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twitterLive game blog: Rebels open season with 91-52 victory against Pittsburg State
Willis scores 17, Wallace adds 16 in win against Division II school
Justin M. Bowen
The tip off to start off the UNLV basketball season Saturday against Pittsburg St. at the Thomas & Mack.
Published Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 | 6:56 p.m.
Updated Saturday, Nov. 14, 2009 | 9:03 p.m.
The Rebel Room
Breaking down UNLV's first basketball game
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Las Vegas Sun reporters Rob Miech and Ray Brewer discuss the UNLV basketball team's season opening victory against Pittsburg State.
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UNLV outscored Division II Pittsburg State 48-26 in the second half Saturday night at the Thomas & Mack Center in a 91-52 season-opening victory.
Tre'Von Willis scored 13 of his game-high 17 points in the second half, including seven straight to open the half. Kendall Wallace was 4-of-5 on 3-pointers to finish with 16 points, while freshman Justin Hawkins added 11.
Pittsburg State committed 35 fouls, which led to a school record 52 free throw attempts for UNLV. The Rebels were 36-of-52 from the line.
UNLV closed the first half on a 24-7 run to lead by 17 points at the break and gradually increased its lead the rest of the game. After struggling early with their shots, the Rebels wound up shooting 41-percent.
UNLV only committed 10 turnovers and forced Pittsburg State into 28.
Brice Massamba and Darris Santee each had nine points for UNLV, while guard Steve Jones provided a spark off the bench with eight points.
Wallace having a good game in Rebels blowout of Pittsburg State
Guard Kendall Wallace is 4-of-5 on 3-pointers and has 16 points as UNLV has built its lead to 82-41 with five minutes to play against Division II Pittsburg State in its season opener.
Pittsburg State, fresh off a 103-48 loss to top-ranked Kansas this week, is starting to fade. The Gorillas have 25 turnovers in comparison to eight from UNLV and have misfired on all seven of the 3-pointers they have attempted.
UNLV has looked strong in the second half. The only question left — will UNLV clear the century mark in points scored?
Rebels on cruise control, lead now by 30 points
Tre'Von Willis has 13 second-half points and the Rebels have held Pittsburg State to six points in the half's opening eight minutes to build their lead to more than 30 points, 67-34 with 11:28 to play.
Kendall Wallace is also in double figures with 10 points for the Rebels, who are shooting 44-percent from the field after struggling early. UNLV only made four of its first 15 shots.
Several are showing their stuff as the Rebels have turned a close game in the early stages of the first half — they trailed by as many as five points — into a blowout. Guard Steve "Chopper" Jones has been one bright spot for UNLV, starting a rally in the first half with a 3-pointer and giving the Rebels a boost with eight points off the bench in 15 minutes
Willis scores seven straight points, Rebels extend lead
Tre'Von Willis has scored nine points in the initial four minutes of the second half, including seven straight, and the Rebels are starting to pour it on against Division II Pittsburg State in the season opener at the Thomas & Mack Center.
UNLV closed the first half on a 24-7 run and Willis scored the initial seven points of the second half to help extend the lead to 55-28.
Willis leads the Rebels with 13 points on 4-of-6 shooting and has hit all five of the free throws he has attempted.
Rebels close the first half on 24-7 rally
UNLV has broken the game open against Division II Pittsburg State and lead 43-26 at halftime thanks to closing the half on a 24-7 run.
Kendall Wallace has eight points, including a pair of 3-pointers, to pace the Rebels' offense. Freshman Justin Hawkins has seven points and Tre'Von Willis has four points and three assists.
The Rebels only made 5-of-16 shots to open the game and looked sluggish early in working out the first-game jitters. Their play resembled Tuesday's exhibition game victory against Washburn, where UNLV trailed with under eight minutes to play before closing strong and winning by 10.
With a victory seemingly guaranteed tonight, look for coach Lon Kruger to try various rotations in looking for the right combination of players for later in the season. Thus far, 10 Rebels have scored and 11 have played.
Rebels go on rally, lead by 10
It was only a matter of time until the UNLV basketball team found its touch against Division II Pittsburg State in the season opener. That moment came midway through the first half as the Rebels went on a 12-4 run to take a 31-21 lead with 3:28 to play in the half.
The Rebels missed seven of their first nine 3-pointers, but freshman Justin Hawkins and Steve Jones hit consecutive 3-pointers to spark the rally.
Also, Darris Santee muscled his way underneath the basket for an offensive rebound and layup. Hawkins leads the Rebels with six points, Santee has five and Jones, Tre'Von Willis and freshman Anthony Marshall have four.
Marshall, a local product from Mojave High, has been aggressive in his first college game. He's twice taken the ball to the basket and appears to be playing with confidence.
Rebels pull even with Pittsburg State in opener
UNLV has been in the double bonus since the 10:43 mark of the first half and has made seven of its last eight attempts from the line in erasing an early four-point deficit against Division II Pittsburg State to even the score at 19 with 7:31 to play in the half.
Tre'Von Willis leads UNLV with four points and eight Rebels have gotten into the score column. It's still ugly as they are only shooting 29-percent.
