UNLV faces Tulsa in opening round

Steve Addy

Monday, March 13, 2000 | 11:20 a.m.

It's time for the UNLV Rebels to expand their goals.

With their selection on Sunday as one of 64 teams in the NCAA basketball tournament, the Rebels capped a whirlwind eight-day span in which they achieved three major goals for their season.

After earning a share of the Mountain West Conference regular-season title on March 4, UNLV captured the conference tournament Saturday night with a 79-56 rout of BYU at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The victory was punctuated by a huge celebration at center court, but somewhat tempered because there was no guarantee that the Rebels (23-7) would receive an NCAA invitation.

The final hurdle was cleared Sunday when UNLV was chosen as the 10th seed in the South Region, setting up a first-round game against seventh-seeded Tulsa (29-4) at noon Friday at Nashville, Tenn.

The announcement was met with derision by ESPN commentator Dick Vitale, who said the Rebels did not deserve their at-large bid, but UNLV predictably disagreed.

"Our team did everything it had to do," coach Bill Bayno said. "We won our conference and we won our tournament. I think we definitely deserve to go, and I commend the (selection) committee for recognizing that."

The Rebels, who have won seven straight games and 14 of 17 since Jan. 15, are going back to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year absence. They qualified in 1998 by winning the WAC tournament, but suffered a first-round loss to Princeton.

"It's a great feeling to be going back," said UNLV point guard Mark Dickel, who was named MVP of the MWC tournament after Saturday's win. "The last time, we were just happy to be there. We feel like we belong now."

Rebels fans might have trouble finding that same sense of belonging. Tickets for the UNLV-Tulsa game will be hard to come by this week. Of the 450 tickets allotted to the school, only 42 will be available to students. The rest are being reserved for scholarship donors, faculty/staff and the team's traveling party.

Tickets can be ordered today only from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. through the UNLV sports marketing department in Room 70 of the Thomas & Mack Center. Call 895-UNLV.