Columnist Ron Kantowski: Kruger uses pizza diplomacy

Friday, Oct. 22, 2004 | 10:20 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

When I first heard that new Rebels basketball coach Lon Kruger was going to open practice to the entire UNLV student body, I thought it was a pretty cheesy idea.

Sausage and pepperoni, too. With a little mushroom on the side.

Kruger, the man who has been entrusted to return UNLV to the Final Four -- hey, at least he knows the way, having guided Florida there in 1994 -- treated any UNLV students interested in basketball and/or a free meal to pizza au gratis following Thursday's practice at the Thomas & Mack Center.

While it sounded like a novel idea, it should be noted that Kruger is not the first NCAA coach to treat students to free eats. For instance, Roy Williams began a tradition at Kansas that he has continued at North Carolina of handing out doughnuts to students camped out in line for basketball tickets. And then there were the famous knuckle sandwiches that Bob Knight doled out to any Indiana student who referred to him by surname only.

The Mack is the first basketball arena that Kruger, with the help of the UNLV marketing department, has turned into a gigantic Pizza Hut (actually, it was Tropicana Pizza near campus that did the honors), although he said he also reached out to the student body for support during previous coaching stops at Kansas State, Florida and Illinois. But as Linda Cohn alluded as SportsCenter went off the air on Tuesday in noting Kruger's brief NBA head coaching stint, apparently Atlanta Hawks fans preferred the upper crust of the standings to that of the pizza.

The ESPN reference and this column aside, Kruger said he never intended pizza day to be a publicity stunt. He's just trying to extend a Rebels fan base that certainly could use some extending.

The Rebels haven't sold out the T&M since Jerry Tarkanian's last game as coach. That was in 1992, more than 12 years ago. A lot of dominoes -- and Domino's -- have fallen since then, as two big-name coaches (Rollie Massimino and Charlie Spoonhour) and one little-name one (Bill Bayno) have failed to return the Shark Tank to its full and raucous capacity.

Although UNLV never had to cater to the student body during the glory days of the program, that changed when the guys in tasseled loafers and their trophy wives stopped frequenting the place-to-be-seen sections behind Gucci Row. Now, every student who wants a basketball ticket gets one. At no charge.

UNLV sets aside 2,631 comp tickets (the number of seats in the student section) for every home game. Barring a sellout, any student above and beyond 2,631 desiring a ticket also receives one.

But UNLV has yet to distribute its entire student ticket allotment for any game. Not even close, say athletic department officials. Student apathy is one thing, but UNLV students have embraced the basketball program as if it's a lecture series.

With the exception of the Rojos and the Frojos, rival blocks of wanna-be Cameron Crazies who put Bayno's mug shot on their red T-shirts and found the baseline seats at the T&M the ideal place to congregate after the keg ran out, the student body has pretty much ignored the program during its current run of mediocrity.

Which might mean that all those hotel management majors are smarter than the staff and faculty. And all of us sports writers yawning at courtside during yet another NIT first-round game.

Kruger wants to change all that. The annual NIT appearances, as well as the lack of interest by UNLV students.

"It's great to see the students here and having fun," Kruger said Thursday. "This is what it's supposed to be about. I know the players enjoy it and appreciate them coming out."

Like seemingly everything else in Las Vegas, the event was lightly attended, as only about 130 students were on hand. Maybe it was filet mignon night at the cafeteria.

But at least the kids who did show up had a good time, as did the Rebels players. For starters, Kruger called a halt to practice 15 minutes early, and invited the students onto the floor to shoot free throws with the team. "It was pretty cool for Coach Kruger to let us come on the floor and shoot around," said Josh Brainerd, a junior marketing major from South Bend, Ind.

Brainerd, who like every other kid who ever played high school basketball in Indiana never missed a shot when he was left open, sank four free throws in a row, thereby becoming a role model for Lou Amundson, the Rebels' 6-foot-9 junior with the Shaq-like touch from the charity stripe.

But during the same time, the Rebels' Jerel Blassingame showed that he's not only the best returning point guard in the Mountain West, but the smartest, too. Somehow, the entire UNLV cheerleading squad wound up shooting free throws in Blassingame's group.

After free throws, Kruger told the students and players to gather 'round, and had each of the Rebels introduce a teammate to their school chums. It was nice to see the players interacting with the students, something that Larry Johnson, agreed a couple of long time observers of the program who were sitting courtside, would have avoided like Bobby Hurley on the dribble.

Kruger said the idea is to make the pizzafest an annual affair, but when I asked who was responsible for tipping the delivery guy, himself or the marketing department, he hesitated.

"Good question," he said as he made himself inconspicuous and slid out the tunnel.

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