Columnist Ron Kantowski: Watch out, here come the Rebels

Tuesday, Feb. 22, 2005 | 9:13 a.m.

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

Here we go again, Rebels fans.

It was last year at this time that UNLV unexpectedly became the most dangerous team in the Mountain West on the Road to the NIT, and the Rebels are doing it again.

And they are doing it the hard way -- by overcoming huge deficits to win on the road.

Monday's 81-79 victory at Colorado State was the Rebels' fourth in succession, a modest accomplishment most places but a season high here, where winning streaks have become as rare as Buffalo nickels. So just when you thought it would be safe to spend the next couple of weeks cleaning out the garage or tilling the lawn, the Rebels seem determined to make the upcoming Mountain West tournament must-see TV.

Just as they did last year, when it took a 3-point buzzer-beater by Utah's Nick Jacobson to finally end their long shot bid to crash the NCAA tournament.

After this latest win, in which his team dug out from 13 points down in the first half, I'm sure coach Lon Kruger probably said something profound, like how the Rebels still needed to improve between now and Denver. He says that after every game and if you're like me, you stopped paying attention to the rhetoric about six weeks ago.

But you can't stop paying attention to the Rebels, at least not the way they are playing now.

It was a showdown of former UNLV Rebels in Monday's one-hole playoff that decided the waterlogged Nissan Open in Los Angeles, which may have surprised some people. But not Sun golf writer Adam Candee.

It was just six weeks ago that Candee predicted Adam Scott could have the breakout year this year that publications such as Sports Illustrated predicted for Chad Campbell last year.

It would appear that Scott is already well on his way, based on his victory against Campbell in Monday's shortlived Rebel vs. Rebel match at Riviera Country Club.

It wasn't that long ago when the only reason UNLV played Nevada-Reno in basketball was so Travis Bice and all his buddies with the high GPAs on the end of the bench could earn a letterman's jacket.

But in recent years, the guys wearing the flannel shirts up north have shot by the Rebels to become the No. 1 college basketball team in the Silver State -- a point that was driven home again Monday when the Wolf Pack moved into the Associated Press poll at No. 25.

It was the first national ranking for UNR and it's certainly well deserved, considering the Pack had to replace both its coach (Trent Johnson) and its best player (Kirk Snyder) this year.

Same goes for baseball, where UNR and UNLV are concerned. So much snow fell in Reno last week that the two teams had to move a three-game series originally scheduled for the Frozen Tundra to Las Vegas instead. It was just a minor inconvenience for the Wolf Pack, who made themselves right at home in Wilson Stadium by sweeping the series.

Whatever they said about second place being the first loser in that cheesy ESPN movie about Dale Earnhardt certainly doesn't apply to today's NASCAR.

Did you see the reactions of Las Vegan Kurt Busch and Dale Earnhardt Jr. after they climbed out of their cars upon finishing second and third to Jeff Gordon in Sunday's Daytona 500? Both were sporting grins wider than the Mason-Dixon line. They were downright giddy about collecting some points, as they say.

Blame it on the 10-race Chase for the Championship at season's end if you must. But second place isn't for losers anymore.

It's getting to where NASCAR drivers are so pre-programmed -- make sure to thank this sponsor and that sponsor, etc., and by all means don't cuss on TV -- that even on his victory lap at the Daytona 500 somebody was in Jeff Gordon's ear, telling him what to do.

In a transmission that was audible on TV, Gordon was told when he got to Victory Lane to make sure he mentioned the members of the Hendrick team (for which he drives) who were killed in a light plane crash en route to a race in Virginia last year.

So that was the first thing Gordon did upon meeting the press.

But it's not as if he needed to be reminded. During a recent test session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, in front of no more than a half-dozen reporters, both Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson talked at length about the tragedy even when the TV cameras weren't rolling.

My guess is that Gordon would have noted the plane crash victims on his own. Even before he thanked his sponsors.

Remember Brad Thompson, the Cimmaron-Memorial grad who last spring was responsible for more zeroes than the weatherman at Ice Station Zebra? Well, he's now in spring training with the big club, which in his case is the St. Louis Cardinals.

After throwing a minor-league record 57 consecutive scoreless innings with the double-A Tennessee Smokies last year, Thompson quickly was promoted to triple-A Memphis. He later went on the disabled list with a sore arm but apparently has fully recovered.

"Brad is doing fine," his mother, Patty Thompson, wrote in an e-mail last week. "He has been invited to big league camp and reports on Friday. He's looking forward to another year."

Speaking of spring training, while everybody assumes that Valley High grad and future Hall-of-Famer Greg Maddux will start one of the Cubs' two games against the Mariners at Cashman Field on April 1 and 2 after the teams break camp, that decision will be made by Chicago skipper Dusty Baker.

If I were 51s president Don Logan, I'd make sure Baker had everything he needed during his stay in Las Vegas. With the Cubs playing the Diamondbacks in Phoneix in games that count on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, there's no guarantee that Maddux won't get one of those starts, the presence of Kerry Wood and Mark Prior notwithstanding.

But if Maddux didn't pitch until Wednesday in Arizona, Baker could hand him the ball here on Friday night. In that case, he'd still get his his four days' rest and everybody would be happy.

I heard from a several Sun readers who, like myself, think Roger Maris should still be recognized as baseball's single-season home run king as reports of rampant steroid use among today's sluggers -- especially those who broke his record -- continue to escalate.

One of the most profound sentiments came from an e-mailer identifying himself as Jake52, who is disgusted not only by the steroid issue, but by a baseball that is wound tighter than Bob Knight's Swiss watch, at least in his estimation.

"I will leave you with an an original line that you may feel free to use in any future articles," Jake writes. "I stopped watching baseball when they stopped using one."

Everyone except the Mountain West TV announcers who cover its games believes New Mexico has virtually no shot to gain an NCAA tournament at-large berth, its solid 20-6 record and victory against No. 13 Utah on Monday night notwithstanding, because of its Mister Softee schedule.

But you can't blame the Lobos for that. According to a story in the Albuquerque Tribune, New Mexico contacted every team from every power conference about playing a home-and-home series and a grand total of one -- Oregon -- agreed. Bob Knight at Texas Tech was the only other guy who seemed interested, but said the Red Raiders were all booked up.

On second thought, maybe you can blame the Lobos for nobody wanting to play in Albuquerque. Like a colleague said, had they named their home arena something like "The Apple Orchard" or "The Clover Field" instead of "The Pit," maybe somebody with a basketball pedigree would be foolish enough to play the Lobos on their home turf.

Hey, I got an idea about what can be done about all those penalties that were called on the Gladiators in Sunday's arena football game.

Somebody should collect all the flags, string them to some wrought iron posts and line them up one after another in Sunset Park.

But I guess you couldn't call that art.

Committing 20 penalties in an indoor football game? Now that's an art.

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