Steve Alford has a new job in a new conference with a whole new set of players. Yet he finds himself in a very familiar spot today as he prepares to lead his team into a conference tournament championship game in Las Vegas.
Basketball
UNLV’s basketball team might over the next 24 hours be given the opportunity to continue a season that has delivered more disappointments than not, but the Rebels should deny any and all such inquiries.
A Spalding sports equipment technician armed with lasers showed up recently at the Thomas & Mack Center — and he was on a mission. He was there to make sure the basketball rim and backboard support equipment were properly aligned and connected into a special Mountain West court floor. But he was also there to change Thomas & Mack’s look and convert the venue into a neutral site.
UNLV’s Khem Birch courageously played through pain and laid it all on the line. But the Rebels went out with a whimper anyway, getting knocked out of the Mountain West tournament Friday night while resembling a dispirited and dysfunctional mess in the process.
In a game during which San Diego State was determined to take away UNLV’s big-man tandem of Khem Birch and Roscoe Smith, the Rebels’ guards had an opportunity to seize the moment and carry the team into the Mountain West tournament championship game. Didn’t happen. Never had a chance.
Not that New Mexico needed any extra motivation. But when San Diego State’s win over UNLV went final, the Lobos knew what they had to do.
They could have played all day.
The origin dates to Elizabeth Barrett Browning in 1839. The line was later listed as “The third time is lucky.” UNLV doesn’t need such fortune Friday night. But it better be a whole lot smarter than it was Thursday.
Believe it or not, it’s not all about underdog stories in March. Sometimes, it’s about a survival of the favorites, such as Kansas, which escaped early elimination by following freshman leader Andrew Wiggins.
Most businesses would be too timid to mention the word “madness” in any March ad campaign. But not longtime car salesman Jim Marsh. In fact, the 80-year-old Kia dealership owner practically pokes the NCAA bear by rolling out an annual “Marsh Madness” ad campaign every spring.
Noah Robotham wasn’t the first player you noticed when Bishop Gorman’s boys basketball team took the floor for pregame warmups this season.
At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Mallory McGwire stands out on a basketball floor.
They’ve cut down the nets the past two years at the Thomas &Mack Center, and the New Mexico Lobos appear poised for another climb up the ladder come Saturday.
Arizona star guard Nick Johnson has proven during his three years in Tucson that he can do almost anything on a basketball court. He even added cheerleader to that list during a 71-39 win over Utah in the quarterfinals of the Pac-12 tournament on Thursday.
Holton Hunsaker tallied 24 points and seven assists, and top-seeded Utah Valley shot better than 70 percent from the floor Thursday in an 83-63 victory over No. 8 Texas-Pan American in the quarterfinals of the Western Athletic Conference basketball tournament at Orleans Arena.
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