Fight Night in Vegas marred Mountain West Conference tournament

Today we're talking — what else? — college basketball, after Selection Sunday and Fight Night in Las Vegas ....

So on my flight home from Las Vegas yesterday, I saw a front-page story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal about the big fight between Juan Manuel Marquez and Manny Pacquiao, right underneath a story about UNLV's championship victory over BYU. However, there wasn't a word in the section about the fights at the Thomas & Mack Center after the UNLV-BYU title game. I guess the Las Vegas media were looking the other way, literally or figuratively, when all the mayhem was going on ....

Oh, there was one mention about the "brainless" security measures of trying to keep celebrating Rebel fans off the court, not the brainless fans mixing it up in the stands. The columnist had a decent point that a lot of the scuffles in the stands were a result of fans and ushers trying to keep exuberant fans from coming down the aisles. But what gives fans the right to "rush the floor," just because their team won?

BYU fans weren't blameless in the melees, but next year, the MWC needs to figure out a way to separate the fans from the two competing schools. Of course, it's kind of difficult as long as the tournament is played at the home arena of a school with fans throughout the whole arena. But it may not be a great idea to have the band from the opposing school right next to a bunch of students from the host school. And if the MWC is serious about keeping fans off the court next year, they better replace the 70-year-old ushers in the red coats with some big-bodied bouncers from the Strip ....

Selection Sunday is always one of the most exciting sports days of the year, but there weren't a lot of surprises in the overall selections this year. One that bothered me was Arizona getting in ahead of Arizona State. The Sun Devils had a better overall record, a better conference record and most importantly they beat the Wildcats twice during the season! Sure, Arizona had a tougher non-conference schedule but why should they get rewarded for losing to more ranked teams than ASU? They had the same number of non-league wins over ranked teams. Did I mention the Wildcats lost to the Sun Devils twice?

I think BYU has to be happy with its first-round pairing, even if some of the players and the coach I saw on the news didn't seem overly thrilled. A No. 8 seed seems about right for the Cougars, and Texas A&M is a team the Cougars can beat. Although the Aggies have been ranked in the Top 10 this year, they've also lost six games by double digits, including two games by 27. This could be a good chance for the Cougars to break their long NCAA drought, but it will be tough getting beyond the first round with UCLA lurking ....