Now we can look back and laugh: "Tim Higgins — not to be confused with Tim Riggins, alcoholic linebacker for the Dillon Panthers — brought his long and illustrious referee career to an end last week when he officiated the final game at the Maui Invitational. Despite having officiated 10 Final Fours, Higgins's lasting legacy in the eyes of most Big East fans will be that he had it out for their favorite team. That's right — along with Ted Valentine, Higgins was one of only two referees in college basketball who could work a game and convince both teams' fans that they got screwed. For what it's worth, Higgins also officiated his fair share of Big Ten games, including a few when I sat on the bench for Ohio State. And I know Big East fans don't want to hear this, but he was always my favorite official, simply because he would talk to me during timeouts and warm-ups, and he'd even dare me to shoot when I checked into games. I mean, yeah, he made plenty of calls that left me dumbfounded, and there were plenty of times when I wanted to accuse him of giving us the Donaghy treatment. But any official who dares me to shoot when I check into a game and goes out of his way during warm-ups to tell me I'm wasting my time stretching because I'm not going to play is OK in my book."