Vision comes to fruition for Rothermel, Neverett

Victoria Sun

Friday, June 21, 2002 | 9:05 a.m.

At a glance

Two years ago Brad Rothermel and Tim Neverett were in Marseilles, France, for an international basketball tournament featuring the now defunct Las Vegas Bandits minor league basketball team when they came up with their own idea.

Rothermel, then CEO of the Bandits, and Neverett, the former communications and broadcasting director for the team, thought Las Vegas would be an ideal place to hold their own international tournament.

The Bandits, who played in the International Basketball League, didn't survive their second season (2000-'01), but Rothermel and Neverett's vision endured.

Starting on Monday, eight teams will compete in the World Pro Basketball Challenge at the Cox Pavilion with the championship game to be held next Saturday at 8 p.m.

"We're excited about the competition next week," Rothermel said. "We'd like to continue it.

"We'd like to be able to bring quality international professional teams here as well as some USA based professional teams here each year."

The eight teams scheduled to compete this year are: Magic Johnson All Stars, ABA Select, Brazilian entry Vasco Da Gama, the Harlem Globetrotters, London Leopards, Team Europe, Taiwan United and OSG Phoenix from Japan.

Johnson plans to play as well as coach his team that includes former NBA players Chris Mullin and Darrick Martin.

The ABA Select roster includes former Los Angeles Lakers forward A.C. Green and ex-UNLV stars George Ackles and Warren Rosegreen.

Team Europe will be headed by former NBA big man Rony Seikaly, who recruited many fellow Syracuse alumni to play.

The final Globetrotters roster will be filled with former collegiate players as will the Leopards.

Games will be played nightly at 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.

"We hope people come out," Rothermel said. "I think it will be the best basketball being played now internationally with the exception of the NBA.

"There's some very fine international players here and some very fine U.S. former NBA players as well as some individuals who at one time in the future will be in the NBA, so it will be some very good competition."

Depending on the success of this year's event, Rothermel plans on expanding the field in the future.

"There are so many quality international professional teams that we could run the tournament for several years without repeating," he said.

On Monday, the first 1,000 fans will receive a free key chain. The first 300 fans on Wednesday will receive a free cooler cup and the first 400 fans on Friday will receive a free "Like Mike" basketball.