http://www.tourneytrip.com/sites/2010-buffalo-ny/

Or, click on the spot in the right hand column where we had a giant picture of buffalo wings for the past year.

The past several days have been epic.

1. UNLV vs Wyoming – The Rebels wrapped up their regular season taking Wyoming to the woodshed. The Cowboys looked like a sad basketball team, and UNLV didn’t play around with them. Final score was 74-56, and it wasn’t even that close. This wrapped up the regular season for UNLV, and was my 23rd game of the season.

2. After this game, it became apparent that my dream of attending 50 college basketball games in one season would continue to be a dream. Attending classes and turning in required assignments took precedent over the WCC tournament, which was a requirement of mine previously. Such is life. It will be here next year, along with the WAC tournament. Options galore!

3. As Nate mentioned below, our very own Jimmy led his Allen Park Jags to a playoff victory against some team called the Crestwood Chargers. I know nothing about the high school basketball make up of the south eastern Michigan area, but I know that Jimmy is a good coach because his drills are excellent. Jimmy ended up losing another heart breaker to some team from Dearborn, but it doesn’t matter, because he’s still better. Just the way we feel.

4. Having cleared my calendar for the next week for a certain trip to Buffalo, NY, I decided to break down and pick up a few duckets to attend the MWC quarterfinal session last night with my beautiful baby. New Mexico vs San Diego State, and BYU vs UNLV. Quite the lineup of games, teams, and story lines from this season.

As you can see, we bought our tickets at the last second, which resulted in us sitting right behind the San Diego State student section in the upper deck level of the Thomas & Mack. This student section is fucking classic though. Their chants are dead on and organized, they crowd surfed some kid in a giant gecko outfit, and then suggested to the New Mexico contingent (which was at least 10,000 strong arena-wide) to sell their tickets once it was apparent the game was over. It was a fun game to watch, example 1 on why March basketball is the greatest shit ever. 1 seeded New Mexico falls to 4 seed San Diego State 69-72. Game was won behind hot shooting from behind the arc for SDSU (to the tune of 10-16), and Billy White’s 11-14 from the field, 5-5 from the line, 28 point domination of the New Mexico defense.

Game two was an entirely different set of circumstances.

Thanks in part to San Diego State’s knocking off of New Mexico, we were able to grift a new set of seats in the lower bowl, in the middle of New Mexico-ville, for the BYU vs UNLV game. New Mexico fans hate BYU as much as any other normal person in this country should hate them. BYU hadn’t won at UNLV vs UNLV in it’s five previous games. BYU was fresh off a victory over TCU, with brother Fredette racking up the shittiest stat line that ever represented 45 points.

• 45 points. 10-23 from the field (including 2-10 from 3), and 23-24 from the FT line. Yes, that is not a joke. This really happened.

Needless to say, I was a bit worried. Fredette was coming into the UNLV game believing he was the prophet Joseph Smith himself.

Now I’m not a bigot or a hater or anything. I know plenty of people who practice the Mormon faith and are perfectly nice normal people. The fast majority are well represented by the parity you’ve probably seen on South Park a few years back. Super nice. Super perfect. Blonde haired, blue eyed giver outters. They all have really cool jackets and want to go home and make brownies or help you build a bookshelf.

I’ll build my own.

BYU and UNLV came out shooting hot, to the tune of each squad trading 3 pointers. After it was 9-9, this dogfight settled out into the dogfight it was meant to be. UNLV’s press after made baskets gave BYU fits in the first half, leading to a few run outs. BYU’s patented fast break offense was a blur off of missed UNLV shots, and the game stayed sort of close, the Rebels up by 7 at the half behind a sweet looking jumper from Chase Stanback.

