Final Four Officials
 

I saw this list posted elsewhere:

Pat Adams, Roger Ayers, Joe DeRosa, Tom Eades, Verne Harris, Les Jones, Jamie Luckie, Doug Shows, Mike Stuart, & Mark Whitehead

People will certainly have differing opinions, but my take is that isn't a bad list.
I'm pleasantly surprised to not see Hightower, Valentine, or Hall.
Time for others to have the big stage.

One has to be the standby official, and of that list I believe the only two who were never an on-court or standby official for a Final Four are Roger Ayers and Joe DeRosa (of course he has done quite a few NBA Finals games).

I would think the most well known active official who has never done a Final Four is Bryan Kersey.

Of the current officials, you are probably correct. However, the recently retired Steve Welmer would top that list if we included everyone.

One of the articles which I read attributed this to the fact that John Adams doesn't favor guys who work so many games. Welmer worked 124 one season and Kersey took over doing the most after Welmer stopped, working 100 games.

Here are a couple of articles on the selection of the officials to the tournament and the Final Four:

?It was a dream come true? - NCAA.com

College basketball referee at the top of his game | Kansan.com

From Sweet 16 to Elite Eight: What Teams and Officials Advance | Bleacher Report

I wish that mentality trickled down to the HS level so that instead of seeing the same people selected year after year after year, other capable officials would get an opportunity.

Of course the list of those going aren't a bunch of guys who haven't gone before -- seems from an above post (which I do't care to check) that 8 of 10 have been there before and DeRosa is a special case (since he's worked in the NBA Finals). I'm sure there are a lot of officials who have never been who would do a fantastic job. Too bad more of them haven't gone.

Tom Eades is one of my favorites to watch. I sat on the first row right behind the table at a game a couple of years ago. He is pretty funny.

Eades: Funny how? What's funny about it?

zm: You got it all wrong.

Eades: He's a big boy. He knows what he said. Funny, how?

zm: Just, you know. You're funny.

Eades: Let me understand this. Maybe I'm a little fu**ed up. But I'm funny how? Funny like a clown? I amuse you? I'm here to fu**ing amuse you?
What do you mean, funny? How am I funny?

zm: You know, how you tell a story.

Eades: I don't know. You said it. You said I'm funny. How am I funny? What the f**k is so funny about me? Tell me what's funny.

He was also on the crew that allowed Ohio to shoot unmerited free throws in overtime vs. UNC. Personally I didn't expect anybody from that crew to move on after that. Not to say that officials who make mistakes shouldn't advance, just that the crew basically kicked a rule at a crucial point in the game. Considering officials get suspended by conference supervisors for kicking rules I was assuming such a mistake would prevent one from advancing in the NCAA tournament.

One of my favorite movie scenes ever!

I think Michael Stephens is worthy of making that list. Has Pat Adams been to the final four before? James Breeding would be a good one too.

Why do you think that John Adams or anyone involved with the selection of the NCAA tournament officials is aware that such a mistake was made?

It is entirely possible that the NCAA observer missed it.
Did someone send an email? Do you think that those folks read this site?
Have you seen an article in the press mentioning it?

Terry Wymer deserves his first final four!

Eades or Ayres
 

Mike and Roger kinda came up together via Fred Barakat in the late 90's....

Who do you guys think is better.........

I think they have some similarities...probably because they came up together. That old regime (RIP Fred) had a long-term vision philosophy. It is nice to see those two and others thought so highly of.

Very well put........Don't know if you went to any of Fred's camps but they were some of if not the best camps ever offered......

Eades by a nose....

I like Roger, and I witnessed him missing Louisiana Lafayette beating WKU with 6 players in OT

Why do I think John Adams should be aware? I don't know, maybe because it was one of only 2 games being played in that timeslot and the game was in overtime and the other game had ended and the 2 late games hadn't started yet. So I kinda figured all eyes would be on that game at that particular point in time.

And since the announcers and studio crew never once mentioned it it doesn't surprise me that other media outlets were unaware as well. Of course I didn't know media attention is what validates whether or not a mistake was made. :rolleyes:

They are best friends. And they run a camp together, or at least they used to.

Their personalities are different, Mike is more of a personable type while I believe Roger has a law enforcement background and that carries onto the court.

I'm a little surprised not to see Mike Stephens on that list. He went to the semis last year and I thought the feedback on him was excellent. I thought he would go back with a chance to work the final.

I went to two in Indy - Fred's last two he ran.

Is this THE list or is it speculation?

It was on Facebook, that's not good enough for you? :cool:

It's The Honest Truth ...
 

If it's on the internet then it just has to be true. They would never allow something on the Internet that wasn't true? Right?

If it's good enough for Abraham Lincoln....

And confirmed n Wikipedia!

It is still entirely possible that Adams and his observers didn't pick up on the mistake just like all of the others you mention.
Obviously they can't incorporate something into their evaluations of which they aren't aware, despite the fact that they should be aware of it.

Another noticable missing: Ed Corbett. Of course, he was involved with the UNC-Asheville/Syracuse mess.

The fact that Ayers, Eades and Luckie all worked at least 95 games this season and are in the top 4 for number of games worked seems to disprove that theory.

Adams was in Atlanta at the Georgia Dome that night. I seriously doubt he saw that incident.

It's Doug Show time

Saw him at NU about 3-4 years ago and was very impressed.

He's got the whole package

Kentucky vs Louisville: Les Jones, Doug Shows, Joe DeRosa

Ohio St vs Kansas: Jamie Luckie, Tom Eades, Patrick Adams

Looks like: Jones,, Shows, and DeRosa first game
Eades. Luckie and Adams second game Ayers table

Monday night

Harris, Stuart and Whitehead for the big one!:

Les Jones is one of the nicest and most qualified officials out there!Also runs a grat camp.

Wow, not a good traveling call against Withey of Kansas just now. I didn't see traveling live, or on the replay.

It was close, but I didn't see it either. Thought maybe he had the ball before the hop, but I couldn't be sure even on DVR replay.

I didn't like the call either

Tough one. Camera angle doesn't give us best look at his feet at time of gaining possession. If Luckie thought his right foot was the pivot it looks like lifted it and put it back down.