John Higgins, considered one of the top referees in college basketball, was one of four officials pulled off this past week's games, and he won't work the Final Four after he was part of a crew that mishandled a call in a first-round game between Auburn and the College of Charleston.
Higgins has officiated seven Final Fours, including the past three. However, NCAA officiating coordinator J.D. Collins told ESPN that this is a part of providing accountability.
"If an official errs on a rule, misses a game-deciding play or his miss-call ratio is too high, they are subject to not advancing in the NCAA tournament," Collins told ESPN on Sunday night.
Higgins was actually the alternate official in the Auburn-Charleston game, in which the incorrect Auburn player was allowed to shoot free throws to seal the game. The three refs on the court were Doug Shows, Dwayne Gladden and Kelly Self.
Chuma Okeke, a 69 percent free throw shooter, should have been the one at the line in the closing seconds. Instead, Tigers guard Jared Harper, an 82 percent free throw shooter, was allowed to go to the line and made one of two shots to increase the lead to four points.
Collins provided a statement to CBS shortly after the game:
"The official called the foul, briefly turned his head towards the scorer's table and then turned his head back towards the basket where the foul occurred. When he did so, Auburn's Jared Harper (#1) was holding the ball because [Chuma] passed it to him just as he grabbed the rebound. The official pointed to Harper, identifying him as the shooter. Had any of the officials been aware of this, or had anyone alerted the officiating crew to the fact that the wrong player was at the foul line, the officials would have been able to review the play and determine [Chuma] should have been the shooter."