Rebels’ Lon Kruger holds open door at Transfer U

Vince Lombardi: “If it doesn’t matter who wins or loses, why do they keep score?”

Gotta love it.

The attitude exists within sports far more now than when Lombardi preached it, and college basketball is hardly exempt. A television network didn’t pay $6 billion over 11 years for the rights to the NCAA Tournament because nobody cares.

It’s an enormous business. It’s about winning, and programs do what they must to maximize their opportunity.

In the case of UNLV recently, that means opening its doors to those players not content with their initial college experience.

Transfer U? The roster is looking more and more like it, and that would have raised eyebrows 15 years ago. But now, a kid leaving one school for another is as ordinary as apparel contracts.

It doesn’t draw a second glance. Transfer U is no longer assigned to just a handful of schools. Many own the label.

“Absolutely,” UNLV coach Lon Kruger said. “Before, people might have looked at transfers as ‘What’s wrong with them?’ Now, it’s commonplace. For sure, there used to be a stigma attached to transferring.

“Today, it’s not even an issue. People can make what they want of it. The reality is, it’s far more acceptable and easier than it used to be.”

Get better. It’s the annual goal of every program, from the depths of Sacramento State to the euphoria of North Carolina. It’s a cutthroat sort of world. Improve or vanish. Middle grounds are for those who don’t win enough.

The Rebels next season will have four players on scholarship who began their careers at other Division I programs, all of national prominence. One (Tre’Von Willis) averaged 11.4 points as a sophomore for UNLV last season after arriving from Memphis.

Two others (Derrick Jasper of Kentucky and Chace Stanback of UCLA) sat out 2008-09 and are now eligible.

A fourth (Quintrell Thomas of Kansas) recently announced his intention to enroll at UNLV and sit out the upcoming season.

A fifth (Steve Jones of Arizona State) is not on scholarship, but is now eligible for a senior season.

When is enough enough?

I’m not sure there is such a thing with transfers if it means your team is better and doesn’t eventually implode from defective chemistry.

Coaches can’t talk recruiting without talking relationships, and the Rebels were among the final few choices for all of their transfers except Stanback. Even then, they were in the mix early. They knew these players. Knew their backgrounds. Their families. Their strengths and weaknesses.

It’s a critical part of the equation. Kids transfer for all sorts of reasons, but a lack of playing time remains the leading cause. They know their eligibility clocks like they do their favorite food, and when their minutes don’t match expectations, they begin shopping for a new home.

Patience isn’t an option for either coach or player any longer. Most of those who departed elsewhere for UNLV were recruited over at their previous stops. Better players were signed.

It’s not personal. It happens at UNLV as it does a place like Kansas, which is why the likes of Troy Cage and DeShawn Mitchell left the Rebels in recent times. You can’t rip Bill Self at Kansas for landing better talent than Thomas if you don’t take the same shots at Kruger.

Neither coach is wrong, and it doesn’t matter if you recruit over a player one week or one month or one year after he arrives. It’s just part of it. You do what you can do to get better or get left behind.

But how do you ensure a kid coming from a Top 25 program embraces your system? How does Kruger blend egos and avoid selfish habits by players who since grade school have been told how terrific they are? How does he convince a player from the Big 12 or Pac-10 or Southeastern Conference that goals are the same at a Mountain West school and their work ethic should match them?

Easy. You don’t change a thing.

“It’s really not something we worry about because our expectations are the same for all our recruits,” Kruger said. “We expect to make the NCAA Tournament and advance against the best teams in the country every year. I think they all enjoy that challenge. There have been several (possible transfers) who have inquired about coming here that we didn’t pursue. We don’t jump at every prospect.

“As for all the other stuff, players will always determine their roles for us by how they prepare and perform. If they line up and make shots, we’ll encourage that. If they don’t, we’ll encourage them to rebound and set picks. I think with most transfers, they see it as a last shot opportunity.”

UNLV is giving those last shots more and more.

A good thing for the Rebels?

Sure, as long as they win.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at 702-383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.