Ron Kantowski reveals plans to move a conference tourney to a Vegas casino

By Ron Kantowski

Wednesday, March 5, 2008 | 2 a.m.

For the first time, a college conference basketball tournament — with an automatic bid to the NCAA’s Big Dance — will be played in a Las Vegas casino. The West Coast Conference basketball tournament is coming to Las Vegas next year.

This is bigger news than Adam Morrison, the former Gonzaga star, shaving his pencil-thin mustache.

Can an NCAA Regional be far behind?

The nationally ranked Zags (No. 22 this week) are coming to the Orleans Arena in 2009. So is Saint Mary’s, which until last week also was nationally ranked. And the University of San Diego, Santa Clara, Pepperdine, the Dons of San Francisco (too bad Bill Russell’s out of eligibility), Portland and Loyola Marymount.

“It’s a done deal,” a source familiar with the negotiations said.

The WCC championships will move here on a one-year trial basis with an option for three more. Apparently, the WCC presidents, before they make a long-term commitment to Las Vegas, want to make sure the beads don’t fall off their rosaries after their teams play in an arena that is connected to a casino. All three options to return are theirs.

My prediction is they’ll be back. Especially if they talk to Kansas and Florida, which played before a capacity crowd during a holiday tournament at the Orleans last year — and made it home to Lawrence and Gainesville without being condemned to eternal damnation.

Steve Stallworth, director of the Orleans Arena, could not be reached for comment. A source said he was heading for San Diego with a cameraman and 5,000 Orleans brochures — one for almost everyone in attendance at the sold-out Jenny Craig Pavilion on the University of San Diego campus, where the WCC men’s and women’s tournaments are being held this weekend.

“Nothing officially has been announced,” WCC spokesman Jae Wilson said. “We expect to announce the site of next year’s tournament at this year’s.”

Off the record, sources in Las Vegas and at WCC headquarters in San Bruno, Calif., confirmed the move. A news conference will be held Sunday to make the announcement.

This looks like a Maddux, Smoltz and Glavine for the participating entities. A win, win, win.

• The WCC wins, because it gets a neutral court and more seats (the Orleans holds 9,500 for basketball) in a city that every one of its fans has heard of. Nothing against San Diego, which is a fabulous town when the fog lifts, but what do you do when the sun goes down and Sea World closes?

And if he’s anything like Rick Majerus, Gonzaga coach Mark Few, who also is the Proud of the WCC, if not the Marines, doesn’t like it when the University of San Diego is pretty good (like this year) and gets to play for an automatic NCAA bid on its home court.

• The Orleans wins, because it gets exposure by hosting a sporting event that ESPN has heard of. Because the WCC is shrewd to finish its schedule a week before most everybody else, it gets almost undivided attention from ESPN, which this year will televise both WCC semifinals from San Diego on The Deuce and Monday’s championship game on ESPN Original, in prime time.

It’s a TV deal the Mountain West would die for, or at least should have been willing to die for, before it started its own network, which can be seen in most parts of Laramie, at least when the wind isn’t blowing.

Also, the Orleans will become a hub of a three-week basketball extravaganza in Las Vegas. It will host the Nevada boys and girls state basketball championships Feb. 26-28, followed by the WCC tournaments March 6-9. The next week, the Mountain West men’s and women’s championships will take center stage at the Thomas & Mack Center.

• And Las Vegas wins, for the simple reason there will be more live basketball to watch during a time of year when everybody loves to watch it.

One can only hope those pinheads at NCAA headquarters, who believe that holding the West Regional at the Thomas & Mack would be the worst idea since the Sony Betamax, will be watching, too.