James Breeding, an insurance agent from Louisville, was the official who called the foul on Auburn’s Samir Doughty on Virginia’s Kyle Guy’s three point attempt.
Breeding graduated from Louisville and also worked for the Louisville Bats at one time.
The San Diego Union-Tribune takes a look at Breeding and Doughty and how that one call has changed both of their lives forever.
Breeding primarily works the Big East and ACC, and he’s a regular selection for the NCAA Tournament — a honor bestowed on about 100 of 1,200 Division I refs annually. Only 10 make it to the Final Four. This was Breeding’s first time.
The officiating brotherhood is a tight one, and soon it was coming to his defense. J.D. Collins, the national coordinator of officiating, issued a statement through the NCAA saying Doughty violated Rule 4, section 39.1 because he “moved into the airborne shooter, making contact with Guy while taking away his landing spot.”
Another official who has worked Final Fours privately put it like this: “It took huge ones to call that — huge ones. But he got it right.”
Breeding spent six years in the U.S. Air Force inspecting and repairing navigation systems on cargo planes. He returned to college and got an undergraduate degree in applied science from Louisville. He also started officiating basketball games and began working his way up, from high school to small college to Div. I to the NCAA Tournament and, Saturday, to the Final Four.
Read “Column: The humanity, and dignity, of a whistle” by clicking here.
