At an NCAA Tournament party inside a South Point ballroom in March, hundreds of college basketball fans gathered for the opening day of games.
They ate (some), drank (a lot) and wagered (even more). They cheered and booed. They shot baskets for prizes. They laughed when Brigham Young lost another first-round game.
Now appearing at the Improv inside Harrah’s … Jim Boylen.
They always want to know. The coach. The player. The fan. The usher. The janitor. The opponent.
PROVO, Utah — On this side of the court, it is just the first of 16 conference games, just one defeat to an opponent that loses at home about as often as Tre’Von Willis thinks pass first, dribble second.
Listen closely. You can hear it. It has happened each time UNLV’s basketball team lost a game the last few years.
Well, that will bring you down to earth fast. Like a base jumper whose chute doesn’t open.
TUCSON, Ariz. — Tre’Von Willis is the basketball player who acts as if he has never committed a foul, whose face can contort into a maze of annoyance, who can give the impression of a guy perpetually perturbed by the mistakes of others.
Success was the 19-point lead and not surrendering when it disappeared. Success was discovering the resolve to finish with a win and send a ranked opponent and its arrogant coach packing.
Jerry Tarkanian remembers Utah, how that NCAA Tournament regional semifinal in 1977 came down to a block-charge call that could have gone either way.
