Before the college basketball season began, I reached out to several coaches to get a feel for their biggest concerns entering a pandemic-impacted campaign.
Aside from the safety of their players and the 14-day quarantine rule, there was one concern that came up multiple times that I hadn't really thought about: the referees.
"Officials are what scare me to death," one head coach said.
In all of the discussion about COVID-19 testing protocols for student-athletes and bubbles and quarantines, one thing was constantly left out: What about the officials?