Dueling NIT Butt Slaps Lead To Hilarious Stare Down Between Head Coach, Suspended March Madness Referee

Veteran college basketball official Ted Valentine has worked 10 Final Fours and four national title games. However, he is not officiating the NCAA Tournament in 2023.

Valentine is not allowed. It marks the second year in a row that he is away from March Madness due to an issue that occurred during the 2021 NCAA Tournament, which was held in a bubble.

The 64-year-old was one of six college basketball officials who were removed from the 2021 Tournament after one tested positive for COVID-19. Due to the fact that they ate together without masks, the Indiana Department of Health said that they could not work any tournament games.

This is the second-straight year that the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee denied Valentine's bid for reinstatement. Coaches are not thrilled.

Despite the absurdity of Valentine's suspension, it led to a fantastic moment on Wednesday. He is officiating the NIT instead of the NCAA Tournament.

Early in the second half of Morehead State's upset of No. 1 seed Clemson, Eagles head coach Preston Spradlin and Valentine exchanged some words at half court. Spradlin ended the chat with a friendly butt tap.

Ted Valentine, of course, could not be out done at the NIT.

He returned the favor with a a full-blown SLAP as Spradlin walked away. It was firm.

Spradlin was surprised by the strength of the slap and turned back with a hilarious, vicious stare. The look on his face was priceless and even the assistants on the bench couldn't stifle their laughter.

It's totally bogus that Valentine isn't officiating The Big Dance, but perhaps it was for the better in the long run. Coaches opinions be damned, we never would have been witness to the dueling NIT butt slaps without that meal amongst officials in 2021.

To make things even better, Spradlin went on to lead Morehead State to the Second Round for the first time ever. He and Valentine could meet again!