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StumbleNCAA TOURNAMENT:
Dancin’ Again: UNLV headed to OKC as 8-seed, will face Northern Iowa Thursday
Rebels one of record four Mountain West Conference teams to earn NCAA bid
UNLV men’s basketball coach Lon Kruger talks to media Sunday at Cox Pavilion about being invited to play Northern Iowa in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
Published Sunday, March 14, 2010 | 3:14 p.m.
Updated Sunday, March 14, 2010 | 10:37 p.m.
Rebels Head to the NCAA Tournament
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del.icio.usFor the first time in 10 years, UNLV received an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament, drawing the 8-seed in the Midwest Region. The Rebels will face 9-seed Northern Iowa in Oklahoma City at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday.
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Sophomore guard Oscar Bellfield wasn't ashamed to admit that he had butterflies in his stomach Sunday afternoon as CBS's trademark NCAA theme music blaring in the Cox Pavilion kicked off the annual tournament selection show.
Those butterflies flew away quickly, as it took only a few minutes for the Rebels (25-8) to be announced as an 8-seed in the Midwest Region in this year's field of 65.
UNLV, one of a record four Mountain West Conference schools earning bids Sunday, will take on 9-seed Northern Iowa (28-4) at 4:10 p.m. PDT Thursday at the Ford Center in Oklahoma City.
The winner of UNLV's tilt with the Panthers, who won both the regular-season and tournament titles in the Missouri Valley Conference, will get the winner between Kansas (32-2) — the tournament's No.1 overall seed — and No. 16 Lehigh (22-10), who won the Patriot League tourney, on Saturday.
The Rebels' first at-large bid since 2000 is the third NCAA tournament appearance in four years for Lon Kruger's club.
"I was real nervous," Bellfield said. "You hear different things, like we're going to be seeded eight, seven, 11... we don't know. It was real quick, though. It came by real quick, and I was very excited for it."
After the nerves calmed, though, there wasn't a ton of time to celebrate.
The team watched the entire selection show on a projection screen immediately following the annual season-ending awards banquet, then after glad-handing with fans and taking care of media obligations, film preparation for Northern Iowa began.
The Panthers didn't play the world's toughest non-conference schedule, which included a 72-54 home victory Dec. 23 over MWC foe Wyoming, but absolutely blitzed through the always-competitive MVC and finished a season with an RPI of 17.
Like UNLV, UNI employs the 3-point shot quite a bit. Eight Panthers have hit at least 10 deep balls this season, led by 6-foot senior Ali Farokhmanesh, who drained 67 of their 211 treys.
UNI also sports a pair of productive big men in seniors Jordan Eglseder (12.0 ppg, 7.3 rpg) and Adam Koch (11.8, 4.9).
One intangible which might be on UNI's side is tournament experience, as all five of their starters were key contributors on last year's squad, which suffered a tough 61-56 first-round loss to Purdue as a 12-seed.
Aside from juniors Kendall Wallace and Matt Shaw, who were around for UNLV's last tournament appearance in 2008, NCAA tournament experience on the Rebels' roster is scarce. Junior guard Derrick Jasper started three tourney games in two seasons at Kentucky, but hasn't returned to game action since partially tearing the medial collateral ligament in his left knee Jan. 26.
The Rebels' two headliners — junior guard Tre'Von Willis and sophomore forward Chace Stanback — both have been deep in the tournament before. As a freshman at Memphis, Willis was on the Tigers' squad that advanced to the Elite Eight in 2007, but never took off his warm-ups in four tournament games. Stanback, as a freshman at UCLA, played mop-up minutes in two games during the Bruins' 2008 Final Four run.
"We know they're a club that generally controls pace a little bit, a real solid man-to-man (defensive) club, very well-coached, big guy in the middle, very, very good shooters on the perimeter," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said of UNI. "Anyone who wins both a regular season and tournament in the Missouri Valley you know is very good."
Meanwhile, no 16-seed has beaten a 1-seed in the NCAA tournament, and Kansas appears highly unlikely to be a upset victim against Lehigh.
Coincidentally enough, in UNLV's last tournament appearance, the Rebels were ousted in the second round by Kansas, 75-56, in Omaha in 2008. That KU team went on to win the national championship.
