Tuesday round-up

UNLV Runnin' Rebels Finding Their Stride, Look to Create Some March Madness
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/622607-ncaa-tournament-unlv-rebels-find-its-stride-look-to-create-some-march-madness

Photoshop of imagined court designs -- scroll midway down, see attempt at UNLV (heavy on the girls, light on the strip)
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/Eight-Oregon-style-court-designs-that-may-make-y?urn=ncaab-319774


Some data experiments:

Player Impact from Wyoming v UNLV

NCAA Basketball Stats

Team scoring trend so far this season

College Basketball

Players stats analysis for season

NCAA Basketball

Projected 7 Seed now!

http://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/bracketology?ttag=BG11_bracketolgy_tv_0001
Looks like there has been an update, CBS Sports has UNLV as a 7th seed!

Additionally, they are predicting 4 MWC teams get in, Colorado State over New Mexico for the last bid, BYU to win the MWC Tournament

Other braket prediction sites:

http://www.bracketography.com/
UNLV as a 9

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology
UNLV as an 8

http://ncaabasketballpredictions.blogspot.com/
UNLV as a 7

http://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-tournament/bracket-projection/bracketography
UNLV as a 9

UNLV's offensive production continues over Wyoming; Win 90-77

Updated 10:13 am 2/27/11

Positives
+ UNLV put up 90 points, hard to lose when you score 90!
+ Offensive production was evenly spread throughout lineup
+ Three point buckets early and often in this game
+ 55% shooting, 41% 3-point shooting
+ large turn-out even though lackluster opponent (15,000 +)
+ Senior night

Negatives
- sloppy or lazy ball handling / passing leading to turnovers
- limited minutes for Carlos Lopez
- Massamba not proving he deserves Lopez's minutes
- living and dying by the 3 point shot, luckily in our favor
- lack of interior offense
- lack of fast breaks, team much more comfortable in the half-court offense
- Wyoming given too many second chance points on offensive rebounding
- allowed Wyoming to put up 77 points on our home floor

Locals
LV Sun
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/27/unlv-wyoming-game-022711/
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/26/unlv-wyoming-blog-022611/

LVRJ
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/wyoming-at-unlv-116992663.html

UNLV Website (AP)
http://www.unlvrebels.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/022711aab.html

National
The Sports Network
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/27/2685242/recap-u-n-l-v-vs-wyoming.html


Wyoming
UNLV Blitzes Wyoming early en route to 13 point victory
http://trib.com/college/wyoming/article_f7571e1f-1b8c-5359-9d06-97843b9c9424.html

UNLV 90, Wyoming 77: "That would have been a 40-point game in the past"

http://trib.com/news/opinion/blogs/cowboys/article_13f8dbe1-4743-528c-87c5-287317bec426.html

Wyoming Notebook: Cowboys crash offensive boards in loss to UNLV
http://trib.com/college/wyoming/article_09f70b43-2ef8-55e2-a8eb-ed0b19ee99ec.html

Prediction on Wyoming game

Websites are predicting UNLV by 16.5-17 points tomorrow over Wyoming.

While I hope that is true and know we will win the game, the last time we won by more than 15 points was January 8 against TCU at the T&M.

This will be a good test to see whether we're focused on the opponent at hand, or forward looking to the tourney....

Focus on every possession, every assignment, every stop, and preventing transition buckets.

Go Rebels, destroy the Cowboys!

Continuing the K-State series and more

After the win at K-State Coach Kruger was asked about the possibility of continuing our series (and rivalry) with Kansas State, to which he said he would welcome it.

Frank Martin said the same during that unusual post-game press conference, where he essentially was ready to fight the media.

Here's an article from Kansas mentioning some traction on the issue

http://campuscorner.kansascity.com/node/1685

They mention a home or neutral site meeting vs UNLV.

Those punks! Only fair that we rotate and they should dare play us at home this time, this is tantamount to calling The Orleans a "neutral site" which it is clearly not. We play them in Kansas, they should come back to Nevada and play us here.

In other schedule news, in case you missed it we are part of the field of the Las Vegas Invitational basketball tournament at The Orleans next season, November 25-26. The schools include:
North Carolina Tarheels, UNLV, USC, University of South Carolina, Morgan State, Cal. Poly., Mississippi Valley, and Tennessee State.

http://www.orleanscasino.com/event-calendar/las-vegas-invitational

Our next opponent - Wyoming Cowboys

Recaps from their recent home-win over Air Force

Point totals	1	2	T
AFA	18	43	61
WYO	29	34	63

ESPN
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310542751

What Rebels need to think about when playing Wyoming Saturday at the Mack:

- Amath M'baye had a career high 27 points on 11-15 shooting. His average this season is 11.2 PPG, play excellent defense on him but only inside the arc, he's a 15% 3-point shooter. He's also 6'9" so likely keep Lopez, Massamba, or Thomas on him most of the game.

- Although the Cowboys lost when we played them in Laramie on January 25, Desmar Jackson dropped 17 on us. Good defensive assignment for Stanback / Willis.

- Don't play down to their level. Too often this season we've played to the level of the competition, be it up (SDSU) or down (Air Force). It's our house, and this is our last game here until the conference tournament. We need to win with authority to gain and keep our confidence heading into a likely 1st round match-up with New Mexico, and then subsequent meetings with likely foes BYU and SDSU.

Obvious win for UNLV

Fantastic Win!!

