Women Debate The Need For A Third Official Ncaa Tournament Just Not The Same With Two For Teams Used To A Threesome

Someone’s missing again from the NCAA women’s tournament.

The third referee, a fixture in some conferences during the regular season, isn’t used during the tournament. Many coaches and officials say the quality of basketball suffers.

“The game needs three officials,” said Tennessee coach Pat Summitt, who’s taking her eighth team to a Final Four. “I think it’s to a point where it’s obvious.”

Three-official crews are used by the Southeastern, Atlantic Coast, Pacific-10, Big Ten, Big Eight and Southern conferences. The Big East used three-person crews in its postseason tourney and will switch to three next season.

Teams from those conferences had to adjust to two referees in the NCAA Tournament. The NCAA’s position has been that two-person crews are appropriate because that is what the majority of conferences use.

What’s the difference when a game is called by two officials rather than three?

“All the things going on the back side of the floor are missed,” said Texas Tech coach Marsha Sharp. “That’s really why the third person is put in. All the things on the backside - rebounding, lane control, all those things. Some 3-point shots have been missed through the tournament because they have to control all those other things.”

Stanford coach Tara VanDerveer said players and coaches try to adjust to only having two officials, but she prefers three.

“I feel very strongly about the importance of a well-called game to get away from the trend towards extremely physical basketball,’ VanDerveer said.

Sharon Gaunt, the SEC’s assistant commissioner for women’s officials, monitored officials at the Mideast Regional in Knoxville. She cited one example where the ball went out of bounds in front of Tennessee’s bench in the semifinal with Western Kentucky.

The referee under the basket didn’t see who last touched the ball, and the other referee was on the opposite side. The result was a jump ball under the alternate possession arrow rule.

“There’s no way the official could’ve made that call,” Gaunt said. “… He could’ve guessed, but you don’t guess.”

Many conferences use two-official crews to save money.

The Ohio Valley Conference, where women’s basketball remains a non-revenue sport, has nine teams in Tennessee, Kentucky and Missouri. A referee is paid $150 a game plus a travel allowance with 16 league games a season.

“Not that it hasn’t been discussed in this league,” said assistant commissioner Ron English. “It certainly has - not only by the officials supervisor, but at the athletics directors level as well. The end result of the discussions are … that it’s not worth it.”

The decision is simple for Joan Courteau, Southern Conference officials supervisor.

“You have to spend money to make money,” Courteau said from her home in Minnesota.

“Whatever your officials budget is, if you’ve got to slide on your budget somewhere it ought not be in officials. That’s what you work for. That’s what you practice for. It’s just whether you want to be the best situation for your players or a mediocre situation.”

The issue was raised at last year’s Final Four in Richmond and will be discussed again this weekend at Minneapolis where officials supervisors will be meeting.

Summitt and Sharp talked of lobbying the NCAA, which may take up the issue in May during budget meetings.

“We need to speak out on the issue,” Summitt said. “To me, it hasn’t been the same (in the tournament).”