Rebels still behind in opener
Eight minutes into the UNLV basketball team's season opener and the Rebels have only made two shots — both 3-pointers.
Kendall Wallace and Derrick Jasper have connected from beyond the arc, but it isn't enough as the Rebels trailed Division II Pittsburg State 10-6 with 11:55 to play in the first half.
The Rebels are 2-of-9 from the field and have missed all five free throws they have taken. Thus far, the Rebels' performance is comparable to its ugly 10-point win Tuesday against Washburn in an exhibition game — the Rebels are playing down to their opponent, struggling to find their groove offensively and shooting a low percentage.
But it is still early — the season, after all, is eight minutes old.
Jasper starts strong in Rebels debut
Derrick Jasper didn't waste any time Saturday getting into the scoring column in the UNLV basketball team's season opener. The Kentucky transfer buried his first field goal attempt, draining a 3-pointer from the corner 45 seconds into the game against Division II Pittsburg State.
The Rebels, however, trail 6-3 at the first media timeout with 15:31 to play in the half. Jasper's bucket is the lone make for UNLV, which is 1-of-6 from the field. Pittsburg State, meanwhile, has made 3-of-4 of its attempts.
UNLV will more than likely spend a majority of the first half on the charity stripe. Pittsburg State has already been whistled for five personal fouls — two more and the Rebels will be in the bonus.
Pregame
The UNLV basketball season is minutes away from tipping off here at the Thomas & Mack Center.
UNLV, which finished 21-11 last year and lost in the first round of the National Invitation tournament, begins a new campaign against Division II Pittsburg State of Kansas.
The Rebels are looking for their fourth straight season with 20 or more wins. It is coach Lon Kruger’s sixth year at the helm.
Junior guard Tre’Von Willis is the Rebels’ leading returning scorer (11.4 points per game) and rebounder (4.3). He will be joined in the starting lineup tonight by UCLA transfer Chace Stanback and Kentucky transfer Derrick Jasper. Sophomore guard Oscar Bellfield and sophomore center Brice Massamba round out the starting five.
Pittsburg State is also opening its season and not expected to give UNLV much of a challenge. The Gorillas — yes, Gorillas — lost 103-45 to top-ranked Kansas in exhibition play this week.
Meanwhile, UNLV only connected on 4-of-23 of its 3-pointers in beating Division II Washburn by 10 points on Tuesday in its exhibition. The Rebels trailed late in the second half — something that shouldn't happen tonight.
We’ll be back once the action begin …
Discussion: 67 comments so far…
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Rob-Is UNLV posting the Smastresk video anywhere?
It will be interesting to see the change in opinions about this team in just a few days. Some People were writing this team off after the not so convincing win against Washburn. I wonder what they will say when we break 90 pts tonight.
I love how deep this team is. Marshall, Anthony, and Wallace are all amazing guards who could be starting D1 bball many places. Santee has done well off the bench, 5 rebounds in 10 mins. This team has the potential to be scary good come January. Im glad we have a lot of home games in the next few weeks, let this team get its chemistry right before traveling down to Tucson.
REBELS!!!!!!!
is the unr game on tv anywhere?
Everyone that jumped off the cliff after the Washburn game can now jump back on the band wagon!
Sufferin'
Does this win get us out of the CBI tournament and into the NIT?
Great win Rebels... I loved the swagger! Nice way to start the season.
Yeah sufferin,
I wanna hear what you've got to say about the game tonight?
They played great defense and the offense seemed to be fluid(90 pts). I know it was a D-11 team but even Robert should be impressed with this win.
Try not to eat too much crow yourselves. The team played sloppy. Oscar couldn't hit anything. Brice had 1 rebound and we played a D-2 team and you think we are good? I am sorry, but we should have scored over 100. 41% from the floor and 30% from 3 point land. This team has a lot of concerns and I would say a lot more concerns than positives. Talk to me at the end of December.
yes, there are a lot of things that werent good. but they played as a team. and wow guys, kansas beat em by 55, we beat em by 40. To me, i think we did our job and played a good game.
the thing we should do best is play hard defense. WE DID THAT. we forced many dumb turnovers (traveling, inbounding) and stole many. With defense comes offense. Dont forget that many of the missed shots were in the first 10 minutes of the game. I'd love to see the stats for thelast 30 min of the game. Heck, from 10 min left in the first half to 5 min left in the game is what stats you should look at. Thats when the guys that will play were in and doing good.
they do need to come early to practice and stay late and shoot freethrows.
go_rebels,
btw..its not against your religion to point out the positives in what the rebels did.
This game means nothing. I have never even heard of this team Pittsburg whatever.
To not score 100+ points vs. a horrible team like this proves my point that Kruger is not the right guy for us. This was our opportunity to break 100 and they blew it.
The only games that matter are:
16 MWC Regular Season Games.
Reno, S. Illinois, Louisville, Arizona, Santa Clara, Kansas State, Diamond Head Classic Tourny and the MWC Tournament at the T&M.
You can call me out after those games if the Rebels win impressively.
Games against schools I have never even heard of don't mean anything.
I am not impressed. 125 points tonight would have impressed me. 18,500 real butts in the seats would have impressed me tonight.
What we saw tonight was a CBI/NIT team beating up on a nobody.
