March Madness is the greatest show in sports. The phrase, coined by Jon Rothstein, “we sleep in May” has transcended beyond being just a battle cry. It’s a promise. 68 teams from across the country locked in a weeks-long combat. The best of the best in an almost non-stop sprint to the Final Four and beyond. The NCAA tournament truly is one of the purest marriages of sport and entertainment. Before the madness, however, comes the storm before the storm; the Mountain West tournament. Before college hoops take over the nation, it’s centralized in one city, the college basketball tournament capital of the world.
Las Vegas is known for one thing: putting on a show. And Mountain West basketball is one of the best shows Sin City has to offer. The Mountain West tournament, separate from yet undeniable connected to the NCAA tournament, is more than just a way for the conference to determine which of its teams receives an automatic bid. It is its own thing with its own personality, and certainly with its own entertainment value. It acts as an unignorable and crucial introduction, prologue, or preamble to the greatest show in sports.
