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Report: 6 referees sent home from NCAA Tournament due to positive COVID test and contact tracing
By Adam Spencer
Published:
With the COVID-19 pandemic still in national headlines, the NCAA Tournament faces a precarious task.
The 68 teams, along with officials, staff and coaches, have descended upon Indianapolis, where they’ll try to get in a full tournament over the next 3 weeks.
But, on Monday, there was some bad news. Per Jeff Goodman of Stadium, 6 officials — including Ted “TV Teddy” Valentine, John Higgins and others — were sent home after 1 positive COVID-19 test and subsequent contact tracing:
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
The NCAA brought several dozen refs to Indianapolis to officiate the tournament, but these losses will be felt if they can’t come back in the next couple of weeks.
We’ll see if the rest of the tests prior to the tournament go off without any additional positives.
Adam is a daily fantasy sports (DFS) and sports betting expert. A 2012 graduate of the University of Missouri, Adam now covers all 14 SEC football teams. He is the director of DFS, evergreen and newsletter content across all Saturday Football brands.