- Willis returns to old form, performs big-time
- Rebels continue 3-point accuracy from CSU game
- Quintrell Thomas is "tha man", difference maker grabs massive rebounds, hits most of foul shots
- Ref's suck! call what seems like 10 fouls in a row against rebels early in 2nd half
- Rebels show grit, pull out hard win in OT at The Pit

- Doesn't change our ranking in the conference (more separation from CSU) or nationally, but gives us much needed confidence winding up the season and into the MWC tourney

Video highlights courtesy of the Lobos:
http://www.golobos.com/allaccess/?media=232739

Video courtesy of CBS Sports:





ESPN
http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310540167

Associated Press
http://www.kspr.com/sports/sns-bc-bkc--unlv-newmexico,0,799242.story

Beacher Report

UNLV Stamps Ticket to NCAA Big Dance in OT Win Over New Mexico Lobos at the Pit

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/618668-ncaa-bubble-unlv-stamps-its-ticket-to-the-big-dance-in-ot-win-at-the-pit

Daily Lobo
http://www.dailylobo.com/index.php/article/2011/02/overtime_angst


Locals
LV Sun
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/23/unlv-unm-blog-022311/

LVRJ
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/unlv-at-new-mexico-116780983.html

Laramie Boomerang?

http://www.laramieboomerang.com/articles/2011/02/22/sports/doc4d63484a8ced6641288068.txt

- Looks like new coach Fred Langley trying symbolic acts to get his team motivated to play - do as Kruger does

- Little bit about UNLV / CSU game, Tim Miles comments after game

- Preview of BYU vs SDSU, an example of words that take up space, yet say very little

Sun's power rankings

http://www.lasvegassun.com/blogs/greene-room/2011/feb/22/mountain-west-hoops-power-rankings-feb-22/allcomments/
I like that Ryan Greene serves this collumn up without bias.

Rebels are squarely in 3rd in conference play.

I would have put Wyoming behind TCU, but a debate about "who sucks more" really isn't worth the trouble :)

Breakdown and prediction of UNLV -vs- New Mexico

http://tv.donbest.com/ncaab/ncaab-rebels-lobos-3075/

1:51 video spot breaking down the game
- analysis mainly highlights New Mexico's recent woes
- says coach important, Kruger winner over Alford
- odds are New Mexico by 2, but analyst picks Rebels for win
- worth watching

MWC Tourney preview

Obviously "Associated Content" grows tired of the rest of the conference schedule and looks ahead to the MWC tournament for something worth writing about.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/7775412/mountain_west_tourney_preview_jimmer.html?cat=68

On the positive side, they give much kudos to Coach Kruger and say that we and Colorado State are likely to provide a chance to upset San Diego State and/or BYU.

RPI

According to realtimerpi.com, UNLV has the 26th best RPI in the nation. Here is how the MWC stacks up:

SDSU #2
BYU #3
UNLV #26
CSU #47
NM #87
Air Force #94
Utah #108
TCU #186
Wyoming #279

http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_Men.html

Lowest possible # 345
Decision to fire Wyoming's coach - warranted.

Our next opponent - NM lost at home

http://www.kob.com/article/stories/S1982472.shtml?cat=502
(with video)

New Mexico Done In By Utah Buzzer Beater, 62-60 - NM Official website
http://www.golobos.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/022011aaa.html

I wonder how they'll respond after this unexpected loss at home

All that is bracket predictions

Bracketography - UNLV as a 10
www.bracketography.com/

ESPN - UNLV as an 8
http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/bracketology

Bracketblog - UNLV as an 8
http://ncaabasketballpredictions.blogspot.com/

Teamrankings.com - UNLV as an 8 (lots of other interesting data here)
http://www.teamrankings.com/ncaa-tournament/bracket-projection/bracketography

Foxsports - UNLV as an 8
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/NCAA-tournament-bracket-prediction-021411

UNLV vs. CSU

Recaps of UNLV vs. Colorado State:

Locals:
LV Sun
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2011/feb/20/unlv-csu-game-022011/

LVRJ
http://www.lvrj.com/sports/unlv-at-colorado-state-116540388.html

Not Local
"The Sports Network"
http://www.kansascity.com/2011/02/192668432/recap-colorado-state-vs-u-n-l.html

UNLV builds tournament credentials with road win over Colorado State  - AP

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310500036

Rams tourney hopes take hit with home loss - Coloradoan.com
http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20110220/SPORTS/110219021/Rams-tourney-hopes-take-hit-with-home-loss

Rams suffer damaging home loss to UNLV 68-61 - Denver Post
http://www.denverpost.com/csu/ci_17433341

CSU Misses chance against UNLV 68-61 - CSURams official website
http://www.csurams.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/021911aab.html


My take:

UNLV came out and played the same as they did against Air Force in the first half. Fortunately, the first half was forgettable and UNLV started making the 3-point baskets that previously had not been falling in.

Had it not been for the 3 pointers, UNLV would have lost this game, The Rams did not play poorly.

UNLV controlled tempo well, did not turn the ball over excessively, and the block leading to an ally-opp play was one of the most exciting of the season.

I am excited by the Rebels confidence in the three point shot, and just hope that someday soon (MWC Tourney) they can learn to shoot well in the T&M once again.

Observations:
1. Hope Willis' knee isn't more than slightly tweaked, we need his production in order to win basketball games.
2. Looks like Massamba is out of the dog house, got more minutes than last game.
3. Jasper still not looking to shoot, his stat line is 0 for 0 (0 points), 1 D rebound, 2 fouls. I know the college game isn't as stat-flush as NBA, but I'd like to see the + - Jasper in/out of the game.

Looking forward to Wednesday against New Mexico at the Pit.

First Post

Hello Rebel Fans

This website is dedicated to those of you who are yearning for another source of Rebel news. I will try my best to supply links to all stories about our Rebels, as well occasional commentary on games. Enjoy!