By Rob Miech

Mon, Mar 24, 2008 (2 a.m.)

Beas Hamga has been itching to play in a game that matters. The 7-footer from Cameroon has pushed UNLV teammates around, swatted their shots with impunity and mostly growled in practice this season.

He sat at the end of the bench, usually wearing gray UNLV sweats, during games. He wasn’t allowed to travel with the Rebels.

In the fall, Hamga, whose first name is pronounced BEE-oz, will be allowed to channel that pent-up aggression in games, and he promises to be the cornerstone of a dynamic new era.

In what was supposed to be a Band-Aid season, a bridge from last season’s Sweet 16 run to even greater possibilities when the team will be loaded in 2008-09, the Rebels defied conventional wisdom.

They won the Mountain West Conference tournament again this season and returned to the NCAAs with a most unlikely band of basketballers.

They lost four starters from last year’s Sweet 16 squad, then lost three others to attrition during the season. But the undersized team with the short bench was guided by defensive grittiness and long-range marksmanship.

UNLV finished the season 27-8 after losing to Kansas on Saturday in the NCAA Tournament.

Just the other day, Hamga, a smarter and stronger player who has four years of eligibility remaining, stopped by coach Lon Kruger’s office to shake his hand.

“I had to thank him,” Hamga said. “This redshirt year has been great for me. Oh my God, I wanted to play so badly. Especially in home games. But believe me, it was a great experience.”

What figures to be a much-improved league won’t like learning that the two-time defending conference tournament champs will be much better, too.

Wink Adams will set the tone as a senior and should attract national acclaim for his defense, drives, clutch acrobatics and toughness.

Rene Rougeau will be one of the most versatile players in the Mountain West, if not the nation, as a senior, and shooter Joe Darger won’t have the additional burden of trying to keep a clamp on 7-footers in the post.

That will be Hamga’s job.

The fifth starter could be 6-8 Matt Shaw, in a prototypical power forward slot in which he could rattle foes with his own 3-point touch. That would give much of the ball-handling duties to Adams.

If Kruger wants Adams to operate at shooting guard, Kendall Wallace might get the starter’s nod at the point as a sophomore.

That’s where the team’s June tour of Australia, where it will play six exhibition games, will play such a vital developmental role.

UNLV assistant coach Greg Grensing believes going Down Under will help Hamga and shooting guard Tre’Von Willis, who has three years of eligibility left after leaving Memphis.

But the trip should most benefit Wallace and Mareceo Rutledge, a strong shooting guard who struggled most of this season as his playing time fluctuated.

“Their minutes haven’t been what they’ve liked,” Grensing said. “They have had to go in and, first of all, not make mistakes that lead to baskets, and get used to talking or switching. The Australia trip will be so valuable to ‘Mo’ and Kendall.”

To further bolster UNLV’s post attack, 6-10 Swedish center Brice Massamba of Findlay College Prep will back up Hamga.

Massamba responded well as the stakes rose during the Pilots’ flirtation with an unblemished season, but they finished 32-1 after losing the finale of the National Prep Championship in the Bronx, N.Y.

His enthusiasm will be infectious, too. When he attended UNLV games during the season, Massamba gleefully waved two long white balloons to distract opponents at the free-throw line.

Power forward Darris Santee, who won a national JC title as a freshman at Midland College in Texas, and guard Oscar Bellfield, from Westchester High in Los Angeles, will be part of Kruger’s recruiting class of five.

With one scholarship offer left, Kruger also might get the services of Jorge Gutierrez, a high-energy point guard from Chihuahua, Mexico, who was impressive at both ends of the court for Findlay.

The Rebel with the most energy, however, might be Hamga, who beams about finally wearing his No. 22 UNLV uniform in a game.

“We’ll just be good, that’s all I can say,” Hamga said. “It’s gonna be a great time.”