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Published Monday, July 20, 2009 | 6:57 a.m.
Updated Monday, July 20, 2009 | noon
UNLV’s basketball team is ranked 40th by Lindy’s preseason basketball annual.
The magazine still has some editing left before it gets printed, but the Rebels can only rise in Lindy’s rankings by the time it hits the newsstands in early fall.
BYU is rated above UNLV and is the preseason favorite to win the Mountain West Conference regular season. Junior guard Jimmer Fredette and senior shooter Jonathan Tavernari will lead the Cougars.
Kansas, Texas and Michigan State are the current first, second and third teams in the Lindy’s rankings, followed by Villanova, North Carolina and Purdue. Butler checks in at No. 7.
Kentucky is eighth, Washington is 17th, UCLA is 24th, BYU is 29th and Notre Dame is No. 37.
UNLV was 17-4 last season when it sputtered, finishing 4-7 and losing an NIT first-round game at Kentucky.
The 2009-10 season for the Rebels will be boosted by the scarlet-and-gray debuts of guard Derrick Jasper and Chace Stanback.
Jasper left Kentucky to play two seasons at UNLV. He has been recovering from micro-fracture knee surgery for about two years, but all reports from closed pick-up games in recent weeks are solid.
Stanback, from UCLA, has three seasons of eligibility left and often dominated, inside and out, in practice when the slick forward redshirted last season.
Returning guard Tre’Von Willis sustained a cut above an eye that bled profusely in a collision with Jasper and ensuing fall a few weeks ago, but it didn’t sideline his training schedule.
The Rebels will be in the top 25 by the third or fourth week of the season.
The MWC won't know what hit them when Jasper and Stanback come knockin. It will be SDSU's athletes and coaching of Lon Kruger. Should be fun to watch.
@ Lenny
That's not true. Well, most of it. There is a bias for non-power conference schools, but two years ago when we went to the Sweet 16 we were in the top 25 twice during the season and we entered the tournament at number 25.
If our team gels and communicates we should do fine this season and it should be fun to watch all the athleticism on the floor.
Reagan
While it is true we entered the tournament ranked, that was in MARCH. March is a long way from 3rd or 4th week of the season.
PLEASE, no top 25 talk at this point! We don't even know for sure who our starting 5 will be. This team will be deep no doubt, but let's see them play say, 3 games before we ramble about top 25 deservedness. Let's not put to much pressure on this team before we find out what they're really about, remember that's what happened last season.
Wow, I wonder what we would have been ranked if we didn't have such a stellar recruiting class coming in?
**Sigh**
S711