Local economy enjoys a big-time boost

Steve Guiremand

Monday, July 30, 2001 | 10:28 a.m.

The only man with a bigger smile on his face than the members of the Open Division champion Long Island Panthers on Sunday night at Green Valley High School was adidas Big Time tournament co-director Larry McKay.

Not only did the mammoth five-day, 344-team all-star prep basketball tournament go off without a major glitch, Sunday night's championship game between the Panthers and the Tim Thomas Playaz -- the 856th and last game of the tourney -- actually tipped off on time.

The only minor setbacks McKay and company experienced during the week were a couple of 30-minute delays to the start of games because of power outages at the high schools they were playing at.

Considering all the logistics involved in getting teams and referees to the right place for 856 games, that was really small potatoes.

"We had 856 games and not one time did a referee not show up," McKay said. "That's pretty remarkable."

So is the economic effect of the Big Time Tournament on the Las Vegas economy.

Consider:

One thing is for certain. The adidas Big Time Tourney obviously makes a much bigger impact on the economy than Big League Weekend or the Las Vegas Bowl.

"Obviously it makes quite an impact in this town," McKay said. "But it's not just the financial part of it. A lot of these people come from all over the country and see a part of Las Vegas they really never hear or read about. They go to the gyms at our high schools around the town and come away impressed just how nice our schools are."

The Big Time Tourney, which started out as just a 64 team tournament in 1995, could easily bring in over 400 teams now if it wanted to. McKay turned away about another 60 teams after he hit his 344-team limit. Two teams from Portland and Tulsa flew in even though they didn't have a spot in the tourney.

"They did everything but enter the tournament on time," McKay said. "They had their airplane tickets and hotel reservations and then they contacted me. But by then we had been sold out for weeks. They decided to come anyway in case another team didn't show up but they didn't get a chance to play."

Which begs the question: just how much bigger can the Big Time get?

"To be quite honest, we're probably at our maximum unless we change the format," McKay said. "Right now teams in the Open Division have to play 10 games in five days to win the championship. That's pretty much the most you can do. But it's adidas' call. They're really the backbone of the tournament."

Guard Kevin Marshall of the Foothill Falcons finished 13th in the tourney in scoring with a 26.8 average, just a notch above highly-touted prospects Lenny Cooke (Prep Stars International) and LeBron James (Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars), who averaged 26.0 each. Both Cooke and James are expected to bypass college and go straight to the NBA when their prep careers end.

The tournament's top scorer was lanky 6-9 forward Sean Phaler of the Villa Park (Calif.) Spartans who averaged 30.

The Portland Elite Legends edged Tru-Playaz BC, 54-52, to win the A Division title while the Arizona Stars whipped the St. Louis Gameface 17s, 83-62, to take the B Division title and the Fort Worth FIRM claimed the C Division championship with a 62-61 win over Minnesota Select White.

Arizona's victory was even more impressive considering the Stars had to win three games on Sunday despite not having the services of head coach Danny Ainge and his son, Tanner, a starting guard, due to LDS Church commitments. Both returned home to Gilbert, Ariz., on Saturday.

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