The NCAA has a headache on its hands after six referees were sent home due to a positive COVID-19 test and the resulting contact tracing.
According to Jeff Goodman of Stadium, six officials, including Ted Valentine, will not work the tournament as a result of the test. The referees were to arrive in Indianapolis by Sunday night and were told not to leave their hotel rooms once checked in unless they were going to the arena. However, the officials were told upon arriving that their rooms were not ready, and they were instead allowed to leave to go out to dinner downtown.
The referees then took COVID-19 tests upon returning to the hotel, and one of the six tested positive. The positive result was confirmed with two more positive results on Monday morning. As the six officials ate dinner together without masks, all of them were sent home and will not be allowed to work the tournament.
Along with Valentine, John Higgins and Roger Ayers were among the officials sent home. That trio have worked a combined 17 Final Fours in their careers, with Higgins leading the group with eight.
Valentine didn’t work the 2018 tournament either, but for entirely different reasons. Fans probably won’t be sorry to see him miss out, but hopefully the standard of officiating in the tournament isn’t seriously impacted.
