Continue reading »]]> After reading Rhett’s post lamenting the irritating nature of the BYU fans at the Mountain West tournament I was instantly sympathetic to his plight. However after some reflection I feel that it must be pointed out that all college basketball phenomena are at some level annoying to the hard-core fan. BYU fans are a bit goofier than most and carry their LDS persecution complex with them into athletics, however ignorance of the sport that they are infatuated with is not unique to the faithful in Provo.

Larger fan bases always have a fair amount of bandwagon fans who come along for the ride when times are good. This is amplified considerably when things are arguably as good as they have ever been. In the case of BYU this isn’t a team just making a run at a conference title, this is a team with the POY, top line seed credentials and national exposure unseen since Jim McMahon was playing QB for the football team in the mid 80′s. BYU basketball is a cultural event in LDS circles in the region and beyond. It is a genuine phenomenon. UNLV, New Mexico, Colorado State, etc… are simply basketball programs having seasons that will attract basketball fans of the school. There is no bandwagon effect and thus no bandwagon fans to become annoyed with.

At Ole Miss there are a few thousand hardcore fans that comprise the season ticket base. These fans are basically knowledgeable and restrained. During a mid week game in February against Auburn when there were less than 3,000 people in the stands, the crowd was respectful and uninspired. A few weeks earlier when Kentucky was in town with 3,000 fans of their own, the Ole Miss faithful were nowhere near respectful. They were boisterous, obnoxious, and overly vocal with the referees. The rarely full student section started the “bull shit,” chant over a pretty obvious traveling call and there were audible boos after nearly every unfriendly whistle.  After the win over Kentucky an editorial in the Daily Mississippian was dedicated to how much fun that game was compared to most others and musing that if fans showed up with that kind of energy every game the basketball team would be more successful.

Unless you have a basketball program with a 50+ year bandwagon like UCLA, Kentucky, North Carolina, or Kansas you are going to get free riders that come out only for the big time games when a program is successful to comprise the bulk of a following. When you have a basketball program experiencing a phenomenal once in a generation type run such as Georgetown in the early 80’s or UNLV in the early 90’s you are going to get non basketball fans and people unaffiliated with the University who identify culturally with what they think the program represents. This is healthy for the sport and helps us to look back with a greater appreciation for how special an era of college basketball was. After all crossover success in any genre is a metric of success.

In the case of the 2010-11 BYU Cougars you have a community, a fan base, and a faith all of which are a bit different than what most of us are used to becoming enthralled with the fortunes of a college basketball program. This is I’m sure annoying to be around if you don’t have any particular affinity for BYU. It is however ultimately better for the sport when there are people out there caring about it. Those goofy Mormon families at the Thomas & Mack are equivalent to the inner city kids wearing Georgetown vinyl jackets in 1982, or Gucci Row at the T&M during Tark’s era. They are a fleeting group of uber bandwagoners who are experiencing something memorable.  Deep down we all want our program to experience something like that.

Rhett’s post is exceptionally titled. The BYU fans that he was talking about don’t deserve Jimmer Fredette. We the hardcore fans of X program deserve this kind of thing to happen for us! Until it does all we can do is wait and hate and realize that when and if our time finally does come we are going to have a whole bunch of new friends in the building with us along for the ride. And trust me as a former season ticket holder at Eastern Michigan where you can watch a game with literally a few hundred of your closest friends and hardcore hoops fans, there is something electric about a full and rocking arena. Even if it is full of johnny come latelys and rocking with the noise of the confused.

Continue reading »]]> At the start of this basketball season, I surveyed the Mountain West because I am a fan of it by default. I live in Las Vegas. I am a friend of the program here in town. UNLV will be my alma matter when all is said and done and I am vested to my neck in it’s basketball program.

I knew San Diego State would be good. They were amazing last year, and that team did not lose anybody of note. I figured New Mexico would be down after losing Hobson and a few other important pieces. I also figured BYU would take a half step back losing a couple of key players and some front court depth.

I was wrong.