Celebrate! Pretend that Runnin' Rebel Basketball is back.
I will hold off on doing cartwheels down Maryland Parkway until we beat someone legit.
i would rather you never do cartwheels down maryland parkway bud. they are not a CBI team. for them to make the CBI, theyd have to go like 17-14, do you honestly think they will do that? get your head out of your ass. They won by 15 points less than Kansas beat them by, that means we kinda did pretty good. And talk about the defense then if the offense wasnt good..they forced many turnovers.
it shouldnt be so much the offense we focus on, we should be focusing on how the defense does, how the team gels (did good), and how they rebound. The offense will come with those 3.
UNLV played some Division II school that I have never heard of and they won. It was basically an exibition game since it won't count in the RPI because they are a Division II team.
I hope you enjoy the win. It means nothing to me. I was not impressed.
Records of teams in the 2009 CBI Tournament:
Boise State: 19-12
Buffalo: 21-11
UTEP: 19-12
Northeastern: 18-12
Houston: 21-11
Vermont: 23-9
St. John's: 16-17
Charleston So.: 26-8
Stanford: 18-13
Wichita State: 16-16
Nevada: 21-12
Wyoming: 19-13
Oregon State: 13-17
UW-Green Bay: 22-10
Richmond: 18-15
Troy: 19-12
uhh yea exactly those teams arent UNLV. the rebels have expectations and for them to be in the CBI they would have to fall well short of expectations and finish 17-14. notice St. Johns generally has high expectations and was 16-17 and went to CBI..
*Sufferin why didnt you answer my questions in the Kruger story?
*And if you could go to the casino and bet if UNLV would be in the CBI or not would you bet for it?
if unlv wasnt in the top 96 in the nation (tourny and NIT combined) then that is a sign of the apocolypse. they have a lot of talent.
just admit that Robert, they have talent.
"*Sufferin why didnt you answer my questions in the Kruger story?" - rebelsfan11
I am not here to answer your questions. I will respond to you when I feel like it. Sometimes I don't want to be bothered with your homework assignments.
"*And if you could go to the casino and bet if UNLV would be in the CBI or not would you bet for it?" - rebelsfan11
I expect this UNLV team to be in the NIT or CBI. They do have the MWC Tournament at home so who knows they might get lucky again like 2007/08 and win a game or two in the MWC Tournament that they shouldn't. But right now I would say we are NIT/CBI quality.
We will see where we are at the end of the year. I can tell you right now, we don't have the talent to go to the NCAA's so I hope we don't go. It will just be an embarrassment if we do. I want UNLV to go to the NCAA Tournament with a loaded team of studs that has a legit chance to beat anyone in the country! That is not this team. We have NO BIG GUYS, we will get creamed when we play anybody good.
Kansas barely broke 100 points on these guys and i bet Sufferin' wouldn't go calling them crappy and unimpressive. Get your head out of your dad's a-hole and think positive for once. This team did some great things on defense tonight. Offense always has a higher learning curve so it will come with time, but you say what you want but 90 points in any game means you are doing something right.
In case you can't tell, there hasn't been any teams as good as our championship team since them and chances are there won't ever be any so you might want to adjust your measuring stick buddy. Why can't you just go root for some crappy team like the community college up north.
i think that you just dont like Kruger. If we had the top 10 players in America on our team but Kruger was coach, you would say that we are CBI material.
the coach isn't out on the court, the players are. We do have talent. Kruger has won 75% of his games. He has won coach of the year awards. The team isn't lucky, last years team just didnt have heart. This years team has a lot of heart.
im done arguing. i just want you to answer those questions b/c your answers would be hilarious. you think all of them wouldnt make the JV team at Gorman.
Was Kendall Wallace lucky ttoday when he shot 4-5 from 3? or is he just a good shooter?
good point rebnum, if the number 1 team in the nation barely broke 100 on them and they were on fire the WHOLE GAME how could we when we only put it together for 30 minutes? we still got close. applaud the team for once, damn. do you even respect Wink for putting UNLV back on the map? or Kruger for getting guys to give their hearts and sould to the program?
55 points, 40 points, who cares?
It was a Division II school that is irrelevent.
I can't believe I even wasted time commenting in this thread.
Let me know when UNLV plays a Division I school.
that will be Wednesday. I wonder if you even care enough to go.
I probably can't make it on Wednesday night. That is the night I play Mahjong with the Red Hat Society.
This is my first post here but I always read these comments and I have to say that this guy Sufferin is the most negative human being ever.... Unfortunately he is probably right about A LOT of the things he says. I don't think this team is bad enough for CBI but I also have to agree with him in many of his criticisms (Kruger, recruiting, etc.). I think the problem is that he is living in the past and compares everything to the great teams of the past. I don't think this team is great by any means, but if you like UNLV you should support the team!
Amen letsgorebs.......
True fans support, regardless of the situation. Fairweather fans, show up at the championship game after seeing that the team has done something well....
UNLV should contend for the MWC regular season and tourny title. no doubt about it. they should make it into march madness or i will see this season as a failure..
