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Saturday, Dec. 11, 2010 | 11:36 a.m.
What a great way to begin the weekend.
Several UNLV basketball fans surely followed this pattern Saturday morning: wake-up, grab a cup of coffee and some breakfast, and turn on the television to watch the Rebels’ game at Louisville. That surely summarized my start to the day.
The early 9 a.m. PST start can be credited for some sloppy sequences by the scarlet and gray in their 77-69 loss, but the final score or key plays, wasn’t the only noteworthy occurrence.
It was the simple fact the game was on national television. And not the Mtn., CBS College Sports and Versus.
All schools in UNLV’s Mountain West Conference all locked into an awful 10-year contract with the Mtn. — a network owned by the league that gives sufficient publicity to member schools, but is watched by virtually nobody.
Louisville’s Big East Conference has a deal with ESPN, allowing the Rebels to make a much-need performance on the big stage.
It was about time.
UNLV has been ranked in the top 25 the past two weeks, yet its last three games — against Illinois State, UNR and Boise State — haven’t been televised. Not even by the Mtn, which has No. 20 UNLV under contract for another five (long) years.
The Rebels will play Kansas State Dec. 21 on ESPN, then will not make an appearance on a major network the rest of the regular season — despite 18 of the team’s final 20 games scheduled for television.
UNLV isn’t the only school lacking television exposure.
Undefeated San Diego State of the Mountain West, which is ranked No. 14 by the Associated Press, is one of the nation’s best teams. Yet, only four of their nine games have been televised. Five of the Aztecs’ six games to close the month also won’t be televised.
That’s embarrassing. Wouldn’t it be nice if the league’s best team can get some love by the league-owned network?
What’s even more alarming is the fact team such as UNLV, San Diego State and BYU — another ranked Mountain West team — are getting very little recognition.
That will hurt come March when the teams are jockeying for seeding the NCAA Tournament. The league is considered a mid-major conference, yet its top three teams are each capable of making a run to the Sweet 16 or deeper.
It would be nice if more people knew that fact. The only way for that to happen is to get out of the television contract with the Mtn. and get games played on ESPN.
The publicity of playing on ESPN is priceless in terms of marketing your program, especially with recruits. Like fans wanting to watch the Rebels, the Mtn. and other networks it’s affiliated with, aren’t attractive options. UNLV is a major college program with a national reputation, it should be playing on a network with equal credentials
So, enjoy your Saturday. Here’s hoping more include watching the Rebels on a major network — win or lose.
I for one prefer ESPNu over any of the MTN networks, at least the broadcasters know what they are talking about, even if they are pro eastern teams.
MTN showed reruns of Snow Jr college football game and UT/BYU football game instead of the BYU/Az game in SLC or any other big matchup in bb. I guess you can give them Credit for NM/NMSt bb game tonight, LOL
I hate the mtn cause it is ran poorly. They make horrible choices as to what to air and when to air it. Espn had the contract to cent.Illinois and unr and they still choice not to air the game with ranked unlv. Trust me a contract with espn only garentees us no to one game on tv. I would like to see us aired on there station but not only there station cause I want to see the games.
I think ESPN is STILL sour that the MWC told them to shove it and not accept their terrible contract. Why was that game delegated to ESPNU? ESPN had an FCS playoff game, and ESPN2 had Auburn v. Rutgers (in basketball). 2 undefeated teams playing in a sold out arena gets pushed to ESPNU???
The Mtn does drop the ball in the non-conference. What else do they have to show other than college basketball, seriously. What a joke. True some of these games being at neutral sites may not automatically fall to the Mtn, but there still not on TV, doesn't mean they are up for grabs?