The second half saw the prophet casting a light on Jimmer Fredette, and him contorting his gangliy body into the bodies of his foes, and getting to the line with the righteous accomplishment only a BYU fan could be proud of. He also hit some sick deep jumpers. What’s ironic about this guy is that when a questionable call goes the other way, he freaks out, cries, pouts, and stomps all over the floor. He was also called for traveling twice in the second half, which almost made his head explode. Tre’Von Willis gutted out a twisted ankle in the final minutes, made a crazy glasser shot, and the FT’s a leader is expected to make to seal up the victory, regardless of what super natural forces may have been conspiring against the sinners of Southern Nevada. BYU 66, UNLV 70.

—–

So here I am. I’m going to bail on headed to the MWC title game this afternoon in favor of watching several other games from across the country. I’ve attended 25 college basketball games thus far, with the best yet to come.

5. Western won a game in its conference tournament, and should have probably faced Eastern after that. Thanks to #pixelvision, I was able to watch both teams, including Carlos Medlock’s spirited effort against Akron. EMU fell short, as did WMU against Akron yesterday. WMU will not be dancing this year, and the David Kool era is over in Kalamazoo.

6. Michigan State lost yesterday to Tubbs. Sam called this 100%. Not sure how I feel about Sparty headed into the Tourney. In Izzo I trust though. I don’t know what era is about to end for MSU over the next couple of weeks though. This team / season has been so confusing. I have this feeling that the team is being held together by a thread.

The only way to find out is to play the games.

Good news on the ticket front this week as well. Some randoms from Buffalo, NY sent over a few tickets for us to attend some hoops games, the same ones we’ve been talking about. So that’s good news:

I also managed to track down my set of Final Four tickets:

So now we can get into these places we’ve spoken about so much. The Final Four tickets were pretty hard to track down. The wonderful people at the NCAA ticket office did not change my mailing address, even though I sent the proper information to them, and even received conformation back that it was. It’s all good though, as it worked out in the end.

Wyoming @ UNLV for the last Rebel game of the year is next Saturday. I will also be at the WCC tournament at the Rhett’s Basketball viewing arena, AKA, the Orleans Arena. That starts on Friday.

Currently watching Richmond @ Xavier (dynasty). Looking forward to some USA hockey, and MSU @ Purdue. Things are rounding into shape nicely. They should be, tomorrow is March, and it is MY month.

Headed into the last week of February, if you are thinking of making the tournament, and advancing in the tournament, you had better be rounding into top form.

UNLV coming off a 3 game losing streak against New Mexico, San Diego State, and Utah, found their hoop game against Colorado State yesterday afternoon, and used it to gain a 70-39 win at home against the Rams. Colorado State is a decent squad, with some good pieces and will look to be a player in the league next year. UNLV started the game out on a 10-2 run, had balanced scoring, including 12 points from Anthony Marshall and Chace Stanback, and 11 points from Kendall Wallace and Tre’Von Willis. The Thomas and Mack was a bit empty, but that did not prevent the Rebels from having some great defensive pressure for almost the entire 1st half. The Rams only managed 16 points by halftime. The second half was mostly coasting, with a small Colorado State run squashed by UNLV.

This is called taking care of business. This is a game UNLV should have won, and had to have when you consider the three previous losses. They have TCU and Wyoming at home and Air Force on the road to finish out the season, and should win all 3 games rather easily. They’ll need to to ensure a favorable match up in the 1st round of the conference tournament. Losing the first game in the conference tournament on your home floor is not a good idea.

Michigan State is sitting in another boat. After losing three games, they won two easy road games against Penn State and Indiana. This left them headed into two game, at home vs Ohio State, and on the road at Purdue. Ohio State handled Sparty this afternoon, which is disapointing. Now, the road game at Purdue seems rather important, as the Spartans haven’t proven they can beat good squads lately, and may need the confidence boost a Purdue win would bring, in order to get their minds right for March.

I’m hoping the Rebels will win out in convincing fashion to eliminate any doubt that they should be in the field of 65. I’m also hoping Michigan State starts to hit their stride, knocks off Purdont, and starts off March on the right foot.

It’s disappointing because UNLV was ranked again, gained a lot of national attention after the win over the weekend against stupid BYU. UNLV had a chance to solidify their spot in bracket projections, and put themselves on top of the MWC. It did not happen that way though.