They should definitely contend for the regular season and tournament as well. The conference is not great and the tournament is at home. Having said that, I don't think it's a given that they will make the NCAA tournament. This team is really young and we rely on 3's to keep us in the game too much. I have never liked our offense.
yes they need to stop shooting 3s. kruger doesnt like the amount of 3s shot either. tonight they drove a lot more than usual though, i liked that. they shouldnt pass around the arc and shoot..if they wanna shoot a 3 they should drive and kick it out!
Real fans don't support mediocrity.
Real fans don't celebrate Division II wins.
Real fans demand that the coach recruit decent players and not just play golf all day.
Real fans don't pretend that the team is good when they are an NIT/CBI bubble team at best!
Real fans want to see a dunk once in awhile.
Real fans demand a Top 25 program.
Real fans complain if a coach goes to the NIT three times in five years!
Real fans would like to see at least One Rebel player Drafted in the NBA Draft after we have payed the coach $6+ million dollars in six years on the job!
Real fans don't care if the players looked great in practice.
Real fans don't waste time on players like Brice Massamba. He is what he is and he will never be any good.
Real UNLV fans know what greatness looks like and we don't pretend that some Kruger NIT quality team is GREAT. They aren't. They are no good and we should demand better!
Real UNLV fans know that the program can get back to the top. We are not fooled by those who say it was a one time shot and that UNLV can never get back to the Top of College Basketball. Real UNLV fans know all we need is to hire the right coach and we will be dominating College Basketball within 1 year and nobody will ever beat us!
Sufferin', rather than wasting my time arguing with you... I am just going to call it how I see it. You are the biggest douche bag in the world!!! Enjoy the rest of the season. : -)
Everything you said is probably true or somewhat true until that last paragraph. Dominating college basketball?? Really? Nobody could beat us if we hired who exactly? Jim Boeheim has won 1 title at syracuse (elite coach), Pitino 1 title (elite coach), hell, even Tark only got us 1 title. There are many ELITE coaches out there that have never won a title. Maybe you could say that if we got the right coach we would be a top 25 team every year, and I would agree with you, but for you to say that NOBODY will beat us is a joke. We need to worry about dominating our own conference before we can dominate Kansas, UNC, Michigan St, etc.
ok, hiring the right coach and dominating in one year? no man. you are out of your mind. only kentucky, UNC, Duke, etc can completely rebuild their team in just the offseason.
the rebels dunked 3 teams yesterday and i believe 2 times tonight, so dont complain about dunks.
I want a top 25 team. but the MWC isnt respected, we need to prove with our wins over the season that we deserve it. thats what we are going to do.
Lets not talk about the 2 NITs before the sweet 16 year, b/c thats when the rebuilding was still going. now, they are on the map and have been to the tourny and won games in it 2-3 years.
the team is good. they have several top 100 players on the roster. if that doesnt intrigue you, i guess only Roy Williams or Calipari will. We will never get them. Kruger is putting his heart and soul into coaching this team and i believe it will pay off these next 3+ seasons.
if we do somehow go to the CBI, i will be the right there with you calling for Kruger's head.
If we fall on our ass and go to the NIT, we better win it and get our players and team some recognition.
NOBODY can rebuild and win the championship in one year. Not even the elite teams. Kentucky might do it this year but it will be very difficult. North Carolina even went through some tough times earlier this decade. This team is a decent team. It's not great but it's not as bad as CBI.
Real fans used to cheer for Massimino, Grgurich, Bayno, and Spoon right? Kruger is garbage because he hasn't won a national championship? Kruger has taken a team who had won nothing since Tark and is heading in a great direction but you will not support this team until it's there right? Do you really think we will replace him with Coach K? Roy Williams?Billy Donovan?
You must be nuts to think that we have the budget to bring a guy like that to this city! Kruger is taking this team in the right direction and I pray that you are not wearing the scarlet and gray when this team finally arrives at this point. I understand that we don't accept mediocrity, but were you much happier when this team was winning 15 games and never made a postseason? lol
I will support this team in hopes that we reach the pinnacle of college hoops once more and I will continue to support this team because it is heading in the right direction.
"Real UNLV fans know all we need is to hire the right coach and we will be dominating College Basketball within 1 year and nobody will ever beat us!"
Ok! Great! You go ahead and offer Calipari 4 mill a year so he can get us to the tourney and leave the team in hot water with the NCAA again!
What kind of fool thinks that one year is all that it takes to be dominating and never be touched again?!?
It would have to be some fool that is unrealistic at the capabilities of a university and has completely unrealistic expectations to "never be touched again"....Oh nevermind, it makes complete sense when I realized who made that statement.
I do feel that not making the NCAA tournament is sort of unacceptable though. This will be his 6th yr here and 2 tournament appearances would be pretty mediocre.
rebnum3,
thank you man. this guy has been harassing everyone on these boards since i can remember. i am under the assumption he has made other screennames also and posts things on his that say things like yea i kinda agree with sufferin or something like that. he mustn't have much of a life.
he probably was screaming at Kruger tonight when he put in Hanni, Norman, and Martinez (the 3 walkons that probably wont play much more this season) because he was "blowing out chances of 100 points."
who gives a crap about 100 points. all that i care about is defense, chemistry, and winning. we did all 3 pretty dang good so im happy.
the first 2 seaons shouldnt count too much because:
-the players arent his recruits.
