Burr???Welmer???

[biz]

Now I know that Steve Welmer is obviously not highly thought of by the NCAA (see the fact that he has never worked a Final Four and rarely works beyond the first weekend), but Jim Burr does not appear to be working in this year's tournament.

That's right Jim (freaking) Burr...Hank Nichols, you do remember assigning him to work 15 Final Fours, right? How do you not give him a game? He is obviously available, he worked NIT games last week (along with Welmer).

I have to believe that Mr. Burr was ranked pretty high by the commissioner's he worked for. In fact he worked the Big East tournament final with Bob Donato and John Cahill who both got assignments in the NCAA tourney.

Doing some further research there are two other prominent officials who have worked deep in the tourney in the past who did not get any assignments this year: John Higgins, and Steve Olson. Two very respected officials who I am very surprised aren't at the "Big Dance."

Any info or ideas on the reasons for these apparent snubs? Could it be the coach's box/bench decorum POE????