Women’s College Basketball Tournament At Mirage On Strip Gets Blasted With Criticism For Event Promoter
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By Alan Snel, Publisher/LVSportsBiz.com
Las Vegas has become a popular mecca for all types of college basketball tournaments, but a women’s college basketball tourney called the Las Vegas Invitational at the Mirage on the Strip during the Thanksgiving weekend was called out for failing to have EMTs on site to treat an injured player and not following through on event conditions as promised.
Teri Moren, the coach for the participating sixth-ranked Indiana Hoosiers women’s basketball team, reportedly said, “Any good tournament has EMT, all of that, medical professionals on site. It wasn’t the case. Another big miss for this tournament.”
Jen Wilfong, a former Indiana women’s basketball player and who follows the team closely, attended the tournament and told LVSportsBiz.com” The entire set up in a convention/ballroom was basic, worse than an average AAU tourney. For example, two TV screens were used for the scoreboard. A few rows of chairs were used for fans, so hard to see over the heads in front. The shot clock operator had multiple problems and corrections each game. The replay review was off the court, so the refs had to run off of the court.”
It was completely a miss, as Coach Moren said, and oversold by the organizer to the attending women’s basketball programs. I recommend this organizer be reviewed. I didn’t meet one coach, assistant coach, player or fan that was ‘happy or thrilled with the event.’ Everyone was grumbling, at all levels. A disgrace. — Longtime Indiana women’s basketball program supporter Jen Wilfong who attended the tournament
The reaction to the subpar conditions for the women’s hoops tourney in the hotel-casino ballroom was harsh on social media. Take a look:
A small number of fans sat in folding chairs watching the games. There were no bleachers.
Tournament director Bryce McKey was not on site. But site coordinator Ryan Polk did apologize and was quoted in ESPN as saying, “”We’re very sorry . . . The court and the lighting, that stuff hasn’t been an issue. But we needed to have full-on bleachers. We have notified The Mirage we won’t be coming back again. This is a one-time disaster in terms of events. It definitely did not go the way we thought or planned. We just severely missed the mark when comes to the spectator side.”
A player on the Auburn team was injured during a game Friday and it took 50 minutes before paramedics could come and treat the player.
Wilfong said waiting for the EMTs to arrive for the Auburn player was “excruciating.”
“I recommend making adjustments quickly after day one, like move replay screens to the media row. Get a capable scorer/ time keeper. Ensure there are bleachers, and crowds could have stayed longer. And most importantly, ensure that the venue looks like a D1 venue. Improve the aesthetics. Use one of the many gyms and venues in Vegas, like UNLV did for their four-team Thanksgiving tourney and the Thomas Mack arena,” Wilfong said.
“Have EMT on site. The 50-minute wait for an ambulance to come and care for the Auburn player was excruciating for everyone,” Wilfong said
The Las Vegas market has many small arenas that could have housed this basketball tourney in a professional setup.
Indiana won its two games in Las Vegas by double digits.
