Letter: Rebels were no dynasty

Ron@lasvegassun.com

Friday, March 24, 2000 | 9:31 a.m.

Because Dean Juipe has been here since '85, he would know that Jerry Tarkanian was always considered the renegade. While Georgetown and North Carolina and others were dominating the championship and recruiting world, UNLV was off in the corner picking up what fell off the wagon.

Face it Dean, UNLV recruited the unrecruitable. UNLV was King of the JCs. Mark Wade, Freddie Banks, Gerald Paddio, Anderson Hunt, Moses Scurry ... great, great Rebels but certainly not at the top of anyone's list. Even the great Larry Johnson, who magically went from 600 on his SAT score up to 950 in one try, didn't consider UNLV out of high school.

Dean, I love the Rebels but to say they were ever a dynasty ... there were plenty of second-round (NCAA) losses for such "great" teams.

North Carolina, UCLA, Duke -- those are dynasties of different eras. UNLV was just a good basketball program.

-- KEN SKLAD

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