John Higgins

[NMSooner'80]

The second time the Big 12 Tourney was in OKC, Baylor made a run to the finals. A crapload of Bears made the drive up 35 for the game. Higgins was one of the officials on the floor. The green and gold were on him before the ball was tipped with vitriolic fervor. I'm too young to remember the rivalry between Billy and Stanley Reynolds (I think that was the name of the guy who was in Mizzou's pocket), but the hate displayed by the Branch Davidians has always stayed with me as the most extreme example of singling out an official.

When a team runs roughshod over a league, like Kansas, the more high-profile zebras are bound to be deemed complicit. I don't think Higgins is a bad official, but I also think he enjoys being the center of attention a little too often.

Reynolds was probably the worst biased conference ref I've ever seen. He had some grudge against Tubbs that should have disqualified him from ever doing any OU game back then.

Jim "Lightbulb Head" Bain was definitely someone who wasn't obnoxious or anything, but he was definitely in Norm Stewart's pocket. If you had Bain calling your game with Mizzou, you might have to be 25 points better to offset Bain's heinous whistles.