Lubbock official Brian Hall tapped for women's Final Four

When the Lamesa Golden Tors and the Shallowater Mustangs were set to face each other in the boys' high-school basketball playoffs in February 2000, Lamesa coach Wayne Roberts called Lubbock official Kelly Robinson.

Roberts and Shallowater coach Ray Morris had agreed on Robinson being one of the game officials. Roberts told Robinson to recommend and get an up-and-comer to work the game, too. Robinson thought the best young official in the Lubbock chapter at the time was Brian Hall.

"I guess that proved to be prophetic," Robinson said this week, "because he's pretty dang good."

Hall, a Texas Tech graduate and Lubbock resident, has been a member of the Lubbock basketball officials association for around 25 years now. This weekend, he's in Cleveland as one of 11 officials (seven women, four men) chosen for the Final Four of the women's NCAA Tournament. A three-person crew will work each of the three games, and two will be on standby for all three games.

Hall works in the Big 12, the Big Ten, the Southeastern Conference and Conference USA, according to Lubbock chapter president Mike Applegate.

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Kelly Copeland, a recently retired Lubbock chapter official, called in the Big 12, Western Athletic, Sun Belt and Southland conferences and was selected for women's NCAA Tournament duty five years in a row in the early 2000s. He's watched Hall come up through the ranks and said Hall deserved his first Final Four assignment before now.

"I never even got to a regional final," Copeland said, "so it is so cool to see Brian get to the Final Four. He should have been there three or four years ago."

Asked what makes Hall stand out, Copeland used an analogy that coaches sometimes make in identifying a special player: an "it" factor.

"Brian is the most personable official with supervisors and fellow officials," Copeland said, "which I think is huge. He is a team player. It's crew first, and he's one of the best partners in the history of basketball officiating. I think that's what really makes him special."

Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse, home of the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers, is the site of the women's Final Four. Friday's semifinals pit South Carolina (36-0) against North Carolina State (31-6) at 6 p.m. CDT, followed by Iowa (33-4) against UConn (33-5). The championship game is Sunday.

Hall already has had three women's NCAA Tournament assignments this year, calling Kansas-Michigan and Southern Cal-Kansas in Los Angeles and UConn-Southern Cal in a regional final Monday night in Portland, Oregon.

Robinson said he and Hall joked in a text exchange this week that Hall had come a long way since the Lamesa-Shallowater game, which was Hall's first high-school playoff assignment.

In separate conversations, Applegate, Copeland and Robinson all brought up, unsolicited, that Hall remains connected to the Lubbock chapter, something that adds to the respect they have for him. High-level officials — working in multiple major conferences, saddled with travel demands and responsibility to conference officiating supervisors — often disengage from their local chapters, Applegate said.

"He's actually the opposite," Applegate said, adding that Hall remains a dues-paying member of the Lubbock chapter, tries to attend a few meetings and, best of all, helps guide young officials.

"He helps with training and does a lot of stuff in the summertime," Applegate said. "He volunteers his time. It's amazing to have somebody at that level, stature, experience, working with your new officials.

"He just has never not been part of the chapter. It's a blessing in some ways, and I kind of feel guilty sometimes stealing his time and expertise, but he's so good at what he does."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Lubbock official Brian Hall tapped for NCAA women's Final Four