Vegas women’s tourney hoops setup gets criticized

Indiana Hoosiers Women’s basketball coach Teri Moren said Saturday that an opportunity was missed to showcase her undefeated, sixth-place team and other teams at this weekend’s Las Vegas Invitational because of the sub-standard arrangements for the event.

An event coordinator told ESPN that he has apologized to the players, coaches, fans and referees for the tournament conditions that were discussed on social media. The tournament was played on the field in the large ballroom area at The Mirage hotel without a stand for spectators. Chairs were set up around the court.

Moren confirmed that the site’s coordinator, Ryan Polk, has apologized.

“I think there are others who probably also need to apologize for wanting us to come play in this event and promise, if you will,” Moren said. “This is not what was described to us in terms of what the venue would look like, what the arrangement would be like.

“What’s disappointing is the aesthetic; it’s not a fan-friendly environment. As women’s basketball coaches, we’re trying to move our game forward. It feels like because [this] received so much interest on social media that we took a few steps back. We have an obligation to develop our game and we completely missed this opportunity because you have a lot of really good teams here. I see all the other tournaments going on and footage of that, but this is a big miss.”

Indiana shared correspondence the school had in March with the league’s director, Bryce McKey, who told the Hoosiers that the event would be held with a court similar to the professional women’s tournament No Limits. The term athlete in Las Vegas was available earlier this year. But it’s not like that.

McKey attended another tournament this weekend in Daytona, Florida. Polk said tournament organizers realized too late that the Las Vegas setup wouldn’t be up to par.

“We’re sorry,” Polk said. “The pitch and the lighting, that’s not the problem. But we need to have a full stand. We’ve informed The Mirage that we won’t be coming back. This is a disaster that just happens. once on the event side. It certainly didn’t turn out the way we thought or planned. We just got seriously lost when it came to the audience.”

However, another problem arose on Saturday night at the tournament, when Auburn tiger player Karyssa Richardson was injured after slamming the floor while scrambling for a loose ball. The match was postponed for almost an hour pending her medical attention. According to Auburn’s radio program, it took more than 40 minutes for paramedics to arrive at the courthouse.

“She’s alert, she’s responsive to everything, so I really believe it’s a precaution,” Auburn coach Johnnie Harris said after the Tigers’ 74-73 win last Colorado State Rams.

On Fridays, Indiana Highlights Grace Berger suffered a knee injury and she did not compete in last Saturday’s 79-64 win The Tigers of Memphis.

Moren said she has no problem with the court and feels it has nothing to do with Berger’s injury. However, she worries about the length of time Richardson received medical care. The Hoosiers still decided to play after that, their match starting an hour later.

“I don’t read much society [media],” Moren said. But this notion assumes that the floor… has nothing to do with the floor. Grace’s injury was not caused by the floor.

“[But] I think any good league has EMT and all that, medical professionals, in place. And again that’s not the case. A big miss for this tournament. There are a lot of things that could have been better, but they weren’t. I was very disappointed watching that moment for Auburn.”

Moren said she spoke Saturday with Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson, who wanted to make sure the team thought the competition environment was safe. She said the Hoosiers felt safe, but the Auburn injury put her on hold.

“We’ve played in the ballroom before,” Moren said. “We were in the Bahamas last year: A different ballroom scenario but a far cry from the one we’ve been playing in the last two nights. I don’t want the notion that playing in the ballroom is dangerous. But in this particular event, there’s a lot that needs to be better.”

ESPN’s Alexa Philippou contributed to this story.