Moore

Friday, 3/17/2023
COLUMBUS
(10) USC vs. (7) Michigan State -- Roger Ayers, Steve Anderson, Scott Brown
(15) Vermont vs. (2) Marquette -- Don Daily, Greg Evans, Jemel Spearman
(16) Fairleigh Dickinson vs. (1) Purdue -- Brian Dorsey, Clarence Armstrong, Chris Beaver
(9) FAU vs. (8) Memphis -- Lee Cassell, Bret Smith, Evon Burroughs

GREENSBORO
(14) Kennesaw State vs. (3) Xavier -- Jeff Clark, Rob Riley, Chuck Jones
(11) Pittsburgh vs. (6) Iowa State -- Gerry Pollard, Rob Kueneman, Mike Nance
(11) Providence vs. (6) Kentucky -- John Gaffney, Pat Evans, KB Burdett
(14) Montana State vs. (3) Kansas State -- Lamar Simpson, Greg Nixon, Chad Barlow

DENVER
(14) UC Santa Barbara vs. (3) Baylor -- Doug Sirmons, Deldre Carr, Will Howard
(11) NC State vs. (6) Creighton -- Larry Scirotto, Eric Curry, Tim Clougherty
(14) Grand Canyon vs. (3) Gonzaga -- Paul Szelc, Bill Ek, Michael Palou
(11) Arizona State vs. (6) TCU -- Ray Natili, Vladimir Voyard-Tadal, DG Nelson

ALBANY
(12) VCU vs. (5) Saint Mary’s -- DJ Carstensen, Brent Hampton, Nate Harris
(13) Iona vs. (4) UConn -- Jeff Anderson, Olandis Poole, Owen Shortt
(12) Drake vs. (5) Miami -- Doug Shows, Anthony Jordan, Tyler Kumpf
(13) Kent State vs. (4) Indiana -- Mark Schnur, Kelly Pfeifer, Keith Kimble


ROUND OF 32

Saturday, 3/18/2023
BIRMINGHAM
(9) Auburn vs. (1) Houston -- Ron Groover, Verne Harris, Darron George
(9) Maryland vs. (1) Alabama -- Terry Oglesby, Pat Driscoll, Bill Covington Jr

ORLANDO
(13) Furman vs. (5) San Diego State -- Pat Adams, Mike Reed, Tony Chiazza
(5) Duke vs. (4) Tennessee -- Kipp Kissinger, Michael Greenstein, AJ Desai

SACRAMENTO
(15) Princeton vs. (7) Missouri -- John Higgins, Michael Irving, Jeb Hartness
(7) Northwestern vs. (2) UCLA -- Earl Walton, Brian O’Connell, Kevin Brill

DES MOINES
(8) Arkansas vs. (1) Kansas -- Joe Lindsay, Marques Pettigrew, Courtney Green
(10) Penn State vs. (2) Texas -- Tony Padilla, Bert Smith, Byron Jarrett

Sunday, 3/19/2023
COLUMBUS
(7) Michigan State vs. (2) Marquette -- Brian Dorsey, Lee Cassell, Clarence Armstrong
(16) Fairleigh Dickinson vs. (9) FAU -- Roger Ayers, Don Daily, Steve Anderson

GREENSBORO
(11) Pittsburgh vs. (3) Xavier -- John Gaffney, Lamar Simpson, Greg Nixon
(6) Kentucky vs. (3) Kansas State -- Jeff Clark, Gerry Pollard, KB Burdett

DENVER
(6) Creighton vs. (3) Baylor -- Ray Natili, Paul Szelc, Eric Curry
(6) TCU vs. (3) Gonzaga -- Doug Sirmons, Larry Scirotto, Vladimir Voyard-Tadal

ALBANY
(5) Saint Mary’s vs. (4) UConn -- Doug Shows, Kelly Pfeifer, Keith Kimble
(5) Miami vs. (4) Indiana -- Brent Hampton, DJ Carstensen, Jeff Anderson


SWEET SIXTEEN

Thursday, 3/23/2023
NEW YORK
(7) Michigan State vs. (3) Kansas State -- Jeff Anderson, Jeb Hartness, Paul Szelc
(9) FAU vs. (4) Tennessee -- Larry Scirotto, Brian Dorsey, AJ Desai

LAS VEGAS
(8) Arkansas vs. (4) UConn -- Terry Oglesby, Lamar Simpson, Ray Natili
(3) Gonzaga vs. (2) UCLA -- Kipp Kissinger, Bert Smith, Gerry Pollard

Friday, 3/24/2023
LOUISVILLE
(5) San Diego State vs. (1) Alabama -- Don Daily, Tony Padilla, Marques Pettigrew
(15) Princeton vs. (6) Creighton -- Byron Jarrett, DJ Carstensen, Pat Driscoll

KANSAS CITY
(5) Miami vs. (1) Houston -- John Higgins, Brian O'Connell, Steve Anderson
(3) Xavier vs. (2) Texas -- Roger Ayers, Courtney Green, Tony Chiazza


