They did it at Florida when Steve Spurrier was football coach, when the program was defined by magnetic qualities. They still do it at Michigan State under basketball coach Tom Izzo, only the traits are more about being tough and hard-nosed and prepared to take -- or usually inflict -- pain at any second.
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It just happens for most teams: A coaching staff sets some sort of tone or behavioral feature, and players follow.
It just happens that a team mimics its leader's personality.
Which pretty much means UNLV basketball today is a portrait of your average, mild-mannered, button-downed, stoic, Midwest banker.
It's true: A program whose history was built on glitz and glamour and gaudy play returns to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in seven years Friday with a group more apt to help pick up trash than talk it.
The Rebels play a first-round Midwest Regional game against Georgia Tech at the United Center, and you can be sure they will either win and advance or lose and go home in the same fashion that produced their current 28-6 record. Which is to say in an organized manner.
"I think it is typical," coach Lon Kruger said. "We're all about expectations. If we expect them to go out and compete and respect the game and their opponent, they're going to do that. If we tell them to go out and screw around and talk trash, they'll do that."
The idea of Kruger telling a kid to talk trash is like that of Bill Maher embracing George Bush. Kruger spends every waking second on a court teaching, a constant blend of managed temperament and semicontrolled emotions. He has as much chance of getting a technical as center Joel Anthony does fitting in size-3 shoes.
"(Kruger) is not a yeller or screamer," Anthony said. "He's on top of us all the time, but he does it in a calmer way than other coaches. If he isn't pleased, you know it's something real serious."
It doesn't work for every team and hasn't for all those Kruger has coached. It's a balanced method that grew somewhat tired in his final season at Illinois and didn't go over glowingly in his short NBA tenure leading the Atlanta Hawks, although that disappointment was more about a wretched franchise and bad players than any coaching philosophy.
But for here, now, today, staring a young, athletic, explosive, confident Georgia Tech team in the face with this particular UNLV group ... the perfect fit.
"This group has just bought in so well, which is the reason we've had so much success," UNLV assistant coach Steve Henson said. "The challenge of any coaching staff is to get everyone on the same page. I think the most important thing is, we have a bunch of unselfish guys. Obviously, some kids look at college as only a steppingstone to the NBA and tend to be more concerned about numbers. Our guys are concerned about winning."
If UNLV players follow Kruger's direction on how to approach the game, they'll all have a bit of Henson in them when competing. Few at this level ever enjoy the success Henson did -- four-year starter at Kansas State and a member of that program's all-century team, two-time honorable mention All-American, only player in school history to make four NCAA trips, six seasons in the NBA -- and even fewer work as hard to earn it.
Henson was a good enough athlete to play basketball at the world's highest level and compete as a track decathlete in college, but you wouldn't look at him and guess either fact. Nor would you have thought five months ago that Anthony could develop into such an important defensive presence or that fellow center Gaston Essengue would be known for anything other than being a kid with a unique name.
But that's not to say UNLV has overachieved. If preseason media polls are truly not worth the paper they are written on, then the Rebels' No. 6 placement among Mountain West Conference teams back in October was simply a terrible read on their ability.
"I think the word 'overachieve' is a little unfair," Kruger said. "I think people achieve. I think we have accomplished everything we were capable of all along. When you do that, you're not overachieving. You're achieving by reaching your potential, which is always the goal."
The Rebels have done it Kruger's way and greatly succeeded -- mild-mannered, button-downed, stoic.
Like the guy in Kansas you might ask for a loan.
Ed Graney's column is published Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.
