Alford Wants MWC Tournament Out Of Las Vegas

I thought the Mt. West saw the last of the cry-baby coaches
when Rick Majerus left, apparently not. Majerus' complaining effectively moved the Conference Tournament to Denver, where it was so "successful" it moved back to Las Vegas.
When you intelligently consider ALL the factors for the league,
and the fans, not merely your own self serving interests, Las Vegas
is the best option. Objectively, which news story generates more
readership, those from Albuquerque or Las Vegas?
OK Coach, you want a neutral site, why don't you suggest one, instead of just being a complainer.
I suggest Coach Alford first work on a berth in the tournament, so
he can visit his first Mt. West Conference Tournament. Just win games and not complain about where you might be playing at the end of the season.

First off, I'm a huge Lobo fan. I agree, when the tournament is in Vegas, it draws a bigger crowd. But, you have to argue that the bigger crowd is a result of UNLV taking the floor at some point.
I don't think it's good for the conference if the integrity of the regional tournament is damaged by giving one team a home court advantage. You can not be expected to see the MWC become nationally recognized with one team being given a considerable leg up.
Regardless of attendance, Denver was a superb location for the MWC tournament. It was in the middle of a majority of MW schools and supporting your team was no more than a short hour drive away.
I think Alford is speaking for the rest of the coaches in the conference by bringing this issue to the table. If not only to help the Lobos, but to help the other teams too. I don't see it as complaining when your stating neutrality for the entire MWC. You're off base by suggesting he's complaining -- Alford would have to say he wanted the MWC tourney in Albuquerque for that to be true.
It's guys like Majerus and Alford that make the MWC a name brand.

Steve J wrote:

First off, I'm a huge Lobo fan. I agree, when the tournament is in Vegas, it draws a bigger crowd. But, you have to argue that the bigger crowd is a result of UNLV taking the floor at some point.
I don't think it's good for the conference if the integrity of the regional tournament is damaged by giving one team a home court advantage. You can not be expected to see the MWC become nationally recognized with one team being given a considerable leg up.
Regardless of attendance, Denver was a superb location for the MWC tournament. It was in the middle of a majority of MW schools and supporting your team was no more than a short hour drive away.
I think Alford is speaking for the rest of the coaches in the conference by bringing this issue to the table. If not only to help the Lobos, but to help the other teams too. I don't see it as complaining when your stating neutrality for the entire MWC. You're off base by suggesting he's complaining -- Alford would have to say he wanted the MWC tourney in Albuquerque for that to be true.
It's guys like Majerus and Alford that make the MWC a name brand.

Please tell me in that last sentence you are joking....Did you see your Lobos on Saturday???

It'll be funny to see how much longer old steve will taint his imaginary image with the loser lobos until he starts looking for another gullible tier 3 school to coach

why call alford's argument whining? lets look at the argument he is making: that the tournament's location gives UNLV a home advantage.

the 'home advantage' contention is what caused the mwc to move the tournament out of albuquerque. so why is unlv exempt from the rule?

i agree with steve j--alford is only saying what everyone in the mwc, besides unlv, feels is unfair and hypocritical.

Why don't they mover it around to a different school every year like they used to do? That makes much better sense by spreading the wealth around instead of boosting only one city's economy every year...

I hate to say it but guys they justify it by saying UNLV is always the away team.....

Anyways Vegas brings in the fans...why wouldn't you want to travel to watch your team in Denver or Vegas???? Pack the Mack....

Trixie541xx wrote:

<quoted text>
Please tell me in that last sentence you are joking....Did you see your Lobos on Saturday???

No, I'm not joking and yes, I did see my Lobos play that game.

Mt West Fan wrote:

I thought the Mt. West saw the last of the cry-baby coaches
when Rick Majerus left, apparently not. Majerus' complaining effectively moved the Conference Tournament to Denver, where it was so "successful" it moved back to Las Vegas.
When you intelligently consider ALL the factors for the league,
and the fans, not merely your own self serving interests, Las Vegas
is the best option. Objectively, which news story generates more
readership, those from Albuquerque or Las Vegas?
OK Coach, you want a neutral site, why don't you suggest one, instead of just being a complainer.
I suggest Coach Alford first work on a berth in the tournament, so
he can visit his first Mt. West Conference Tournament. Just win games and not complain about where you might be playing at the end of the season.

In the near future, UNLV playing on their home court in Las Vegas will not be an issue. There are two new state of the art arena's being built in Las Vegas. I'm sure they will move the MWC tourney to one of these sites when they are completed. Many more people travel to Las Vegas for the tourney because of it being a destination resort. LV will always be the most successful city for the MWC to hold their tourney. Thats just a simple, undeniable fact. Once the tourney is moved from the Thomas & Mack, the true home court advantage will disappear. Given the time of year, where would you want to go for a weekend away to watch the tourney and have some fun? Colorado, Wyoming. The only other MWC city that has an appeal is San Diego. There are scheduling issues at Cox Arena which kind of removes them from the picture. Let Steve cry. He's good at it. There is no sense for the MWC to hold a tourney unless it can be a financial success to support league operations. Bring Hawaii into the MWC and maybe you could hold a successful tourney there. This is about getting MWC fans to travel, and obviously they don't want to travel to Denver in the winter. Remember, this was a failure there with 3 MWC campuses within easy driving range.

People forget that BYU has a HUGE advantage there. There are sooo many Mormons in Vegas, a city that the Mormons actually founded! Trust me on this, BYU fans love the site. It is the next best thing to having it in the Marriot Center. Have you noticed that BYU has NEVER lost to the UNLV in football in Vegas?

Greg wrote:

People forget that BYU has a HUGE advantage there. There are sooo many Mormons in Vegas, a city that the Mormons actually founded! Trust me on this, BYU fans love the site. It is the next best thing to having it in the Marriot Center. Have you noticed that BYU has NEVER lost to the UNLV in football in Vegas?

But what happened in the baskeball finals last year?