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.
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.
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 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.
Several times a hero in March, Steve Alford is a goat this time. The UCLA coach leaned back in his chair, rolled his eyes and watched his team get rocked by rival Southern California for the third time this season.
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.
The quote goes like this: Seize the moment, because some opportunities don’t come twice.