arc731

SoCalHoops Tournament News

ARC/Slam-N-Jam Las Vegas Grand Finale:
Rich Goldberg Has A Bad Day--(July 31, 1998)

Poor Rich Goldberg. Seems he's really having a bad day. At least that's what we're hearing from Vegas. What with Issy Washington out of commission (temporarily we hope), Rich was left to run the Grand Finale alone. And if he wasn't doing it all by himself he might as well have been, given the press he's getting in Las Vegas. Of course, comparing the Grand Finale to the Big Time is a little unfair, but in this case, the comparison is inevitable since many of the local Vegas teams played in both tournaments.

The scheduling snafus were highlighted today in an article in the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Sure, scheduling mixups happen every now and then. But you don't want them to affect the home/host teams, at least not if you can help it.

But rather than belabor the point, here's the article:

Heat Feeling Burned
After Finale Ouster

Las Vegas Heat Coach Pat Welby Says His
Team Paid The Price For Schedule Snafus In The
Grand Finale.

By Damon Seiters Review-Journal

The experience in the Grand Finale basketball tournament has been anything but grand for the Las Vegas Heat.

After going 3-0 in pool play, the Heat had assured itself of playing in the championship bracket Thursday. At least that's what it thought.

Instead, questions about which teams would advance lingered past the scheduled time for Thursday's first game. When they were sorted out, the Heat had the second seed -- and five minutes to prepare for its game.

Despite the wait, the game between the Heat and SYF Players of Indiana was tied at 33 at halftime. But SYF Players pulled away in the second half, eliminating the Heat, 81-61. At one point, SYF hit five straight 3-pointers.

And Heat coach Pat Welby was left with a bad taste.

"The kids were sitting in the stands for an hour while we were trying to straighten this out," he said.

Because there were six teams in the Heat's pool, it didn't play every team. The Portland, Ore., Legends also were 3-0 in pool play, so Heat coaches weren't sure whether their team would play at 9 a.m. Thursday as the pool's No. 2 seed, or at 10:30 a.m. as the No. 1 seed.

Welby received a call from tournament director Rich Goldberg at 2 a.m. Thursday. Goldberg wanted the Heat to play a 16-minute game Thursday morning against All Ohio Team to determine which club would advance to the championship bracket. The problem was, All Ohio Team was 2-1 in pool play.

"Since we finished 3-0, we shouldn't be penalized into playing an extra half just to get in (the championship bracket)," Welby said. "I stated that if there should be a playoff or a tiebreaker, it should be between us and the team from Portland."

Coaches from the Heat and All Ohio Team met with Goldberg early Thursday to decide who would advance. Finally, around 9, Goldberg agreed that the Heat and the Legends would advance to the championship bracket. Portland and the Heat had a common opponent, the Arkansas Wings, and because Portland beat the Wings by 10 points and the Heat won by four, Portland got the top seed.

The Heat was the second seed, which was scheduled to play at 9 a.m., leaving the team five minutes to prepare for its game.

It wasn't the first organizational problem the Heat had encountered in the tournament.

The team was scheduled to play its first tournament game Monday night at 6 against the Stockton, Calif., Razorbacks, who failed to show. Goldberg wanted to replace the Razorbacks with a team from Galveston, Texas, but it wasn't in the gym.

By the time the Texas team arrived, it was 7:20. Both teams scheduled to play in the 7:30 game were warmed up, so it was decided the Heat and the Texas squad would play two 10-minute halves with the clock running. The Heat won, 32-24.

"The whole game took 22 minutes," said Daron Park, the Heat's other coach. "I was on the road by 7:45 p.m."

Said Welby: "Our kids could never really get in synch. Plus, they were sitting around for 2 1/2 hours." Welby said he understands it's difficult to run a tournament with so many out-of-town teams playing in different gyms around the city.

"I know it's a big job, but I think it could be done because we saw it done at the adidas Big Time," Welby said. "They had 224 teams, and that tournament went off like clockwork. I don't think we ever started a game late in that tournament."