Wilson, Otzelberger Make Pitches To Make Basketball Big-Time Again In Las Vegas

By Alan Snel

LVSportsBiz.com

 

A’ja Wilson is a gifted 22-year-old basketball player from South Carolina and and T.J. Otzelberger is an intense 41-year-old basketball coach from Milwaukee and their paths intersected on a pristine baseball field in Summerlin Friday.

 

They may have different backgrounds, but their missions are the same — make professional and college basketball dominant in a market that is growing more crowded with all types of sports options from minor league baseball played in a sparkling new venue to an NHL team that — for now — rules the Las Vegas sports market.

 

Wilson and Otzelberger threw out the first pitches for Friday’s Las Vegas Aviators-Albuquerque Isotopes game, which, by the way, was yet another sellout at the ballpark in Downtown Summerlin. (Summerlin master developer Howard Hughes Corporation owns the Aviators, the ballpark and Downtown Summerlin; talk about vertical integration.) A packed ballpark of 10,132 watched the Aviators lose, 5-4, to the Isotopes in 10 innings.

 

Wilson’s Aces play their season-opener Sunday at 5 p.m. at Mandalay Bay Events Center,  while Otzelberger arrived March 28 via helicopter to Thomas & Mack Center to start a five-year contract in an attempt to revive a once-great national college hoops program.

 

LVSportsBiz.com caught up with both Wilson and Otzelberger to find out how they will excite a market about their respective basketball teams. First, Wilson, who talks about the Aces and Sinclair Broadcasting cutting a a deal to have 16 of 17 home games broadcast on local channel MyLVTV..

And here’s Otzelberger discussing how his visits around the community can translate into more interest and ticket sales for UNLV basketball.

 

Wilson’s boyfriend, former Dayton basketball player Josh Cunningham, was on the ball field with the Aces forward Friday and he also met Otzelberger. Unfortunately for the new UNLV hoops coach, Cunningham’s college basketball eligibility is done.

 

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LVSportsBiz.com will be reporting Saturday from Cashman Field, where the Las Vegas Lights FC are playing the Tulsa Roughnecks at 7 :30 p.m. and will be at the Mandalay Bay Events Center Sunday for the 5 p.m. Aces-Los Angeles Sparks game. Look for our photos on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, too.