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The Mountain West Conference announced last week that its basketball tournament will stay at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nev. for the next three years.
Some men’s coaches around the league, including New Mexico’s Steve Alford, do not agree with that decision, which they expressed during Monday’s MWC teleconference calls.
Their basis for concern: It’s the home site for UNLV’s Runnin’ Rebels, one of the conference’s nine members. Thus, holding the tournament at the Thomas & Mack Center gives UNLV an unfair advantage.
“It’s as good a tournament as I’ve ever been in from a coaching standpoint in all the leagues that I’ve been in,” said Alford, an MWC coach at UNM for six years. “My only complaint is that it’s in the building of an institution in our league.”
The Thomas & Mack Center has served as the tournament host site off and on for 10 years. It held the tournament from 2000-03, then 2007-present. The Pepsi Center in Denver, a neutral location for all teams, hosted the event between 2004 and 2006.
A press release from the MWC states the tournament has seen “steady growth” in overall attendance since the Thomas & Mack Center has housed the tournament, jumping from 46,141 in 2000 to 82,787 in 2011. It also states the league averages more than 12,000 spectators for the men’s championship.
The 42,000-square-foot venue holds a maximum of 18,500 patrons for basketball games, according to UNLV’s website. Probably the most central location geographically, Las Vegas is the second largest MWC city. Its population is 589,317, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. At more than 1.3 million people, San Diego is the largest city with an MWC team. Albuquerque has 552,804 people.
“Las Vegas is a destination city, and in recent years has become a hotbed for NCAA basketball,” MWC Commissioner Craig Thompson said in the release issued Friday. “Extensive research has proven that MW fans prefer this location over any other.”
However, some MWC coaches feel UNLV has a home-court advantage when the Thomas & Mack Center hosts the tournament. The Runnin’ Rebels have three tournament championships at the arena but haven’t won a title since 2008. They have a .739 winning percentage in tourney games and six final-round appearances in the building.
San Diego State also has three tournament championship titles at the Thomas & Mack Center. New Mexico, Colorado State, Utah and BYU each have one title there. Utah and BYU are no longer in the Mountain West.
“Nobody will be able to tell me any different that it’s not a tremendous advantage for UNLV,” Alford said.
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UNM President Robert Frank said Las Vegas boasts a history of success for hosting the MWC tournament.
“The tournament gets great support from the city and its convention and visitors bureau,” he said. “It’s a financial success there. The Mountain West has tried other venues in the past that haven’t worked as well.”
“I’m not OK with that, but I understand how the politics work,” Wyoming coach Larry Shyatt said. “In the NCAA, for example, that our basketball coaches have never had a voice and probably likely will never have a voice.”
UNLV coach Dave Rice, whose team is 15-1 at home this year, said he is not against moving the tournament from the Thomas & Mack Center. He admitted his team has an edge, not in terms of fan support, but the fact his players are accustomed to its floor and baskets.
Rice added that he understands other coaches’ concerns about home-court advantage, but he feels Las Vegas is the best city in the league, if not the nation, to host a conference tournament.
“I’ve always maintained Las Vegas is the best place to have it, and I would have no problem if it were at a different venue in town,” Rice said.
The winner of the MWC tournament gets an automatic bid to the NCAA national basketball tournament. Appearances in the Big Dance often are a barometer of coaches’ success at an institution. Alford said that becomes a factor when coaches and schools are at the bargaining table for contract renegotiation.
“You want long-term and you want longevity in this business.
Making the tournament at some point comes up when your contracts are renegotiated,” Alford said. “So making the tournament is a big deal at some point for all of us.”
