The elbow caught Diamond Major square. It was as if someone had painted a target on the middle of her forehead and fired a bazooka. It was friendly fire — it was at a Lady Rebels practice a couple of weeks ago.
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UNLV has concluded both preseason contests and the reviews are more positive than not, a team with definite depth and skill and an ability to put on the floor the sort of combinations that will make preparing for the Rebels a challenge.
This is not meant to burst any bubbles, but prepare for a pretty massive bazooka-like blast: The move by college basketball to a 30-second shot clock this season has every chance to deliver the opposite of intended results.
We have heard a lot about the D word when it comes to UNLV basketball this season, about how the Rebels have more depth than at any time under fifth-year coach Dave Rice. That’s because Oregon transfer Ben Carter is now eligible and freshman Stephen Zimmerman chose to stay home; size and talent in the front court haven’t been this extensive in some time. There are others, of course.
If a slow start trips up the Cleveland Cavaliers, overreactions will be sure to follow. But the NBA season is a marathon, not a sprint, and LeBron James might not be fit to run either right now.
When it comes to selling the idea that getting to the NBA would be best accomplished at a particular college, UNLV’s coaching staff ranks among the finest nationally in delivering such a message. Dave Rice and his assistants own the most important of factors in such recruiting wars: tangible evidence.
UNLV has arguably its deepest level of skill since Rice was hired as coach in 2011, and there had been some whispers over the summer that he might consider a platoon system if enough good players emerged from preseason drills.
Eric Musselman went to his first football game at UNR a few weeks ago and saw the excitement and emotion and tension that is a rivalry with UNLV. The days and hours and minutes and seconds passed as kickoff grew closer, causing those who love and support the Wolf Pack and all that is blue to become more and more animated. He believes it can happen in basketball, too.
The future is always about three weeks in March, because fair or not, sensible or foolish, right or wrong, college basketball teams and those who coach them are ultimately judged on how they perform once the madness begins.
Before Thursday, the only time I had spoken with Vlade Divac was years ago. It was Vlade, local radio personality Seat Williams and me sitting in a tiny radio station DJ cubicle.