2011 NCAA Tournament Officials (Master Thread)

[Adam]

We were both right, I couldn't remember how many days were required.

[Rich]

"A source said the 10 preselected officials with Final Four assignments are:

John Cahill
Pat Driscoll
Verne Harris
John Higgins
Les Jones
Jamie Luckie
Antinio Petty
Doug Shows
Michael Stephens
Mark Whitehead"

This from a blog post ripping Jim Burr:

Source: Burr will not work Final Four - CBSSports.com

[mbyron]

What?!? Where's Teddy V?

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

"A source said the 10 preselected officials with Final Four assignments are:

John Cahill
Pat Driscoll
Verne Harris
John Higgins
Les Jones
Jamie Luckie
Antinio Petty
Doug Shows
Michael Stephens
Mark Whitehead"

This from a blog post ripping Jim Burr:

Source: Burr will not work Final Four - CBSSports.com

If true, I'm guessing Petty will be the alternate.

And considering Burr didn't work the 2nd weekend why is CBSSports.com reporting Burr's absense from the Final Four as some kind of breaking news?

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

"A source said the 10 preselected officials with Final Four assignments are:

John Cahill
Pat Driscoll
Verne Harris
John Higgins
Les Jones
Jamie Luckie
Antinio Petty
Doug Shows
Michael Stephens
Mark Whitehead"

This from a blog post ripping Jim Burr:

Source: Burr will not work Final Four - CBSSports.com

The "source" must have been someone with access to the NCAA Central Hub. This is in fact the list of officials who will be working the Final Four. Mark Whitehead's 2nd Final Four, his first being way back in 1999. I doubt any official has had a gap like that before. Good on him.

[tjones1]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

"A source said the 10 preselected officials with Final Four assignments are:

John Cahill
Pat Driscoll
Verne Harris
John Higgins
Les Jones
Jamie Luckie
Antinio Petty
Doug Shows
Michael Stephens
Mark Whitehead"

This from a blog post ripping Jim Burr:

Source: Burr will not work Final Four - CBSSports.com

Those are correct.

Originally Posted by mbyron

What?!? Where's Teddy V?

He worked the National Championship last year, I believe.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by tjones1

Those are correct.



...

This is what we would call an "echo" whistle.

[rulesmaven]

According to yahoo sports, at least, the NCAA itself revealed the 10 who drew the assignments; the article implies it was done to increase transparency in light of the public discussion of officiating in the last few weeks. Guys in stripes have own bracket - College Basketball - Rivals.com

The weirdest part of the article is this:

"Game assignments for the first semifinal will be announced an hour before tip-off of that game. Assignments for the second semifinal will be announced at halftime of the first game, and the officials for the national championship game will be announced an hour before that contest. No official works more than one game during the weekend."

Once the crew gets announced for the second semi-final at halftime of the first, you'd have to be pretty stupid not to be able to figure out who the crew for the final will be. Isn't it a pretty signficant departure for the NCAA to have the names of the championship officials out there in the public for 48 hours? I know that traditionally, they are not even supposed to be on site until after the semis. Though it's not always a particularly closely guarded secret, I thought they were worried about public perception that coaches would coach to a particular official or crazy conspiracy theories about vegas dudes with paper bags of money.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by rulesmaven

...
..."Game assignments for the first semifinal will be announced an hour before tip-off of that game. Assignments for the second semifinal will be announced at halftime of the first game, and the officials for the national championship game will be announced an hour before that contest. No official works more than one game during the weekend."
...

That's the actual text from the announcement that John Adams posted on the NCAA Central Hub, the article is quoting it word-for-word.

[26 Year Gap]

So, it appears that one guy will be the "alternate". Unless, someone works a semi and the final.

[Raymond]

Originally Posted by 26 Year Gap

So, it appears that one guy will be the "alternate". Unless, someone works a semi and the final.

Each official is only assigned one game. And I'm pretty sure the officials who work Saturday have to vacate the venue before Monday's game. You work then you go home. The alternate sticks around for all 3 games.

[Judtech]

Originally Posted by rulesmaven

According to yahoo sports, at least, the NCAA itself revealed the 10 who drew the assignments; the article implies it was done to increase transparency in light of the public discussion of officiating in the last few weeks. Guys in stripes have own bracket - College Basketball - Rivals.com

The weirdest part of the article is this:

"Game assignments for the first semifinal will be announced an hour before tip-off of that game. Assignments for the second semifinal will be announced at halftime of the first game, and the officials for the national championship game will be announced an hour before that contest. No official works more than one game during the weekend."

Once the crew gets announced for the second semi-final at halftime of the first, you'd have to be pretty stupid not to be able to figure out who the crew for the final will be. Isn't it a pretty signficant departure for the NCAA to have the names of the championship officials out there in the public for 48 hours? I know that traditionally, they are not even supposed to be on site until after the semis. Though it's not always a particularly closely guarded secret, I thought they were worried about public perception that coaches would coach to a particular official or crazy conspiracy theories about vegas dudes with paper bags of money.

Your Vegas theory is actually pretty accurate. Knowing who the officials are for a game of this level could shift the line significantly. I have 'friends' in the 'gaming industry' and this has been a concern for them. It is not as important during "regular" games because the amount of money isn't as significant as the money on the Final Four games. Ironically, he said the same can not be said about the Super Bowl. Partly b/c the money differential between a slate of regular season games versus "The Big Game" is not that large. I would hazard a guess that knowing the officials working the weekend but not which game would not impact the line that much.
Take it for what it is worth! So far this tournament has been financially advantageous for me!! The same can not be said about my bracket LOL

[rulesmaven]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

Each official is only assigned one game. And I'm pretty sure the officials who work Saturday have to vacate the venue before Monday's game. You work then you go home. The alternate sticks around for all 3 games.

Interesting -- the officials for the first semi used to be allowed two tickets to the second semi, and all of the officials working the semis used to be allowed two tickets for the final if they wanted them. But, of course, they had to pay their own way and didn't get per diem other than for the work day. Not sure many ever did it, but I don't know.

[rulesmaven]

Originally Posted by BadNewsRef

That's the actual text from the announcement that John Adams posted on the NCAA Central Hub, the article is quoting it word-for-word.

That's really bizarre. Does he not understand that by releasing the names of the 10 officials, everyone in the world will know the three game officials for Monday on Saturday? Why the charade of waiting until an hour before game time on Monday to announce?

[canuckrefguy]

Couple first timers in Petty and Stephens. Nice to see some new blood.

As for all the Burr-bashing. In the infamous Rutgers game - it was neither Burr nor Tim Higgins that were the primary official in what I think are the biggest f-ups in the dying minutes of that game: (1) the obvious rebounding foul that was passed on (C on the play was up above the 3pt line when the foul occurred off a missed FT), but positioned way too high IMO), and another foul on the hail mary pass at the end where the Rutgers guy is basically knocked down. Earl Walton was the closest official on both those plays - but Higgins and Burr got all the vitriol. Not defending any of them - but Walton kind of got off scott-free in the court of public opinion IMO.