It is not often that we give praise to the officials in college basketball, or really any sport for that matter. I am here to change that narrative with a post dedicated to Roger Ayers during March Madness.
The often-praised and well-liked referee pulled a very classy move during the closing moments of a blowout on Friday night.
Ayers, a former firefighter, began his officiating career with youth league and high school games in the Roanoke Valley of Virginia approximately 25 years ago. He got his first opportunity to officiate a college basketball game in the early 2010s. The NCAA called him up to the Final Four in 2015.
There is a severe referee shortage across the entire United Staes on all levels of all sports. People don’t want to deal with the ruthless criticism of parents at youth league games or in high school. They certainly don’t want to be the subject of controversy for a bad call in college or in the pros. Social media makes it a thankless job that rarely results in praise.
Ayers breaks that mold. He was voted as the “best” official in college basketball almost every year since 2017. Coaches like him. Players like him. Fans like him.
The latter is especially true after Ayers stopped play during the NCAA Tournament on Friday night. Liberty was getting smacked by Oregon with less than 60 seconds left to go. Flames guard JC Shirer Jr. was waiting to check into the game but the pace of play was not going to allow him to do so.
Shirer, a redshirt sophomore, averaged less than five minutes per game in nine appearances throughout the regular season. His head coach wanted to give him the opportunity to play in the NCAA Tournament. It was not looking likely until Roger Ayers stepped up in a big way.
He stopped the game and pretended to wipe up a wet spot, which allowed for the substitution.
There will be a lot of negative moments involving officials that will go viral over the next few weeks. Someone, somewhere is going to make a call that sets the internet on fire. I am probably going to write about said call when it happens. With that in mind, I wanted to be sure to highlight something more positive. Shoutout to Roger Ayers. He’s one of the good ones— if not the best one.