Officiating: The Final Ingredient For Success Hank Nichols, NCAA Officials Coordinator
Four ingredients are necessary to have a good basketball game take place. First, the game must be played in an arena with the proper fans, atmosphere and playing area. Second, the game must have good players. Third, the game must have good coached guiding the players. Fourth, the game must have good officials.
The EA SPORTS Maui Invitational always had great fans and atmosphere, excellent players and outstanding coaches. In addition, tournament administrators realized that good officiating was an absolute must for top-level teams to be comfortable and accept invitations to play on Maui. So it set out to maintain annually a cross-section of the nation's leading officials through regular consultation with conference supervisors.
Most observers agree that the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational is the best early-season tournament and among the nation's elite overall. Obviously the NCAA Tournament that decides the National Championship stands by itself as the most important and ranks as the nation's top college basketball tournament. One of the big reasons the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational has attained elite status is that each year the 12 assigned officials are among the best in the country, with several having officiated one or more NCAA Final Four games and/or NCAA National Championship games. The vast majority of the officials who have been assigned to the EA SPORTS Maui Invitational tournament over the past decade have officiated in the NCAA Tournament for many years.
1993: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 22 Final Four assignments
1994: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 2 Final Four assignments
1995: 10 NCAA Tournament officials, 26 Final Four assignments
1996: 10 NCAA Tournament officials, 14 Final Four assignments
1997: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 18 Final Four assignments
1998: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 8 Final Four assignments
1999: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 9 Final Four assignments
2000: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 8 Final Four assignments
2001: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 9 Final Four assignments
2002: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 18 Final Four assignments*
2003: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 15 Final Four assignments
2004: 10 NCAA Tournament officials, 9 Final Four assignments
2005: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 24 Final Four assignments
2006: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 36 Final Four assignments
2007: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 15 Final Four assignments
2008: 11 NCAA Tournament officials, 27 Final Four assignments
Ed Hightower (Maui '05, '06, '07) is a nine-time Final Four official and was voted the Naismith Division I Men's College Basketball Official of the Year in 1992. Hightower also received the National Associated of Sports Official's Gold Whistle Award in 1995. This award was given for Hightower's contributions to his community and to officials at all levels.
Scott Thornley Maui ('07) was recently named the recipient of the 2008 Naismith Men's College Basketball Official of the Year. He has officiated every March Madness since 1983 as well as two National Championships. In total, he has refereed 23 NCAA Tournaments.
Curtis Shaw (Maui '06) officiated 102 games, which ranked fourth among all college basketball referees in 2007-08.
Tony Greene (Maui '04 and '06) has officiated four Final Fours.
*Note: Two officials with a combined 14 Final Four assignments were injured just prior to coming to Maui to officiate the 2002 tournament and had to cancel, reducing the number of Final Four assignments represented to four.
The EA SPORTS Maui Invitational has been elevated to a position among college basketball's elite tournaments because it has all of the ingredients for good basketball: enthusiastic fans, terrific players, outstanding coaches and a history of officiating at its finest.
