[fullmetal]

Indeed, the officiating talent pool is shallow enough that the big-name refs are virtually assured of advancing in the tournament regardless of how they actually perform.

This is bull----.  Basketball is a wildly popular sport in the United States, and there are innumerable officials in every moderate-to-large city at the high school level and above, and many of them are probably skilled enough to perform at the next level if given the chance.  Shallow talent pool?  More like gatekept talent pool.  I officiate in a niche sport at the local and national level because my sport is really that small.  I can see how the same officials get to work the same high-level competitions over and over again because of geography, personal relationships, and other factors, but it is rarely an issue of "talent."  

Here we go:

Did they get there on past reputation, or current performance? “It’s sort of an old boys’ network,” one coach said.

Administrators from the tournament teams, members of the Division I men’s basketball committee and officiating monitors all provide input on the referees after every tourney game. They are given three options for rating an official: “strongly recommend” to advance; “recommend” to advance; and “do not recommend” to advance. Some wonder how much their feedback is considered.

[fullmetal]

Indeed, the officiating talent pool is shallow enough that the big-name refs are virtually assured of advancing in the tournament regardless of how they actually perform.

This is bull----.  Basketball is a wildly popular sport in the United States, and there are innumerable officials in every moderate-to-large city at the high school level and above, and many of them are probably skilled enough to perform at the next level if given the chance.  Shallow talent pool?  More like gatekept talent pool.  I officiate in a niche sport at the local and national level because my sport is really that small.  I can see how the same officials get to work the same high-level competitions over and over again because of geography, personal relationships, and other factors, but it is rarely an issue of "talent."  

Here we go:

Did they get there on past reputation, or current performance? “It’s sort of an old boys’ network,” one coach said.

Administrators from the tournament teams, members of the Division I men’s basketball committee and officiating monitors all provide input on the referees after every tourney game. They are given three options for rating an official: “strongly recommend” to advance; “recommend” to advance; and “do not recommend” to advance. Some wonder how much their feedback is considered.