Stop the debate: ’90 Rebels still best

A strong case can be made for Larry Johnson as the best college basketball player of the past 20 years. The UNLV teams he starred on in 1989-90 and 1990-91 defined dominance, and Johnson was the Rebels' unquestioned leader.

North Carolina's impressive run to the NCAA title has inspired debates about ranking great teams.

"What is the best championship team ever?" asked columnist Mike Freeman of CBSSports.com. "It happens every year, and this year the answer is the same as it was last season and the season before that and the season before that. There's only one answer, and it's not even close. It's the 1990 UNLV team.

"The Rebels went to a level of dominance we hadn't seen since John Wooden's UCLA teams, and strictly in terms of one team -- just one, not a dynasty -- they were the best. They would've beaten these Tar Heels by 20 points."

Former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson added that UNLV during Johnson's two seasons was "the best team I've ever seen. I'm not sure anyone else is even close."

The 1989-90 Rebels -- also featuring Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony and Anderson Hunt -- went 35-5, with three of their NCAA Tournament victories coming by 30-point margins: 102-72 over Arkansas-Little Rock, 131-101 over Loyola Marymount and 103-73 over Duke in the title game.

UNLV went 34-1 the next year, losing 79-77 to Duke in the 1991 NCAA semifinals. "That was a better team than the team that won it, there's no question," former Rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian said.

"It's hard to say who's the best. Obviously, I wouldn't trade our guys for anybody. I thought we had the best defensive team I've seen in college basketball, and I've had a lot of people tell me the same thing."

• TRIVIA QUESTION -- Michael Jordan was elected to the basketball Hall of Fame this week. He will not be in baseball's Hall.

When Jordan first retired from the NBA at the start of the 1993-94 season to pursue a brief baseball career, where did he play his one year in Double A, what did he hit and who was his manager?

• JOHNSON RANKS NO. 1? -- Johnson averaged 21.6 points and 11.2 rebounds in 75 games at UNLV. But his numbers could have been better if he cared about numbers.

"Larry was the most unselfish person, in addition to his talent. He united the team," Tarkanian said. "Not one time in two years did I ever see Larry look at a stat sheet. He did not care about stats. He's the only player I can say that about."

In terms of dominance at the college level in the past two decades, Wake Forest's Tim Duncan, Louisiana State's Shaquille O'Neal, Purdue's Glenn Robinson and Duke's Christian Laettner arguably rank with Johnson as the best. From that group, only Johnson and Laettner won NCAA championships.

Tarkanian had to replace five starters for 1991-92, but the Rebels routed O'Neal and LSU 76-55 in early November.

• TRIVIA ANSWER -- Jordan hit .202 with three home runs, 51 RBIs and 30 stolen bases for the Birmingham Barons, a Chicago White Sox farm team managed by Terry Francona.

COMPILED BY MATT YOUMANS LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL