1990 Rebels would win it this year, too

It was 20 years ago today when Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. And Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, David Butler, Moses Scurry, Travis Bice the 3-point specialist, and a couple of other guys who didn’t play very much climbed a ladder at McNichols Arena in Denver to snip the nets after the Rebels destroyed Duke 103-73 to win the NCAA basketball championship.

The actual date was April 2, 1990. It seems like only yesterday, isn’t that what they always say, and to those who were there or watching on TV as Brent Musburger and Billy Packer counted down the final seconds, UNLV’s one shining moment hasn’t lost its glimmer.

Yet there are realities to consider. Kristen Stewart, the actress, was born a week after the Rebels won the title, and Buster Douglas was wearing a huge belt around his equally huge midriff, having shocked the world by knocking out Mike Tyson two months earlier. Anybody know if that hot-tub time machine works against Father Time’s full-court press?

When I popped a DVD copy of the UNLV championship game into the Blu-Ray player, everything looked low-definition except Jim Nantz’s hair. Valerie Bertinelli was still Barbara Cooper cute and starring in a sitcom called “Sydney.” The Apple computer advertised during the pregame show was bigger than Buster Douglas’ title belt and midriff combined. It looked large enough to launch a rocket to Pluto, still a planet then.

When the game tipped off, none of the players was sporting tattoos and all were wearing relatively short shorts and white socks. Michigan’s Fab Five were still juniors in high school. Brent and Billy were marveling over what a physical specimen Larry Johnson was, though he looked svelte by today’s standards.

Bobby Hurley, the Duke point guard, looked frightened. That was just as I remembered.

When I mentioned I would watch the replay of the 1990 title game and write about which of this year’s Final Four teams would give those Rebels the hardest time, it took a colleague roughly a nanosecond to respond.

“None of them.”

I agree. Although that Duke team wasn’t as good as the next year’s, neither were the Rebels, and UNLV still won by 30.

UNLV did not win by 30 the next year. It lost by two. Bobby Hurley didn’t look nearly as frightened. In fact, he looked pretty confident, and you’ve got to give him that. Still, there is no explaining it. I was there in Indianapolis and I still can’t explain it. Buster Douglas beats Mike Tyson. Northern Iowa beats Kansas. Bucknell beats Kansas. Bradley beats Kansas. Lots of people beat Kansas.

Suffice it to say stuff happens when the basketball gods hang a peach basket on the wall and choose sides.

UNLV lost five games during the championship year, three to Kansas, Oklahoma and Louisiana State, which were like looking in the mirror, one to New Mexico State and one to UC Santa Barbara. I’m still not sure how the Rebels lost to New Mexico State. UCSB won by controlling tempo and playing good defense. The Gauchos almost beat the Rebels at the Thomas & Mack Center that year, too, losing 69-67. Teams that controlled tempo and played good defense gave UNLV fits from time to time, which would explain why the Rebels’ closest call in the NCAA Tournament came against Ball State. UNLV also won that one, 69-67.

Butler and Michigan State control tempo and play good defense. West Virginia doesn’t control tempo but the Mountaineers are as tough as the dirt under that Pittsnogle guy’s fingernails and their coach wears a jogging suit, like Tony Soprano. Do not bet against a team that Uncle Junior is betting on. That leaves Duke, which gets all the calls from the officials.

So you could make an argument that each of the Final Four teams might give those 1990 Rebels a game. You’d probably lose that argument, but you could make it.

But that was then and this will be then 20 years from now. It will have been 40 years since Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play and the Rebels snipped the nets.

Bobby Hurley will be 58. But if I watch the microchip of that game, I bet he will still look frightened.

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.