Talent in triplicate

Thursday, Nov. 4, 2004 | 10:02 a.m.

WHEN: Friday night.

WHERE: Thomas & Mack Center.

TIPOFF: 7:30 p.m.

OPPONENT: L.A. Stars

TV: None.

RADIO: KBAD 920-AM.

STORY LINE: Lon Kruger's debut as UNLV coach.

UNLV senior swingman Romel Beck will always remember the competitive drive and camaraderie that guided his junior college team to a California state title in 2002-03.

That talented cast at Los Angeles City College included two of Beck's current Rebels teammates, guard Jerel Blassingame and forward Wilbur Williams.

Beck won't let Jerry Tarkanian forget, either.

During the LACC championship run that capped a 36-2 season, Tarkanian, the former UNLV and Fresno State coach, regularly spoke with Cubs coach Mike Miller.

"He'd tell coach Miller that Fresno City is the team to beat, that they had that press and that they'd probably beat us," Beck said. "I remember Tark saying that. Now, every time I see coach Tarkanian, I tell him, Yeah, that Fresno team was pretty good. But, you know, we beat them. That press didn't work.

"Tark smiles and says, 'You're right. You guys had an unbelievable team.' It's great that people like him got to see that L.A. City team. Many people have said that might have been the best junior college team ever."

Beck, Blassingame and Williams have a built-in chemistry that might bode well for UNLV. The public will get its first competitive look at the 2004-05 Rebels on Friday night in an exhibition game against the L.A. Stars at the Thomas & Mack Center.

"People say it might not happen, that we might not play as well this season as we did at L.A. City," Williams said. "But I'm saying we will."

Of the three, Blassingame is most prone to tell a new teammate, or anyone else, about the outstanding team he was on two seasons ago. Center Joel Anthony, a Montreal native who came to Vegas from Pensacola Junior College in Florida, has been a victim.

"He'd say he was at Pensacola and they did 'this,' and we'd just say we were 36-2," Blassingame said. "What could you say about that? And with a state title. It's just fun to bring it up."

That '02-03 LACC squad also consisted of current Division I forwards Julian Sensley (Hawaii), Tyrone Riley (University of San Francisco) and JaQuay Carlyle (UC Davis), although Davis won't be fully D-I certified for three years.

Riley said he was eager to make the UNLV troupe a quartet when he heard what Beck, Blassingame and Williams were up to. The Rebels, though, were out of scholarships.

"Will had the best leadership between all of them," Riley said. "He was tougher than all of them. Will and I did all the dirty work, and we were the leaders. Jerel and Romel didn't say too much. They let their games speak for themselves."

Blassingame, who scored 18 points in the 90-82 championship victory against Fresno at the Jenny Craig Pavilion in San Diego, might have earned state tournament MVP honors, but Miller has a special place for Beck in his heart.

Sometime in January, when the LACC and UNLV schedules don't conflict, Beck will have a special place in the Cubs' lore, too, when Miller plans to retire his No. 1 jersey.

Miller said Beck will first learn of that honor, only the fourth Cub to receive it, when he reads the above paragraph.

"He's just an outstanding player, teammate and person," Miller said, "and he was very coachable for me."

Beck committed to UNLV and then-coach Charlie Spoonhour in May 2003. Twelve days later, Blassingame accepted the Rebels' scholarship offer. Williams transferred to UNLV last winter.

A 2002 state title game defeat in Stockton, Calif., to Saddleback, on a tip-in with two-tenths of a second left, set the stage for LACC's first state crown since 1997.

Blassingame had fouled out against Saddleback. Beck sat out that season, as per transfer rules, but he practiced with the Cubs and attended every game. He said that postgame locker room in Stockton was a sight for watery eyes.

"When I hit that locker room and saw the tears, especially in Jerel and Will, I just told them, 'Next year.' " Beck said. "I told them not to worry about it, that we'd be all right and that I'd help them win it all the next season."

The '02-03 campaign didn't start so special for Blassingame, who had unknowingly torn cartilage in his right knee during intense summer workouts at home in Brooklyn.

Miller didn't become suspicious until Blassingame's knee swelled after he had repeatedly ripped off blistering 27-second line drills in the Cubs' first practices.

The day after the team's orthopedic doctor cleared Blassingame to return to practice, he never slowed during a session that lasted almost three hours.

"There was no sense of confusion," Miller said. "And there was no sense of, 'I'm going to take it easy.' He's a bull in a China shop, a pinball bouncing off the walls of a pinball machine. He missed six or seven weeks, but you wouldn't have known it."

Williams called Blassingame a warrior for returning so quickly and getting, and keeping, the Cubs in such a high gear.

"A little warrior," Williams said. "He came back a little faster than we expected him to. We thought he'd be back in February, but he was back in December. That made us play harder because that showed he loved us."

When needed, Blassingame doesn't back down on doling out some tough love, either. He admitted to treating Beck and Williams a bit differently than other Rebels.

"For instance, I can jump into Will's case without him getting offended," Blassingame said. "And I can't talk to everyone like that. I can tell Will, 'Come on, man, get your act together. You ain't playin' well enough.' And he'll go, 'OK, Jerel, I'm going to do it.' "

LACC lost its first game, after seven consecutive victories to open '02-03, to Ventura in a Riverside tournament. Four games later, the Cubs again lost to Ventura's tough inside game in a Ventura tournament.

The the Cubs won their final 23 games, the last six coming in the state playoffs. They blasted their first five state playoff foes by an average of 29.2 points, which included a revenge 69-53 semifinal victory over Saddleback.

Fresno finished 38-2 with its finale loss to LACC on March 16, 2003.

According to Riley, Williams will show UNLV fans Rebels opponents plenty this season.

"He's tough," Riley said. "He'll play hard. Defense and rebounding are automatic to him. He'll play three positions, but he loves to bang around down low. He doesn't mind that down there at all."

Williams said he's "just a hard-working dude."

"I play defense most of the time," he said. "I like to scrap and rebound, do all the dirty work. If it's us three on the floor together, most likely we'll play well together. We'll push each other."

The last time they did that, Beck, Blassingame and Williams soared.