Simply, the Mountain West needs UNLV and San Diego State to be good, and that’s not the case this season for teams that have the most conference wins since the league was founded in July 1999.
UNLV Basketball
UNLV has never lost 17 games in a season. It’s one defeat from doing so. The collapse of its program is almost sad to watch, but knowing why it collapsed is even worse.
The fair point now is that you can’t change now. Or shouldn’t. Not those who understood from the beginning what this season would mean for UNLV basketball.
This isn’t the UNLV-San Diego State matchup most have come to expect and anticipate but for one significant point: When it comes to winning time, the Aztecs can still frustrate the heck out of the Rebels.
When he was young, Cheickna Dembele would have to walk more than 30 minutes to find a basket at which to shoot, because that’s what everyone did. They walked.
Utah State sent UNLV back up a snowy Interstate 15 to Salt Lake City to board its charter home a 79-63 loser, having turned a close game midway through the second half into a runaway.
This defeat was worse than the one to Duke — much worse — because the Broncos aren’t in the same zip code as the Blue Devils for talent or much of anything else.
What those who remained home didn’t see: A team in UNLV that, while hardly perfect at either end, made more winning plays when arriving at the critical juncture of five minutes remaining.
With point guard Nikki Wheatley watching in a knee brace, UNLV fails to penetrate Colorado State’s zone defense and loses its Mountain West women’s basketball opener at Cox Pavilion.
A few things are undeniable: UNLV is likely a few recruiting classes from being NCAA Tournament worthy, and yet its fan base expects a nonconference schedule littered with high major opponents.
UNLV’s basketball team has ensured itself a winning record in the non-conference portion of its schedule, news that wouldn’t make headlines for countless programs across the country, but significant for the Rebels.
MW officials want you to believe this is merely a momentary downturn in what is a cyclical process that will soon rebound to a time of multiple NCAA bids. That’s a huge stretch.
Duke and UNLV have taken separate, very different journeys through the college landscape since that Final Four game in 1991, when Bobby Hurley as the Blue Devils point guard helped guide his team to an upset that was viewed as improbable as it was historic.
Most of a 10-point lead had vanished over the previous five minutes and UNLV stared at a 66-65 lead with 8:40 left against Southern Utah. For this particular Rebels team, it was the perfect test.
The struggles most expect from the inaugural season of the Marvin Menzies Era showed in several forms for the Rebels, who opened with a 76-68 loss to a South Alabama.
1
2
3
4
5
Family owners of beloved Vegas restaurant involved in mysterious lawsuit
Fiery wrong-way crash kills 2, shuts down 215 in northwest Las Vegas
Woman arrested after police say she climbed on Reno craps table, threw chips at people
Asian grocery store looks to add new location near Summerlin
Las Vegas family suing to get son an extra year of high school