Thursday, Oct. 5, 2000 | 9:59 a.m.
How do you know when a Mountain West basketball coach is complaining about Las Vegas hosting the conference tournament?
Easy. His lips are moving, and six other MWC coaches are behind him nodding in agreement.
Put at least two of them in the same room and the topic is certain to come up, as it did during the Mountain West's media gathering Wednesday at the Four Seasons Hotel.
In the coaches' meeting with commissioner Craig Thompson, they once again raised the issue of fairness because the event is held at the Thomas & Mack Center, UNLV's home arena. They want the tournament moved to a neutral site or rotated among other Mountain West campuses, especially now that the winner receives an automatic NCAA tournament bid.
Though the event is under contract to the Mack this season (March 8-10) and next, the push to move it elsewhere in 2003 appears to be gaining momentum.
It didn't help that UNLV won the tournament last March, giving the Rebels sufficient clout for an at-large NCAA bid, but legitimizing coaches' claims that UNLV has an unfair advantage.
Thompson has been a proponent of keeping the tournament in Las Vegas until the two-year-old conference can stand on its feet. He believes that fans around the MWC are eager to come here for a week of basketball and fun that other conference cities can't offer. Thompson admittedly loves the sound when ESPN comes on with the words, "Live from Las Vegas."
But he seems increasingly open to the coaches' concerns.
"(Moving the tournament) is something we're definitely exploring," Thompson said. "I'm a proponent of having it move at some point. I don't think it's healthy for the conference to have the tournament 10 straight years in any one location."
Thompson said the matter will be discussed further at a MWC joint council meeting this month.
"Maybe we'll come up with a figure, like every three years, we'll move it for a year or two, or something to that effect," he said. "I think it's healthy to look at it."
But Thompson reiterated the advantages of having the event in Las Vegas.
"Every booster club I talk to, they ask me if the tournament is going to be in Vegas," Thompson said. "This is where our fans want to go. They like to come here. That's a factor. But from a pure basketball standpoint, we could play it on the moon and it would still be a great tournament."
Thompson said the only non-campus sites the league will consider are the Pepsi Center in Denver and Delta Center in Salt Lake City, though the latter might raise complaints about an advantage for Utah, even if the Utes' home arena is the Huntsman Center.
Utah coach Rick Majerus has been a constant critic of the tournament staying in Las Vegas, and he has plenty of company among his MWC brethren.
"The coaches feel we have to get it on a neutral court," Wyoming coach Steve McClain said. "I think that's all we want -- to let some other cities look at it. I told them they could bring it to Laramie anytime, but nobody seemed to want to come.
"(Las Vegas) is a great city. The fans like coming here and I like coming here to play. I understand the financial part of it, but as coaches, we have to look at what's fair to our kids when they walk into the gym. If the tournament is on my court, I'm going to win it."
BYU coach Steve Cleveland, whose team was routed by UNLV in last season's title game, also feels the tournament should be moved around.
"In terms of fairness to the kids and in terms of equity, I think a neutral site would be perfect," he said. "But if we can't get that, I would be in favor of rotating it between two or three different schools that have the facilities and the hotels to host it.
"To see a tournament at one particular site for an extended period of time, I do not know if that is how the conference should go. I know it's all driven by the dollar, and Las Vegas provides a great opportunity for (the MWC) to make money. (BYU has) a great fan base here, too. But I certainly hope this isn't going to be the permanent site."
UNLV coach Bill Bayno has been hearing the coaches' complaints since the Mountain West was formed, but downplays the Rebels' homecourt edge because BYU, New Mexico and Utah brought so many fans last March. He also said Las Vegas makes the most fiscal sense for the young conference.
"The (conference) is a business. From a business standpoint, why would we want to have it anywhere else? From a fans standpoint, they wouldn't want it anywhere else," he said.
New Mexico coach Fran Fraschilla, also a vocal critic of gambling on college sports, isn't buying Bayno's argument.
"It may be good for us to be in Las Vegas right now and for the next few years, but there should be some thought to spreading it around," he said. "Let's face it, they could sell out the tournament in Salt Lake and Albuquerque. The tournament could stand on its own merits in a number of places."
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