Notable absences (NCAA officials)

[rulesmaven]

I watched Valentine in person last night in Glendale in the Mizzou Memphis. Very solid game. Tough game, too. Both teams were essentially driving in the paint all game long. There were two technicals, and they needed two video reviews. I think Valentine may have had 5 of the first 6 calls of the game -- five fouls and a violation. Very demonstrative to start, but then he settled down. I think those guys were probably a bit winded by the second half. That game needed an athletic crew. I bet there were 80 free throws shot in that game.

Interesting watching games in a football stadium. They have massive screens. It looked like right before Calipari got whacked in the second half, he said, "fu*k you, I don't care if you throw me out. Fu*k you." I was surprised he got the second one out.

The crew before them in the CT/Purdue game didn't have the best night. Solid, but they kicked a few. Calling a game in an environment where there is a 200 foot screen showing replays of BI call seems like a pretty tough gig.

EDIT: Sorry -- this was meant as a response to the Valentine post above, which I neglected to quote.