Ed Graney

A few things are undeniable: UNLV is likely a few recruiting classes from being NCAA Tournament worthy, and yet its fan base expects a nonconference schedule littered with high major opponents.

We might be witnessing the worst college season for officiating in history, and that’s saying more than a mouthful about those blowing whistles. But rare is the night in which games don’t include questionable calls, no calls, clock errors, interpretation errors, miscues of all types.

When the talent continued to sign on the dotted line and the depth became more than UNLV’s basketball team has enjoyed under fifth-year head coach Dave Rice, it wasn’t guaranteed the Rebels would immediately turn a corner back towards the NCAA Tournament.

He knew the matchup before it was announced and not because Dave Rice had some inside source feeding him information. It just made too much sense, is all.

The truth: UNLV forward Chris Wood made the correct choice, but there is a right way and wrong way to handle such matters, and Wood failed about as miserably as one can in the process of leaving after his sophomore season for the NBA.

Billions of people for billions of minutes a month take to social media, tweeting and posting and Instagraming our way through life. Which means there are billions of opportunities for cowards to shield themselves behind the pretense that with such independence comes the right to maliciously attack others without the fear of being held accountable.

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.