Saturday, Nov. 18, 2006 | 7:20 a.m.
Although it would have been impossible for the '83 Houston and '91 UNLV teams to meet in real life, anything is possible in cyberspace. Using Dave Koch's Action PC basketball, a statistical computer basketball simulation that makes it possible to match teams from different eras, we lined up the old Cougars against the old Rebels to see what might have happened had Dick Vitale ever gone back to the future.
It turns out Greg Anthony was right - the Rebels would have won.
But just barely.
In our simulation, Larry Johnson hit a basket with 43 seconds to play and Anthony sank the front end of a free throw with 24 seconds remaining to cap a second-half comeback, lifting the Rebels to an 85-83 victory.
With Anthony saddled on the bench with fouls, the Cougars took early control of the game and built a 50-42 lead at halftime. But the Rebels rallied just as Anthony predicted they would - by turning up the pressure on defense.
Both teams made 50 percent of their field-goal attempts, but Houston was charged with 24 turnovers to UNLV's 16.
Johnson scored 23 points to lead the cyber Rebels, followed by Stacey Augmon with 21, Anderson Hunt with 14 and Anthony with 12. Michael Young led Houston with 21 points while Larry Micheaux had 20, Clyde Drexler 18 and Akeem Olajuwon 13.
Drexler has said that if Houston and North Carolina State, the team it lost to "on the dunk," as Billy Packer called it on TV, met 20 times, the Cougars would have won 19.
So just for the heck of it, I ran '83 Houston and '91 UNLV through the laptop 10 times. The Rebels won the series, 7-3.
I'm not sure who covered the most.
It was a few minutes after Clyde "The Glide" Drexler had done oh, about the 16th one-on-one interview with local media, whose semi-inquiring minds wanted to know what he made of Las Vegas' chances of landing a full-time NBA tenant in addition to this season's all-star game. As if he were on a committee that would vote on it or something.
So when I started coming toward him with a notebook and a Bic pen, he looked as if Guy Lewis, his old college coach, had just asked him to run a dozen wind sprints after practice.
Actually, the 10-time NBA All-Star still was smiling. But he absolutely lit up when I posed a question he wasn't expecting.
"1983 Houston and 1991 UNLV," I began. "Arguably the two greatest college basketball teams never to win the NCAA championship. If they play, who wins?"
"We would," said Drexler, who was on hand for the unveiling of the official NBA all-star ballot at the Fashion Show mall.
Drexler nodded toward Greg Anthony, the point guard on that '91 Rebel team that was upset by Duke in the national semifinals eight years after Phi Slama Jama, the world's tallest fraternity, had its charter revoked by Jim Valvano and North Carolina State during the 1983 title game at The Pit in Albuquerque.
"As much as I respect him and as good as they were - and they were really good - we win that game because we had the big man," Drexler said.
The big man, of course, was Akeem Olajuwon, who would add the "H" to his name after reuniting with Drexler in the NBA. No matter how you spell it, Drexler said, George Ackles would have been no match for Olajuwon, which was amazing - not because he wasn't right, but because Drexler remembered the name of the least-known member of that year's UNLV starting five.
"He was kind of skinny, wasn't he?" Drexler said.
In comparison to Olajuwon, yes he was.
But that was a phat UNLV team, or at least it would have been, had that word been part of the vernacular 15 years ago. Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Anthony, Anderson Hunt the Rebels had it all, and a chip on their shoulder the size of Gibraltar. They were 34-0 before being upset 79-77 by Duke in Indianapolis.
Houston, which also had the nation's best record (31-3) the year it didn't win, may have been the most spectacular team in college basketball history, the way it flew through the air and dunked with the greatest of ease.
Led by All-Americans Drexler and Olajuwon, Phil Slama Jama also featured starters Michael Young, Larry Micheaux and Alvin Franklin. But Anthony said the Cougs would have needed Marcus Haynes and Bob Cousy coming off the bench to cope with the Rebels' defense.
"They were a phenomenal team," Anthony said, "but we would have won because of our ability to press the perimeter.
"You saw it happen (in the NCAA championship game). Their guard play wasn't as good as the rest of their team."
Anthony admitted that Olajuwon would have been a handful inside. But he said the Rebels had success against the likes of Shaquille O'Neal and LSU and Alonzo Mourning and Georgetown by controlling pace and tempo. Or by forcing it out of control.
Playing the Rebels in those days was like playing the '85 Chicago Bears, only without the wind and freezing temperatures.
"Not even Peyton Manning can hit an open receiver if he can't see 'em," Anthony said.
The coolest thing about listening to Drexler and Anthony break down a game that could never happen is the enthusiasm with which they did it. It was clear they were proud of what they had accomplished as college players, and delighted that someone still remembered.
"Somebody should do one of those virtual reality games," Drexler said. "I know I would watch it."
"Me, too," I told him. Put it on pay-per-view from the Astrodome. Or better yet, play shirts and skins at Sunset Park.
In that case, they could even let '85 Georgetown call winners.
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