The only current Rebels who played on that team were Wallace and Shaw. Wallace was 0-for-2 from the floor with two rebounds in 19 minutes, while Shaw scored six points — all on free throws — and was 0-for-6 from the field in 15 minutes.
The unquestioned leader of this year's group, Willis — who has averaged 17.3 points, 3.9 rebounds and 3.4 assists this season — was back in Las Vegas, watching from his couch as a redshirt following his transfer from Memphis.
"I think it was frustrating watching us play," Willis said, remembering the 2008 meeting. "It just seemed like we needed that one more guy, or a couple more people. We were a little low on players, we hung around for a long time but you could tell we got worn down as the game progressed.
"But we're looking forward to the opportunity, because this is a whole new team."
Kruger and his staff — most of whom have deep ties to the state of Kansas — were more than excited to face the Jayhawks in 2008 after pummeling Kent State in the first round, 71-58.
But there's a reason that the Rebels are 2-0 in first round NCAA tournament games during Kruger's tenure — they haven't made a habit of looking ahead.
"Right now, we would absolutely want that, because that would have meant that we won the first game," Kruger said of the potential second-round rematch. "So we've got a big challenge prior to that opportunity, but of course everyone's wanting to win that first round game first."
After UNLV learned of its tourney destination, much of the attention in the room turned to where the Mountain West's other NCAA participants would end up.
New Mexico (29-4), who won the league's regular-season title, lost in the MWC tourney semifinals Friday to San Diego State, 72-69. Still, the Lobos got the most favorable draw of any mid-major program in the country, earning a No. 3 seed in the East region.
They'll open up against 14-seed Montana at 6:50 p.m. Thursday in San Jose, Calif. Should they advance, Steve Alford's team would face the winner between No. 6 Marquette and No. 11 Washington.
Also in Oklahoma City with UNLV will be BYU (29-5). The Cougars drew a No. 7 seed in the West region against No. 10 Florida, who entered the day firmly on the tournament bubble. Those two will tip-off at 9:20 a.m. Thursday.
It's the Gators' first trip back to the NCAA tournament since winning their second consecutive national championship in 2007, and the winner between they and the Cougars more than likely will face No. 2 Kansas State, who takes on No. 15 North Texas in the first round.
The most puzzling seed among the four Mountain West teams, though, went to league tournament champion San Diego State (25-8).
The Aztecs won 11 of their last 13 games and finished with an RPI of 18. But as a reward for doing everything the selection committee usually wants teams to do in order to improve seeding, Steve Fisher's team will be sent 3,000 miles away to Providence as an 11-seed in the Midwest Region.
They'll face No. 6 Tennessee at 6:55 p.m. Thursday and, should the Aztecs win, the road doesn't get any easier, as they'd face the winner between No. 3 Georgetown and No. 14 Ohio.
"I don't know their résumé, but it must say something to the résumé from earlier in the year, because they've been playing awfully well lately," Kruger said of SDSU, who knocked his team off, 55-45, Saturday in the MWC title game. "In that sense, very surprised, yeah."
With all four Mountain West teams playing Thursday, it has the potential to be a major day in the league's history should at least two survive their openers.
And while UNLV players and coaches said they want the conference to represent itself well across the board, the focus is pretty narrowed. Surviving their particular pod and advancing to the Sweet Sixteen in St. Louis could involve needing two spectacular performances.
"Right now, it feels good," Willis said. "On a national stage perspective, I can't wait to get out there on the floor and show the world what this team's about."
Willis, Jones honored
During the tail end of Sunday's awards banquet, Willis and senior guard/forward Steve Jones were recognized as the team's most valuable player and most inspirational player, respectively.
The honors were voted on by their teammates.
Discussion: 64 comments so far…
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Where you at Sufferin?
Looks like your math was wrong!!!!!
Congrats Runnin' Rebels!!!!!!!!!
Congrats Runnin' Rebels!
No. Iowa is going down.
Kansas (again) on the other hand..... :(
4 MWC teams! Huge statement for the conference.
DEAD WRONG, Sufferin....the rest of this thing is CRAZY so far. Florida AND Minnesota?
NIT Kruger does it again!!!
LMAO
woo! we have a chance on winning Northen Iowa but kansas looks really hard!! only a miracle, but hey anything could happen in the world of sports.
