Reinhardt possesses Jimmer’s swagger

It was after basketball practice at Santa Ana Mater Dei High one day last year when a student challenged Katin Reinhardt to make a one-handed full-court shot. Reinhardt told him to put money on it. The student offered $50.

"I told everyone to get their cameras out, that it was going in," Reinhardt said.

It did. Dead center of the net.

You can watch on YouTube.

"He paid up," Reinhardt said. "I made a few of those last year."

Enough where I might ask him for a loan.

Swagger is an overused term for confidence and yet a trait that all great players own, one found in the neighborhood of cockiness but not so ingrained that it has a negative influence.

Reinhardt has a swagger about him. He's a lot like another player UNLV fans know well, but I'm guessing he will be more beloved in these parts.

Dave Rice is a coach who chooses his words carefully and isn't known for pointless rhetoric, so you know what he thinks of Reinhardt when this happens: He uses the J Word.

"My relationship with Jimmer is such that I take it very seriously when comparing someone to him," Rice said. "But Katin has a lot of the same qualities. One of Jimmer's great qualities - and one of Katin's - is that they're both fearless. They just love to play."

The Rebels are ranked 18th to begin a season many believe will culminate with a deep NCAA Tournament run, a forecast that speaks to an elevated level of talent, where a freshman combo guard could start and play heavy minutes.

Reinhardt would expect nothing less. That's swagger.

He is not Jimmer Fredette and yet so many things about him remind others of the former Brigham Young star, all the things Rice spoke about when recruiting Reinhardt off one of the nation's top prep basketball powers.

That matters, too. The stars don't always align when pursuing high school players, but the more you can sign off successful teams, the more kids you can land who expect to and have won at a high level, the better chance your team has of achieving its goals.

"I lost like four or five games in four years of high school," Reinhardt said. "Teachers never asked, 'Are you going to win tonight's game?' They asked, 'Are you going to win the state championship?' You had to perform every day or you didn't play, and that's the mindset I'm bringing to UNLV.

"The guys here know what program I came from. I expect to win every game. People talk about winning and losing games once you get to college, that it all comes with making the transition to the next level. But I'll never accept losing. I never even talk about it."

He watched Fredette often when the player was tearing it up in an offense directed by Rice as an associate head coach at BYU, especially during a senior season that brought national player of the year honors.

Reinhardt watched Fredette make deep shot after deep shot and score in a variety of ways, possessing a feel for the game only the special ones really have.

He too is much more than just a shooter.

Reinhardt will likely play more shooting than lead guard as a freshman but is a good enough passer that he could rank among the team leaders in assists. More than anything else, UNLV fans should hope Reinhardt the college player mirrors the one Rice saw in high school, the kind of unshakable figure that Fredette was at BYU.

More than anything else, they should hope Reinhardt plays with a constant edge about him because, while UNLV has a team loaded with skill, that doesn't always render an abundance of players willing and able to make the most critical of plays and take the most important of shots.

"Some people will look at me and say my (confidence) is too much, and others won't, but I know how blessed I am to be in this position," Reinhardt said. "You have to want to win from the jump and step on your opponent. I think my competitive streak comes from my Dad (Ernie), who had seven siblings. When my Grandma put food on the table, the first ones who grabbed it ate. It was a dogfight in the house.

"Whether it's confidence or cockiness or swagger and a little flair to your game, I think you need all that to be a great player."

You need all of it to make a one-handed full-court shot with $50 on the line.

I imagine those are even tough for Jimmer.

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.