Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Las Vegas to host MWC tournaments

Power of a Tourney

Highlights of the postseason Mountain West Conference basketball tournament, which will be held in Las Vegas at the Thomas & Mack Center:

WHAT'S LIKELY IN IT FOR THE MWC?

ESPN television money and exposure plus a projected $1 million per year for the next three years from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

WHAT'S NOT LIKELY IN IT FOR THE MWC?

An automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

Even though there may not be an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament at stake, the Mountain West Conference approved plans to hold a postseason men's and women's basketball tournament in Las Vegas.

It was confirmed at a meeting of the league presidents in Colorado Springs Tuesday that the Thomas & Mack Center will host the inaugural MWC tourney March 8-11.

For the first year of the approved three-year deal, it's likely the winner will get a trophy and a chance to cut down the nets but no automatic bid to the 2000 NCAA Tournament.

That decision won't be reached until August when the NCAA board of directors meets to rule on the management council's recommendation that should come in late July.

A subcommittee has been formed to explore whether the Mountain West is entitled to some sort of waiver from the five-year grace period new leagues must go through before being eligible for the automatic spot, which goes to the conference tourney champ.

"It's a go," Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson said about the tournaments coming here. "The issue of the automatic bid never came up. We're looking forward to four great days of basketball in Las Vegas."

The Mountain West also approved a three-year deal to send one of its schools to the Las Vegas Bowl football game. The conference champ wouldn't necessarily go to the Las Vegas Bowl as the Liberty Bowl would get to choose first. The MWC has a three-year deal with the Memphis-based game.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority still has to approve the deals at its meeting next month.

The league also decided Tuesday to delay any expansion talk for two years. So the Mountain West will be an eight-team league at least through 2001.

Having a postseason basketball tournament was always on the league's agenda. However, the coaches, who were not included in the decision-making process, were left scratching their heads.

"If we're talking about cutting costs, why are we going to Vegas for three days with nothing riding on the outcome?" Wyoming coach Steve McClain said. "If it means nothing, why play?"

Utah's Rick Majerus, who has had the same stance for years -- he does not believe in playing postseason conference tourneys in general because it takes away from classroom time for the players -- said at last year's WAC meetings to have a tournament with no automatic bid is foolish.

"There's no basis for it," he said.

The athletic directors will beg to differ. They'll give you a million reasons why the show should go on, with or without an automatic bid.

The Mountain West is expected to receive $1 million a year for the next three years from the LVCVA in return for bringing the tournaments to Las Vegas.

It also ties into the league's lucrative seven-year, $48 million television deal with ESPN, which would include the MWC in its "Championship Week" coverage by showing its quarterfinal games, the semifinals and the final.

The league can't afford to turn away revenue streams in the wake of leaving between $2 and $3 million in NCAA Tournament money behind when it bolted the WAC. So there was no way the Mountain West was going to wait.

"We're going to have the tournament because we have a TV deal to show seven games and we don't want to give any money back," Thompson said. "I think the fans will buy tickets for the entertainment value. The kids are going to play hard. I think we're going to see some exciting basketball."

Thompson does have some support among the coaches. UNLV's Bill Bayno doesn't have a problem with the tournament, especially when it's being played on his floor.

"You can always use the extra games," he said. "It's a chance to play and that's a positive.

"It's basically a business decision. But it's going to be good exposure for the league."

New Mexico's Fran Fraschilla said once the games start, nobody will be thinking about automatic bids.

"Everyone's going to be playing hard," he said. "It gives you a chance to call yourself a champion and win three more games. Plus, by having a tournament, you feel like you're part of March Madness."

Fraschilla said the Mountain West is going to be part of the NCAA picture one way or another.

"I think the team that wins the Mountain West is going to the NCAAs," he said. "I think we'll have four or five teams fighting for bids.

"I'm not saying we'll get four or five bids, but it's going to be very competitive and the approach will be the same as if there was an automatic riding on the outcome."

But there's the negative of losing a player to injury or suspension, which would offset those positives.

"What if a key player goes down?" McClain said. "Then what happens?

"Look what happened to UNLV after they lost (Kaspars) Kambala. They weren't the same after he got hurt."

McClain admits playing in such a tournament can enhance a team's prospects of gaining an at-large bid to the Big Dance. A team that comes into the MWC tourney on the NCAA bubble could conceivably play itself into the field of 64.

Of course, it may come at the expense of a fellow Mountain West team.

"It's a double-edged sword," McClain said. "Maybe we should wait until the automatic bid is secured before we have a tournament. But the ADs think they can make money and I know economics are a big part of this."

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