Junker, Tom's post was from last season when he lived in the DC area and worked an Oak Hill game. Tom was not in last night's game. He lives waaaaay down south now-a-days.

I'm thinking JRut may know who last night's officials were (and no, not just because they were all African-American :p ).

Yup, you're right. I didn't read it carefully. I still don't think high school games belong on national TV though.

No, and I wish I would have remembered it was on so I could have recorded it.

I can tell you this, the officials were in a tough game. Calling a game like that is the next thing to calling a D1 game. Not only a D1 game, a D1 game with a lot of fans in the stands.

I did record it. The Simeon vs. Oak Hill contest.

The officials were: Paul Mosley, Mau Cason, and Ruben Norris according to the ESPN broadcast.

I don't know any of them.

I know all of them. :D

Peace

I will say this about the officials.

Paul Mosley
He is one of the best officials I have ever seen when it comes to his body of work. He has worked in the CBA at one time and has worked 4 Class AA (big schools in Illinois) State Titles, with his last being last season. He has worked more local TV games than just about anyone I can think of. When I attended Dale Kelley's camp this summer, there were officials that knew who Paul was or worked with him. If there is a big game in Chicago, someone calls Paul to work it. I know he has worked a couple of those EA Sports Round Ball Shootouts that is usually on national TV and with some of the countries best D1 and Pro prospects playing in the game.

Mau Cason
I do not know as much about "Mau Mau" personally other than he works a lot of college ball as well as games in the city of Chicago. He has worked 3 Class AA State Finals, multiple Chicago Public League playoff games and likely did one or two when guys worked two man only in the post season. He does help some with assigning for the Chicago Public League but that involves over 70 schools and has worked CPL schools for years.

Ruben Norris
The oldest official out of the three working the game. I believe he is in his mid to late 60s and he is in better shape than most officials across the state. He once worked in the Big Ten and currently works in some just about all the local area D3 and D2 college in the surrounding areas. At one time he was the NBA evaluator in Chicago (he might still be in that position, I just have not talked to him about this in a couple of years). He has evaluated me at a couple of college camps I have attended and is very fair with is evaluation but firm.

All of these guys are Chicago Officiating Legends. I cannot think of three officials more qualified to work this game in the area with the national coverage. These guys have done more in part of their career than I will probably ever accomplish unless I get the D1 level soon. I did not see the game at all but I worked with Paul the next night (which he was paid more money btw). I would also like to say unless they fly in 3 officials you are not going to get people that are not from the area. The same could be said of other games ESPN has had and Oak Hill always had to play with officials that were from the area of the game site. Unless ESPN is giving a bigger cut of money, I think these guys were the best choice. I can only think of maybe one or two other guys that likely could have handled this environment. I am not sure I could have handled it if asked.

Peace

Sure you could. When the jump ball goes up it's just another game. Just like rec league, only taller, faster and more skilled, and with better cameras. Piece of cake.

Thanks for the insights on the officials. It was an interesting game.

Thanks for post the info, Rut. I found it an insightful read.

I will pick one nit. The last two seasons Oak Hill has come out and played Westchester in the L.A. area. They have insisted on NOT having the local SoCal guys ref the game. They used officials from Las Vegas instead.

tomegun can confirm this.

Well I do not know who they would have brought in. As I said one of the officials was paid less to work that game then the game he worked the next night. So that tells you what they think of our ability as officials. If that was such an issue, then Oak Hill should have put in the contract to bring outside official. Not sure where the officials would have come from, but you would have had to pay more what they paid the officials for that game to get any good officials completely outside of the area to work that game.

Peace

I'm guessing that the team from Huntington, WV will now be #1. They are pretty good - with OJ Mayo (#1 player) and Patrick Patterson (#12 player) leading the way. Add Chris Early to the mix who's already signed at Oklahoma. Imagine how good they'd be if Bill Walker (K State) had any HS eligibility left. Who'd a thought a team from WV would have been the best team in the country?

I'm sure it makes Randy Moss and Jason Williams proud. Isn't the WV team coming on ESPN within the next few weeks?

End of January - play Artesia, CA (sp) at Duke. I think Coach K wants Patterson pretty bad.

Funny you mention Randy and Jason - both are pretty much jerks. Their high school team had 5 pro athletes and couldn't win the state tournament!

Who were the other 3 guys on the team?