Referee Removed From NCAA Tournament Game Due to 'Background Conflict'

The official holds a masters degree from Chattanooga.

Chattanooga v NC State / Lance King/GettyImages

NC State beat Chattanooga, 64-45, in the fist round of the NCAA women's basketball tournament. The Wolfpack took the lead midway through the first quarter and never looked back so the game lacked the usual March Madness drama, unless you count a referee being pulled from the court because of a "background conflict."

Referee Tommi Paris was removed from the game at halftime when it was discovered she had received a masters degree from Chattanooga. She was replaced by Angelica Suffren, who had just worked the previous game at the site. The move came as a surprise to Chattanooga coach Shawn Poppie, according to the Associated Press:

“They literally just … got me in the locker room and said they were making a change,” Chattanooga coach Shawn Poppie said of when he learned at halftime. “I don’t know what happened. I didn’t see anything specific. Maybe the second time in my career that’s happened. But the other one there was an injury, so you knew. But this one, I’m not really sure.”

Suffren ended up giving Poppie a technical foul during the second half.

Amazingly, Paris wasn't the only NCAA referee to leave a game in the women's tournament on Saturday. During the second quarter of USC's win over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, referee Michael Price fell down while running up the court. Price came up clutching the back of his leg and left with what appeared to be a hamstring injury. He was replaced by the standby referee Demoya Pugh.

Stephen Douglas is a staff writer at The Big Lead.