I cannot stand BYU. Really. Jimmer personifies what BYU is in a basketball player with the way he plays. I did not think it was possible for him to carry his team the way he has. Last night his performance over SDSU was amazing. They were at home, which helps a ton, but that shouldn’t take away from the performance. San Diego State had received a ton of acolades over the previous weeks, and deservingly so. Now, it’s BYU’s conference until the return trip to San Diego. That leaves plenty of time for BYU to Jimmer the rest of the conference and make me sick to my stomach.

Anyways, here I am. I penciled UNLV in as an easy #2 in the conference. Gimme my crow. I’ll eat some of it.

Until the Rebels make their way to Provo next week that is.

Continue reading »]]> While Christmas time gives Tourney time a run for its money, in the end it loses out, as tournament style college basketball is the greatest thing on this planet.

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.

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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.

Continue reading »]]> The MAC West looks like its going to CMU. The Chips have a 3 game lead as WMU and NIU have faded during cross divisional play. Eastern Michigan will probably have a sub .500 conference record as they continue to drop winnable home games, and I am quickly becoming frustrated with the prospects of the conference to crown a champion capable of winning an NCAA tournament game.

Michigan State played a terrible game and was thoroughly out classed by Wisconsin. Kalin Lucas rolls his ankle and might be out for the seasons most pivotal stretch (@Illinois, and Purdue). If they don’t win the Big Ten regular season after starting 9-0 then they should make Paul Davis an honorary captain during the Big Ten tournament, and probably shouldn’t be expecting a deep run in March. The notion that everything will be all right in March is an over estimate in East Lansing. State really hasn’t been playing good basketball for the last month, and I don’t believe Tom Izzo can just have them flip a switch. I really hope they don’t fade down the stretch because this is a likable collection of players, but after the debacle in Madison I have my concerns.

Rhett assures me that Lon Kruger will step up today and stop the Mormons from running away with the Mountain West. Let’s see if Jimmer can carry his sprite drinking, polygamist practicing, Orrin Hatch voting, door to door bothering, 25 year olds to victory in a hostile and sin filled environment.

I need wins by UNLV, Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, and Michigan State today to feel good about the direction of this season. I’ll take 3-1 but anything less than that and my worries will continue. I’ll be at the Convo in a few hours cheering on EMU against Ohio U. Hope its worth it.

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It was fun while it lasted. Time to get back to work.

The past three seasons have been great ones for UNLV Runnin’ Rebel fans. Two tournament appearances, three victories after getting there. One year they lost to a hot shooting Oregon team after getting to the sweet 16. The next year they hung with eventual National Champion Kansas. Coach Lon Kruger was righting the ship, getting his kids to play hard defense, team basketball, and believe they could be an elite program.

Well, none of that has changed. Except the post season part.

When you are watching selection Sunday in a few hours, you probably will not see UNLV as one of the chosen 65 to duke it out for the national championship starting this coming week. UNLV, which has wins at Louisville, home against Arizona, Utah, and a season series sweep over BYU, also has lost a slew of horrible games including at TCU, and at Colorado State. They also were beaten three times by San Diego State (including in the first round of the MWC tournament, thus, ending UNLV’s chances to secure an auto-bid to the big dance on their home floor. Guess we won’t have to hear from Steve Alford anymore about how its a sham to have this here in Vegas, even though this is the only way the thing sells tickets, and there is no other practical place to have it. Idiot) and their walking dead gangster coach of a team mentioned in the post below Steve Fisher. In the end, Vegas could not compete with true athletic teams. Due to several subtractions from the program over the past two years for various reasons, the front court is bare. UNLV starts a 3 point shooting, no rebound getting 6’7″ 225 pound Center in Joe Darger, who should not be banging with the big boys on a nightly basis. Their other front court player. Rene Rougeau is 6’6″ and 210. Should be playing a guard spot, and often does on defense. After that, its three point guards in Tre’Von Willis, Oscar Belfield and Wink Adams. Neither one is over 6’4″ and neither one tips the scales past 200 lbs. When they go to the bench, its even worse. With a 7-man rotation they’ve used, the only front court sub has been Mo Rutledge, who rolls out at 6’3″ and 225. No joke. We had a 6’3″ 225 “power forward” guarding player of the year in the conference Luke Nevill, who’s 7’2″.

