The Mountain West was granted an automatic tournament bid in 2001. That meant to keep a tidy 64-team bracket, one of the small-fry conferences had to lose their automatic in, or one of the at-large bids would have to be sacrificed, which would mean that somebody such as Michigan or Syracuse might have to play in the NIT.
If those who would crack wise at the Vegas 16’s expense will do the math, they will discover Las Vegas’ inaugural postseason college basketball tournament for teams with directions and ampersands in their name has the highest average power rating of the three non-NCAA supported tournaments.
Now, San Diego State will be relegated to watching on TV when the NCAA Tournament brackets are announced Sunday. Steve Fisher, the venerable Aztecs coach, didn’t sound too optimistic the Selection Show would end well for his guys. The team definitely is on the bubble.
Chicago State’s record fell to 4 wins, 28 losses, which sounds dire, until you learn Chicago State has declared “a university-wide state of financial exigency.” What this essentially means: Chicago State is broke.
The Vegas 16 is the latest edition to the roster of college basketball postseason tournaments. You have the Big Dance, which is the NCAA Tournament. You have the NIT, the CBI, the CIT, the Vegas 16. These are Little Dances, lovely parting gifts, the home game of “Concentration.”
When I told the UNLV people I wanted to write about the new courtside seating area at Lady Rebels games sometimes referred to as Tiffany Row (there is no official connection with the women’s jewelry and specialty retailer), they pointed to three women’s basketball fans seated in the cushy seats near the baseline.
At the same time UNLV called a news conference to announce that Dave Rice had been fired — er, came to a “mutual agreement” with his athletic administration that he would step down as Rebels basketball coach — people were parking their cars and SUVs for “Disney on Ice” at the Thomas & Mack Center.
When it was announced the new MGM/Anschutz Entertainment Group arena being shoehorned in between New York-New York and the Monte Carlo would be called T-Mobile Arena, hardly anybody complained.
There was an Instant Classic on ESPN on Monday night, and then on Wednesday morning, there was this, in bold, black letters, on the University of Oklahoma athletic website: WEST VIRGINIA, KANSAS MBB GAMES SOLD OUT.
