Major bucks offered at Frieder’s 3-on-3 tourney at Orleans

By Ron Kantowski

Friday, June 20, 2008 | 10:36 a.m.

NOW:

Move over, Gus Macker. Coach Bill Frieder's gonna take you to the hoop.

Having made its debut in Michigan in 1974, the Gus Macker is still the granddaddy of 3-on-3 basketball tournaments. But it doesn't pay like the one Frieder is going to put on at the Orleans Arena in August.

The Ultimate 3-on-3 Challenge, conceived and owned by the former Michigan and Arizona State coach, will offer up to $100,000 to the winning team in the open division. The winning teams in "decade" divisions -- for hoopsters in their 20s, 30s, 40s and 50-over -- will receive $10,000.

Frieder said he has seen players without knee pads dive for loose balls on pavement at the Gus Macker tournament for virtually peanuts. So you can only imagine what the intensity's going to be like with some serious cash on the line Aug. 22-24.

My prediction: There will be blood, and lots of pulled muscles.

"We're going to bring some of the best 'ballers in the country to Las Vegas," Frieder said.

Entry fee for the open division is $2,500 per team. It's $1,500 for decade division teams but 'ballers, as Frieder and Spike Lee call them, get three comped nights at the Orleans with their entry.

----- Charles Barkley, who said he was going to take a year or two off from gambling, must have meant a month or two. He is headed back to the Las Vegas poker tables, to Ante Up for Africa on July 2. Players are supposed to donate half their winnings to a fund to create awareness in the crises of the Darfur region in Sudan. In Barkley's case, Steve Wynn gets the other half.

----- The Wall Street Journal has named its top 10 athletes in the world. In order they are Roman Sebrle, decathlete; LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers; Floyd Mayweather, boxer; LaDainian Tomlinson, San Diego Chargers; Roger Federer, tennis; Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Liu Xaing, 110-meter hurdler; Jeremy Wariner, 400-meter runner; Ronaldo, FC Barcelona soccer star; and Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees. What, no pro bowlers or offensive tackles this year.?

----- UNLV offered the media a sneak peek of its new football uniforms Thursday. My take: Not great, but not as ugly as I thought they'd be.

----- I bumped into Tina Kunzer-Murphy, the executive director of the Las Vegas Bowl, at the 51s game Thursday night. She said BYU's bid is in the mail.

THEN:

This has nothing to do with sports, but it just occurred to me that the Etch A Sketch might have been the worst toy ever invented.