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Ed Graney

Ed Graney

Ed Graney is a sports columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, covering a variety of topics and the Las Vegas sports scene.
egraney@reviewjournal.com … @edgraney on Twitter. 702-383-4618

Lessons to be learned at heels of Cowboys

What you are witnessing is Dave Rice’s prophecy coming true, and within it will be these sorts of close losses to an experienced team. But as the games and weeks and possessions pass, UNLV basketball improves.

Weak schedules hurt Mountain West from top to bottom

Say what you want about those tools used by the NCAA Tournament selection committee when determining at-large berths each March, the opinion about a Mountain West ranked 11th among conferences nationally in RPI today is fairly consistent.

‘Signature win’ just what Rice, Rebels needed

UNLV beat No. 3 Arizona at the Thomas & Mack Center by playing with a level of emotion and desire not seen yet this season. For once, Rice can say it following a win and the notion more than holds up. UNLV beat a terrific team.

UNLV couldn’t afford loss against Portland

UNLV’s overtime win against Portland on Wednesday night was important for one reason: The alternative would have been dreadful.

Freshmen play like it, especially on defense

This is what they don’t write about in those lavish recruiting profiles. These are the things you don’t hear about when a prep basketball star signs with your favorite college.

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Chalk up this win to Rebels’ character

There are different kinds of wins in sports. Ones when you outplay an opponent. Ones when you don’t and still succeed. Ones when you make your owns breaks. Ones when the other guys break down. UNLV’s basketball team had another kind Saturday. “This was a character win,” Rebels coach Dave Rice said.

Rebels’ response could define season

Is there such a thing as a season-defining moment for a college basketball team in just its fourth game? For UNLV, it will find out Saturday.

How cool would it be if UNLV, Duke meet in final

History is pretty clear on this: You can’t begin listing the greatest Final Four games and not mention many — Magic vs. Larry in 1979, Texas Western and its all-black starting five vs. Kentucky in 1966, Jim Valvano looking for someone to hug in 1983, Villanova slaying Georgetown in 1985 — before reaching games between UNLV and Duke in 1990 and 1991.

3 may be key for Rebels

It’s a difficult thing, almost impossible at times, to preach freedom as a coach one minute and urge discipline the next.

Rebels have some flaws, desire not one of them

UNLV’s basketball team will awake Wednesday, head to the airport and board a flight for New York, where the Rebels will meet Stanford in a Coaches vs. Cancer Classic game Friday night at Barclays Center.

‘You’re watching a young team grow up in a hurry’

It wasn’t perfect. Far from it. But for a team that suited up six players on Friday who hadn’t competed in a regular-season Division I game, UNLV did more good than bad.

UNLV begins long road with a true exhibition

What the Rebels encountered Wednesday — a 100-65 victory against an outfit named Florida National before a heavily inflated announced gathering of 10,253 at the Thomas & Mack Center — was an exhibition is every sense of the word.

Good’s hiring shows UNLV’s Rice is maturing

Former Long Beach State head coach Max Good was hired this week as a special assistant to UNLV head coach Dave Rice, bringing to the Rebels a veteran presence the team has desperately needed since Rice assumed control of the program in 2011.

Doolin may be key piece to UNLV puzzle

It requires the assembly of numerous small, often oddly shaped, interlocking pieces. When the puzzle that is the Rebels of next season is finished, it’s a good bet Cody Doolin will have defined a fairly significant piece.

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