For those who were not at the game, and had to endure through a 4OT women’s basketball game, you missed New Mexico hitting their first 5 three-pointers. You missed New Mexico setting the tone on both ends of the floor, denying the lane to Tre’Von Willis and Oscar Bellfield.

UNLV missed Derrick Jasper, and his ability to switch on the wings. Kendall Wallace may be an amazing 3 point specialist, but he cannot guard a soul to save his own life, and Steve Alford exploited this repeatedly in the 1st half. If Jasper had been playing (UNLV’s best defender), those open 3’s would not have existed, and this game would have had a drastically different start.

You can’t get out rebounded 2-1, give up 20 second chance points, and let a team shoot 50% from 3 point land, and expect to win a game. Yet, somehow, UNLV managed to get this to within two points at the under 4 time out. I can’t even explain it really. Just doesn’t make sense, but I watched it happen. That tells me this team has grit. They didn’t fold up in a ball and die, or shrug it off like it just was not their night.

It’s bad to lose, but its not horrible to lose to a good team. New Mexico had a plan tonight, they executed it, and won the game. UNLV coming off the emotional high of winning against BYU on Saturday, couldn’t possibly replicate that energy two times in a row. The large crowd (over 18,000 again), tried to will them on, and it almost happened.

I may comment more on this later. Just wanted to get these thoughts out there. It’s not the end of the world. Just time to hit the road on Saturday vs San Diego State and put those clowns out early. Then on to Utah, and do the same thing. No doubt about the fact that UNLV should be better than both teams.

Good Talk.

Tre'Von rollin dolo's. (Photo by Louie Traub/RebelNation.Net)

I last attended a college basketball game on January 17th when UNLV lost to Utah at home. It was a bad loss.

Since then, UNLV has won a few road contests, and a home game vs Air Force I could not attend. To say I was looking forward to today’s game is an understatement. I have deprived myself of Big Monday’s and Super Tuesday’s. I’m doing what I have to do, but I am missing my favorite sports season, and I’m bummed about it sometimes.

That being said, UNLV playing host to BYU was game #19 for me. It was quite the game.

UNLV game out slanging nerve gas on BYU. I have never seen anything close to what I saw in person today. The Rebels were ready to play. It was evident after they started the game on a 11-2 run, with Tre’Von Willis getting whatever shot he wanted. BYU came out flat, seemed pouty for most of the game, and really never even competed. I have seen BYU play a ton of games (second only to UNLV) over the past hand-full of years. They recruit talent, seem to be well coached, and probably deserved their high rankings they’ve had this year. They can’t play against UNLV though. The Rebel’s choked away the game in Provo earlier this year. They were up at the under 4 time out, and just did not make plays they’ve made all year. BYU didn’t win that one, UNLV lost it. BYU rolls into town this afternoon (1pm local tip is  a good deal) and they get the covers blown off their golden bible. Tre’Von Willis put his stamp on his MWC POTY opinion, by throwing in 33 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists, 2 steals and 0 turnovers. He also played some very nice near lockdown defense on this Jimmer kid, holding this supposed all world MWC guy to 21 points on 4 of 15 shooting. Oscar Bellfield also played a part in this. Both guys are fast, and did a great job in keeping Jimmer in front of them all afternoon.

The final was 88-74, but it wasn’t even that close. It was over at halftime, with UNLV being up 22 going into the break. UNLV was up by as much a 29 before halftime.

Another little tidbit – for everybody claiming Fredette is the clear cut MVP of the MWC, think again. Willis is scoring more per conference game than Fredette, and has owned him in both head to head meetings. Spare me that ‘oh, he was sick’ crap. Willis played well on the road in the heart of Provo. Fredette stunk it up today. The only open shot he could get was a NBA+ three. Who’s your prophet?

UNLV hosts New Mexico Wednesday night. They beat the airbrushers today to create a 3-way tie on top of the MWC. UNLV has the previously mentioned New Mexico game, then heads to SDSU and Utah. Then they play all the clowns at the bottom of the league.