ELITE EIGHT

Saturday, 3/25/2023
NEW YORK
(9) FAU vs. (3) Kansas State -- Doug Shows, Earl Walton, Doug Sirmons

LAS VEGAS
(4) UConn vs. (3) Gonzaga -- Keith Kimble, Mike Reed, John Gaffney

Sunday, 3/26/2023
LOUISVILLE
(6) Creighton vs. (5) San Diego State -- Michael Irving, Lee Cassell, Joe Lindsay

KANSAS CITY
(5) Miami vs. (2) Texas -- Ron Groover, Brent Hampton, Pat Adams


FINAL FOUR -- HOUSTON, TX

Saturday, 4/1/2023
(9) FAU vs. (5) San Diego State -- John Higgins, Kipp Kissinger, Bert Smith
(5) Miami vs. (4) UConn -- Roger Ayers, Jeff Anderson, Doug Sirmons

Monday, 4/3/2023
(5) San Diego State vs. (4) UConn -- Keith Kimble, Ron Groover, Terry Oglesby

Final Four Alternates: Mike Reed and Paul Szelc

Good job for Alfred. John Adams knew what he was talking about.

Peace

Worked my 1st D1 Conference game with him. It is criminal that he isn't a legit P5 guy.

Notable absences
 

Teddy V
James Breeding
Randy McCall
David Hall

Tony Henderson is injured.

No Breeding is quite a shock, without knowing if there's more to it.

The James Breeding one would be the most noticeable. But right or wrong, those other guys are a little older and might be the reason you see some new names. Not sure how many new guys, but I see a lot of names I have not seen before or recognized.

Peace

Notice the second round crew selections this morning in Orlando. Each member of the crews came from the six officials who worked the two games NOT involving the teams to which they are assigned in the second round.

Example:
There are four games at each first round site and eight teams.
Game 1 = Team A v Team B
Game 2 = Team C v Team D
Game 3 = Team E v Team F
Game 4 = Team G v Team H

Now the second round pairs the winners and in this fashion:
Game 5 = Game 1 v Game 2 (officials from Games 3&4)
Game 6 = Game 3 v Game 4 (officials from Games 1&2)

The officials were selected such that the crew for Game 5 is composed of officials who worked Game 3 or Game 4 and those officiating Game 6 worked Games 1 & 2 in the first round. This prevents an official from seeing the same team in Rounds 1 & 2. This has not been the case in the past. I’m curious if this will continue throughout the second round.

Note: the above selection structure is holding for the second set of Round of 32 games in Des Moines.

The pattern held for the entire day. No official saw the same team as in Round 1. Therefore, I expect this new policy to also govern the assignments for Sunday.

Personally, I like it and am glad that someone doing the assignments was sharp enough to employ it.

McCall out due to hamstring injury. Hall not selected because he just was not better than the ones who were. From what I was told, there were 3 officials selected for their first tournament appearance. Great for them.

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With KB Burdett on the Battle of the Wildcats, the trend is broken, as he had the Kentucky game Friday as well. I actually agree with NOT having this as a concrete policy. If 4 of the top 6 happened to be on the first 2 games (or the latter 2 games), then so be it, the top 6 should advance, regardless of whether or not they have a team they saw in the first round. Avoid it if possible, but shouldn't be a set policy if it doesn't allow the top 6 to advance.

It looks as though everyone who is working in the 2nd round worked a P5 conference tournament. Are there any exceptions?

Paul Szelc, not Kevin Brill on the Creighton-Baylor round of 32 game.

Three guys ended up seeing a team on both Friday and Sunday.

NCAA DI Men's Basketball Committee announces game officials for Sweet 16 and Elite 8
 

The list is out for the Sweet 16 and Elite 8

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...16-and-elite-8

Still wondering what happened to James Breeding? He worked the Final Four last year. I wonder if he could not work being hurt or some other issue.

Peace

Sweet 16 / Elite 8
 

Does anyone have any objections either way? For the most part the committee got it right. I know all 40 are better than I am....

Figured it had to be an injury or something personal. Great guy hope he gets back to where he needs to be.

Peace

There was an article late in the season which said that Teddy V was still on the NCAA persona non grata list for the NCAA Div. I Tournament and yet the NCAA assigned him to an NIT game.

MTD, Sr.

Hmm... I was thinking that the Elite 8 officials were chosen from the Sweet 16 officials, but if there are 40 officials on this list, that isn't possible. It looks like the officials on the list are only working one game, Sweet 16 (8*3=24) or Elite 8 (4*3=12), with one alternate at each location for 40 total.

Is that the normal process each year? And then next week, are the final four and championship officials chosen from the 12 that work the Elite 8, or from the 36 total officials working games this weekend?

The crews have already been assigned for each of the Sweet 16 and Elite 8 games with 1 alternate at each site for sets of games.

The Final 4 officials will be chosen from the pool of 36 that work the floor.

