NCAA Basketball Fans

[Gator Hazard]

I did not see a thread for college basketball and as the season is kicking off figured I would start one.

Who is your Alma mater or who do you root for in college basketball if you are a fan?

How do you think your team will do this year?

Give an interesting fact(s) about your basketball team.

 

I will start:  

Born and raised in Las Vegas, NV and alumnus of UNLV.  My family was fortunate to have season tickets for almost all of the years I lived there and I can remember going to games as far back as when they were held at the Las Vegas Convention Center before they built the Thomas & Mack center.  The Thomas & Mack Center during UNLV's glory years in the mid 80s until 1991 were amazing.  I doubt we will ever see that type of play at this school again but I am forever faithful to my team.

The departure of Lon Kruger was a kick in the gut to me, I thought he was doing very well and he taught tough nosed defensive basketball that led to lots of opponent frustration and points off of turnovers.  Dave Rice stepping into the picture seemed like a great transition, our team led by one of it's own, an alumnus of our national championship team who also assistant coached under Tark and then spent some quality time at BYU where he developed Jimmer Fredette into a scoring machine.  To date, Coach Rice has under performed and his coaching career at UNLV is on the line this season.  He seems to be a great recruiter but not a great head coach (yet).  I hold out hope that this season he is able to make a run at the conference championship against SDSU who has owned us for some time now and make a run in the NCAA tourney.  The talent is there, he has one of the top recruiting classes in the nation.  Now, can they make it happen?

Interesting facts about UNLV men's basketball program:

Only team in Division 1 to have made a 3 point basket in every game since the 3 point line was introduced.

Only team to break 100 in NCAA finals game and largest margin of victory (against Duke 103-73)

 

 

Edited November 13, 2015 by Gator Hazard

[davechen]

Woohoo!  College basketball!

My alma maters are California and North Carolina.  Come basketball season it's mainly about UNC, although Cal is very good this year too.

During my time as a grad student at UNC, I went to 4 Final Fours and all 6 of UNC's NCAA Tournament games in 1993, when we beat Michigan for the title.

This year we are the #1 ranked team, so things are looking good.  Marcus Paige has a hairline fracture in his non shooting hand, so he'll be out for a bit, but hopefully he'll be back in 3-4 weeks.  We are one of the favorites to win the title this year, but who knows.

I have tickets to our season opener tonight in Annapolis.  We're in the Veteran's Classic playing Temple.  The other game is Navy vs. Florida.

Oh, and my son's middle name is Dean, in honor of Dean Smith.

[Patch]

UNLV class of '75. Our glory days are behind us or in front of us depending on how you want to look at it. I dont see another Coach Tark or those types of players in our near future. 

We might make the NCAA playoffs this year but I think an NIT invite has a better chance. I do like what coach Rice stands for, but unfortunately his way does not draw the top blue chippers in the country. He can get good players, but not the type to get a school into the Sweet 16 brackets. 

We need another coach who will run and gun while playing great defense. Coach Tark stressed stamina in his practices. If you have ever seen inside the T & M Tark would have his players run to the top of nose bleed heaven just about every pratice. His teams were in shape to run other teams off the floor. UNLV could have repeated as national champions if not for one ego in my opinion.

[Gator Hazard]

@davechen Your team is still the one to beat, no doubt about it.  Very cool that you get to go to the season opener.  

@Patch new you were good people, fellow alumnus!  I think Rice is too zen too early in his career, you don't get to be the poker player basketball coach until you have more history and tenure under your belt.  I think he needs to get more fired up at times (which he did a little last year).  He is actually recruiting quite well given what he has to work with, the problem is player development.  

Yes, Tarkanian's teams were all about conditioning and they used to run opponents into the ground off of defense to fast breaks.  To thik they would score in the 100s before there was a shot clock and three pointer back in the late 70s.  I remember more the teams of the 80s.  I once as a young boy rounded a clothes rack at The Jock Shop (think I may have mentioned this before in another thread) and bumped my forehead into a kneecap.  I looked up, and up, and up some more and saw a face I recognized.  I said "You're Sidney Green" and I think he was more surprised that I knew him than I was that I bonked into him.  Loved those teams, Freddie Banks was my favorite player back then.  

The perfection of the amoeba defense with quick and agile players who a few had size was what really set UNLV apart in 90-91.  I can't help but think we gave the game away to Duke in the final 4 the following year.  They should never have beaten us.

[davechen]

Oh man.  I was at that game in 1991.  I sat there and saw Carolina lose to Kansas and then had to watch Dook beat UNLV.  Boy did that suck.  UNLV should have won that game.  They just had never been in a tight situation all season, so they weren't used to it.

[Gator Hazard]

9 minutes ago, davechen said:

Oh man.  I was at that game in 1991.  I sat there and saw Carolina lose to Kansas and then had to watch Dook beat UNLV.  Boy did that suck.  UNLV should have won that game.  They just had never been in a tight situation all season, so they weren't used to it.

