Our veteran team wants to build on last year’s success

It's hard to believe we are already starting our seventh season as head basketball coach at UNLV. Time has gone by so fast and Barb and I have really enjoyed our time here and we are very excited about the upcoming season which officially tips off on Friday night at 7:30 p.m. against UC Riverside at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Unlike last season when we welcomed a lot of new faces to our squad, this is a veteran group. We return a lot of points, a lot of rebounds and a lot minutes from last year's team. It's a group that badly wants to keep making progress and build on last season when we lost a disappointing game in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

That loss to Northern Iowa served as motivation in the off-season. This group has worked hard. They know what it takes and now they want to take it up another notch.

They understand and realize how tough our schedule and how tough the Mountain West Conference is again this year. It's going to be a big challenge.

Our players also understand how hard it is to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. You think about some of the programs that failed to make it to the NCAA Tournament last year -- schools like UCLA, UConn, Illinois, Memphis and North Carolina -- and it shows just how tough it is to make it into the NCAA Tournament. And to win games in the NCAA Tournament is also very difficult as we found out first hand. To come that close and lose on a late 3-pointer like we did was very disappointing but also is motivating for our returning players.

Our nonconference schedule is a tough one with road games at Kansas State, Louisville, Nevada and Illinois State as well as a very talented field in the 76 Classic in Anaheim on Thanksgiving weekend. We also host two teams that made the NCAA Tournament last year, Wisconsin (Nov. 20) and UC Santa Barbara (Dec. 15). But it's a good schedule for this team.

We had a good run on the road last year and learned a lot. Now we have to take it up another notch and understand and realize that we have to play better. That's the way you continue to improve as a program -- to play good teams and win those games. That's especially difficult to do on the road.

We open our regular season on Friday night at home against UC Riverside. Our crowds have been great. I think it's a different kind of crowd than even our first year here.

Families are coming out, they are getting there early and they are enjoying the evening together. Certainly everyone wants to win, but to share in the great atmosphere that the fans have developed at the Thomas & Mack Center while having a big impact on the outcome of the game is a great experience. In these tough economic times, you can still bring a family to Runnin' Rebel basketball for a very reasonable price and have a great time together for two or three hours.

We look forward to seeing you at the Thomas & Mack Center for our season opener on Friday. Thanks again for your continued support.

Lon Kruger writes a weekly column during basketball season for RebelNation.Net.