Dave Rice’s seat sizzles as Mountain West buzz begins

Jerome Seagears takes the reasonable approach: That if you look too far ahead, if you fret about what might occur months from now, if you glance beyond today, there is every chance you will encounter an impediment dangerous to your health.

"Crawl before you can walk," he said. "You can't worry about the future, or you'll fall in a ditch."

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.

Such is a monster the NCAA Tournament has grown to be and such is the objective UNLV must likely realize this season for fifth-year coach Dave Rice to continue leading his alma mater's program.

His is a seat that has passed the warming stage and now floats in hot water.

"If we work hard and grow as a team, everything will work itself out," sophomore Patrick McCaw said. "(Rice) has some pretty special goals for us this year. He's more excited this year and has big plans for us. We can't worry about what happens in the future. We have to take care of today."

It's true the UNLV team that was picked to finish fourth in the Mountain West on Tuesday is the best and deepest Rice has offered with the Rebels, one that will play a style at both ends he has desired since replacing Lon Kruger once the latter departed for the Big 12 Conference riches of Oklahoma.

The fifth-year senior Seagears and McCaw joined Rice at the conference media day inside the Renaissance, where Stephen Zimmerman became the fourth straight UNLV player to be voted the league's preseason Freshman of the Year and a majority feeling about the team's season-long prospects went something like this: Prove it.

That's fair. It makes sense. UNLV has averaged over 22 wins under Rice, but has never finished higher than was it has been predicted in the Mountain West.

The Rebels were picked second in his first three years and finished third each time.

They were picked fourth last season and finished seventh, missing the NCAAs for the second straight year.

They can't miss again this season, not if there is any internal hope that the journey will continue under Rice.

"There was pressure when I first got the job and only had three years on my contract," Rice said. "There is pressure now. It's the nature of being at a program with great tradition and high expectations. I want our players to enjoy the experience and not worry about me.

"I'm better now now than when I got the job. I have learned lessons. I take responsibility and accountability for the mistakes I've made. Experience is a great teacher. It certainly has been to me. We weren't as good as we needed to be last year in conference play and I take responsibility for that. We lost a lot of close games and we need to be tougher. That was the emphasis coming out of losing to San Diego State in the conference tournament. We need to be tougher."

In the world of schedule strengths and Ratings Percentage Index and those factors studied intently by the NCAA Tournament selection committee, Rice as much as anyone in the Mountain West has scheduled aggressively for non-conference matchups.

He annually plays a handful of games against some of the best programs from Power 5 leagues, and yet UNLV's toughest test this season might come at Wichita State on Dec. 9. The Rebels also play UCLA (and maybe Kansas) in the Maui Invitational, host Arizona State, travel to Arizona and meet Oregon in a neutral court game at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

It is all part of Rice's plan — that and using his depth to press every possession and run each time opportunity arises — to make certain the Rebels hear their named called come Selection Sunday.

It's a sound plan, a doable one to execute.

UNLV has a chance to be really good.

And, well, needs to be for its coach.

"I use the phrase the, 'proliferation of the NCAA Tournament,' where there has been such value placed on post-season and in many respects for good reason," Rice said. "But sometimes, it undervalues the great accomplishment of winning a regular-season league title. You think about in our league, playing 18 games over the course of 2-3 months, that's a tremendous achievement.

"And yet, it has just become a situation in our game where what you do in those first few weeks in March is the most important thing. It's just how it is, and everyone knows it."

He knows it, and understands what is on the line should the Rebels fail to reach such a stage. It's the reality of major college basketball in 2015.

But so is this: The Rebels have arguably never been more talented and promising under him, which is a pretty good position to be in when trying to avoid getting permanently burned by that seat.

Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be a heard on "Seat and Ed" on Fox Sports 1340 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. On Twitter: @edgraney