Now, check a team like San Diego State. Forwards Ryan Amoroso (6’8″), Billy White(6’8″), Tim Shelton(6’7″ and 241), and Lorenzo Wade(6’6″), all out class UNLV on the front line. When you’re grinding it out in conference games with teams that know your system, your style of play, it all comes down to the athletes you put on the floor, and the match-ups between them. That’s why UNLV was able to handle BYU fairly easily, because of the match-ups.

So when you’re filling out your NIT brackets this week, these are the reasons why UNLV will be on there, and not dancing with the rest of the better teams in the country. In some aspects they are deserving to do so, but when it comes down to it, they can’t compete. I’ll highlight what Lon Kruger has done to combat some of this later on this summer.

Continue reading »]]> Today is March 1st. The calendar officially recognizes what is laid out before us, and the basketball gods produced a buffet of basketball for all to enjoy this weekend.

Michigan State @ Illinois -  MSU locked up a piece of the Big Ten season title with a gritty tense win vs a game Illinois team full of freaks with long arms and fast guards. Shout out to Lucas showing up, Morgan getting his mind right, and young Ibok’s playing a hand-full of meaningful minutes vs Wayman Tisdale’s illegitimate 7 foot + son. Great game to watch, and I did not have to break anything against my wall and / or TV. Really want them to finish strong with games @ Indiana and home vs the train makers and they’re host of scrubs with bad backs. Gotta beat these clowns down.

Marquette @ Louisville – Johnny Whitesuits out in full force for the early game. I have enjoyed watching this Marquette team all season long. It’s sad to see them continue on with James on the bench. Some of their swagger is gone. They still hung in the game and had several chances to win it. Louisville is a good basketball team, and they have a nice home crowd. Prolly the team to take a #1 seed should any of the anointed 4 drop a late season game they shouldn’t.

Missouri @ Kansas – Joke of a game. It took all Missouri had to eeek out a win in Columbia a few weeks back. Sharron Collins is insane. No way they were going to drop this game.

Georgetown @ Villanova (Saturday) – Since when has it come down to this? Villanova is good, sure, but why is Georgetown on the outside looking in? They have superior athletes, superior size and supposedly a great coach. The Princeton offense is nice, and its a cute novelty, but it has to go. You run that crap when your team is full of 6’3″ white guys, not 7 foot big men who should be beasting in the pant dunking and drawing fouls. Scrap this crap and go to the basket. It’s just too late for this year, as they’re probably not going to get to the tourney.

Mountain West race has gotten a ton tighter. My last game was BYU @ UNLV, with the Rebels pulling off another impressive win 75-74 (game # 21). They have since lost to Utah and have no shot to win the conference regular season title. It will probably come down to New Mexico and Utah. New Mexico has the easiest schedule left, but Utah is currently 1st. Look for three NCAA bids max from the MWC with Utah and BYU locks. San Diego St. hasn’t played anybody, New Mexico hasn’t either, which should give UNLV the nod based on their non conference victories at Louisville and home vs Arizona. Of course, they will have to win their last two games (at home vs Air Force and at SDSU). UNLV always has the conference tourney in their own back yard, which helps.

Looking forward to the next couple of weeks, you should find me at the WCC tournament, which is held here in Las Vegas at the Orleans Arena. My thanks to the organizers for hooking up the evening start times, which will allow me to get out of work and get there in time. I hope Patrick Mills can get back in time to get some run, as I’d like to see him live.

I should be able to find my way to a few sessions of the MWC tourney held at the Thomas and Mack as well, pending financial situations and whether my wife will wonder where I’ve been. This is Las Vegas you know, no reason to make the ladyfriend suspect.

From there, its off to Philly on Wednesday, March 19th to enjoy the 1st and 2nd rounds of the NCAA tournament. Selection committee, take notice – if BYU is sent to Philadelphia, I will make it my personal goal to make each and every BYU fan enjoy a weekend of living hell. Do not send this curse on them, or myself.