There are some who would say they threw the game.  Didn't help that several of them were photographed sipping champagne in a hot tub with a guy named "Jimmy The Fixer".  I think they were over confident and just thought it would be a walk in the park.  The only real major difference in the lineups between the two games was the addition of Grant Hill.  I hate that game.  I hate that we didn't do what we should so easily have done, go on to win the national championship undefeated.  That team used to toy with their food and then devour it, it was incredible to watch them play.  No disrespect to that team or Coach K who I think is an amazing coach.  I just think our team was still clearly better, but that day, they absolutely were not the best team on the court.

Edited November 13, 2015 by Gator Hazard

[davechen]

23 minutes ago, Gator Hazard said:

There are some who would say they threw the game.  Didn't help that several of them were photographed sipping champagne in a hot tub with a guy named "Jimmy The Fixer".  I think they were over confident and just thought it would be a walk in the park.  The only real major difference in the lineups between the two games was the addition of Grant Hill.  I hate that game.  I hate that we didn't do what we should so easily have done, go on to win the national championship undefeated.  That team used to toy with their food and then devour it, it was incredible to watch them play.  No disrespect to that team or Coach K who I think is an amazing coach.  I just think our team was still clearly better, but that day, they absolutely were not the best team on the court.

Heh.  I've thought that on occasion, but I wasn't going to say that to UNLV fans. :)

[dennyjones]

Go Blue.   Tried and true Alum and looking forward to an interesting season.   It has taken Michigan quite a few years to get over the Fab 5 scandal.   I believe the last few years has allow us to turn the corner and start being competitive again.   

I'm not a Michigan State fan but I believe that Tom Izzo is one of the best coaches in the land.  

[CoachB25]

University of Kentucky.  Go ahead and bash us.  LOL  When I was a little kid, my neighbor went on to be the starting point guard for Kentucky.  Naturally, being from Kentucky, basketball has always been a big deal.  I was a basketball coach for a very long time and so, made it to coaching clinics at the U. of K.  BTW spent a few interesting weekends with Bobby Knight as well. 

[Gator Hazard]

Well the Rebels (UNLV) barely made it out of their first game in tact, they wound up going almost to the wire with Cal-Poly and committed 19 turnovers.  A win is good but they have a lot to work on and improve before the schedule gets really serious.  Watched the game and saw some good things so remaining hopeful.

Edited November 16, 2015 by Gator Hazard

[Gator Hazard]

Maui Invitational real bracket starts today.  UNLV will play UCLA for their first game.  We both played Cal State Poly and based on that game this matchup looks to be about equal.  I think UCLA is a favorite in this game but hoping for a win.  Unfortunately the game is on at 11:30PM on the East Coast (ESPN2) and I am debating if I am going to stay up to watch it or not.  Who else has teams in this tourney?

UNLV  UCLA  Kansas  Indiana  Wake Forest  Vanderbilt  St. John's  Chaminade

 

[LagShaft]

As a life long KU fan I'm always excited for Basketball season to start and even more excited for  Football season to end lol. 

[Gator Hazard]

43 minutes ago, LagShaft said:

As a life long KU fan I'm always excited for Basketball season to start and even more excited for  Football season to end lol. 

They stomped UCLA last night.  Was glad it was not us actually, was upset we lost to UCLA but it was nice not to have to play Kansas in a second round game for once!!  I am sure if we find a way to make it into the NCAA this year our second game will be against Kansas, it's a tradition.

[Slowcelica]

On November 14, 2015 at 1:54:11 PM, CoachB25 said:

University of Kentucky.  Go ahead and bash us.  LOL  When I was a little kid, my neighbor went on to be the starting point guard for Kentucky.  Naturally, being from Kentucky, basketball has always been a big deal.  I was a basketball coach for a very long time and so, made it to coaching clinics at the U. of K.  BTW spent a few interesting weekends with Bobby Knight as well. 

Ha bbn!! I went to u of l but grew up a UK fan, nothing has changed bbn all the way. 

Who was your neighbor?

[CoachB25]

His last name was Keys (sp) and I was very young.  I remember him and his dad in Murray, Kentucky walking around.  I'd have to guess it was in the late 60s or maybe early 70s.  I used to attend basketball coaching clinics at UK when Pitino was the head coach.  He was a pretty cool guy.  I also attended U of Indiana coaching clinics.  One of my best friends was an assistant coach for Ron Felling.  As you might know, Felling and Coach Knight had a falling out.  However, before that, it was pretty neat getting to have conversations about basketball with Coach Knight.  In fact, he gave me a "warm up" jacket that I still have. 

Per the Wildcats, it is hard to warm up to teams where you know that they are one and done.  That has taken some of the fun out of it for me. 

[rehmwa]

On 11/25/2015, 6:54:38, LagShaft said:

As a life long KU fan I'm always excited for Basketball season to start and even more excited for  Football season to end lol. 

I'm in the same boat but fan a different team - you can guess which one.

[Jaymancds]

I am a fan of the university of miami, but since they dont do anything in basketball, or anything else, I root for the Tar Heels.  They are going to do very well this year.

[Gator Hazard]

We play #15 Oregon on Friday night.  No idea how that one is going to pan out.  Last time we played them they beat us last minute several years ago.  Hoping for a little payback but we will see.