Controversial ref fires back after being 'unjustly' left off March Madness games
A controversial NCAA men’s basketball referee won’t be officiating any NCAA tournament games this year, and he thinks the reason why is that he’s being punished for a January incident involving a University of North Carolina player.
Throughout his 34-year career, Ted Valentine has worked many high-profile games, including the 2017 Final Four.
But this year, Valentine will be staying home, and he is perturbed, revealing Monday that he believes he’s being “punished unjustly.”
“This is not right, it’s just not fair,” he told ESPN. “It hit me like a ton of bricks. I’m being punished unjustly.”
Valentine said he learned he wouldn’t be reffing at the NCAA tournament before working the American Athletic Conference tournament semifinal game on Saturday.
NCAA coordinator of officials J.D. Collins was the one who broke the news to him.
“I asked him why,” Valentine said. “We talked about the Joel Berry situation and how he had a discussion with the Big Ten. But I told him, ‘I fixed the situation.'”
The referee was referring to a January incident in which he turned his back on UNC guard Joel Berry II following what seemed to be a missed call.
During a game against Florida State, Berry felt as though he had been held by an opposing player, thus leading to a turnover. But Valentine apparently disagreed, and when Berry tried to talk to him about the play, the ref turned his back on the guard and refused to have a discussion.
Valentine later did apologize to Berry, and the two even exchanged a hug.
“I screwed up,” he said of the incident. “But I went back a week later and apologized, and he and I were joking and kidding. It was no big deal. I even pulled him out of a situation where he could have gotten a technical foul.”
The 59-year-old ref, who thought about retiring after the incident, said that in addition to not working the NCAA tournament, he was punished earlier in the season by being pulled from two Big Ten games, ESPN reported.
For most of his career, Valentine, who lives in South Carolina, reffed Big 10 contests. More recently, though, he started working more ACC games so it would be easier for him to travel.
“It had nothing to do with the Big Ten,” Valentine said.
“The ACC handled it in the utmost professional manner. It was overblown, and no big deal.”
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