-he is still rebuilding the program.
*The team is heading in the right direction now. no doubt bout it. NO NO NO doubt about it. Cory Joseph seems very, very interested in attending UNLV. Larry Johnson (if he shows up) should help recruit him, same with Tark. I think the Findlay guy who the school is named after should talk to him also and tell him what kind of opportunity he has to become a legend in the city of Las Vegas rather than just another player anywhere else.
Real fans never liked Massimino.
Real fans celebrated Grg's hiring but quickly realized he wasn't up for the job at the time.
Real fans were excited when UNLV hired Bayno and bought into his program when the starting lineup should have been Greedy Daniels, Tyrone Nesby, Lamar Odom, Keon Clark and Kaspars Kambala! With Shawn Marion coming in right after them UNLV was poised to be back on the National Stage. But Bayno choked, didn't have what it took and Real Fans noticed this right away and demanded that UNLV get rid of that BUM!
Real fans knew that when we missed out on Pitino we missed out on multiple Final Fours and Top 10 finishes. When Pitino quit the Boston Celtics in January 2001, it was right after UNLV had fired Bill Bayno. Real UNLV fans like myself had been predicted for months that this is how it would all go down. Pitino was ready to take over at UNLV on January 9th, 2001 but the UNLV admin screwed it up and almost destroyed UNLV Basketball forever.
When Spoonhour was hired Real UNLV fans knew he was just a backup hire who was given the job because we missed out on our big prize. Spoonhour was old but tried his best to get us through probation, one or two lucky breaks in the MWC Finals and Spoon probably would have lasted a few more years. But Spoon never got those lucky wins that Kruger has been living off of the last few years.
When Kruger was hired it was a disaster. True fans new the program was in deep trouble now. Kruger is not a good fit for UNLV and will never be able to recruit the type of players we need to be a consistent Top 25 program. The best Real fans could hope for is that Kruger wouldn't stick around long and would find a new job quickly as his history suggests. The bad news is that even though Kruger throws his name out for every major job opening, NOBODY WANTS HIM! Because UNLV is stuck with Kruger and he has gotten every miracle break possible for a human being, UNLV has missed out on opportunities to get big time coaches that would be excellent fits for the program.
Coaches like George Karl, Bobby Huggins and Reggie Theus have been available and would make UNLV and instant success. These coaches have the right personality for Las Vegas, they recruit the type of players that will excite this city and they know how to win! But because Kruger is living off his past success at UNLV and some of the uneducated fans have been tricked by his fluke/lucky Sweet 16 appearance, UNLV is stuck with Kruger for the time being and the program is basically stuck in slow motion.
UNLV can be a Top 5 Basketball program overnight with the right coach. Huggins, Karl and Theus would have taken this job if/when it was/is open.
For now we wait. We watch NIT quality Basketball and wait. The Kruger miracles won't last forever and UNLV will get the coach we deserve and we will return to elite Status where we belong!
True about the first 2 yrs but if we make NIT this yr, it would mean that we made NIT last 2 yrs. I think thats mediocre because we have our conference tourney at home every year and it's not like the teams we play against are powerhouses. Joseph would be the best recruit at UNLV in yrs. He's an amazing talent. Hope it happens.
George Karl would have stayed here for 15 mins until the NBA called. The guy is coaching in the western conference finals. Bob Huggins left Kansas St as soon as West Virginia came calling. Get real. UNLV is NOT an elite job where elite coaches are going to come and stay for a long time. Some big name could come here but would only use it to get an even better job later down the road. You can't build consistency like that. Reggie Theus could be the exception though.
"UNLV can be a Top 5 Basketball program overnight with the right coach. Huggins, Karl and Theus would have taken this job if/when it was/is open."
Yeah, becoming a top 5 program overnight is easy thats why everybody does it.....
Theus is unproven, Karl has been in the NBA for how long? Huggins wouldn't be able to put the bottle down enough to coach a full game in Vegas!
Why don't you name a viable candidate under 2.5 mil per year?
um, sufferin.. when Kruger came everyone was excited about what he was gonna do for UNLV. now look, last season we were #23 in attendance and led the West Coact in attendance!!! I think that proves your statements false about how everyone thought unlv was gonna be a disaster when we hired Kruger.
OH AND IVE GOT SOME TRIVIA FOR YOU. YOU GET A COOOKIE IF YOU ANSWER THIS CORRECTLY.
**Who is the only coach to lead his team to a sweet 16 since the Tark era??
heck, did any other coaches even win any games in the tourney let alone get to it?
oh and he coached only the 5th team to win 3 games..i believe Tark only did that 2-3 times while coaching like 15 years.
what exactly has Reggie Theus done AS A COACH (not player, dont bring up his unlv days) to prove he is even qualified. his kings days sucked. he was fired i believe.
Reggie Theus could be better or he could be worse. It's totally ridiculous for this guy to claim we would be unstoppable if we just hired a great coach. I already stated how Karl wouldn't even be here by now and neither would Huggins. There is no coach out there that would make us a top 10 PROGRAM right now with our budget. You probably think we could bring in Phil Jackson or something. How about Popovic? Maybe Roy Williams is dying to leave UNC for UNLV.... seriously, support the team and evaluate the season once we start playing some games. If we are 1-4 in a couple weeks then we could agree. Let's see how it plays out first.
