Basketball challenge small part of bigger Mountain West problem

Southern Illinois' head coach Barry Hinson shouts instructions to his team during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against Louisville, Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2016, in Louisville, Ky. Louisville won 74-51. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley)

Ed GraneyUNLV plays a basketball game against Southern Illinois on Monday night at the Thomas & Mack Center, and for those who don’t know, which is the majority of folks in Las Vegas and Carbondale and everywhere in between and beyond, it’s part of a challenge between the Mountain West and Missouri Valley conferences.

The contrived series of games have created the national intrigue of a toll booth operator making change, ones nobody really cares…