LOOKING IN ON: UNLV MEN’S GOLF

Thursday, April 26, 2007 | 7:04 a.m.

UNLV's men's golf team should have familiarity on its side when it opens postseason play today in the Mountain West Conference Championship.

After staging the three-round tournament in Sunriver, Ore., the past six years, conference officials moved the championship to Tucson, where the weather tends to be a bit more predictable this time of year.

After playing three tournaments in the Grand Canyon State since January - and twice in the past three weeks - head coach Dwaine Knight is hoping his team will make itself at home this weekend at Tucson National Golf Club.

One of the Rebels' two team victories this spring came in Tucson - but not at Tucson National - and Knight said he believes his young team is ready to make a run in the postseason.

"We had a really good start to the (spring) season with those two wins," he said. "Our last two tournaments weren't as strong as I hoped we would play, but that was the end of a four-week run right there. I think we're well-rested now and really excited about going down there and playing Tucson National."

The Rebels, ranked as high as fifth in the nation in one poll, finished seventh among 15 teams in the National Invitational Tournament at Tucson National this month.

It has been five years since UNLV won the conference championship. Although the Rebels have a freshman and two sophomores among their starting five, Knight said this team is capable of competing for the conference title.

"I think it's a good group and I just feel we're really ready to bust loose," Knight said of the five who earned the team title at the Morris Williams Intercollegiate in Austin, Texas, in March.

"When you have a young team that pushes pretty hard, they have a tendency not to have the patience that you'd want to have. But I think we've got enough experience this year and been in many different situations that will play big in the postseason for us."

Junior Jarred Texter leads the Rebels into the Mountain West Conference Championships. Although winless this season, Texter has posted six Top 10 finishes in 10 starts and leads UNLV with a 71.55 scoring average.

Joining Texter will be fellow junior C.J. Gatto, sophomores Seung-su Han and Eddie Olson and freshman Brett Kanda.

"It's a young team, but we won with this team a couple weeks ago down in Austin so I think it's a good group that's going," Knight said.

Although his squad may be young, Knight said he likes what he has seen from this group, which has played together twice this season.

"We had a lot of birdies and eagles down at ASU," he said of the Rebels' most recent tournament, in which they finished sixth. "We're making the birdies so if we can minimize the mistakes and not make them so costly, we can compete.

"The big numbers eat those birdies and eagles up pretty fast. But the good news is we have the ability to make birdies and that should give them a little more patience when they are in trouble because the birdies are going to be there."

Knight said he expects the Rebels' biggest challenge this weekend to come from BYU, which is ranked 14th in one poll, and defending conference champion New Mexico.

Mountain West Conference team championships won by UNLV (2000 and 2002) since the conference was formed.

Consecutive Mountain West Conference team championships won by New Mexico.

Conference championships UNLV has won under head coach Dwaine Knight (1987-88 to present).