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.
There is a quote from sportswriter Jonathan Tjarks that goes like this: “Imagine every bad thing you hear about college basketball recruiting. Multiply it by 10. That’s 20 percent of how dirty it is.”
Anthony Bennett has played two years in the NBA, and with the $3.65 million buyout of his contract from Minnesota last week, the former UNLV standout has already pocketed more than $13 million. If that’s the definition of a bust, sign me up.
They tend to live in the moment around USA Basketball. Never reacting much to the past, rarely predicting the future. They also don’t seem to hold grudges. At least not against one of the world’s best players.
UNLV basketball coach Dave Rice spoke from a hallway adjacent to the Mendenhall Center’s practice courts, several of his players gathering inside that doorway as the likes of James Harden and Kevin Durant and Dwight Howard and Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul competed in drills. They watched every dribble, soaked in every pass.
Think of the NBA and its perception of Las Vegas as the weekend tourist who only takes in the best sights, who catches a show and enjoys a wonderful meal and gambles just enough to experience the rush but not to the point of losing next month’s mortgage.
The lure of a big city isn’t enough anymore, because players have figured out they can have a fancy spread in Malibu or Manhattan in the offseason while competing rather than watching once the playoffs commence. The lights just don’t seem as bright.
The level of disappointment for former UNLV star Chris Wood had to have reached epic levels, and yet this is the risk one takes when deciding to forfeit remaining college eligibility and chase a professional dream.
We are again seeing why Australia’s best imports in the sport of baskets are so valuable to a team’s overall success, why there isn’t a roster at any level that couldn’t benefit from the presence of one or two players from the world’s sixth-largest country. They embrace a role of unselfish teammate like nobody’s business.