Besides Tre’Von Willis (27 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists), and Chace Stanback (14 points, 10 rebounds), nobody for the Rebels could be referred to as a reliable option last night. This really hamstrung UNLV down the stretch. For all the mentions about UNLV’s depth, Willis was forced into playing the whole game, as he was the only Rebel who could get his own shot and be relied upon to create offense.

Utah shot 50% from 3 point land (8 for 16), and also made a healthy percentage of their FT’s (23-29). In comparison, Vegas was only 1 of 12 from beyond the arch, and shot 65% from the FT line (22-34). At least 4 of those misses were front ends of 1-1’s as well.

So there you have it. It was a close game, UNLV had its shots to pull it out when things got tight at the end, and did not take advantage of the chances. Like I said, sometimes, you’re just going to lose a game. Utah 73, UNLV 69.

So UNLV is 14-4, and 2-2 in conference. Stumbles like these are what killed UNLV last year, and resulted in them not making the tournament. They pretty much have to take care of home court the rest of the way and win the road games they “should” win, including teams like Air Force, TCU, etc. You figure on two more tough home games against BYU and New Mexico. You want to be able to count on a split of both of those. In a league that figures to get more than one bid this year due to the non conference prowess of its teams, UNLV would do well to stay near the top of the standings as time goes by. New Mexico has stumbled as well, giving the Rebels a shot to right the ship, notch a few wins, and be there later on. Time will tell (cliche’s, hoary!).

Game #18 for myself, next game is Jan 26th, sheesh. Next weekend may be my “break out of Vegas random hoops road trip” weekend. We shall see.

1st Half (worst): UNLV plays timid horrible basketball. Aztecs drive the lane, score in the paint, draw fouls, out rebound on both ends and overall dominate the game. If it wasn’t for their crappy shooting from the free throw line in the first half, this game could have been different. Either way, Steve Fisher’s gangster program of the west slashes and dashes their way to a 39-33 lead at halftime, with it seeming like it should have been a ton more.

2nd Half (best): UNLV erases the six point hole before the first media time out with hustle on defense, and determination to drive the lane instead of lazily settling for jump shots near the three point line. Tre’Von Willis and Chace Stanback worked some 2-man game real nice for a stretch, and Anthony Marshall did a nice job on the defensive end (including rebound in a short stretch), off the bench. UNLV realized a modest lead half way through the second half, and made the free throws down the stretch to seal the deal. UNLV 76, SDSU 66.

Unsung Hero was undoubtedly Oscar Bellfield, who has staked his claim as perhaps the best pure point in the league. Another six assists tonight, giving him 22 on the conference season, with only four turnovers to go with them. Last year, big O was maybe pressured to get to the rim a bit more in order to score, since the Rebels lacked scoring overall. This year, with Jasper, Willis, and Chace on the wings, Bellfield does a great job getting into the lane and kicking for open looks, and setting up his scorers nicely off the pick and pop / roll. Nice game again tonight.

Game count notched at 17 after tonight. Utah and Tourney Trip favorite Jim Boylen visit Las Vegas on Saturday. Then it’s a week on the road for the Rebels.

UNLV vs Kansas State at the Orleans Arena

UNLV is kicked out of the Thomas & Mack every fall due to the National Finals Rodeo being in town and taking over the hoops venue. The Rebels usually hit the road for a few days, which is fine, but they can’t stay out forever. They took up a pseudo-home game against Kansas State last weekend Saturday at the now Tourney Trip famous Orleans Arena, the meca of random basketball. It was pretty ugly for UNLV from start to finish. K-State rolls out two very talented, very smooth and very confident guards in Jacob Pullen and Dennis Clemente. They combined for 50 points, including Pullen’s 7 for 10 from 3 point land. Every-time UNLV would put two good things together, he’d come down and stick a cold blooded jumper in some-body’s face. The game was over at halftime when UNLV blew an easy Dunk (Santee) and the Wildcats came back down to the other end of the floor to stick a layup. 4 point swing in about 7 seconds turned what would have been a five point deficit into a nine point hole, and a horrible feeling in every UNLV fan’s stomach. The second half was more of the same, and really, it was worse than the 15 point loss it ended up being. The only good thing to come out of it was the fact that UNLV didn’t give up 100 points, which a Kruger Rebel team has never done. Kansas State 95, UNLV 80.

