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Among this group, Vegas looks pretty good
Mountain West names contenders for site of conference hoops tourneys
Sam Morris / FILE
Fans mob the court following UNLV’s 78-70 win against BYU in the Mountain West Conference championship basketball game in March.
Monday, Oct. 27, 2008 | 2 a.m.
UNLV Basketball
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Alex and Rob Miech discuss who has stood out after one week of UNLV basketball practice
Tarkanian Interview
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UNLV legend Jerry Tarkanian sits down with Alex to discuss his UNLV teams of old and this year's squad.
Kruger Interview
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Alex goes one on one with UNLV men's basketball coach Lon Kruger to preview the beginning of practice.
Sun Topics
They announced the five finalists for the 2011-13 Mountain West Conference Men’s and Women’s Basketball Championships last week.
Laramie isn’t one of them.
But Denver is.
That’s why you shouldn’t get too excited the tournament is going to leave Las Vegas, like Nic Cage and Elisabeth Shue in the movies.
The other finalists, in addition to us and them, are Salt Lake City, San Diego and Albuquerque.
I hadn’t ruled out the possibility the tournaments might leave town, for two reasons: the Rebels are very good again and Steve Alford, the new New Mexico coach, has been complaining until he’s red in the face and/or that cherry-colored sports jacket he wears that playing on their home court gives Lon Kruger’s guys an unfair advantage.
What was it that Elaine used to say in “Seinfeld?” Yada, yada, yada.
Steve Alford shouldn’t worry so much. If the Lobos lose to the Rebels on their home floor, the tournament committee will take that into consideration. The tournament committee takes everything into consideration.
A couple of paragraphs earlier I said I hadn’t ruled out the possibility the tournaments might leave town. Now I have. Any list of finalists that includes Denver can’t be taken seriously.
The reason the tournaments returned to Las Vegas two years ago is because they tried playing them on a neutral court in Denver for the three years before.
In terms of an experiment, it was like putting a fly in one booth and Jeff Goldblum in the other, and throwing a gigantic lever.
Check that — there wasn’t enough electricity in the building for the switch in locales to mutate into anything, except an unmitigated disaster.
It was a Mile High air ball.
The Pepsi Center barely burped when the Mountain West came to town. The crowds left in the same taxi. When you could find one, that is. Were it not for Randy Holtz, a sportswriter for the Rocky Mountain News, I wouldn’t even be here to recall what a disaster it was.
After the late session, the taxis stopped running. So did the media shuttles. The only things that were running were the noses of the collective Las Vegas sports media. Holtz packed some of us in his car. The others he just strapped to the luggage rack, because they were frozen solid. It was like Mr. Freeze had turned his ray gun on press row. The poor San Diego guys never had a chance.
The atmospheric conditions inside the building weren’t much better. I’ve seen humorous cummerbund conventions that were better attended. The average attendance in Denver in 2006 was 7,489. (It was 13,483 in the Thomas & Mack Center last year.)
The gathering in the ginormous Pepsi Center looked even smaller than announced as the Mountain West hoops fans rattled around the seats like pinballs with Tommy on the flippers. The place looked empty — especially when the Wyoming fans went out for beers at halftime.
So Denver is out. And though I am sure San Diego and Salt Lake and Albuquerque would support the tournaments more fervently than Denver, if for no other reason than they’ve actually heard of the teams (except TCU) in those cities, what do you do after you check out Shamu and the Mormon Temple and wolf down a couple of green chile burritos?
To paraphrase Elaine Benes: nada, nada, nada.
“If we want to be a big-time conference, then we need a big-time atmosphere at our showcase event,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said — and what else would you expect him to say?
But he’s right. You need a buzz at a conference tournament (which, come to think, rules out Salt Lake).
“We’ve had that the last couple of years,” Kruger said. “I also understand, as an opposing coach, you don’t like coming into someone’s home arena. I guess that’s why there’ll be another vote soon as to what happens with the conference tournament.”
I could be wrong, but I think the Mountain West will re-up with Las Vegas and the Thomas & Mack Center, because the fans have spoken — with their wallets.
The reason I could be wrong? The tournament site will decided in June in a vote among the MWC Board of Directors — i.e., the school presidents.
The last time the school presidents got together they decided to form their own TV network.
Be nervous, Las Vegas.
Be very nervous.
Discussion: 8 comments so far…
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I hope it does move out of Las Vegas. That way they can see how many people will actually travel to New Mexico or Utah for the MWC tournament. Good luck with that! Going to UTah for a 3 day vacation doesn't sound like a blast to me.
I think it will be moved to SLC, which could go either way. If Utah or BYU do well, the tournament will do well. If both are knocked out early, I think the attendance numbers will be bad. Not Denver bad, but much worse than the years in Vegas.
That's not to say that the schools that traditionally travel well won't go to SLC. I just think that (especially in bad economic times) fewer people will make the trip if it's not in Vegas.
The weather is also a consideration. SLC averages 9 inches of snow in March. Yipee. So besides the fact that I'll end up either having to drive my rental Dodge Calibur around in the snow or stand out in the cold with all the other suckers waiting for a taxi, there is a real possibility that a major storm could shut down the whole thing (record is 41+ inches in March).
The other real problem I see with the move is giving up Las Vegas. Some lesser conference will book the T&M for their tournament and then they will get to enjoy the success that the MWCT has enjoyed the last couple of years.
My hope is that reasonableness will prevail and it will stay in Vegas, but I fear it won't. Tom Holmoe and his buddies had enough influence to take up the best seats in the T&M to erect a huge black wall (I laughed at how well it worked). They will use this same influence to ruin the good thing this conference has going for it in Vegas.
Bundle up
Cash is King people. Watch how much dough the tourney generates this season. The conference isn't going to part with that. It will stay in Vegas.
Someone get Alford a box of Kleenex.
If they are so upset, Why dont they just hold the tournament in the convention center. The old UNLV stadium???? It's still in our town but at a neutral site.....
Unahmean-
The convention center rotunda was torn down around 1995.
Who's gonna go watch it in Utah where the morons won't even let fans have a beer?
As a Lobo fan, I can see Alford's complaint. I can also see that the tourney should be here in Vegas, but not at the T&M. The NCAA should let either the MGM or Mandalay Bay host it, but not let either books to take bets. I am sure the revenue from food and drink sales and/or publicity gathered will more than make up for any losses at the books. If this is not possible, there are 2 other options: 1) Rotate between the finalists besides Denver,or have it in Phoenix, a good neutral site.
Who really cares what stadium in Las Vegas they hold it in? To say its more fair in another stadium is a joke, what are people going to refuse to drive a few miles? If the other schools don't like it, tell them to start buying more tickets and getting their fans to use them.
Salt Lake, now that is hilarious. That makes it more fair? That will make it an even bigger home court advantage for another team. MWC coaches can complain all they want, but they have to admit far more fans for opposing teams are in the building in Vegas than they would ever get in any of these choices.