When the number of Mountain West games is 18 and your program hasn’t won a regular-season league championship in forever, any mark on the left side of a win-loss column is cherished inside a locker room.
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
The quote goes like this: Seize the moment, because some opportunities don’t come twice.
The cheers began when he first became visible from a tunnel at Orleans Arena. They stood and clapped and chanted his name and held signs in his honor because, well, it’s true everybody loves a winner. No matter the cost.
It was following a game at the Maui Invitational in November when UCLA basketball coach Steve Alford, his team having just lost to Wake Forest, spoke about the Bruins being assessed 28 fouls.
It all made sense before Wednesday, how this week might play out for UNLV’s basketball team, how important it could prove in regards to the postseason, how a winnable game against Arizona State would be followed by an extremely difficult one at Arizona.
I suppose the best thing that could have happened for UNLV’s basketball team Wednesday night would have been for no one to discover those AAA batteries and duct tape needed to fix the shot clocks at Thomas & Mack Center because when you spend nearly $50 million on renovations, it must be tough making sure all the lights work.
The lesson is this: That a week and a month and a few months from now, and perhaps into the madness of March, UNLV’s basketball team can take from a December game in south-central Kansas along the Arkansas River a definite truth about opposing an elite point guard.
College basketball seasons develop in stages, from closed-door scrimmages to exhibitions to home and neutral matchups. To the most important games of all.
If you believe that age is all in your mind and the trick is keeping it from creeping down into your body, Kobe Bryant had a much better run than most athletes ever enjoy. But it’s not how old you are, rather how you are old.
They came to paradise, as much for anything, to learn about themselves. What they do well. What they need to improve. What they are today. What they might become tomorrow. UNLV’s basketball team headed home late Wednesday having answered some of those questions a 3-0 start against inferior opponents presented
UNLV forward Ben Carter is the lunch pail and hard hat kid. He’s that guy. He’s the one who doesn’t question orders, a coach’s son who not only can play, but more importantly, knows how to play. There is a big difference.
Part of the message from the time practice began for UNLV this college basketball season was about reaction. How would the Rebels respond to success? How would they deal with adversity?
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 schedule for UNLV’s basketball team to begin this season allowed the Rebels a cushion for success if they didn’t fall into the trap of playing down to opponents, if they didn’t suffer the sort of lapse in focus that has already caught several heavily favored teams across the country.
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