Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2004 | 9:45 a.m.
Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4084.
It takes a few games to match the names with the faces and get a feel for what the team really has to offer. It takes awhile to strip away the public-relations facade.
Fourteen games into its season, the UNLV men's basketball team is no longer a stranger to us or a mystery to itself. It has played enough and we have seen enough to make a determination on its abilities.
And maybe we've all been fooled. Maybe the constant notations -- including a few in this space as well -- that the Rebels' athleticism make them a bona fide contender in the Mountain West, if not an outside contender for a spot in a Top 25 poll, have proved to be erroneous.
Maybe this isn't a very good team by UNLV's standards.
The Rebels, 9-5, are 0-2 in conference play and during their 83-78 loss Saturday at San Diego State it struck me that this team is exhibiting signs of serious shortcomings. We all knew height -- or lack of collective height, to be more specific -- was going to be a season-long problem, but what has surfaced of late are a number of failings that may keep the team from prospering and maybe even doom it to second-division status in the MWC.
This is more than just Demetrius Hunter not meeting expectations or J.K. Edwards habitually battling foul trouble or young players such as Romel Beck and Jerel Blassingame needing time to get their footing. This is about the lack of a dominant star or the depth required to contend or offset that lack of a go-to guy or two when clutch time arrives and the game's outcome hangs in the balance.
The Rebels' best player, Odartey Blankson, is a respectable forward who is usually good for a double-double but he's not going to score 25 or 30 points and singlehandedly carry the team to victory. He's not explosive enough to fit that kind of role.
For UNLV to look good, and mesh, and win more than it loses, it will have to have three or four scorers in excess of a dozen points and at least that many players consciously hitting the boards. It has to provide Blankson with some support.
Right now, no one is consistently doing it.
Hunter is the obvious weak link when it comes to documenting the team's scoring troubles, as it was generally assumed he would blossom as a 23-year-old shooting guard who is no longer in the shadow of Marcus Banks. Instead, Hunter has games where he disappears and is being threatened with the loss of his starting job.
The problem with replacing Hunter is that his sub, freshman Michael Umeh, hasn't been impressive either. In eight minutes at San Diego State, for example, he had 0 points, 0 rebounds and 0 assists.
If the lingering concerns pertaining to Hunter are the result of his two surgeries and accompanying inactivity, the same might be said for reserve forward Louis Amundson, who is coming off a medical redshirt season and who looks nowhere near as tough as he once did. Amundson has spurts of effectiveness but ask anyone who sees the team on a regular basis and they're likely to say they thought he had more potential two years ago as a freshman than he does now.
Beck, I thought, was underwhelming against SDSU and is starting to look a little too one-dimensional for his own good. He can create his own shot on occasion, but he's tall and thin and doesn't rebound or handle the ball particularly well.
Blassingame can shoot a bit but he's on the smallish side and has had some foul difficulties. He's almost the exact opposite of the man he replaced, Banks, who willed his way through traffic and was as tough as any point guard in the nation en route to becoming a No. 1 NBA draft choice.
Edwards has his moments and is unfailingly expressive, yet he's prone to mental mistakes such as fouls away from the ball and, at times, there's reason to believe he gets a little too verbally involved with his teammates. He needs to take care of his own business, which should be sufficiently demanding in and of itself as a 6-foot-8 forward who is being forced to play center.
James Peters, also 6-8, kept the Rebels in the game at SDSU and his 15-point contribution in 19 minutes off the bench was badly needed and encouraging. It would be a relief if he could do that every time out.
Farther down the bench is guard John Winston, who had no points or rebounds at SDSU and who looks to be a bit player at best, and forward Andy Hannan, who may have already reached his potential but who can fit in and help out.
This is not a team bustling with talent or bulging at its roster seams. If anything, it's a compact group of guys who play hard and give it their best.
But their best, as midseason arrives, just may not be good enough for a school where basketball pays the freight.
archive
