Alaska-Anchorage athletic director Steve Cobb was direct about the future of the once proud Great Alaska Shootout, which is now struggling to survive.
"We're going to have a tournament," he said.
But with ESPN and the NCAA as competitors, the GAS will have to get creative to ensure its survival. Even still, it's hard to see the tournament having much of a profile in the future.
The eight-team field is expected to be announced later this week, and there isn't a single team from one of the top six conferences in the country. Cobb said he had seven commitments with one pending. This comes on the heels of the Top of the World Classic in Fairbanks shutting down its event because it couldn't field enough quality teams (or enough teams at all) for the eight-team event.
Last November, in the last year of ESPN's contract to televise the Great Alaska Shootout, the final was between Butler and Texas Tech. Butler is in the Horizon League but was a Top 25 team. Gonzaga, another Top 25 team, was also in the field, as was the ACC's Virginia Tech, the Big Ten's Michigan and the Sun Belt's Western Kentucky. The Hilltoppers aren't in one of the Big Six conferences but ended up being a Sweet 16 team.
The GAS has had its run of high-major teams playing in the field, but the number and quality have declined in recent years.
ESPN runs a number of tournaments now, notably the Old Spice Classic in Orlando and the Anaheim Classic in California, that are drawing away marquee teams. The NCAA is in the business of early-season tournaments with its takeover of the NIT.
But the most pressing concern for the GAS is the more celebrated format for the majority of the events, save the two ESPN events and the Maui Invitational. Most tournaments now allow the top teams to host a game or two at home and then play at a neutral court for two or three games.
Cobb said the GAS will look at restructuring its format to attract higher-profile teams in the future.
Four years ago, Alaska-Anchorage paid $14,000 per team, Cobb said, noting that the figure has since increased to $55,000 a team.
"We can't afford that," he said.
A competing tournament organizer said that fee is "high for an all neutral-site format event."
The GAS doesn't have a television contract. Cobb said the event will have TV coverage but the details aren't worked out yet. He also said he has secured commitments from two teams from high-major conferences for both the 2009 and 2010 events but declined to name them.
"College basketball can't sustain as many tournaments as are being offered," Cobb said. "The bigger schools are going to play at home, and the smaller schools are going to have to travel there [for a few games in the tournament]. We can survive if there is a shakeout of all these tournaments."
The GAS can survive because it is supported by the university, corporate sponsorship and the Anchorage community. (I did see one of the best college games there when Cincinnati beat Duke on a last-possession shot in the 1998 final.)
"We're going to have to change the way we do business right now and try to get a fourth game, and we've talked about playing that first game of the tournament on campus sites [and then three games in Anchorage]," Cobb said. "We've got to guarantee four games. I'm sitting here with my two biggest competitors being the NCAA and ESPN. We're down the list. We can't play at that level."
Cobb has been the athletic director at Anchorage for the past eight years, and this is easily one of his toughest assignments at the school -- to save the Great Alaska Shootout.
"It used to be that you had someone's word with a handshake, but now if you don't have the contract in hand, you don't know if you have the team," Cobb said. "There is a lack of honor in scheduling and in meeting commitments. It's shameful and disgraceful."
• Kansas coach Bill Self's most cherished moments since winning the national title April 7 have come on his back porch in Lawrence, by himself, watching the DVD of the 75-68 overtime victory against Memphis.
"That's been the most fun I've had, the personal enjoyment of just chilling out, reflecting on it, watching the game tape and basically being solo," Self said Monday, the three-month anniversary since winning the title in San Antonio.
Since winning the title, Self said the highlights have been getting honored in New York with the Winged Foot award, going to the White House and everyone being "nice to you."
Still, it is the solitary moments that he is cherishing.
"Several times I've done it," Self said. "It's my idea of having a good time, sitting on my deck by myself. There hasn't been anybody around. I'm enjoying it solo."
