Apathy no hurdle for Rice, Rebels

A popular thought about UNLV's basketball team this season goes like this: When the Rebels win, and they should do so often, fans will insist UNLV is bound for a deep NCAA Tournament run, that a trip to the Final Four in Atlanta should be more expected than not; when the Rebels lose, and they will do that, too, the sky over Las Vegas will be falling directly on top of the Thomas & Mack Center.

In other words, status quo in these parts.

It's a reality all programs desire.

It's also the best kind.

There is a word for those who believe you shouldn't expect anything in life so that you won't be disappointed: losers.

It's one thing the Rebels needn't worry about from those who follow them so closely. At least the part about not expecting anything.

"Our fans," coach Dave Rice said, "are the antithesis of apathetic."

Twenty-two years removed from its national championship team, UNLV still is followed by a fan base whose passion is fervent and whose predictions for success annually range from reachable to ridiculous.

But there is no substitute in college sports for enthusiasm, no matter how comical it becomes as those outside a program live and die with every final score. The alternative stinks, because indifference is often the poison that brings a program to its knees, or at least the National Invitation Tournament.

"We should be a team with high expectations and goals," senior guard Justin Hawkins said. "We have elite players and guys who care about winning. But we also have a lot of work to do and a bunch of freshmen trying to make what is a hard transition to the college game.

"One key will be making sure everyone stays humble. This town lives Runnin' Rebels basketball, and that's how it should be. But none of us need to get big heads or buy into the hype. Failure or a losing streak can come quickly if you lose focus. One loss can become three real fast. We can't get too high or too low."

There is much to prove, beginning with how the Rebels play away from home when it matters most. They weren't good on the road in the Mountain West Conference last season, dropping five of seven games and needing overtime against two of the league's weaker teams - Boise State and Air Force - to get wins.

UNLV didn't just lose on the road. It collapsed.

The Rebels didn't play against Kobe Bryant. They just defended poorly enough to make a handful of college players resemble him.

But the campaign to promote Rice's second team is "Run As One," which makes sense given I am fairly certain it's against the rules at UNLV and punishable by having to watch 24 straight hours of Rebels football to hype anything without the word "run" built into a marketing strategy.

I'm also fairly certain the Rebels will run better and more often than last season.

They're deeper and more talented. They're longer and more athletic. They appear to have more than Mike Moser to count on for rebounds that begin all that is transition basketball.

If he can keep players more focused on the task at hand than relaying their every thought on Twitter - a habit Rice might regret not limiting during the season given how contentious things have become with fans in the past - the coach who's more educated on the city's love affair with his program than anyone else just might realize many of the good things being predicted.

By the way: Good luck with the Twitter stuff.

"I have the advantage of having played here and been an assistant coach for 11 years, so I understand our program can galvanize the entire community," Rice said. "I love the passion of our fans. It's our mission to get our guys to play hard every day and be the best we can be.

"No doubt, we can be very good. I'm not going to run away from that and start talking about being young and inexperienced. We have a lot of hard work to do to get to where we need to go. We have a lot to learn. But there is no reason we shouldn't be able to win a lot of games."

Get ready: People are going to be talking about the Final Four one day and the sky falling the next.

Either way, it should be a hoot watching others react.

Is anything better than tens of thousands of lunatics treating a college basketball team like it's more important than life itself?

Not in my line of work, there isn't.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday on "Gridlock," ESPN 1100 and 98.9 FM. Follow him on Twitter: @edgraney.