Special group of players proves Kruger has rebuilt program
OMAHA, Neb.
Lon Kruger had a question for Brad Rothermel four years ago: Is there enough potential for UNLV to win the national championship in basketball again?
Kruger’s close friend and the one who convinced the coach to lead the Rebels said he couldn’t think of a reason why not.
UNLV today still stands several county lines from realizing such a moment, and odds are it might never, but what was a foundering team Kruger inherited is again a successful program.
There is a difference, and it is substantial.
The Rebels on Saturday learned the distinction between elite ability and most everyone else, losing to top-seeded Kansas 75-56 in a second-round NCAA Tournament Midwest Regional game at the Qwest Center.
These teams could play 10 times and the outcome wouldn’t change much. It’s no coincidence UNLV’s two worst shooting games this season came against Louisville and Kansas, against the type of athletes the Rebels simply aren’t yet equipped to handle over 40 minutes.
There’s no shame in it for UNLV, which in winning 27 times and advancing to a second straight NCAA field set an important standard for those who will follow.
That part matters most today, not a 19-point loss in what was a competitive game for just over a half. If making the tournament becomes an annual voyage for UNLV, future teams should point to this one as the reason for such achievement.
“This group, when you look back on it, maybe will have established that program feeling as opposed to reaching (the Sweet 16) last year and then dropping back or just occasionally coming up with a good team,” Kruger said. “This group really solidified what we’re after.
“It put next year’s group in position to go ahead and make progress from what they did. That doesn’t necessarily mean more wins. There will be very high expectations and, for sure, that will be a little bit of a trap. But we wouldn’t want it any other way. It’s a healthy pressure.”
Discovering a hint of reality among the hopes and dreams of passionate fans is more difficult than finding anyone outside Durham, N.C., who was upset Duke lost Saturday. Reaching the tournament is tough enough. Reaching a Final Four is unbelievably so.
It’s about talent and matchups and seedings and incredible fortune. You can make the argument that luck is as much part of the equation as anything. It’s best to think of such a feat as an average guy hoping to pick up the swimsuit model — not likely, and yet there is always that tiny chance his opening line could prove golden.
The program part is what should always be a primary goal, because in that you give yourself an annual chance to win NCAA games. If that means catching magic and advancing deeper and deeper into the bracket every now and then, all the better.
“I’m leaving a high-collegiate basketball program,” senior guard Curtis Terry said. “To get back to the tournament after some of the things we went through and to win a game and then battle a team like Kansas for more than a half shows Coach Kruger and his staff has this thing going.
“This has been the most fun of my life. I’m sad to have played my last game, but I’m excited to see what these guys are going to do in the future. I see nothing but great things for them.”
A team loses four starters and doesn’t have the conviction to recover for some time. A program responds by exhibiting the resiliency to win another conference tournament and return to the NCAAs.
A team undergoes two player dismissals and another departing in midseason and folds under the nightly task of playing amazingly small. A program fights and claws and refuses to allow such negatives any place in the process.
UNLV will be different next season. New faces. Young ones. Bigger bodies. A tough early schedule. A far more competitive conference. The Rebels could prove better than this year and still not win 27 games, a daunting number for anyone.
But none of it will temper the hype and expectations, which undoubtedly will be too high before a shot is taken. It’s a good problem to have and sure beats the alternative. It means you’re no longer a team.
It means you’re again a program, and those who cheer the Rebels have a certain bunch to thank for that today.
“People love their basketball at UNLV, and you want to be in a place like that,” Kruger said. “That’s part of what this team did. I couldn’t be more proud of what this group has done.”
It’s one to be remembered.
Ed Graney’s column is published Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday. He can be reached at 383-4618 or egraney@reviewjournal.com.
