The final horn sounded Thursday and an admirable UNLV effort had been squelched by a better opponent, meaning it was again time to assess another basketball season.
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UNLV advanced to meet No. 1 seed UNR by outlasting Air Force 97-90 in overtime of a Mountain West tournament first-round game Wednesday at the Thomas & Mack Center.
If you believe recent reports, Gonzaga and Brigham Young could soon depart the West Coast Conference for the Mountain West.
Nigel Williams-Goss and Zach Collins help the Zags make history with blowout win of Xavier in West Regional championship.
The Zags, a powerful program from the not-so-mighty West Coast Conference, have knocked down what had been an impenetrable fortress impeding their universal acceptance as part of the game’s elite.
Two decades ago this month, Arizona’s basketball team won its only national title by beating Kentucky, a moment that caused many to believe a geographical shift of sorts had taken afoot in the college game.
Oregon basketball is still a nightmare to play. It still has guys who defend laterally until you get past them, and then others who are just as quick and long and bouncy who go horizontal.
From the second a ridiculous 62-52 overtime loss to San Diego State ended on Thursday, how UNLV takes the next steps of improvement is squarely on the shoulders of coach Marvin Menzies.
As crushing as it was to be down 21 at halftime, climb to within five with 9:47 remaining and then watch Gonzaga pull away, the Gaels won’t be denied a place in the NCAA bracket this time.
Consider: Since the 2012 season, Mountain West teams are a combined 304-330. But the telling part, the absolutely eye-opening and ridiculous part, comes against Power 5 schools, in which the conference is 17-81 over that time.
The Mountain West should play a 16-game conference schedule instead of 18 so as to allow for more nonleague opportunities against top 50 and top 100 teams. Teams need more chances to schedule the sort of meaningful games league play doesn’t allow.
The season whose highlight came in the paradise that is Maui in November and yet eventually endured as many emotional bumps and bruises as physical ones ended with a 95-82 loss to Fresno State in a Mountain West Tournament quarterfinal at the Thomas & Mack Center.
UNLV’s basketball program is in for some major changes when the season ends, and it is highly likely the faces of those coaching and several of those playing won’t return next year. But credit the Rebels for this: No one has picked up a white flag.
Mountain West presidents switched from an 11 to an eight-team league tournament next year and they failed to inform their head coaches of the move after the coaches voted 11-0 against it.
UNLV athletic director Tina Kunzer-Murphy was answering questions Sunday evening about the firing (with a capital F) of Dave Rice when the future was mentioned, specifically if the school will commence a national search to identify a new full-time basketball coach.
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