Report: MW blindsides basketball coaches in excluding three teams from annual tournament

Starting in 2017, the Mountain West basketball tournaments for both the men and women’s side will move from 11 teams down to only eight, excluding three teams per year.

Back in December, Wyoming Cowboys head coach Larry Shyatt was reprimanded for his public comments on the decision, saying, “I’m very disappointed, but it is what it is,” Shyatt said. “We knew months ago, even though there is a so-called search, we knew it was all about money. We knew many, many months ago it was going to end up back at Thomas & Mack. We, simply put, do not have the money to do certain things.”

The Mountain West was reportedly considering a move from the Thomas & Mack Center to the MGM Grand Arena, and a move like that would mean a maximum of eight teams participating. The league considered moving venues because the Thomas & Mack is the home arena of the UNLV Runnin’ Rebels of the MW and the league wanted to keep the tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada. Vegas is a wonderful destination for fun, shopping and gambling for the fans.

But, it turned out the Thomas & Mack will continue to be the home of the tournament and it will be slashed to only eight teams.

Thanks to Tracy Ringolsby and the help of two lawyers, an email thread which was shared between the MW coaches has come to light.

“Hopefully you remember the discussion we had in May at the Arizona Biltmore where we unanimously voted for all the teams to participate in the tournament,’’ San Diego State head coach Steve Fisher wrote to his comrades.

“Commissioner Craig Thompson asked point blank if we could reduce field to eight to get us into the MGM Garden Arena,’’ wrote Fisher. “I said emphatically no, that no one was in favor of that. In that room at the time were Dave Rice, the UNLV head coach at the time; Air Force’s Dave Pilipovich; myself; and Commissioner Thompson along with the AD at Nevada, the Assistant AD at Wyoming and either the assistant or the AD from Vegas.”

And Fisher also attacked the idea of University of New Mexico President Robert G. Frank, who said the MW’s RPI would be better if they excluded the bottom three teams from the tournament each year.

“He spoke about enhancing the RPI by not having to play lower teams, when in reality, 1-5 get byes in the first round anyway,’’ wrote Fisher. “So they wouldn’t play anyone other than someone in the top eight. So that logic is hard to justify.”

Fisher wasn’t the only one to chime in and be upset by the decision.

“I found out about the decision after the fact,” wrote Nevada coach Eric Musselman. “Was never consulted. This is a travesty for the student athlete, fans and coaches!!!”

Truly, it is. To take away a chance for players to earn their way into the NCAA Tournament is simply sad. It excludes that Cinderella run, it eliminates some of the fun of the conference tournament.

“I never knew about it until I read about it,’’ then UNLV head coach Dave Rice wrote. “A colossal waste of time for us to go to meeting in May, debate and vote on things and have it not matter the least. I feel like we should not go to the meetings this spring. We could do our stuff on a video conference.”

San Jose State coach Dave Wojcik said, “This make our league look very bad and definitely not a top tier league. Also, where is the wealth of the student athletes as they are always talking about. This is not a good decision overall.”

Yet another solid point. Not only does this make the Mountain West look bad because not every team has a chance to compete, but it makes them look divided, with the Presidents on one side and the coaches on the other.

So, to recap, back in May the Mountain West coaches came together, debated and then voted 11-0 to keep all 11 MW teams in the tournament. Then, the Presidents of the schools got together and decided to allow only eight teams to compete starting in 2017.

Clearly, coaches were not happy with the decision and it’s unlikely fans will be, either.

(When I followed up with Ringloslby, no mention of Rams head coach Larry Eustachy was made in the emails.)

Cannot say Eustachy didn't reply. His reply, however, wasn't in the emails we received from open records. https://t.co/3tQn8SbVbD

— Tracy Ringolsby (@TracyRingolsby) March 1, 2016