Ron Lewis / AP
UNLV’s Tre’von Willis, right, puts pressure on Santa Clara’s Robert Smith during a Dec. 5 game at Santa Clara.
Monday, Dec. 7, 2009 | 11:14 a.m.
The Rebel Room
No games this week? Lets talk rankings ... and K-State
Ryan Greene, Christine Killimayer and Ray Brewer discuss UNLV's latest ranking, which has the 7-0 Rebels 18th in the AP poll and 17th in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll. Is Lon Kruger's club the 18th-best team in the country? The crew discusses that, plus takes a look at Kansas State coming up on Saturday at the Orleans Arena.
Reader poll
Winning twice on the road in the last week apparently carries some weight with voters, as Lon Kruger's 7-0 UNLV basketball team moved up Monday in both college basketball Top 25 polls.
In the AP poll, the Rebels check in at 18th after entering the rankings a week ago for the first time since 2007 at 24th. In the ESPN/USA Today poll, the nation's coaches ranked the Rebels 17th, four spots up from their perch a week ago at 21st.
In their first two road tests of the season, the Rebels got by.
Led by second half efforts from Tre'Von Willis in both contests, UNLV edged Arizona, 74-72 in double overtime, on Wednesday, then traveled to Santa Clara, where they outlasted the Broncos 66-63 on Saturday night.
The Rebels' 7-0 start is the program's best since Jerry Tarkanian's club did so to open the 1990-91 campaign.
The top five spots in each of the polls are identical this week, with Kansas leading the way, followed by Texas, Villanova, Kentucky and Purdue.
UNLV is the lone Mountain West Conference team in either poll.
Still looking from some more respect from voters is New Mexico, who improved to 7-0 with impressive home victories this week over Cal, 86-78, and New Mexico State, 75-58.
In the AP poll, Steve Alford's club is 10th among the "others receiving votes," taking in 37 votes. In the coaches poll, the Lobos are third in that category.
Fifth off the list in the AP poll is UNLV's next opponent — Kansas State — which received 59 nods from the voters.
The Rebels take on the Wildcats at 4 p.m. Saturday at the Orleans Arena. K-State is 7-1 following an 86-69 victory over Washington State on Saturday in Manhattan, Kan. Frank Martin's team leaves for Las Vegas on Thursday, but that comes after Tuesday's home tilt with Xavier.
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