Columnist Ron Kantowski: Basketball tournament offers a real Vegas value

Tuesday, Dec. 14, 1999 | 10:08 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at ron@vegas.com or 259-4088.

It's hard to beat the price of a shrimp cocktail (99 cents) at the Golden Gate downtown. And $1.15 for 20 ounces of cold draft beer at Moose McGillycuddy's during its seemingly never-ending happy hour is still a heck of a deal.

But if you're a college basketball fan and it's value you seek, drop in on the High Desert Classic at the McDermott Complex (North and South gyms) on the UNLV campus this weekend.

The event, as per usual, will feature some of the top Division II programs in the country. This year they include Central Missouri, Texas A&M Kingsville (formerly Texas A&I), St. Mary's of Texas, Drury of Missouri, Seattle Pacific, Central Washington, Morningside of Iowa, Southern Indiana, Abilene Christian of Texas and Western Washington.

There will be one game Friday, five on Saturday and five on Sunday. As far as anyone knows, admission is free -- or at least it should be.

If you don't think Division II sports can be exciting, you probably weren't tuned into Saturday's D-II football title game on ESPN. Northwest Missouri beat Carson-Newman of Tennessee 58-52 in four overtimes. They might still be playing had CN's star running back not fumbled at the 12-yard line ending the game.

The teams will be playing mostly for the fun of it in Las Vegas, but here's a carrot that would make it more interesting: They should let the winner play UNLV.

It couldn't be any worse than the Rebels vs. Mississippi Valley State, or the Rebels vs. Fairfield, or the Rebels vs. Austin Peay, or the Rebels vs. Cal Poly, or the Rebels vs. Eastern Kentucky, or the Rebels vs. High Point, or the Rebels vs. Florida Atlantic. Or for that matter, the Rebels vs. San Diego State (which is terrible this year).

By comparison, here are the teams Michigan State will have played before the Big Ten season even begins: Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, Arizona, Kentucky. But the Spartans will catch a breather during the middle of their hellish league schedule -- defending national champion UConn.

Those rodeo bull riders who just left town have got nothing on MSU coach Tom Izzo when it comes to lunacy.

* SOLE BANDITS: Forget the monthly novel by Scott Turow. For really good fiction, just check the latest batch of news releases that are spit out by sports publicists.

Like this one from the Las Vegas Silver Bandits, our fledgling -- and struggling (1-7) -- franchise in the new International Basketball League.

The Bandits last weekend debuted a weekly hour-long radio show on KNUU 970-AM (formerly K-News) because, if you're to believe Tim Neverett, the team's play-by-play man (who also is listed as the contact on the release), the demand for Silver Bandits information is more outrageous than the Mariners' asking price for Ken Griffey Jr.

"Silver Bandits fans crave information," Neverett said -- and apparently wrote. "Every day I get dozens of phone calls and e-mails from fans who want to know the latest scoop on the team. This show is needed because they can't seem to get enough."

Let it be said (again) that Tim Neverett is a fine play-by-play man who deserves a more high-profile assignment -- like UNLV football, for instance, the next time it comes open. He sure as heck is loyal to his employer (see above) -- which also seems to carry weight in the UNLV booth.

* GYM DANDIES: The 2000 United States Men's and Women's Gymnastics team, along with some of the top international stars from China, Romania and Bulgaria, will be the featured participants in the RCA Gymnastics Challenge at the MGM Grand Garden Jan. 14.

The RCA Challenge is one of three events comprising the new Visa Gymnastics Series, commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Visa American Cup.

Past American Cup winners on the men's side include Bart Conner, Kurt Thomas, Peter Vidmar, Trent Dimas and Vitaly Scherbo of Belarus, who operates a gym here. Some of the top female stars who have competed in the event are Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Shannon Miller, Dominique Dawes and Kerri Strug.

In other words, this meet should be almost as good as it gets.

Legendary coach Bela Karolyi, who recently was named National Team Coordinator for the USA women's program, will attend a press conference announcing the event later this week.

No word on which of the sport's new stars he will be carrying to the podium for the big announcement.

* BOWLED UNDER: My favorite bowling highlight was witnessing in person Norm Duke roll a 300 game to beat Robin Romeo in a battle of the sexes event at Sam's Town several years ago. After that, I'd have to go with watching on TV as Fred Flintstone rallied the Loyal Lodge of Water Buffaloes to a big win in the Tuesday night Quarry League at Bedrock Bowl.

I doubt I'll be amending that list following this week's "Rockin Bowl" that begins filming at the All-American SportsPark.

The made-for-TV event will feature 16 college teams participating in traditional and-not-so-traditional bowling events. The latter include bowling under black light conditions, bowling backwards and bowling without a beer buzz. (Actually, the third one is only a demonstration event.)

The nonsense -- er, competition -- will begin airing on Tuesday, Jan. 11 on The Nashville Network from 8-9 p.m.

* IT'S ALWAYS SOMETHING: Here's a strange but true boxing story that has nothing to do with Mike Tyson and little furry creatures that may or may not belong to him.

Pirinya Kiatbusaba, a 19-year-old transvestite kick boxer, has had his long-anticipated sex change operation.

The welterweight was known for wearing lipstick and mascara in the ring, which makes that little blonde curly thing that used to hang down on Fernando Vargas' forehead (before he shaved his head) look pretty darn masculine by comparison.

According to an Associated Press report, Kiatbusaba will only be allowed to fight women, now that she is one.

* AROUND THE HORN: Former Las Vegas Thunder coach Bob Bourne, along with the Milwaukee Admirals Al Sims, will coach the IHL all-stars against the defending champion Houston Aeros in the IHL All-Star Game Jan. 17 at the Compaq Center in Houston. Bourne is in his first year as coach and GM for the Utah Grizzlies. ... No. 1 pet peeve of Winston Cup champion Dale Jarrett (as read off cue cards by the man himself on "The Late Show with David Letterman"): "Guys who drive only 160 miles per hour in the left-hand lane." ... You can move UNLV ahead of New Mexico on the list of Utah's Mountain West Conference challengers this year. The Lobos were lucky to beat lightly regarded Southern Utah 62-57 at The Pit in Albuquerque over the weekend. ... And this just in: Colorado State's Courtney Cox has been named to the all-Mountain West volleyball second team all-stars. It is not known how many of her "Friends" voted for her.