UPON FURTHER REVIEW

Compiled by Ron Kantowski and Rob Miech

Tuesday, March 13, 2007 | 7:18 a.m.

Compiled by Ron Kantowski and Rob Miech

At the United Center, Chicago

Who: UNLV, No. 7 seed, (28-6) vs. Georgia Tech, No. 10 seed, (20-11)

When: 9:25 a.m. Friday

TV: KLAS Channel 8.

Radio: ESPN 920 AM

Tickets: UNLV Rebel Athletic Fund members who are eligible to purchase NCAA Tournament tickets will be contacted. Please do not call the UNLV athletic department or ticket office.

The NCAA allocates a limited number of tickets to each participating school and UNLV will allocate tickets to Rebel Athletic Fund members in accordance with the UNLV postseason ticket policy, based upon priority points.

A limited number of tickets will be available to students and UNLV faculty and staff for purchase through a lottery. Winners will be contacted.

Those purchasing tickets must pick up tickets at the site of the game. There will be no advance pick-up. Call 895-3679 for ticket information.

ONE SHINING MOMENT

With most of the ingredients of a potential championship team already hooping it up at the Thomas & Mack Center, it was up to Jerry Tarkanian to find the meat and potatoes that would take the Rebels to the top of the college basketball world.

Enter Larry Johnson.

Joining holdovers Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon, Anderson Hunt and David Butler, Johnson, a highly coveted transfer from Odessa Junior College in Texas, made UNLV No. 1 in the land before the season even began.

That's the way it finished it, too.

After sharing the Big West regular-season championship with New Mexico State, the Rebels went on a postseason rampage that put UNLV on the college basketball map with a star that could light up the Las Vegas Strip.

Only one of the Rebels' six NCAA tournament games was close, and that was a 69-67 victory against Ball State and Rick Majerus in the third round. UNLV's 103-73 victory blowout of Duke at McNichols Arena in Denver was the most lopsided championship game in NCAA history.

WHAT IF?

Seventeen years later, Jerry Tarkanian knows exactly what many people around town would still be saying about him had UNLV slipped up against Ball State in a West Regional semifinal game in Oakland.

"Everyone would have been saying, 'Tark can't win the big one,' " says the famous former Rebels coach.

Instead, UNLV eked by the Cardinals, 69-67, on March 23, 1990, on the road to its lone national championship.

Ball State had the ball with 11 seconds remaining but couldn't even attempt a shot, as UNLV center David Butler intercepted a lob that Mike Spicer, in the lane, had intended for Chandler Thompson.

"People forget what could have happened in that game," Tarkanian says.

After UNLV beat Ohio State in the second round in Salt Lake City, Louisville played Ball State. The Rebels got the winner. Tarkanian, and all of his players and coaches, stayed to scout Louisville.

"Our whole team thought Louisville would beat Ball State," Tarkanian says. "We start thinking, 'God, this is going to be easy.' On the way home, we felt really good. We anticipated that it would be an easy game.

"As a coach, I don't. I get nervous over everything. Players thought it would be easy. We tried telling them ... we just couldn't break away."

The Rebels are preparing for their first NCAAs in seven seasons, but Tarkanian says the Ball State game should serve as a cautionary lesson.

"It's good for any team," he says. "You have got to stay focused for every game. Everything goes around one game."

- Rob Miech

UNLV IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

1975

West region, Tempe, Ariz. (ASU Activity Center)

First round: UNLV 90, San Diego State 80

Semifinal: Arizona State 84, UNLV 81

Consolation: UNLV 75, Montana 67

1976

West region, Eugene, Ore. (McArthur Court)

First round: UNLV 103, Boise State 78

Semifinal: Arizona 114, UNLV 109 (OT)

1977

West region, Tucson (McKale Center)

First round: UNLV 121, San Francisco 95

West region, Provo (Marriott Center)

Semifinal: UNLV 88, Utah 83

Championship: UNLV 107, Idaho State 90

NCAA Final Four, Atlanta (The Omni)

Semifinal: North Carolina 84, UNLV 83

Consolation: UNLV 106, UNC-Charlotte 94

1983

West region, Corvallis, Ore. (Gill Coliseum)

First round: Bye.

