Officials announced for 2023 Final Four

11 officials have been announced as the referees for this weekend’s Final Four games between San Diego State and Florida Atlantic, and Miami and UConn.

Together, only four of the 11 officiated games in the Elite Eight. That includes Ron Groover, who officiated the Miami vs. Texas game. Keith Kimble and Mike Reed were together for UConn-Gonzaga and Doug Sirmons was on the floor for FAU vs. Kansas State. This will be Sirmons sixth-consecutive Final Four.

For Keith Kimble, the Final Four will be his 104th game refereed this season. That counts for 1.67 percent of all games involving a Division I team this season, according to Ken Pomeroy. Kimble will fall short of his own record set in 2020 when he worked 1.83 percent of all games.

Sirmons was also a part of the officiating crew that called the Elite Eight game between the Owls and Wildcats over in a controversial fashion. Many Kansas State fans would tell you that there were a couple of ticks left on the clock, but Sirmons and company deemed the game over after double-checking on a stopwatch. FAU would go on to win 79-76 and advance to its first Final Four in program history.

Not only does this mark the first time FAU has reached the Final Four, but this is also just its second appearance in the NCAA Tournament. They proved that their NCAA-best 31-3 record heading into the tournament was no fluke, becoming just the third No. 9 seed in history to reach the national semifinal.

This will be the first-ever Final Four for Miami, Florida Atlantic and San Diego State. Meanwhile, UConn is looking for its fifth national championship and first since 2014. It’s the first Final Four in over 50 years to feature three programs making their Final Four debuts at the same time.

Below is the full list of officials:

Jeff Anderson
Roger Ayers
Jon Groover
John Higgins
Keith Kimble
Kipp Kissinger
Terry Oglesby
Mike Reed
Doug Sirmons
Bert Smith
Paul Szelc

The Final Four will get underway from Houston beginning on April 1 when 9-seed FAU takes on SDSU in the opener. Coverage on CBS begins at 6:09 p.m. ET and Miami vs. UConn will follow roughly 25 after the conclusion of game one. SDSU (-2) and UConn (-5.5) are the favorites to advance to the title game.

The championship game will be played on the following Monday, April 3.