By Rob Miech · July 14, 2008 · 3:21 PM

It only seems like the new UNLV basketball season has started, or didn’t it end?

The victory in the NCAA tournament. A loss to eventual national champion Kansas. A summer tour of Australia. A promising 2008-09 campaign.

If it seems like one big run of basketball, coach Lon Kruger’s plan has worked.

He has considerably increased his and his team’s exposure, for example, with his own e-mail newsletter, and his latest appearance will take place Wednesday at a recycling event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

At 2 p.m., Kruger will greet fans at an arena concourse. The first 100 people who show up to recycle their outdated phone books will receive a basketball autographed by Kruger.

Oh, they’ll also receive a new EMBARQ Yellow Pages directory featuring Kruger on the cover.

We reported about that spiffy cover a few weeks ago. Kruger implored all to recycle their old phone books, because every little bit makes a difference.

In promoting UNLV, he knows every little bit makes a difference.

What’s next? His image emblazoned in the night sky by spotlights? Kruger handing out Rebels magnets door-to-door? Him leading UNLV rallies in the Mack parking lot every other Saturday, year-round?

Last season’s average home attendance, 11,865, was the highest in nine seasons. Kruger seems eager to smash that figure.

Maybe he’ll start thumbing through the phone book with his own picture on the cover to make cold-call pleas.

No, that’s not a recording.