Peterson: Big 12 men's and women's basketball tournaments should remain in Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — If the city can handle it, there’s no reason the Big 12 Conference shouldn’t put out a press release that proclaims:

Kansas City Is Permanent Home to Big 12 Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournaments.

Do it.

Once the five-year contract that calls for both tournaments to run simultaneously expires in 2025, re-up. The men’s tournament continues at the Sprint Center. The women have Municipal Auditorium.

Fan friendly. Player-friendly.

And if the southern faction of the Big 12 is upset by this ... well, so be it.

The standalone Big 12 tourney that’s been done in the past is ridiculous. Bring everyone to downtown Kansas City — like what will happen this March. Everyone will promise to play nicely in the downtown Power and Light entertainment district. 

“I’m obviously very prejudiced; I want to be here watching the guys play, too,” Iowa State coach Bill Fennelly said. “Our fans do. We have a unique fan base. We have a lot of cross-over fans, so I think to have it one venue ... Kansas City turns into the basketball capital of the country for a week.”

I get why the Baylor and Oklahoma women would be against it. "Hilton South" isn’t just a term Iowa State fans toss around. Everyone knows it. It’s reality.

“It means a lot for us, having the tournament together in the same place,” Cyclone starter Madi Wise said. “It’s super convenient for the fans to be able to go to both games.”

The tournaments have been separated since 2012, when Kansas City hosted both. Men’s crowds dominated back then, and generally, that’s just a college basketball fact of life.

“I don’t know that they were against Kansas City, as much as they wanted the tournament separate,” Fennelly said. “That was kind of the trend, so the women’s tournament had their own deal separate from the guys. It’s like anything. You try it.

"I don’t think it worked.”

I heard that argument, too, coaches wondering if the popularity of the men’s tournament would overshadow the women’s. The Big 12 men’s tournament at the Sprint Center is already one of the country’s finest. Sure, it would attract three times as many fans, probably more, than the women’s tournament.

But what’s wrong with turning that perceived negative into a positive?

“A lot of people will question, 'Do the women get short-changed because the men are here?'” said Mechelle Voepel, ESPNW’s college basketball expert. “There’s also the other side to it that there’s more people here in Kansas City. Newspaper and television reporters don’t have to choose to go to one or the other — they can go to both. The women can feed off the buzz in this city.

“I’m not opposed to it being in different places, but I’m glad Kansas City is back in the rotation.”

Try to envision this: Iowa State men and women on the big Power and Light District stage, sharing the same pre-game pep rally and the same fans while cheering each other on.

“If our players need to go to the men’s pep rally and it doesn’t fit our schedule — we’re going,” Fennelly said.

Even if it interferes with practice?

“There won’t be practice,” Fennelly said. “If that’s what it takes to promote it, we’re all-in with it. Even when they say to the coaches, do you care if we stay in the same hotel? I’m like why would we care?  I know some places that’s not going to happen.”

And neither do the players.

“Everyone gets along great,” Adriana Camber said. “We’re family. We’re already around each other all the time.”

And they already attend each other’s games, whenever possible, at Hilton Coliseum.

“Anything the guys do for us is a bonus,” Fennelly said. “When the guys come to our games, people love that, and obviously our girls love to go to their games.”

Fennelly talked Tuesday in the same building in which he won his first Big 12 women’s tournament championship, in 2000.

“The thing I remember the most, is that our guys won, too,” Fennelly said. “There’s a lot of great memories here. It’s a special building. To be in a venue where the people care about basketball and the city cares about it, and whatever residual benefit we get from the men’s tournament — we’ll take it.

“Hopefully we’ll both be here for while.”

Iowa State columnist Randy Peterson has been writing for the Des Moines Register for parts of five decades. Reach him at rpeterson@dmreg.com, 515-284-8132, and on Twitter at @RandyPete. No one covers the Cyclones like the Register. Subscribe today at Des Moines Register.com/Deal to make sure you never miss a moment.