Welcome to February, the time of the season in which college basketball fans across the country complain and complain about the quality of officiating.

Earlier this week, there was much complaining about a call Tim Higgins made in the Alabama-Vandy game. I’m not going to lie, I pretty much only saw the chatter and didn’t see the call. Maybe Higgins blew it, maybe he didn’t. That’s not what I’m writing about, however.

He was frequently referred to as a SEC ref. Gophers fans talk all the time about Big Ten refs. And it is all hogwash.

There is no such thing as a SEC ref or a Big Ten ref. They are all free agents, independent contractors and work all over the place.

According to bbstate.com, a site that logs where officials work, Higgins has called conference games in the Big East, Big Ten and SEC this season. A guy I know reasonably well who is an official has worked in the Mountain West, Missouri Valley, WAC, MAC, Summit and Big Ten of late.

So that’s it, that’s the rant. There are no conference refs. And I also don’t believe they are out to get certain teams. I truly believe they try to do the best job they can. They are professionals who care about the job they do. That’s why the put up with the nonsense they put up with — the screaming coaches, the crazy fans, the bad travel.

They make mistakes at times. That’s what happens when guys have to make split-second calls and only get one chance to look at it. There’s no HD or slow motion or replays on most plays.

So that’s it. A random rant on a Saturday night.