Duke and UNLV have taken separate, very different journeys through the college landscape since that Final Four game in 1991, when Bobby Hurley as the Blue Devils point guard helped guide his team to an upset that was viewed as improbable as it was historic.
The preparation now is for three exhibition games in a popular cruise-ship stop. But the work that probably will define how UNLV fares under first-year coach Marvin Menzies began in earnest last month.
Stephen Curry’s disappearing act is the biggest mystery of the NBA Finals. The Golden State Warriors suddenly have reason to worry after being blown out in Game 3 on Wednesday at Cleveland.
They made Chris Beard sit there for more than two hours while they discussed whether he was worthy of making $900,000 next season for drawing up X’s and O’s on his now famous dry eraser board, and $1.4 million a couple of seasons down the road, provided he is as successful here as he was at Arkansas-Little Rock last season.
UNLV officially has its coach and you couldn’t have hoped for a better opening message from him, one about building and winning and sustaining a level of success all the right ways, that the goal is not to get things done quickly but rather correctly.
The Vegas 16 is the latest edition to the roster of college basketball postseason tournaments. You have the Big Dance, which is the NCAA Tournament. You have the NIT, the CBI, the CIT, the Vegas 16. These are Little Dances, lovely parting gifts, the home game of “Concentration.”
Several times a hero in March, Steve Alford is a goat this time. The UCLA coach leaned back in his chair, rolled his eyes and watched his team get rocked by rival Southern California for the third time this season.
College basketball seasons develop in stages, from closed-door scrimmages to exhibitions to home and neutral matchups. To the most important games of all.
The San Antonio Spurs were the biggest winners in NBA free agency. LaMarcus Aldridge, a 6-foot-11-inch power forward, is an All-Star coming off arguably his best season with Portland. He averaged 23.4 points and 10.2 rebounds while shooting 35 percent from 3-point range.
Mountain West coaches cut the media out of voting for the all-conference team this year — and neglected to tell the writers. Don’t expect to learn who the coaches nominated or voted for.