Self said he has spent time talking to former national championship coaches Jim Harrick (UCLA), Billy Donovan (Florida), Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Tom Izzo (Michigan State), Jim Calhoun (Connecticut) and Jim Boeheim (Syracuse), who all said the same thing: "Enjoy it. Enjoy it while you can for as long as you can."
The visit with the president at the White House on June 3 was closure on last season for Self. Now, his focus is on a new team in 2008-09 with only four returning scholarship players, led by guard
Sherron Collins and forward
Cole Aldrich.
•
Doneal Mack, who transferred to New Orleans from Memphis last week, is apparently on his way back to Memphis, according to his Statesville Christian High (N.C.) coach John Jordan. Jordan said in an e-mail Tuesday that Mack, a reserve guard last season, wants to return to Memphis. But since Mack did enroll in summer school, he'll have to go through an NCAA process to return to Memphis, making it less than a smooth transition. Memphis is looking into the rules of what occurs when a player does transfer back to his original school if he's taken a few classes of summer school at another program.
New Orleans coach Joe Pasternack said Tuesday that Mack was in class Tuesday, and that if he were leaving, it "was news to me." Memphis coach John Calipari declined to comment on the subject until Mack has officially left UNO.
• Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury has not heard from junior
Jamont Gordon after the guard wasn't drafted June 26. Stansbury said Gordon had made up his mind to leave MSU as soon as he declared for the draft, and the Bulldogs never thought twice about Gordon's return. The Jackson Clarion-Ledger reported that Gordon, who had agreed to be represented by Mike Conley Sr., would play for the Sixers' summer-league team.
The NCAA allows a player to return to school if he goes undrafted as long as he doesn't sign with an agent or a professional team. USC's Davon Jefferson had already signed with an agent, so the freshman forward had no chance to return to the Trojans after he went undrafted. Expect Jefferson on a summer-league roster.
• Stansbury is taking a rare scheduling position: He wants to start a "big-time series" on the road next season. Usually, coaches are clamoring for another home game. But Stansbury has made it known that MSU wants a significant road game.
• Memphis coach John Calipari said he had no reservations scheduling a game against his former assistant and one-time player, Derek Kellogg, who is now coaching UMass, Calipari's former employer. The game will be in Memphis. The return game in 2009 in the home-and-home will be in Boston to ensure that UMass gets a game in its capital city, Calipari said. A year ago, UMass had to back out of playing in Boston once Kentucky withdrew its commitment to play the Minutemen. Ever since then, the Minutemen have been trying to get a game back in Boston.
• The MAAC is exploring playing its conference tournament at the Mohegan Sun Casino sometime in the next five years. Mohegan Sun is home to the WNBA's Connecticut Sun and has hosted a handful of college basketball games involving local schools. Playing in an arena owned by a casino on the same grounds shouldn't be an issue. The WCC is moving its tournament to the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas next year.
According to a MAAC school vice president, the league would like to move the tournament out of Albany every once in a while. The tournament will move to Bridgeport, Conn., home of Fairfield University's games, in two years. Leagues like the MAAC struggle selling the conference tournament as a destination in places such as Albany and Bridgeport, whereas the Mohegan Sun could be an easier sell.
• The Gazelle Group's three major November tournaments are almost set. Southern Illinois looks like the final host for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic that ends with four teams in New York City. The three other hosts are UCLA, Duke and Michigan. Pitt is in the Legends Classic in New Jersey with Washington State, Mississippi State and Texas Tech, assuming all four win their first two home games. The CBE Classic in Kansas City will pit Florida, Kansas, Syracuse and Washington, assuming all four win their two home games.
• Stanford, Bradley and Central Florida are available now that the Top of the World tournament has been put on ice for 2008.
• UMass freshman
Papa Lo is transferring to provisional Division I Bryant College (R.I.). He blocked 25 shots in 22 games for former coach Travis Ford last season.
• If you want a clear view of the Big East scheduling, click
here and you'll see an easy-to-read conference opponent format.
Andy Katz