LETS GO REBELS!!
Would have rather had Lunardi's 10 seed than face Kansas so soon.
But great to be dancing. Congratulations Rebs!!
I officially EAT CROW. Congrats
Tough draw, Northern Iowa isn't a push over. Their top scorer is 7 foot center.
And then if we get by them...Kansas again? Just down the road for them in Oklahoma?
Wow.
I agree that any and all money that comes to unlv from the ncaa tourney should be used to save academic programs.
Way to be a man, Lobo. Hope you guys do some damage too.
@ lobo69
I can respect that.
Good luck to your team in the tournament. The first round should be an easy win, but the second round might present some trouble.
I hope the UNLV, BYU, SDSU, and New Mexico win at least one game a piece.
Well....I guess Kansas will be a good experience for the Rebs.
Bravo, lobo69
I like the UNM path.
No one a pushover, but if we can knock out No Iowa and make a respectable showing with Kansas, lays some excellent groundwork for next year where we should be even better.
They just had to put us in the most difficult bracket. Oh well at least were in. Lets beat No. Iowa and give Kansas a run for thier money!
I'm excited to see UNLV play N. Iowa. That was a team that stuck around in the top 25 that I always questioned if they deserved it. Now I get to see first hand what kind of team they have. Playing Kansas in the second round isn't the end of the world either. No shame in bowing out to the potential national champion, plus I think UNLV have more of a chance against them then say Kentucky.
Just because Northern Iowa isn't a big name, don't sleep on them. Everyone is talking about us playing Kansas, lets worry about Northern Iowa first, its going to be a tough game. They look like a well balanced team that has 4 guys that average between 9-12 points a game. Let's go Reb's!!
Athletics earned their money and academics can earn their money. We didn't attend basketball games to bail you out. If we did many would not go. Not much difference between that and the government stealing clear water coalition money to support their mismanaged government.
Basketball is self supporting and so should academics. Stricter admissions, higher tuitions are the answer to a 40% and less graduation rate.
Lobo69 learn what you are talking about before you write and just maybe that foot in your mouth won't hurt so bad. A little research goes a long way from making you look like someone with an aletrnative motive. SDSU's 11 seed showed that if UNLV hadn't lost that game SDSU would be home crying again. No OCC quality wins and a 20 point blow out at St Mary's. The committeee looks at the entire year, not just tournament results.
I thought the committee loved to make interesting match ups and try to peek interest. Why not give us Duke? That would be compelling.(I also want UNLV to kick their ass)Very disappointed we will draw Kansas in the 2nd round. Guess we should have beat SDSU eh? Runnin Rebels!
Tough game for the Rebs UNI is very good.
UNM and BYU will advance east.
UNM is a sweet 16 team at very least.
SDSU has a tough game but they could win it.
Told you UNLV was a lock guys, no way they were even on the bubble after beating BYU, nm, louisville, etc. Lets go dancing!!!!
Sure enough, in one of the more imbalanced NCAA fields ever, UNLV draws the toughest region.
UNI is a very tough 9 seed, think Utah with some more basketball skills. Big and physical, UNI presents a very tough matchup for my Rebs. Definitely have our work cut out...
If Rebs beat N Iowa, it is going to be really tough to beat Kansas at OK city, when U of K is about 200 miles from OK city and we are 1100 miles..
I could definetly see the rebels beat no iowa, but then kansas.. Maybe our press could beat them, its a new game boys. At least we are DANCIN.
And go Lehigh.
I know this is a UNLV page, but as far as MWC goes.... I can't believe SDSU has to travel to Providence to play. That's lunacy. IMO
Congrats Rebel fans not only did you get in but you got an easy first round game vs Northern Iowa. Northern Iowa is like BYU Part II, should be able to handle a bunch of white boys again. But then in the 2nd round where we all meeting, so I can watch that massacre with everybody?
Sorry Canes, but Northern Iowa is not like BYU Part II, they are more like a good Utah/Air Force team. They are big-they start a 7footer who leads them in scoring- their best player is 6-8 255- he can score inside and outside. They slow the game down with patient offense (like Air Force) and their biggest strength is their defense.