Of the 36 on the floor, 29 worked last season. Of those 7 not working, at least 5 are injured or retired. It seems almost impossible to break through to that level.

Likely the same with the Final Four. Breeding and Boroski are gone, so at least 2 new people will work, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see 6-7 returners from last year.

Excellent info and something to think about for those on this forum who are assignors at the HS level. How much do you go with your best versus giving someone else an opportunity?

Opportunity Knocking ...
 

My local high school board made a big change a few years ago. Previous to the change, our local members were allowed to officiate in both the boys and girls state tournament (if selected by both gender coaches). The change forced local members (if selected by both gender coaches) to pick only one gender for the tournament.

Lots of yelling and screaming at local meetings, but I believe that it worked out for the best, offering more post season opportunities for some of our younger, but still very skilled, officials.

The state made a major tournament change this past year. Instead of tournament officials being selected by coaches votes (as its been for over forty years), tournament officials would be selected by local boards. My local board utilized our assignment commissioner, our assistant assignment commissioner, and the co-chairs of our evaluation committee to make such selections.

I recently observed twenty-two different local officials in eleven state tournament games. Everyone "belonged" there.

Well, they claim the best get the opportunity each year, not based on what opportunity you deserve or how many Regional Finals you worked and then you get to the Final Four. Is that what really happens? Not sure, but that is what they tell folks.

Peace

Conference supervisors have to submit their watch list prior to the season.

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At the high school level, I think giving these opportunities is a key part of recruitment and retention. Our state tournaments have 45 slots on the boys side and 45 on the girls side (everyone works one game). A rough counting is that about 10 officials on each side were new this year, paired with 2 that have had the experience before. I was honored with a boys assignment this year and had two first time partners who did a great job. Personally, I think we need to continue to give these chances or we will continue to lose talented people.

At the college level I'm guessing that's not an issue, but evaluating officials is so subjective in practice that there's no way they couldn't mix things up and bring in a new group each year. I find it "safe" and lazy to not do so, to be honest.

There is money, legacy, reputation, and standards on the line at the college level. Just look at the Final Four this year, some brand-new teams. You do not want to have a bunch of people who have no experience or cannot handle the stage or have not been on that stage working the big games. And unlike high school, have every call and situation scrutinized more than it is now. We can debate over who is the best and who should be in a place. But if these guys are the top guys in the biggest conferences every year, I see why they get opportunities multiple times.

Peace

FF Selecitons
 

Jeff Anderson
Roger Ayers
Ron Groover
John Higgins
Keith Kimble
Kipp Kissinger
Terry Oglesby
Mike Reed
Doug Sirmons
Bert Smith
Paul Szelc

Metaphorically, at least, there is not much diversity, equity, and inclusion in the assignment of Final Four officials.

All excellent officials, no doubt. But we have some teams we’ve never seen in the National Semifinals before. I guess it would be nice to see some officials we’ve never seen there before, too.


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I was surprised not to see: Earl Walton, Courtney Green and Jeb Hartness given a shot at the FF🤷*♂️🤷*♂️

I do not think there are any first-timers on this list. And I do not think that there are but maybe 2 that have never worked a Championship game as well. I think Mike Reed and Bert Smith might be the only two on this list (and I could be wrong) that have not worked a title game.

Also a first-time coordinator, so he might have something to prove as well with the quality of the staff. Not a lightweight on this list.

Peace

Szelc and Reed are both first-timers:

https://www.ncaa.com/news/basketball...023-mens-final

I saw the article after I posted. I swore that Paul Szelc worked a FF before. I would have thought Bert Smith had not been there but that was fuzzy. Glad Bert is back from his health issues he had a few years ago in the Elite 8.

I am still very disappointed Lamar Simpson does not get a look. Don't get it, but there are things they know I do not know.

Peace

So we know who our alternates are.

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That wasn’t the case a couple of years ago as the first timers were on the floor. We will have to see what they do this time.

Smith was an alternate last year. I think that was his first Final Four.

This was last year:

Saturday, 4/2/2022
(2) Villanova vs. (1) Kansas -- Keith Kimble, Doug Sirmons, James Breeding
(8) North Carolina vs. (2) Duke -- Roger Ayers, Bo Boroski, Tony Padilla

Monday, 4/4/2022
(8) North Carolina vs. (1) Kansas -- Ron Groover, Jeff Anderson, Terry Oglesby

Final Four Alternates: Bert Smith and Joe Lindsay

So returning from last year: Kimble, Sirmons, Ayres, Groover, Anderson, Ogelsby, Smith. Not there last year: Higgins, Kissinger, Reed, Szelc.

Expect to see for Monday: Groover, Kimble, and Oglesby; Reed as the Alternate.

11 women in the NCAAW Final Four.

Yeah, and typically there’s at least a couple males. Especially when one of the coaches is a male. Guess they wanted to celebrate the Title IX anniversary.

Wow, really?

Peace

I have not picked up on this yet, but who is the alternate tonight?

Peace

Already stated earlier.