Las Vegas basketball tournament has grown to 224 teams from across U.S.

As recently as five years ago, local hoops fanatics had an easy time keeping tabs on Southern Nevada's top young basketball players in Las Vegas' annual summer prep tournaments.

It was simply a matter of following Al La Rocque's Las Vegas Stars from site to site.

But this year, with no fewer than six area entries in this week's annual adidas Big Time Tournament, locals will need a well-planned itinerary and a full tank of gas to catch all the action.

And La Rocque, for one, yearns for a return to the days when the 12 best players in town wore the same summer jerseys.

"You can't compete on a national level unless you have all the best players on one team," said La Rocque, whose current Stars club is comprised mainly of his Durango High School players. "We don't have numbers like California or Texas, and Vegas will never win it this way."

That may be, but don't tell it to Valley High School assistant Pat Welby, who will coach the Las Vegas Heat, a Coaches Association-sponsored all-star team featuring the likes of Eldorado center James Bayless and Cimarron-Memorial point guard Marcus Banks.

"We want to give the kids as many opportunities as possible to showcase their skills for the college coaches, but we also want to win the tournament," Welby said.

Of course, the Heat's chances of winning the event would be greatly enhanced with Clark's Kevin Gaines or Cheyenne's Demetrius Hunter in the backcourt.

But the two athletes generally considered to be the area's top prospects won't be suiting up for Welby. Instead, they will both play for local resident Mitch Mitchell on the independent AAU entry "Mad Moves."

And Mitchell, like Welby, thinks his team could be a force to be reckoned with come title time.

"This year, we're trying to win," said Mitchell, who originally built Mad Moves around Gaines three years ago. "My main goal is always to get exposure for the kids, but this time Kevin and I want to win."

One team that probably isn't giving serious thought to winning the event is the Las Vegas Panthers, a squad designed by Palo Verde High School coach Phil Clarke to give his players game experience heading into their first year of varsity competition.

"We figure when we start next year, we won't face anyone like we face this summer," Clarke said. "None of my players have varsity experience, but with the spring league plus this tournament, we should be better prepared."

Another high school coach hoping to prepare his charges for the winter season is Green Valley's Larry Thomas, whose Gators will participate as a unit in this week's tourney.

"We want to set the tone for our season," said Thomas, who returns most of the players of a 1998 team that went to the 4A state quarterfinals. "And the theory is that we'll be better than the teams that haven't played together before. We hope to play well against the two all-star teams in our pool."

Throw in the Las Vegas Select -- the Coaches Association's second team -- and Las Vegas has a 6-in-224 chance of emerging with the title.

But all the local coaches, including La Rocque, agree that their primary mission is to try to give their players a chance to obtain a college scholarship. They just disagree about the best way to accomplish that goal.

For Welby and Thomas, additional teams translate to additional chances for local players to gain exposure.

"This gives other kids opportunities they may not have had," Welby said.

Not so, says La Rocque, who argues that fielding a single all-star squad is the best way for Las Vegas to gain a nationwide reputation for producing top-notch prospects.

"The college coaches think the tournament is way too big, and they don't have time to see every team play," La Rocque said. "Kevin Gaines is the best player in town, and he can get four other kids scholarships by playing on the same team with them."

* NOTES: Palo Verde was originally scheduled to join Durango, Cheyenne, Cimarron, Green Valley and Silverado as a tournament site before the gym was damaged by water under the floor this week. Event organizers have moved all the games initially slated for Palo Verde to Las Vegas High.

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