I am still recovering from the worst night of basketball ever. But I blog on, hoping that anyone out there is paying attention to the way I suffer from being a fan. I had to partially listen to the radio broadcast of UNLV losing to CSU in my kitchen and then I settle down to watch a rousing finish to the Lakers-Spurs game, only to be shocked by something called a Roger Mason, hitting a shot when not even touched by Fisher and watch Ariza get called for a travel when he was clearly fouled. Roger Mason, Jr. sounds like a failed detective pilot for FOX in the 90's.
It was a brutal evening of basketball. I don't think I am over it. The Rebs have got to figure this thing out. Soon. Or else they will suffer the same fate of their football counterparts and waste good non-conference wins. It is promising to note that two years ago, they also started 1-2 in conference after a 12-2 start. What is disheartening is the way they lost. These new talented guys have got to show they buy in to what Kruger is selling. The results speak for themselves. This business, as reported in the Las Vegas Sun, of fooling around before a road game is absolutely horrible. They cannot think they are that good that they can win just by showing up. Hopefully, this road trip will show them a little humility, they have a lot of hard work in front of them and the team can pull together to finish what can still be a special season. The teams of the last two years were able to consistently defend, battle and war for each possession and play of the game. This team got cocky after beating Louisville on the road and inexplicably lose these two on the road, which almost certainly would have been penciled in as wins. Now, they are going to have to fight to maintain their home court and steal some games on the road that, right now, they are not good enough to win. Not a great combination.
By the way I was a little disheartened to read that Wink was reticient in reprimanding his showboating teammates during the shootaround before the C-State game. This is your team, your senior year--How do you want to be remembered? You have benefited from great on the court leadership from Kevin Kruger and Curtis Terry, apply the lessons you have learned and don't be afraid to get in a teammate's face if they aren't falling in line. You have more invested in the team's success than anyone. You ARE the Rebels right now and you must answer the bell. I hope you can lead your team to develop, grow and find success.
Speaking of the Sun, I have been impressed by the depth of its coverage of the Rebels. They have taken covering the taeam during practice and road trips and aren't afraid to be critical when deserving, but also give nuggets of information gold for die hard fanatics who want to be on the inside. Sports marketing has spend some money this year on the Rebs and it is fun to watch. The Rebelution is a fun idea and definitely an improvement on Hoops City, UNLV that lasted far longer than it should have.
Tark has a great feature on the Sun website. His stories of the glory days are just fun to read. I barely remember them before the Maxson caused implosion. I followed them as they went undefeated but never knew at the time that a few years later it would be where I chose to get educated. I read that he had verbal commitments from Jason Kidd and Ed O'Bannon before he was forced to resign. That would have been a crazy good team with Isiah Rider and Elmore Spencer. More probably would have followed. Oh, what could have been. I'm going to add the link to the front page for all to follow. Good stuff.
I'll finish by saying I am cautiously optimistic about what is left of the Rebels season. I hope they can turn it around and beat Wyoming tomorrow night. They definitely do not have much margin for error left.
laters
cvz
Rebels by 10
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