"UNLV can be a Top 5 Basketball program overnight with the right coach. Huggins, Karl and Theus would have taken this job if/when it was/is open."
We have a nominee for most preposterous statement of the year. LMAO... If we had hired one of those coaches, we would have beaten UCLA's 88 game winning streak too.
I've never known someone that seems to hate his team as much as Sufferin!
Such a strange dichotomy!
I wonder if this season will be dubbed another "fluky Kruger miracle" when it is a great success...
Bobby Huggins would still be here! Kansas State is NOT UNLV when it comes to Basketball. Huggins would not have left his dream job at UNLV to go to West Virginia I can guarantee you that. Huggins would likely leave West Virginia today if he had the opportunity to be the UNLV Head Basketball Coach. Huggins knows that at UNLV he would win multiple NCAA National Championships. Let me remind you that Huggins has turned West Virginia into a Top 10 powerhouse almost OVERNIGHT. He would do even better at UNLV and he knows it. Huggins dreams of being the UNLV Head Basketball Coach and with him UNLV would return to elite status and never lose.
George Karl never would have taken the Denver job if he would have gotten the UNLV job. George Karl would be the UNLV coach today and we would be a Top 25 program with elite recruits! Guys who could jump and dunk and rebound and GO TO THE NBA DRAFT! Possible George Karl assistant coaches at UNLV include Tim Grgurich, Reggie Theus, Mark Warkentein, Stacey Augmon, John Welch and David Rice. Certainly not all of them but a few of those names would certainly be on our staff. The George Karl dream has passed and it won't happen now, it is a shame we took Kruger and his NIT no talent teams instead of hiring a big time coach like George Karl. Real shame.
Reggie Theus is our guy! He is Vegas and he will return UNLV Basketball to our rightful spot at the top of the Mountain. Theus is our guy! Trust me on this. I was never a Theus supporter in past, in fact when we had coaching searches I was always the first one to start screaming that we SHOULDN'T HIRE REGGIE THEUS. People used to try and sell me "Hire THEUS" shirts at the Thomas & Mack Center and I would tell them to get lost.
But I now know in my heart that Reggie Theus is the right guy to fix UNLV Basketball. He will bring in top recruits, make us the Runnin' Rebels. The fireworks will return and sparkle like they have never sparkled before. We will see real dunks, not these lay in Kruger dunks that we see now. REAL RIM RATTLING, BACKBOARD SHAKING DUNKS by Superstar players who will go on to long NBA careers where they actually play in the games and make the All-Star roster.
Reggie Theus is a Rebel. He is our Rebel. And he is the answer. Kruger is the problem.
Remove the problem and we will have our answer.
Go Rebels!
Bob Huggins would have never left for West Virginia??? Are you drunk? Bob Huggins' dream job IS West Virginia because that's where he went to school!!!! He left Kansas St even though he had one of the top recruiting classes in the country coming in that year. He had Michael Beasley (#1 ranked player in the country) and Bill Walker coming in and he still left. Do some homework. Bob Huggins is a beast as a coach but he would NOT have stayed here. George Karl is an NBA coach, not a college coach. Never has been and never will be because he gets tons of money from NBA teams and is successful at it. Kruger is NOT the greatest coach/recruiter, but neither one of those 2 would have been the answer either.
ok so now sufferin personally knows Bob Huggins and KNOWS that he DREAMS at night of him coacing at the Mack...give us a link where it says he would take the UNLV job any given day and we will believe you on that.
with George karl, give us a link to an article.
With Theus, no we arent gonna trust you that he is the right guy for UNLV, b/c you just said untruthful things in the prior 2 paragraphs.
With you not wanting Theus when other fans wanted him when there was a vacancy just shows you love having an opposing viewpoint and just want the exact opposite of what you know WILL happen for UNLV. So..when their is a vacancy, you so hell no, not Theus! But, when we actually have a coach (and a good one) you suddenly switch viewpoints and want him so so bad!!
no, live in reality dude. i dont know if you have mental problems or what, but some of the things you say are absolutely ridiculous. My brother has illogical thinking and just doesnt see things the same way as most people but is still a normal person. Maybe you have that also. Go see a doctor man. Tell him that you DON'T have Rebel Fever when everyone else in the city does.
He must be drunk out of his mind if he thinks UNLV was Bob Huggins' dream job. West Virginia is his alma mater.
letsgorebs,
another thing with the recruiting..they just need to keep winning games and winning games in the tourney and the recruits will continue to come.
lets not talk about bad recruiting..look at what out underclassman are doing so far..Oscar, Marshall, and J-Hawk.
Agreed. I don't think the recruiting is terrible. It is actually pretty good for a MWC school. The people who think it's terrible think that because they compare it to UNC, UCONN, UCLA, etc. That's impossible to compete with. I don't like our recruiting as far as big guys though. I know Thomas might change that next yr, but right now the situation is bad, which leads us to shooting nothing but jumpers and a ton of threes.. and being dominated on the boards.
