Thompson expecting record crowds for Mountain West tourney

So far, everybody seems to be thrilled that the Mountain West Conference Tournament is back at the Thomas & Mack.

After a three-year hiatus, the tournament is returning to its original home at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas. The MWC moved the tournament to a neutral site, Denver's Pepsi Center, from 2004, citing UNLV's homecourt advantage. But in the Mile High City, attendance dwindled and the tournament spark was lacking in the spacious NBA arena.

MWC coaches were among those who voted to move the tournament back to Vegas, even though it gives host UNLV a major homecourt edge.

"Everybody wanted to move because it didn't have the pizazz you would want a conference tournament to have (in Denver)," said San Diego State coach Steve Fisher. "Anyone who doesn't think Vegas has a huge advantage hasn't looked at the statistics. But we felt that Vegas would give us the most sizzle. Let's see what happens over the next three years."

The league is expecting tournament attendance records to be broken this week, said MWC commissioner Craig Thompson. The MWC Tournament attendance record was set in 2003 (the last time the tournament was held at the Thomas & Mack), when an average of 13,483 fans passed through the turnstiles per game.

During the three seasons in Denver, the tournament averaged 8,322, 8,974 and 7,459 per game, respectively.

Thompson said ticket sales for the tournament are brisk and he expects a large volume of walk-up sales as well. He added that a large number of fans from several MWC schools, not just UNLV, have purchased tickets.

Thompson said the league is anticipating this year's tournament being the most-watched in league history, with all 16 games (in both the men's and women's brackets) being televised live for the first time — on CSTV, The mtn. or Versus.

All the games will also be available online on a pay-per-view basis. The 16-game package can be purchased for $24.95 through each of the individual MWC official Web sites or the MWC Web site.

NCAA FORECAST: The MWC appears to have four teams that could make a strong case for an NCAA Tournament bid without winning the automatic berth by claiming the MWC Tournament title.

BYU (23-7), UNLV (25-6), Air Force (23-7) and San Diego State (21-9) will be strongly considered by the NCAA selection committee, said Thompson, who has spoken to several committee members recently.