The advantage that we have is our athletisism. We need to push the tempo, drive the basket, and hit open 3's. On defense we have to play pressure d and rebound. We are inconsistent with shooting the 3 and rebounding which has me worried. We need to step-up and play our best game to beat these guys. Go Reb's!!
Question: What is Derrick Jasper's status?
Channel 8 - can you show the games involving West Coast teams first! We know that you will air the BYU game without interuption. Hopefully, you will do the same for UNLV. Show us Washington, CAL, Gonzaga, St Marys, UCSB and the rest of the MWC instead of showing us games with Purdue against Siena or Duke against a 30 point dog.
At least all of us with Direct TV can actually watch UNLV play - instead of being blacked out on Versus for Direct TV Customers. We can also finally not have to hear the MTN Announcers do any more basketball. Blaine Fowler, WHO, gets the color commentator role and the guy NEVER PLAYED HOOPS in College! He never even started at BYU for the Football team.
ESPN should laugh at Mountain West for it's TV coverage when the Conference allows jokes like this to be a part of their Basketball Tournament broadcasts.
Good luck Rebs, get a W and keep it respectable against Kansas. If they would have only would have beaten San Diego State to get away from having to play a #1 seed in the second round.
At least we can listen to nationally recognized announcers broadcast their game.
Congrats! Rebels.
Has anybody seen Sufferin? His momma was by here about an hour ago with a broom stick in hand and was hoping to beat some sense into him. I think he is on the road right now heading back to UNR.
Yeah, isn't that funny. Not one peep at least saying, haha, Lunardi was wrong, UNLV wasn't a 10 seed after all. Too bad we couldn't have been a 10 playing BYU.
But, we should handle UNI, they haven't beaten anyone credible, but could still be a hard game. But of the three teams, I think UNLV has the easiest draw. BYU playing Florida will be another UNLV game for BYU except Florida has some inside presence. And SDSU vs Tenn, tough draw.
What a great photo! Oscar's smile made me smile. This is what it is about.
3 NCAAs in 4 years - and this team is SO YOUNG! Was not expecting this prior to the season.
Go beat a good Northern Iowa team. Will not be easy.
UNLV basketball matters again. Congratulations, Rebels. U-N-L-V!!!
So true about Oscar! Haha
@native57
I agree with the great photo. You don't see Oscar smile too often. I also liked the red shirt and black pants with the dress shoes. Very classy!
Yep, only 2 seniors (who aren't major contributors) leaving an 11-man rotation, with Lopez and Thomas taking their place next year. Regardless of what happens in this year's big dance, it was a great accomplishment to get there and next year should be even more fun.
GO REBELS!
RYAN GREENE WILL BE A GUEST ON HEATWAVE SPORTS TONIGHT
10PM FOX SPORTS RADIO 920AM OR LVROCKS.COM
Let me help you about Oklahoma City. Never say OK city, or Oak City. It is either Oklahoma City or OKC. No one ever calls New York City New City or York City, or NY city. I will spend this week in OKC telling all who mispronounce it that it is NEVER Nev-AHH-da, rather Nev-ADD-uh.
The University of Kansas is in Lawrence, which is just west of Kansas City, it is 5 hours by Interstate Hiway, so I think it is about 300 miles. They bring a lot of Basketball fans to OKC when they have played tournament games here in the past. Their coach, Bill Self, is from OKC and is an Oklahoma State grad. He is very popular here and recruits very well in Oklahoma. It will be a rough crowd for the Rebels when they get to the 2nd round. Best of luck to Coach Kruger and the Runnin' Rebels.
Four teams from the Mountain West. Woohoo!! Finally some respect. Now let's earn it. Go Rebels, Cougars, Lobos and Aztecs!!
@JLOKC
Thanks for the education. I can appreciate the Oklahoma City. But, when you say NEVER Nev-AHH-da you should know that Nevada is a spanish word and would sound more like Nev-AHH-da. I'm just sayin!
Anyone hear on tickets for UNLV fans, travel packages etc.? I would like to make the trip but Im having trouble finding air tickets for under $500! Insane! Thats not including hotel and food yikes. I have also seen nose bleed tickets going for around $100 per session. How can we support the team with these prices. Anyone taking the 15/16 hour drive?
We can beat anyone if we played like we played against BYU.
