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Fans support Rebels as they start their tournament journey
UNLV leaves for Oklahoma City and NCAA Tournament
Anthony Marshall sends a text message as the UNLV Rebels wait to check in at McCarran International Airport Tuesday, March 16, 2010. The Rebels will face 9-seed Northern Iowa in Oklahoma City at 4:10 p.m. on Thursday.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010 | 2:34 p.m.
Rebels Leave for OKC
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del.icio.usFans gather at the Thomas & Mack Center to bid the UNLV basketball team farewell as it head to Oklahoma City for the NCAA Tournament.
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UNLV chants, generations of Rebels fans and a whole lot of red converged in the Thomas & Mack Center parking lot Tuesday morning to send UNLV off to Oklahoma City for the NCAA Tournament.
About 100 fans, from toddlers to seniors, gathered to watch the Rebels get on their two buses and head to the airport. No. 8 seed UNLV will arrive in Oklahoma City this afternoon and begin to prepare for its match-up against No. 9 seed Northern Iowa, which is scheduled for 4:10 p.m. Thursday at the Ford Center.
"We're enjoying it, absolutely," UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. "These are memories that will last a lifetime for our players and fans."
Multiple fans at the send-off praised Kruger and said he was one of the reasons they decided to attend.
Jimmy Schwartz, 20, was one of those fans. Schwartz grew up in Las Vegas, but currently attends school in New Jersey. He came back for the Mountain West Conference Tournament last weekend and was thrilled to find out the send-off was Tuesday. He goes back to New Jersey on Wednesday.
"This event is another great way coach Kruger tries to connect with the community," Schwartz said. "He needs to know that the community will support him back."
As players like Tre'Von Willis and Kendall Wallace piled into bus, Abraham Guerrero got the crowd to start singing the UNLV fight song.
Guerrero, 27, is a veteran at these events. He's encouraged the Rebels as they left town in all their recent trips to the NCAA Tournament.
Guerrero said he particularly remembered the 2007 team's send-off to St. Louis for the Sweet 16.
"They were encouraged by it," Guerrero said. "There were a lot more people that year than this year, but any support they get is just vital to them because they know they have Las Vegas behind them."
But Las Vegas also expects a winner. Most fans at the event said UNLV should at least win its first-round game to set up a potential matchup against Kansas, the tournament's overall No. 1 seed.
"My expectations are they will win the first round and give Kansas a better fight than they did two years ago when we faced them," said Mike Garth, a 32-year old from Las Vegas. "Realistically, I'm looking for them to have fun and show the rest of the country Las Vegas' team is here to stay."
Although not everyone welcomed being in the same pod as Kansas, Schwartz looks at it as a positive.
"I'm happy they might play Kansas," Schwartz said. "I want to see where they rank up to them. It will be a way to measure where we are against those programs."
The Rebels players and coaches waved to the fans as the bus pulled out of the parking lot.
Kruger said it was a fantastic start to a promising weekend.
"It means a lot to the players," Kruger said. "The fans have been great all year."
Discussion: 7 comments so far…
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Win or lose you are and have been great representatives of UNLV.
I hope The Rebels play well in the big dance
Let's go dancing! Go Rebels!!!
As broke as UNLY is, I'm surprised that they didn't get stuck taking old school buses to OKC.
Hoops really are not my sport of choice, but I matched UNLV up against Northern Iowa in 11 statistical areas, and I say take the Rebels +1.5. I think they have a 90% chance of winning straight up.
Mike, the NCAA reimburses the schools for expenses related to the tournament plus a share of revenue money.
Lets be fair.. It's not UNLV that's broke, it's the state of Nevada, where UNLV gets its funding from, that is broke.