Irresistible Air Force

Steve Guiremand

Friday, Feb. 27, 2004 | 10:47 a.m.

Joe Scott knew what some of his coaching colleagues were thinking when he left his assistant coaching position at Princeton University to become the head basketball coach at Air Force in 2000.

"I heard them all," Scott said. "Worst job in the country. Graveyard of basketball. You can never do it there."

And that was putting it mildly.

Air Force had never won more than 17 games in its 47 previous seasons. A perennial doormat, the Falcons had never finished higher than in sixth place in league play. Their best conference record was a 6-10 finish in the WAC in 1988-89.

But Scott, a former point guard for legendary Pete Carrill at Princeton, didn't quite see it that way.

"Obviously, I didn't listen to anybody because I thought it was a great opportunity," Scott said. "I knew that at an institution like Air Force, you could gets kids similar to Princeton, and we could do some of the things we did at Princeton."

He was right.

Just four years later the Falcons (19-5, 9-2) are just one win away from clinching the Mountain West Conference championship. They'll try and accomplish that feat on Saturday afternoon when they host UNLV (15-9, 6-5) at Clune Arena.

Talk about your Cinderella stories. Air Force was the only team in any Division I conference in the nation that was predicted to finish last in conference preseason polls. But the Falcons, who play two of their final three games at Clune Arena where they are 11-0 this season, are threatening to run away with their first-ever league title.

Air Force has played in the postseason just twice in its history, the NCAA tournament in 1960 and 1962. If they hold on to win the MWC as expected, they'll likely make it to the Big Dance for the first time in 44 years.

"I think we're exactly where I thought we would be in year-four," Scott said. "We have all our players now. They've had the most success that an Air Force team has had. Now we've got to build on that and get better."

That process continues on Saturday against a UNLV team that handled them fairly easily the first time around at the Thomas & Mack Center en route to a 63-50 upset.

The Rebels, who have won their last three games since interim coach Jay Spoonhour, know they will be walking into a very emotionally-charged setting on Saturday.

"It's going to be wild," junior guard Romel Beck, who scored just five points in the first meeting, said. "Hopefully we can go in there and spoil that."

Team defense, especially against Air Force's 3-point shooting, and rebounding will be very key for UNLV. The Rebels held a huge 41-20 edge on the boards in the first matchup and held the Falcons to just 38.0% from the floor, including just 8 of 25 (32.0%) from 3-point range.

"(Rebounding) is absolutely a key," Spoonhour said. "We're kidding ourselves if we think we're going to be more efficient than they are. We're going to have to make up for it with offensive rebounds and turnovers."

Air Force's thrives on milking the 35-second shot clock and playing the halfcourt game. UNLV, meanwhile, has averaged 94.5 points in its last two games and wants to play an up-tempo style of offense.

"We just went out there and ran the first time," Beck said. "We're going to try and do the same thing this time."

"The challenge for us is to see if we can stop their little guy," Scott said referring to Rebel point guard Jerel Blassingame, who had 13 assists in Monday night's 95-80 win over Wyoming. "He's very good. We've got to stop their transition game. And we've got to rebound the ball better. Last game they beat us to every loose ball."