Hypocrisy runs deep in college basketball

By Michael Melissa Sports Central Columnist

The NCAA is at it again.

As if they didn't have enough time badgering schools about rule violations, they are now after early-season college basketball tournaments. Popular tournaments like the Great Alaskan Shootout, Maui Invitational, and Preseason NIT could be in serious trouble after the 2003 season. Not to mention other lesser-known exempted tourneys, such as the three Las Vegas tournaments this season, the BCA Classic, Hawaii-Pacific Tournament, and IKON Coaches vs. Cancer Classic, which could all fall before '03.

The two-and-four rule is at the center of this controversy. The rule, adopted in 1999 by the NCAA, limits a team's participation in exempted tournaments like the Preseason NIT. Universities are limited to one appearance during a season, and no more than two every four years. Schools are also not to compete in the same tournament outside of the continental U.S. more than once in a four-year period.

Without these neutral court tournaments, the mid-major schools have no chance of facing some of the bigger schools. Therein lies the problem. What chance does a school like Gonzaga or Pepperdine have against the likes of UCLA or Arizona on anything but a neutral court? None. Which is why the two-and-four rule needs to be done away with in college basketball, so says many of the coaches.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim is already on record as saying his squad wouldn't face a team like Missouri (who they played in the Great Alaska Shootout last season) on the road in November unless it was on a neutral court. If the Orangemen wouldn't travel to Missouri, what chance does Cal State Northridge have in luring them to southern California?

Then there's the big to-do about the three Las Vegas tournaments scheduled for this season. To the defense of the NCAA (which I don't usually do for such a corrupt organization), they are not the only problem children in this latest hullabaloo.

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and his henchman Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. (what a surprise that both are republicans), has strong-armed the participating universities in demanding a change of venue from the Paris Hotel-Casino to Valley High School in Las Vegas. Not surprisingly, both men were sponsors of legislation to ban betting on college teams in Nevada sports books.

Chris Spencer, director of Worldwide Basketball, Inc., has had a busy few weeks. The promoter of the Las Vegas Tourney (Nov. 19-21), Las Vegas Invitational (Nov. 22-24), and Las Vegas Classic (Dec. 20-22), has been fielding angry phone calls from both the politicians and participating teams who finally realized they were playing at a hotel-casino. More than half of the universities in the three tournaments have complained about the venue.

Yet, these schools have no problem with staying at a hotel-casino during the tournaments or when they travel to face UNLV.

While many of the dissenting schools claim they had no idea the event would be held at the Paris, Spencer said a list of venues was sent along with the tournament package to each school back in April. "I wish I had known about this in April when we signed the contract," Spencer told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "This is coming from schools in the tournament, not the NCAA."

If not for a couple of nosy politicians who think gambling is the bane of the free world, this would not be an issue. Football media day and the Mountain West Volleyball Tournament were both held at the MGM Grand, and no school said boo about that. It's not surprising that the two schools with the biggest problem with the Paris hosting an event have also had trouble with the NCAA -- Purdue and Cincinnati. And don't think that McCain and his little imp Graham didn't already play that card on the Boilermakers and Bearcats.

These two blue-hairs are also on record saying the NCAA "should put its muscle where its mouth is" and stop schools from participating in these events, with Graham adding that it was "unbelievably stupid" of the NCAA to approve these tournaments.

The NCAA uncharacteristically has been quiet throughout most of this ordeal. Their only duty in this affair was to sign off on the new venue. But why hadn't McCain and his little handmaiden of righteousness heard about this back in April? If they have been working so closely with the NCAA to get a ban on college sports betting, why didn't they put up a red flag then? Did it just slip the NCAA's mind? My guess is that they were hoping to keep this from Heckyl and Jeckyl.

If schools were truly concerned about their student-athletes giving in to temptation and tossing a few bucks on a table or in a slot machine, maybe they should all invest in tents or motor homes for their trips to Las Vegas to cut down that possibility. Or instead, maybe they should trust the players and let them decide what's right and wrong.

Or better yet, maybe politics should butt its nose out of sports, and leave it be.

Article courtesy of Sports Central.