Monday, Jan. 17, 2005 | 8:36 a.m.
Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at [email protected] or (702) 259-4088.
If you didn't know better, you would have sworn that Lon Kruger got out-coached by Steve Fisher on Saturday night. A statement that, incredible as it sounds given Fisher's reputation as a top-notch recruiter but not-so-top-notch tactician, has to be given some credence given San Diego State's solid 81-73 victory over UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center that most years would have been classified as "stunning."
Naturally, I know better. At least I think I know better. I've been to practice and seen the tight ship that Kruger runs. I've seen him diagram X's and O's and seen the Rebels run the plays the way Kruger diagrams them. Others who are in the practice gym every day say the same thing.
And, oh yeah, I've seen Kruger guide an unheralded Florida team into the NCAA Final Four. I think the man can coach a little.
I'm just not sure he can coach this group of Rebels.
I'm not sure anybody can.
Well, maybe Jay Spoonhour can. But he's long gone.
Remember last year, when the nucleus of these Rebels made Spoonhour's dad Charlie so sick and tired that he retired in midstream and went to baseball spring training in Florida, perhaps figuring that was as far away as he could get from Odartey Blankson and his thick-headed teammates without leaving the country?
Charlie Spoonhour turned the keys to the asylum over to his son, and darned if the inmates disguised as Rebels didn't become the best team in the Mountain West during the stretch run.
But let's be honest. What Teaspoon did is basically take a page -- the only one? -- from Guy Lewis' book. He simply rolled the ball onto the court and told the Rebels' serial gunners to have some fun with it. That's probably the only tactic his old man didn't try in an effort to turn the Rebels from a group of self-absorbed individualists into something resembling a team.
Somehow, that's what UNLV became, and Jay Spoonhour deserves at least a little credit for that and for keeping the Rebels from killing one another, or at least putting their petty jealousies onto the back shelf for a couple of months.
Based on what I saw Saturday night, those jealousies are back. You can see it in the Rebels' body language and, if you got home in time for the 11 o'clock news on Channel 8, hear it in their spoken words, too. After the game, Romel Beck, who if the season ended today would be my Rebels MVP, complained about his touches on TV.
OK, so mark my ballot for Michael Umeh instead. He came off the bench to score 18 points in 29 minutes Saturday and if Kruger was watching the same game I was, should replace Andy Hannan, a nice Division II player but not the answer to what ails the Rebels, in the starting lineup ASAP.
Besides, Umeh was one of the few Rebels who seemed to be enjoying himself, and the only one to show a little emotion, even if it was a bit misguided at times. He got in Dustin Villepigue's face because Villepigue extended a hand to help one of the Aztecs up off the court.
So much for sportsmanship.
Now if Umeh would have gotten on Villepigue for his inability to use his 6-foot-9 inch, 235-pound body to bang inside for an occasional basket or two, you could have understood the consternation.
As for the rest of the Rebels, it was much of the same -- which these days, is hardly enough. Each of the starters had his moments while each of the reserves, minus Umeh, would have been better off keeping their warm-ups on and cheering their teammates from the sidelines which, they should note, the Aztecs' bench did the entire game.
Blankson finished with 14 points and eight rebounds when, given his natural talent and SDSU's asphalt mentality, he should have had about 10 more of each. Beck hit four 3-pointers but jacked up 11. Louis Amundson still needs a psychologist on the free-throw line and Jerel Blassingame still looks spotty on offense and lost on defense.
In the Utah debacle last Monday, he made the Utes' Marc Jackson look like Jerry West by playing off him and letting Jackson knock down 3-pointers, which is Jackson's forte.
So what does Blassingame do Saturday? He overplays Brandon Heath, only a marginal outside shooter, on the perimeter and makes Heath look like George Gervin. By the time Heath was finished shooting finger-rolls and reverse lay-ins, he had 37 points. The Ice Man returneth.
What's scary is that Blassingame is still the Rebels' best defender and it's not even close.
Speaking of not even close, that would describe UNLV's defense on Chris Manker, the Aztecs' 7-foot reserve center. Anybody who has seen San Diego State play during the past few years -- such as Rebels assistant Marvin Menzies, who recruited Manker for SDSU -- should have known that the one thing the SDSU beanpole can do is shoot from long range.
The Rebels guarded him as if he had influenza, which is to say not at all. Manker went way downtown three times in the first half, his trio of 3-pointers sparking a 20-5 SDSU salvo that put the visitors ahead for good.
Kruger kind of tap-danced when asked about the scouting report on Manker, so lay that one on him. But as for the rest of it, I'm not going to start judging him until at least this time next year.
By then, many of these current Rebels will be launching crazy jump shots in the CBA or Europe, and perhaps Kruger will have started over with some guys who will listen.
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