Second round: North Carolina State 71, UNLV 70

1984

West region, Salt Lake City (Huntsman Center)

First round: UNLV 68, Princeton 56

Second round: UNLV 73, UTEP 60

West region championship, Los Angeles (Pauley Pavilion)

Semifinal: Georgetown 62, UNLV 48

1985

West region, Salt Lake City (Huntsman Center)

First round: UNLV 85, San Diego State 80

Second round: Kentucky 64, UNLV 61

1986

West region, Long Beach, Calif. (Long Beach Arena)

First round: UNLV 74, Northeast Louisiana 51

Second round: UNLV 70, Maryland 64

West region championship, Houston (The Summit)

Semifinal: Auburn 70, UNLV 63

1987

West region, Salt Lake City (Huntsman Center)

First round: UNLV 95, Idaho State 70

Second round: UNLV 80, Kansas State 61

West region championship, Seattle (The Kingdome)

Semifinal: UNLV 92, Wyoming 78

Championship: UNLV 84, Iowa 81

NCAA Final Four, New Orleans (The Superdome)

Semifinal: Indiana 97, UNLV 93

1988

West region, Los Angeles (Pauley Pavilion)

First round: UNLV 54, Southwest Missouri State 50

Second round: Iowa 104, UNLV 86

1989

West region, Boise, Idaho (University Pavilion)

First round: UNLV 68, Idaho 56

Second round: UNLV 85, DePaul 70

West region championship, Denver (McNichols Arena)

Semifinal: UNLV 68, Arizona 67

Championship: Seton Hall 84, UNLV 61

1990

West region, Salt Lake City (Huntsman Center)

First round: UNLV 102, Arkansas-Little Rock 72

Second round: UNLV 76, Ohio State 65

West region championship, Oakland, Calif. (Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum)

Semifinal: UNLV 69, Ball State 67

Championship: UNLV 131, Loyola Marymount 101

NCAA Final Four, Denver (McNichols Arena)

Semifinal: UNLV 90, Georgia Tech 81

Championship: UNLV 103, Duke 73

1991

West region, Tucson (McKale Center)

First round: UNLV 99, Montana 65

Second round: UNLV 62, Georgetown 54

West region championship, Seattle (Seattle Kingdome)

Semifinal: UNLV 83, Utah 66

Championship: UNLV 77, Seton Hall 65

NCAA Final Four, Indianapolis (Indiana Hoosier Dome)

Semifinal: Duke 79, UNLV 77

1998

East region, Hartford, Conn. (Hartford Civic Center)

First round: Princeton 69, UNLV 57

2000

South region, Nashville, Tenn. (Gaylord Entertainment Center)

First round: Tulsa 89, UNLV 62

2007

Midwest region, Chicago (United Center)

First round vs. Georgia Tech

UNLV COACHES IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT

Jerry Tarkanian

Appearances: 12

Record: 30-11

Percentage: .731

NCAA titles: 1

NCAA Final Fours: 4

Bill Bayno

Appearances: 2

Record: 0-2

Percentage: .000

NCAA titles: 0

NCAA Final Fours: 0

* Ed Gregory and Rolland Todd coached the Rebels to the NCAA college division tournament before UNLV became a Division I program.

LON KRUGER'S NCAA TOURNAMENT COACHING RECORD

YearSchool Record

1987 Kansas State 1-1

1988 Kansas State 3-1

1989 Kansas State 0-1

1990 Kansas State 0-1

1994 Florida 4-1*

1995 Florida 0-1

1997 Illinois 1-1

1998 Illinois 1-1

2000 Illinois 1-1

2007 UNLV ?-?

NCAA TOURNAMENT WINNING PERCENTAGE

(minimum 20 games)

School Pct. Record

Duke .759 85-27

UCLA .733 85-31*

North Carolina .706 89-37

Kentucky .698 97-42*

UNLV .698 30-13

Michigan State .683 41-19

Indiana .678 59-28

Kansas .676 73-35

Michigan .667 30-15*

* does not included vacated years

ALL-TIME UNLV NCAA TOURNAMENT TEAM

G: Mark Wade. Can it be 20 years since he dished for 18 assists in a pulsating Final Four loss to Indiana? And Bob Knight walked the Rebel point guard off the floor with his arm around his shoulder?

G: Anderson Hunt. UNLV's "Junebug" played some of his biggest games in March. He was named Most Outstanding Player of the 1990 Final Four when the Rebels were crowned the kings of college basketball.

F: Larry Johnson. Before he became "Grandmama" L.J. was the patriarch of UNLV's near-perfect 1990-91 season which ended with a bitter defeat to Duke in Indianapolis.

F: Stacey Augmon. The Rebels' small forward did it all for the 1990 championship team. He scored, he rebounded, he stole the ball, he blocked shots. Chances are if you still have your program from the Final Four in Denver, Augmon sold it to you.

F: Armon Gilliam. This big guy scored a tournament-high 38 points against Wyoming and "hammered" home 27 points over five games.

Sixth man: Freddie Banks: For those 38 points and 10 3-pointers against the Hoosiers.

Honorable mention: Eddie Owens and Larry Moffett, the class of the 1977 team that was first to walk down the Final Four aisle.