Multiple officials who were supposed to work the NCAA Tournament have reportedly been sent packing.
According to Stadium, six officials have been sent home because of contact tracing and a positive test. The officials hit up a restaurant while waiting for their hotel rooms to be ready and one of them tested positive upon returning. (RELATED: David Hookstead Is The True King In The North When It Comes To College Football)
The Indiana Department of Health “deemed” the officials unable to work the event, and all were sent home because of the positive case and contact tracing. The NCAA originally brought 60 officials to the tournament instead of the usual 100 because of the ongoing pandemic.
BREAKING: 6 top referees – including Ted Valentine, John Higgins and Roger Ayers – have been sent home from Indy due to one positive test and contact tracing, sources told @stadium. They went to dinner after hotel rooms not ready.
STORY: https://t.co/SPh4qF5Yay
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanHoops) March 15, 2021
In case anyone needed more proof that the situation with March Madness could take a dive at any time, you really shouldn’t need much more proof than this.
One positive test took out six total refs. Now, the NCAA is down to 54, which is almost half of the number that would work a normal tournament.
Do I blame the guys for hitting up a restaurant while waiting for their rooms to get ready? No, but you just have to understand the risks of the situation.
If a guy tests positive and you get dragged into the contact tracing, then you’re also going to get booted. The NCAA just isn’t going to take any chances.
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Hopefully, we don’t have any further issues once everyone gets settled in. The last thing we need is more people being sent home.