I want to give an official Tourney Trip thank you to fellow Tourney Trip member Sam and him coming through to watch some random hoops in Vegas. The company was much appreciated.

From there, UNLV played at Southern Utah, about a two hour drive north from Las Vegas in Cedar City, UT. Had it not been for a final in my English lit class, I would have made the trip. UNLV seems to have gotten their minds right and back on the winning track with a W here.

Last night, I welcomed myself back to the T&M for UNLV vs Weber St. I was surprised about how packed it was last night. Not near a sell-out, but a decent crowd nonetheless. Had a great time and so did UNLV. Seemed like their first complete 40 minute effort of the season. Matt Shaw was clicking from beyond the arc, Chace Stanback continues to show his improved confidence, scoring prowess (for the third game in a row) and silky smooth jumper. Weber St is a nice squad. Kyle Bullinger was 5-8 from 3 point land, seemingly hitting each of them when UNLV threatened to put this game out of reach. Fun game overall. UNLV 72, Weber State 63.

From there, I have one more UNLV game this year, as they host USC-Upstate tomorrow night. I will try to take in a few games of the Holiday Hoops Classic (Southern Illinois, San Diego, San Fransisco, and Florida International), depending on the TV viewing schedule this weekend. After these couple games, it’s strictly business.

I received word today that I will have a media credential for the Las Vegas Classic, next Tuesday and Wednesday at, once again, the Orleans Arena. This is an awesome thing. I’ll probably be doing some blogging on site, I’ll fire up the twitter feed, and hopefully, sit back and enjoy some hoops. After that, I will be basketball-less until UNLV returns home for its first home conference game against SDSU on 1/13/09.

Butler vs Xavier tomorrow morning (11am tip for me!!), do I root for my namesake, or X which = dynasty?

I think I’ll just watch.

UNLV took on Louisville yesterday in an early tip off at the Thomas and Mack. We arrived early and watched the T&M fill up to near capacity. UNLV had looked pretty good the first hand full of games we’ve seen this season, but  I wasn’t sure how they would perform in a much hyped around town game. I felt UNLV was better than Louisville overall, but didn’t know if it was prime-time yet. Lots of these questions were answered yesterday.

UNLV came out early and took it right to Louisville, letting them know there would be no pushing around. Shaw, Massamba, and Santee went to work on Samuels denying him the ball, Bellfield did a job staying in front of Sosa, and overall, the Rebels played very solid man to man defense.

Jasper, Willis, and Bellfield all had several nice moves in the 1st half. Super Freshman combo of Hawkins and Marshall did their part, and UNLV was up 10 at halftime.

The second half started with more of the same. The Rebels held Louisville scoreless for over 4 minutesto start, with UNLV extending the lead from 10 to 16 or so. It was 48-32 with 5 minutes gone in the second half, and I was thinking blow out. I should have known better.

Louisville tied it up with a 30-11 run over the larger portion of the second half, making the last 4 minutes of this game pretty intense. Edgar Sosa started hitting 3’s, Some guy I’ve never heard of (Rakeem Buckles) had two nice hoops and got to the line a hand full of times, it seemed like they were coming from everywhere, and were possibly playing with a 6th guy on the floor. UNLV was forcing things a bit when it got closer. Once it was within 2, things calmed down a bit and UNLV was forced to bring it to the zone. Louisville used the zone almost 100% of the time in the second half, which gave them the turnovers and missed shots they needed for the comeback. However, when it came to crunch time, Bellfield scored on 3 straight trips against the zone, gaining the lane with the shot clock under 5 seconds and putting runners in the hoop. It was amazing.

