Columnist Ron Kantowski: For UNLV’s fortune in Denver, toss a coin

Monday, March 7, 2005 | 9:28 a.m.

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

So, the guy behind me in line at the pharmacy awaiting his prescription for March Madness wanted to know, how are the Rebels going to do in the Mountain West Conference tournament in Denver this week?

How should I know?

How should you know?

For that matter, how should Lon Kruger know?

This much -- and not one iota more -- is certain: The Rebels will open the tournament against Wyoming at 1:30 PST Thursday. What happens after that is anybody's guess.

Mine.

Yours.

Lon Kruger's.

The more you break it down, the more you keep coming up with the same forecast for these mercurial Rebels.

Heads they win, tails they lose.

To wit:

HEADS: The Rebels will enter the tournament on a pretty good roll, having won six of their past seven games to improve their record to a respectable 15-12 and 7-7.

TAILS: Before that, they were a not-so-respectable 9-11 and 2-6.

HEADS: They are the No. 4 seed, which is a lot higher than anybody expected a month ago.

TAILS: They are the No. 4 seed, which is a lot lower than anybody expected back in October, when they were made the preseason favorite to win the conference championship.

HEADS: As a No. 4 seed, it's possible the competition will be looking past UNLV.

TAILS: In that they've gone 5-1 against that competition to close the regular season, anybody looking past the Rebels would be crazy.

HEADS: Having already beaten Wyoming twice, the Rebels may have the Cowboys' number in the opening round.

TAILS: It's difficult to beat an evenly matched opponent three times in one season.

HEADS: With road wins at Wyoming, Colorado State, San Diego State and Brigham Young, the Rebels should feel even more comfortable playing on a neutral court.

TAILS: Any team that loses more than half of its conference games at home can't feel comfortable playing anywhere.

HEADS: Should UNLV get past Wyoming, and Utah beat Colorado State on Thursday, the Rebels and top-seeded Utes would meet in the semifinals. And Louis Amundson may be the only big man in the Mountain West who isn't afraid of the Utes' big, bad wolf known as Andrew Bogut.

TAILS: Amundson, who hasn't had a good game since Utah left town three weeks ago, was sitting on the bench in street clothes at BYU on Saturday with his nose bandaged like Jerry Quarry's.

HEADS: Odartey Blankson seems to have taken the UNLV offense on his shoulders and is playing some of the best basketball of his career.

TAILS: There are still spells, such as against New Mexico at the Thomas & Mack Center last Monday night, where the other Rebels stand around while Blankson fires up fallaway jump shots whether he's open or just thinks he's open.

HEADS: Since the Rebels started bringing their other highly touted "B's" -- Blassingame (Jerel) and Beck (Romel) off the bench, the bench has become much, much deeper.

TAILS: That's not the only reason that's where they sit when the starting lineups are announced.

HEADS: With the way he's blocking and altering shots, Joel Anthony is starting to look like Bill Russell on defense.

TAILS: On offense, he also looks like like Bill Russell -- the former Dodgers' shortstop.

HEADS: As good as Blankson has played down the stretch, Michael Umeh has emerged as UNLV's best all-around player.

TAILS: Judging by the number of times they throw him the ball, I don't think his teammates realize it.

HEADS: If the Rebels find themselves in a close game, Kruger knows what to do at the end of it. Remember that buzzer-beating play he set up for Blassingame against BYU?

TAILS: If the Rebels find themselves in a close game, most likely either Amundson (.293 free-throw percentage) or Anthony (.520) will find themselves on the foul line.

HEADS: Having rallied from 10 points down with less than 30 seconds to play at San Diego State, the Rebels never say die.

TAILS: How do you fall behind by 10 against San Diego State?

So how will the Rebels fare in the Mountain West tournament?

I really don't know. I'm still trying to make heads or tails out of it.