UNLV - The Return to Glory

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The Rise and Fall of UNLV
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April 2, 1990, The Running Rebels are on the brink of finishing a historic season. The minutes passed. The lead kept expanding.It started at 10. Then grew to 13. Then 18. Then 23. Then 28. Then 34 before finally coming to rest at 30. Thirty. That was UNLV’s margin of victory in the 1990 NCAA basketball championship game over Duke in a record-setting 103-73 performance by the Rebels. That happened 26 years ago — April 2, 1990. The fact the Rebels won that night at McNichols Sports Arena in Denver wasn’t shocking. Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s team had been playing at a high level entering the NCAA Tournament and was the West Region’s No. 1. UNLV had survived a close call against Ball State, winning 69-67 in the regional semifinal, and rallied from seven points down at halftime to defeat Georgia Tech 90-81 in the national semifinal.

Still, there was one game remaining. Duke, the No. 3 seed in the East, had handled Arkansas 97-83 in the other semifinal. But UNLV was a confident team as it stepped onto the court for the final time in the 1989-90 season. Every player and coach thought the Rebels were good enough to beat the Blue Devils.But 103-73? No one, not Tarkanian and his players, not former NFL star Walter Payton, who had given the team a pregame pep talk, not Dick Vitale, the ESPN announcer who had jumped on the UNLV bandwagon, not the 17,765 who were in the building, thought this would be a blowout, much less an NCAA record — that still stands — for the largest margin of victory in a title game.

The Duke and UNLV would play again in the final four of 1991. And UNLV had reason to be confident entering the game. The Runnin' Rebels were the defending national champions on a 45-game winning streak. In their quest to be the first undefeated men's college basketball champion since the 1975-76 Indiana Hoosiers. UNLV had obliterated the so-called competition. 32 of their 34 victories were by double digits. And their opponent in the Final Four was the same team they had defeated 103-73 in the previous year's national championship. Only it didn't happen. Duke led by Christian Latener and Grant Hill beat UNLV 79-77. A loss that would haunt UNLV.

Quote:

"Beating that UNLV team was a pivotal moment in Duke basketball history," Grant Hill says. "It legitimized us as a serious program. We became a great program at that moment."

Both programs went on wildly divergent paths following the eventful March night. With NCAA sanctions banning UNLV from postseason play, Tarkanian announced in June 1991 that he would resign after the upcoming season. The Runnin' Rebels have had one Sweet Sixteen appearance since 1991. Duke, meanwhile, won five National Championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015)

[RolePlayer]

UNLV Hire Abraham Nickelberry
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In a shocker today, UNLV hire AAU and High-school coach Abraham Nickelberry, over several other candidates. Abraham Nickelberry coached for the extremely successful Nevada Stacked AAU team and the also successful high school Churchill Catholic Private School. Nickelberry held a record of 489-118 in his 7 years coaching AAU and high school basketball. Nickelberry is a coach that is praised for his adaptable coaching style. Nickelberry has been able to Coach teams comprised of mostly inside scorers as well as teams of dangerous shooters.

Nickelberry will be going into a difficult job however. By becoming the Coach of the Runnin' Rebels he gains the daunting task of figuring out how to rebuild the once great program. UNLV has gone through four coaches in the last year alone and lost 5 players to the NBA even though they finished a abysmal 18-15.

[RolePlayer]

Season One Preview

Ranking the Mountin West

6. UNLV Runnin' Rebels

UNLV Runnin’ Rebels

Last Season record: 18-15, 8-10 in the Mountain West

Head coach: Abraham Nickelberry

Career coaching record: 0-0

Home court: Thomas & Mack Center

Overview: UNLV began last season 7-1 with impressive wins against Oregon and Indiana. But from there on, the Runnin' Rebels have been in disarray. After losing five of their next six games and falling to 0-3 in conference play, UNLV fired head coach Dave Rice. Under assistant coach Todd Simon, the Runnin' Rebels showed little improvement and were bounced in the second round of the Mountain West conference tournament.

But Rice's fire pales in comparison to the ripples UNLV's coaching search sent throughout the college basketball world this offseason. After setting their sights on Arkansas Little-Rock head coach Chris Beard and agreeing with Beard on an offer, the Runnin' Rebels were stunned by Beard's decision to immediately leave the program for an offer at Texas Tech.

Under Nickelberry, UNLV will look for stability on and off the court as the program loses most of its players from last year's team. Guard Patrick McCaw and forwards Stephen Zimmerman and Derrick Jones Jr. all left for the NBA Draft and with the graduation of the Runnin' Rebels' seniors, UNLV is left without its top seven scorers from a season ago.

The Runnin' Rebels will look to rebuild with lots of young talent. Leadership will be crucial as UNLV brings in six new freshmen to play beside Dwayne Morgan and Kris Clyburn. If the Runnin' Rebels can navigate this season without any further bumps in the road, UNLV should be able to begin a likely long rebuild under Nickelberry.

The Runnin' Rebels will vist Duke to start of the year.

One thing that needs to go right: UNLV plays an exciting up-tempo style of basketball and gets strong performances from its freshmen in Nickberry's first year at the helm.

One thing that could go wrong: The Runnin' Rebels struggle to play consistent defense and have trouble developing a rhythm on offense due to the influx of newcomers.

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Stats under Abraham Nickelberry

Seasons:





Conference Regular Season Championships:



Conference Tournament Championships:



National Championships:



Tournament Bids:



Awards

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Depth Chart Year 1:

UNLV - Runnin' Rebels Depth Chart - 2016-17
	STARTER	2ND	3RD	4TH
PG	Jaylen Poser	Jaylen Ballou	Jordan Johnson
SG	Kris Clyburn	Zion Morgan
SF	Dwayne Morgan	Ben Coutpet
PF	Troy Baxter	Tyrell Green
C	Cheickna Dembele	Foye Sljivancanin

[RolePlayer]

Settings for this:
Open Legacy
Custom Sliders
14 Minute half
Using 2016-17 rosters

For the sake of speed I plan on playing all the big games I have. I will also play the whole conference tournament and if we make it March Madness. All the games I do play will have the whole story from first half to second and with a player of the game. The games I sim will have just the score and a few key stats.

Thanks.

[RolePlayer]

Game Preview

Game Notes:Friday marks the beginning of UNLV's 2016-17 basketball campaign as well as the return of one of the biggest rivalries back in the day. The Rebels are banking in on a tall team with great athleticism and speed. They also have several elite shooters. But for all that offensive talent they lack defense. And this could be a huge problem against #2 ranked Duke who comes into the game with a array of top 30 players.

[LopaKa]

Looking forward to this bro. Ever since I've moved to Vegas I've become a closet UNLV fan. Excited for this one bro