Bob Huggins turned down West Virginia when he was at Cincinnati. The only reason he took the West Virginia job this time is because he was stuck out in the middle of nowhere in Kansas at a school that doesn't give a $hit about Basketball. Of course Huggins is also an alumni of West Virginia and that helps. Being in the Big East where he could face his old school Cincinnati and lay the wood to them aslo helps. I know more about Bobby Huggins than any other person on the planet so don't question me about his motives or try to educate me on Bob Huggins! I have met the man personally in Las Vegas and I know he is interested in the UNLV job.
Bob Huggins loves Las Vegas. He comes to Las Vegas just about every single year to play a game here if he has the chance. He is a Vegas guy and the UNLV program intrigues him. Huggins knows that the type of player he recruits would be drawn to Las Vegas, Huggins would be a huge star in this town and would go down as one of the greatest College Coaches ever if he took the UNLV job. Huggins would never lose here. We would dominate the MWC like they were the Big West. Nobody in the MWC could match up with Bob Huggins recruits in Vegas. The Mack would be 18,500 full everynight with REAL BUTTS IN SEATS.
Bob Huggins wanted this job when he left Cincy. He was hoping to get this job but it just didn't come open at the right time. West Virginia is not UNLV. Kansas State is not UNLV. Bob Huggins would be unstoppable at UNLV.
Here is a link to a George Karl article saying that he wanted the UNLV Job:
http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/shark-b...
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2...
As for Theus, I did not want him to be our coach at the time because he had no experience. I also had my heart set on Rick Pitino and Bobby Huggins and wasn't willing to consider anyone else at the time. I also had questions about Theus graduation from college.
Now that Theus has proven himself as a recruiter at Louisville (under Pitino) and as a head coach at New Mexico State where he was a fan favorite at both home games and road games, he has proven to me that he is the right guy for us. Plus, his college degree isn't an issue because he has a resume to prove that he has what it takes to coach in the NCAA (2 schools) and in the NBA (Sacramento).
Theus is a great coach. He is a personality that we need in Vegas, you have to be larger than life to excite the Vegas crowd and Theus has that special something! He is Vegas!
Theus is our guy. Once Kruger is gone we can get this program fixed. Bring in some real talent, run the ball and DUNK LIKE THE REBELS! Bring back some exciting basketball to this town so people don't have to sit on their hands anymore.
Reggie Theus! UNLV Runnin' Rebel Basketball!
UCLA, UCONN, UNC, DUKE, KANSAS and KENTUCKY is who UNLV should be recruiting against. It sickens me that you guys call yourself UNLV fans. You have loser mentalities and accept mediocrity, you actually celebrate it.
UNLV can recruit vs. those schools and we will when we get the right coach. Not MR. NIT Kruger.
With the amount of guards/small forwards that we have, I believe we should full court press the whole game and push the ball more. The biggest strength of this team might be its depth. We should try to tire out other teams because we have so many players who could handle the ball and play the 1, 2 or 3. That's the biggest thing that I dislike about Kruger, his offensive system. Last year's offense was horrible. Dribble for 30 secs, no ball movement and shoot the 3. We should use our depth and run the ball a lot more. That's what I think.
" I know more about Bobby Huggins than any other person on the planet so don't question me about his motives or try to educate me on Bob Huggins!"
So are you his best friend? Best man at his wedding? You know more about him than his family does? That's impressive.
There is no question that nobody could compete with him as far as recruiting if he was here. The guy has top 10 recruiting classes almost every yr in the big east, so there is no argument that can possibly be made as far as him not being th best recruiter this conference has. The problem, as i stated before, is that he would not have stayed here. No way. Same with George Karl. Do you know how much money Karl makes in the NBA??? You honestly cannot believe he loves UNLV so much that he would leave all that money sitting out there just to coach here. Not a chance. I do not agree or disagree with you about Theus because I believe he could be a hell of a recruiter, so I won't comment.
And no, there is no way we can compete with UCLA, UNC, Duke in recruiting bro. Take a look at their facilities, their campus, etc... UNC has Michael Jordan, James Worthy, Vince Carter and guys like that at their games and just hanging around the players all the time. The atmosphere is totally different. You can't be serious.
in those articles, i dont see anything about that he would take the unlv job over any other. all it says is he is interested. oh, and that was in 2004. things change in 5 years man, maybe not for you b/c you're stuck in 1990.
as far as recruiting against all those schools..we are. we got hawkins from UNC, Arizona, Arizona State, and Tennessee. (that is a respectable list) yes unc offered him a scholarship. look at his page on espn.com.
teams that offered to Anthony Marshall: Cal (#11 in country right now), Arizona State (top 35 team), and Gonzaga also offered him one. Thats not even the full list. Oh, and Anthony Marshall got state player of the year over elijah johnson who is now at Kansas. He put up better numbers in HS than Elijah did too. hmmmm......
Oscar Bellfield was definately a diamond in the rough. Hell, it even says so on his espn.com page (was written his sr yr in HS) that he would be one in college.
