The calendar flips this time each year and college basketball welcomes conference play, when even teams that endured some forgettable results the previous month can hold onto the idea that failure is simply the opportunity to begin anew.
UNLV
A forgettable start to his final college season hung in the air before an announced crowd of 5,107 at T-Mobile Arena, but when Noah Robotham’s fallaway 3-pointer fell, the Rebels had a 92-90 overtime victory over Brigham Young.
In a game they never led and, well, one you really never thought they would win, the Rebels fell to Cincinnati 65-61 before an announced gathering of 9,572 at the Thomas Mack Center.
UNLV’s basketball team continues its seven-game homestand to open the season Wednesday night against Valparaiso, when senior Shakur Juiston will take his usual place in the starting lineup and once again pursue rebounds like a cat might a feather on a bobbing string.
One of the main problems with UNLV athletics, perhaps the central one, is the fact it either doesn’t realize or accept its place in today’s world of collegiate athletics.
UNLV played better than that forgettable loss to Loyola Marymount, walking away a winner on Tuesday night before an announced gathering of 7,327 at Thomas Mack Center.
This is about the journey, and how ridiculously difficult it is, and how hard it has been for UNLV players of late to not only navigate, but reach its summit and stick in the league.
Gonzaga owned the lion’s share when it came to this whole leaving the West Coast Conference for the Mountain West scenario, but that doesn’t mean the league in which UNLV exists shouldn’t have made the effort.