Virginia Beach referee Doug Sirmons works UConn-Miami game in his sixth consecutive trip to the Final Four

Jami Frankenberry, The Virginian-Pilot
Updated ·2 min read

The Final Four teams Saturday night were mostly newcomers — Florida Atlantic, San Diego State and Miami all made their first appearances.

But Doug Sirmons was no stranger to college basketball’s biggest stage.

Sirmons, a referee from Virginia Beach, officiated Connecticut’s victory over Miami in his sixth consecutive trip to the Final Four and his ninth overall trip.

Sirmons was one of three referees for the UConn-Miami game, along with Roanoke’s Roger Ayers, announced about an hour before tip-off at NRG Stadium in Houston.

A three-man crew works each Final Four game, and two officials serve as standby referees. The officiating assignments for each semifinal Saturday and Monday night’s national championship game are announced from an 11-referee pool selected by the NCAA.

Sirmons was the most experienced official among the 11 selected for this year’s men’s Final Four. John Higgins (Omaha, Nebraska), who officiated Saturday’s early game when San Diego State edged Florida Atlantic, was in his eighth Final Four. Jeffery Anderson (West Henrietta, New York) was part of the crew with Sirmons and Ayers and worked his sixth.

The 11-referee pool for the Final Four was announced earlier this week and also included: Ron Groover (Newnan, Georgia), Keith Kimble (Arlington, Texas), Kipp Kissinger (Omaha), Terry Oglesby (Maryville, Missouri), Mike Reed (Mount Shasta, California), Bert Smith (Florence, Kentucky) and Paul Szelc (Lawrence, Kansas).

“The 2023 NCAA Tournament officials have collectively done an exceptional job of officiating the tournament,” Chris Rastatter, the national coordinator of officiating, said earlier this week in a statement from the NCAA. “We are fortunate to have an extremely qualified pool of officials. These officials have gone above and beyond to help make this tournament fair and successful for the student-athletes, coaches and participating teams.”

Jami Frankenberry, 757-446-2376, jami.frankenberry@pilotonline.com. Twitter @JamiVP