I think our recruiting these last 2-3 years has been well above average for kids outta HS. Our transfers have been great (not counting JuCo guys). Willis will be the leading scorer this year. Jasper will lead the team in assists. Stanback will lead the team in rebound and steals. Thomas should provide scoring as a sophmore next season in the post. Henry Buckley (freshman next season) is a big man who can run the floor and block shots. wow. we need that huh?
As far as im concerned, Kruger is recruiting to our needs and what we can get. Lets be REALISTIC not live in Robert's FantasyLand.
let's see. theus left NMSU for the nba first chance. Karl would of left for the NBA first chance. Bob Huggins left K-State first chance. He would of had the Rebels under probation quick. You know you have a decent program when you wanna fire a coach who has won around 75% of his games or better. The MWC will not get more tourney bids until Utah and Byu get their collective heads outta their butts and win a couple of tourney games. Unlv needs better on campus facilities. I live here in Nebraska and the football complex we have recruits itself.
Rebelsfan11, I agree with most of what you have to say but i disagree with what you mentioned about recruiting. In the rare occassion that a kid is recruited by both a school like UNLV and an elite school like UNC and chooses to go to UNLV, the reason is not because we beat them in recruiting. The reason is because we probably recruited him much more aggressively or the kid wants to stay at home, or something along those lines. The biggest reason is usually that the kid can compete for playing time right away and even compete for a starting position at a school like UNLV. Somebody like Hawkins or Marshall, who I believe are good players, would be buried at the end of the bench at UNC. They would have no shot at playing at all until probably their junior yr, if ever. They would most likely end up transferring. Their 2009 recruting class has 4 mcdonalds all american on. For 2010, they've already signed 3 studs, including the #1 overall in the country. Ed Davis was their 6th man last yr and was projected as a top 5 nba pick last yr. That team is absolutely ridiculous, there is no way we can compete with them in recruiting. Maybe we can compete with Cal, Gonzaga, teams like that... but not UNC or Kentucky (now that they have Calipari) or other elite programs. Don't fool yourself by believing we beat them at recruiting anybody. Any of the freshmen coming into UNC this yr or next yr would be the best player in the MWC easily. There isn't one single player in the MWC that could start at UNC. We are not at their level or even close to it. That being said, we still are a good team. We could be ranked this yr at some point and I expect to make the NCAA tourney and win our conference tourney.
i didnt mean we beat UNC in recruiting. What i meant what was we are bringing in guys that are being recruited by elite schools. We aren't bringing in guys that the scouts at UNC, Kentucky, Kansas, etc. havent heard of. thats what i pretty much meant.
hope you understand.
Yeah, I understand what you're saying. We are not anywhere near as bad as Sufferin makes us out to be...It would be nice to get away from all this negativity and concentrate on Wednesday's game!!!
yea i know man!! Rebs just need to focus. Anthony Marshall once again said the team didnt do good enough in the game and they are gonna keep workin hard. he says he refuses to not improve. i like that kid.
i think he will be better than wink by the time he leaves the school...
so far Sufferin has placed 3 voted in the poll that unlv will finish under .500. wow man, true fans back their team even if they have the talent level of air force. come on, get with it or us true fans dont welcome you at the mack
No, I voted once and I voted for:
Play in the NIT
atleast its not a completely ridiculous assessment. if it happens it will be a let down.
A real fan, by definition, is like a partner in a marriage. They stick with you through thick or thin, offer encouragement along the way, are slow to criticize, long-suffering during the hard times. That is a real partner, and a real fan.
Suc a tash (what is a tash anyway and why would anyone want to suc one?) is probably suffering because he has to suc a tash? I donno. But I do know he's not a UNLV fan, he's most likely a bi-polar pot head that lives in a fantasy world and doesn't understand the dynamics of collegian basketball and has dilutions of grandeur. When UNLV was winning national championships under Tark, Vegas was a different town. Casino operators and mob types could "toke" players steak dinners and tickets to the show nightly, give them nice cars to drive, etc. The players owned this town, and everyone knew them and kicked them down like a loose slot machine. Now, casino's are owned by corporations that can care less about the players. The town is so big most people don't even pay attention to the basketball program. The players that come here come to enjoy the town, but on their own dime. Kruger is honest, and a good coach, and will teach them the fundamentals at the highest level and prepare them for the next level if they have the talent. But he won't pay them to play here. The honest to god truth is that the top programs have booster clubs that pay the top players to play there, PERIOD! Don't want to believe that, fine, but it doesn't change the facts. When boosters are fanatics, and they own hotels, restaurants, and car lots, the university will use them to lure players to play for them with the understanding that they'll be "taken care of" on the down low, arms length from the university.
If you want a top 10 program here, easy. Have a fan base with deep pockets that are willing to pay the price to bring top talent to this town, the type of talent that only plays for 2 years then goes pro. The university can't do it. The coach can't do it. They have to play the the rules. The ones who don't play by the rules around this country are the boosters.
Money talks, BS walks. Once you understand this basic principle, and you understand that the top inner city kids want to get paid, (and do get paid), then you'll know how to build a top 10 team year in and year out. Bottom like, top 10 programs are built by the community, the fans, the boosters, not the coach or AD. LV has a lot of douche bags like Sufferin' who do nothing but run their no nothing mouths, click their heels and wish for another national championship, blaming the lack therof on the coach. Insane.