Northern Iowa is favored by 1 point... this is going to be a close game, and anyone who is already looking ahead to Kansas game is in for a rude awakenning. No Iowa is a taller version of BYU, but unlike BYU they have a great inside game, and our bigs must have a monster game to handle their offense... If we play ANYTHING like we did on Saturday, we will be home in time for dinner on Thursday...
Having said that, I think our quickness will be the deciding factor. I see a dog fight to the end, and whoever takes/makes the last shot before the buzzer wins... let's hope it's us.
Go Rebels...
You guys are such pessimists. After we take care of Kansas, the rest of the tournament run should be a cakewalk.
The Rebels defense will suffocate NIU. KU not so much, but they are in the party. Congrats.
No disrespect intended for No Iowa but they aren't going to beat UNLV. No Iowa hasn't ever seen the pressure defense they are about to face for 40 minutes. Tre will have the fellas ready to ball. Tre lives for these moments, he's ready to shine. Look out Kansas dont get caught slippin or you will be an early upset. You just never know how things are going to play out come tourney time.
Go REBS were with ya all the way through!!
I agree, they haven't seen our brand of full-court press.
I'm not really worried at all about Northern Iowa. They are nothing like BYU. They have a bunch of white guys, but they like to slow it down and have a balanced offensive attack. BYU loves to push tempo and rely on their star to do a lot offensively.
I don't think UNI will fare well against the pressure D we play, but we could struggle to score against their halfcourt defense. If we can get some fast break points or hit some threes, I don't see us having a problem.
Kruger looks so happy in that picture lol.
Hey go_reb, your comment is really ignorant. Academics cannot sustain themselves like athletics. In case you have not noticed, there is no March Academic Madness, pal. And the university is in need of money to save programs, so any money won should go to benefit what is in danger right NOW. Welcome to reality.
I'm worried about everybody, but with some time off to rest and heal, I do agree that our defense could very well stifle NIU.
The main reason we lost to SDSU was that our legs were dead. That won't be the case on Thursday. And that will improve our shooting, as well.
Like the Rebels (hopefully), I'm not even thinking about Kansas yet.
JLOKC: I respect that you want to be called OKC (I find it rather childish that virtually everyone here, including the supposedly professional media, still refers to our university up north as UNR).
That said, comparing Oklahoma City to New York City for an abbreviation has a rather obvious problem. One is two words and the other is three words. So I'm sure you can see why many can be confused that you wish to be known as OKC.
I know that Oklahoma's official abbreviation is OK, so I get where you're coming from, but I just don't agree with the NYC analogy. The University of Nevada-Las Vegas is never shortened to UNVLV.
Thursday night 7:10 eastern time. Go Rebels.
Jasper won't play. The guy just is plain scared to.
rose(sufferrin) your a fool and need to quit commenting on anything to do with the rebels. your not a fan, your a loser with nothing better to do. do yourself a favor and do something with your life, something positive. maybe if you do that you can quit being a parasite.
Comment removed by moderator. Comment was off-topic.
Incogburrito- I have forgotten more about Rebel basketball than you will ever know. Truth hurts, but it IS the truth. Jasper is tepid and scared to play. All in his head. Period. Get over it. The guy could have been back 2 weeks ago. But hey, he can join Chop on the bench with his pom poms.
"I have forgotten more than you will ever know..."
Translation:
I am a crusty, bitter, old man with nothing better to do than spread hate on the internet.
if UNLV loses I will still be watching NEW MEXICO,BYU, and ,SDSU because all of this 4 teams are repretenting MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE we gotta come with a BANG this year COME ONE REBELS and COME ON MOUNTAIN WEST CONFERENCE.
Are you a doctor and have personally examined Jasper, rose1414?
If not, your comments have ZERO credibility.
right... zero credibility for the internet tough guy
Nice sports headline article on Rebs in LA Times. Hopefully Polee is reading :)
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-0316...
Git er done Rebs!
rose your an idiot. i've had this same knee injury as jasper. it's not something you just come back from real quick. i'm very surprised that he's probably gonna be ready to play this week. so rose, since your a complete imbecile who knows jack about the situation, please quit your total b.s. post's and go back to rooting for BYU.
Incogburrito- then you too are as soft as charmin.