With under a minute left, UNLV stepped it up on defense too, with a big block by Santee (and two made FT’s after the intentional foul from Samuels), and a steal by Jasper as Sosa gained the lane the next trip down. UNLV was up 6 at this point, and iced the match. Final Score: UNLV 76, Louisville 71.

And what a crowd. The T&M was absolutely rocking, silencing the hand full of ‘ville fans. How can you stand up for your team when your coach hooks up with women in storage closets of your favorite eatery and then forces one of his assistants to marry her? I heard a few classic one liners from the upper deck on Saturday that I will save for personal conversations. Overall, it was a great time.

After this game, I headed back to the Orleans Arena to catch the last two games of the Las Vegas Invitational. Yesterday I was on hand for four total games, including a great comeback by Utah for the night cap. I was hoping for another upset special early as Bradley took on Illinois for the 3rd place game.

The crowd once again was made up by a large conglomerate of Illinois fans. Bradley had its fan block back as well, but was drown out by “ILL-INI” chants for most of the afternoon. The game started close with both teams trading baskets, resulting in Bradley gaining a small lead for most of the 1st half. Illinois put on a rush at the end after they settled down and started running some real offense. Tisdale was in early foul trouble, much to the dismay of the Illinois fans in the stands. Mike Davis was effective down low working FT line extended and in, using the glass, etc. For Bradley, it was pretty balanced for the most part. Things stayed close in the second half as well. Big 3 pointers back to back from Roberts and Warren helped Bradley to a small cushion and that was enough to knock off Illinois and send their jerk fans walking. Final Score: Bradley 72, Illinois 68.

Bet the top 25 ranked Illini did not figure on losing both games in the desert. This is a testament to top 25 rankings before a season even starts being completely useless.

Second game of the night was a yawner. Utah came off its upset over Illinois, Oklahoma State handled Bradley pretty well. Utah hit a few shots to start the game, but it was over by the time the buzzer sounded for halftime. OSU guards are small, but damn fast, and the combination of Luca Drca and Carlon Brown could not keep them in front of the defense. Jim Boylen was fired up as usual, drew a technical early in the 1st half (looking to fire up the troops), but just couldn’t get it going. Down almost 20 at the half, the second half was more of the same. Couple spurts in either direction, but nothing of great note. Utah is pretty young. Had their squad from last year been matched up against the speed and strength of OSU, I think it would have been a different story. Boylen has a good thing going in Utah though, and the Utes should be in the top half of the MWC again this year. Final Score: Oklahoma State 77, Utah 55.

In addition I watched two brutal games before the “prime-time” games yesterday. Wofford vs Southern and Seattle vs Presbyterian. Seattle has some Juco transfer who is an absolute beast. He’s like 6′10″ and still handles the ball up the floor, backs his guy down and shoots the ball. It’d be like putting Kevin Garnett on the floor. Just odd to watch, but interesting nonetheless. Seattle beat Presbyterian 67-63, and Wofford beat Southern 81-66. Incidentally, I did catch the last 4 minutes of the “title” game between Wofford and Seattle. Wofford won with a great defensive stand on the last play of the game, denying Seattle’s KG a shot after he had previously missed two FT’s and got the rebound, slammed it home to take a 1 point game. Wofford nailed a shot, giving Seattle’s monster man a shot, but it was not to be. Wofford 84, Seattle 83 (Look at the box score. Charles Garcia has 41 points on 24 shots, and also shot 18 FT’s. 1 assist).

That is it for my basketball weekend. Four more games on Friday, Three and a half (lol) on Saturday, and one last Wednesday puts my total at 11. It was a long weekend of basketball watching. Today I am settling back into my normal routine for the work week ahead. UNLV is on an extended road trip because of the rodeo coming to town. Dar. My next game will be when Sam is in town, and we head back to the Orleans Arena to watch UNLV take on Kansas State.

I’ll chime in again sometime this week with a few observances around the world of college basketball instead of whats going on in my little sports bubble. In closing, shame on you Illinois fans, and shout out to UNLV. Let the buzz begin.