- Tommi Paris was eliminated from the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Saturday
- According to an online profile, she earned a master’s degree from Chattanooga
- DailyMail.com provides all the latest international sports news
The NCAA was dramatically forced to remove one of its officials from a March Madness first-round game on Saturday due to a background conflict.
Tommi Paris was removed from the Chattanooga-NC State game after it was discovered in an online profile that she had a master’s degree from Chattanooga.
She was quickly replaced by Angelica Suffren, who had worked the first match at Reynolds Coliseum in Raleigh, North Carolina.
‘There was a change of game officials during halftime of the Chattanooga-NC State first round game because after the game had started it became known that Umpire 2 Tommi Paris had a background conflict that, if known, would prevent her from work in the assigned manner. game,” the NCAA said in a statement.
The NCAA is asking all officials eligible for the NCAA Tournament to disclose affiliations with the schools to avoid potential conflicts. In this case this was not disclosed.
Tommi Paris was removed from the NCAA Tournament between Chattanooga and NC State
“They literally brought me into the locker room and said they were making a change,” Chattanooga coach Shawn Poppie said when he heard it at halftime.
‘I do not know what happened. I didn’t see anything specific.
‘Maybe this is the second time in my career. But the other one had an injury, so you knew. But I’m not really sure about this one.”
Suffren, who worked the earlier Green Bay-Tennessee game, was on the field for the second half of the Chattanooga-NC State game. Danielle Jackson was listed as the game’s standby official.
The decision to send Suffren back to the field came “because it provided the most on-court experience and allowed the game to have a full officiating crew, plus standby,” the NCAA statement said.
Aziaha James scored each of her 19 points in the second half as NC State won 64-45
Poppie said: ‘I thought that’s what standby was for. But I’m also new to this area. We are all learning. So I don’t know exactly what happened.’
Aziaha James scored each of her 19 points in the second half as NC State pulled away from Chattanooga for a 64-45 victory.
Saniya Rivers scored 16 points and River Baldwin had 10 points and 11 rebounds, leading NC State coach Wes Moore to a victory against his former team.
Next up for No. 3 seed NC State is ex-Wolfpack coach Kellie Harper and sixth-seeded Tennessee on Monday. The Lady Vols advanced with a 92-63 victory over Green Bay.
The winner will advance to the Sweet 16 in Portland, Oregon.
