Comments about ‘5 things to know about the Mountain West Conference Tournament’

I think the debate should already be raging. Home court advantage is a well known element in betting and sports prognostics. Why should any teams,regardless of their final standings, always have the home advantage in a tournament?
UNM should have the home court this year by virtue of winning the league regular season title,but okay,it would be too difficult to arrange a tournament if the winner was not decided until the last few games. A traveling tournament where every team hosts in turn would not earn so much money in say Colorado Spring with AFA playing poorly this year. Why not a neutral site. The MWC could play in Reno and the WAC could play in LV. This article makes it perfectly clear that with the home court UNLV made the finals five out of six years. Time for a change.

If Vegas gets the home court for a decade, do they really think they would get less fan support playing at a semi-neutral court in the Delta Center in SLC??? We get NCAA tourney games here for a reason!

The Delta Center would draw plenty of local MWC fans and BYU AND UTAH fans (perhaps making the conference even more money), its also a great central location with large international airport and abundant hotels/motels for all the other teams/fans etc! PLUS, tt seems like SLC would be a more respectable (non gambling/drinking/seedy) environment and have as much or more success than Vegas. Why does this Far SUPERIOR option never get mentioned???

Why not rotate between LV, Denver, and SLC?

"The highest seed an MWC team has ever received came last year, when Utah was a No. 5 seed."

...and promptly went out and embarrassed the MWC by getting stomped by a #12 seed.

Let's hope New Mexico and BYU can do a better job of representing the MWC this year with their high seeds.

Who wants to go to SLC in March? Vegas is the best place... although I'd consider San Diego.

in SLC - it make sense maybe starting 2012 when downtown wll be finish along with trax to airport. Sking in utah is great place to vacation. At LV get all the tax revenue in their Nev - so why not tax revenue in UT. Sure T&M Center get most of the fan from unlv. So, yes we will fill the arena with Utah and BYU fans with a split. So, why not having it at Energy Solution Arena?

And can you tell me any difference SLC would make then when it was in Denver.
It was a failure, would be a failure in SLC as well. There is a reason Las Vegas will be hosting 3 tournaments next year. The funny thing is, the players love going to Vegas, its only the losing fans and wives who complain oh and losing coaches.

Salt Lake City is the only truly neutral site available to host the MWC Tournament. Both New Mexico and UNLV have unfair advantages in games played at the Pit and in Las Vegas. The conference should look into having both schools play their home games at other venues. The conference tournament is not played to make revenue. Therefore, the only sensible place for the tournament is in Salt Lake City.

Most of the publicity for the MWC is generated by Utah and BYU, and the state of Utah is the center of gravity, the headquarters of the conference, and the owners of the Mtn Television Network, so the conference championship tournament should be in Utah. BYU and Utah are by far the best and most successful athletic programs of all conference schools and they are also the best representatives for the reputation of the conference in terms of national exposure. The MWC would be nothing without BYU. The other schools in the conference are simply inferior to the Utah schools in all respects.

Follow the $$$$$$$$$$$$$. All of the presidents of the MWC schools "sold out" their fans when they agreed to have the tournament in Vegas. Don't blame UNLV....write a letter to your University President!!

Marshall Henderson getting hot and leading his team, that kid shouldn't even be playing Junior College ball let alone starting for the Utes. Him and Durca the worst starting guard combo in the nation.

To "why not in SLC"--When I lived in SLC, I encountered as many "seedy" people. Gambling in bars happened frequently, but was taxed and controlled. There also were as many drunks there.
I agree, SLC has pretty good facilities--not great accomodations, good fan base. It all depends on the attendance and the money the MWC can be guaranteed.

How about at another event center in Vegas, for example at the Mandalay Bay? Vegas is probably still the most enticing location, but moving it out of the Thomas and Mack reduces the home court feel for UNLV.

They should do what Weber's conference does. The regular season winner gets to host on their home court.

Done!

I like the rotation idea between SLC, San Diego and Vegas. Not Denver.

What needs to be done is in the MWC's best interest. Let's face it, the main reason for the tourney is $$$. We already have a conference champion, now we want to recognize another champion (I mean...slip them into the big dance) and bank a few bucks along the way. Wow, that sounds like a "Vegas" ploy right there. I guess it's settled then. Or...make it legit and get the heck out of Vegas and head to ANY neutral location. Come on, let's get serious about becoming a legitimate conference and do the right thing. Energy Solutions sounds like a great idea. Sure, the weather isn't toasty in March, but at least it's a nice and clean venue, unlike Thomas and Mack which is a dump. I attended the tourney last year and was discusted with the condition of the area. I didn't even want to buy anything to eat or drink for fear of getting sick. YUCK! Let's clean it up or get out!

Just rotate between schools. You get the championship game every 9 years. That is a no-brainer.

The process of dropping UNLV out of the MWC is way overdue. They've never been an enjoyable team to play. They don't have fans, they have a city.
Most of the venues in the MWC can accommodate the tournament. Even BYU. That was hard to say.

this year playing the lowly utes. The utes will finish the season with three beatdowns in a row. I think the MWC should get rid of the lowly utes and bring in a school with a competitive football program (3rd place last year) and a good basketball program (it's obvious the utes best days in basketball are long gone in the past).

You really think the conference tourney should be held in Wyoming at any point??? Have you been to that place?

Vegas is okay for the championship as long as it is on a neutral court which there are several in town. The T&M arena gives UNLV an unfair lift to win even when they don't have the best team.

Everyone likes to go to Vegas because of all the glitz and glammour. How hard is it to book another court in Vegas and quash the home court advantage?