Dantley Walker Article / New ticket packages available

Dantley Walker Article / Update

Recently, I received an update from 2013 recruit Dantley Walker's dad Greg, that a nice article had been published recently (see below) in the Western News. This is worth sharing, since I assume that's not normally a paper people in Vegas read :) .Something new is that Dantley is now serving his mission in Montana temporarily (at least a few months more) and then may be sent somewhere else. Dantley will be finished with his mission in time to attend summer school in 2013. 

New ticket packages available

Now that season tickets for the 2012-13 season have been available for some time, and the season is ever inching towards jump-ball, mini-plans have been announced for those who either cannot afford season tickets, or don't believe they'd be able to make it to 19 home games. The packages go on sale Sunday, September 23. Here's the breakdown:

According to UNLVTickets.com, these plans represent up to a 43% savings over purchasing these games at the single game face value price. Which plan is better? Savings wise, I'd rather backwards compare them against the full season ticket price - since its not too late to still pull the trigger on the season tix.

Scarlet Mini-Plan - Math -             Savings
Balcony RAF - $152 vs $240 =    37% cheaper than season
Balcony - $128 vs $215 =            41% cheaper than season
End Balcony - $86 vs $125 =       31% cheaper than season

Gray Mini-Plan - Math -                Savings

Balcony RAF - $162 vs $240 =    33% cheaper than season
Balcony - $138 vs $215 =            36% cheaper than season
End Balcony - $91 vs $125 =       27% cheaper than season

Although these tickets represent up to a 43% savings over the single game ticket prices (likely much more after all of the bull crap fees that are tacked on when you buy single game tickets), they aren't nearly as good a deal as would be if you just bought the season. For example, the worst option is the Gray Mini-Plan end balcony, its less than 30% cheaper than just buying the season - we're talking about missing 11 of 19 games, 57% of the home schedule to save 27%. The best deal among these plans, not counting the caliber of games, is the Scarlet Balcony Mini-Plan at 41% cheaper. Still, you pay 41% less for 57% less of the games.

Caliber of games-wise, the Gray mini-plan is the one to buy, if you're planning on buying either. Oregon, Northern Iowa, UNR and San Diego State should all be good games. On the plus side for buying a mini-plan, at least two of those games should be sellouts, so good luck finding single game tickets for less than astronomical prices in the secondary market.

Speaking of single games, here's the latest. Single game tickets will go on sale Sunday, October 21 at 10:00am. The majority of single game tickets available will be in the balcony, so prices aren't even being published right now for lower bowl. Here's the pricing and consideration of what games are premium:

Still need to work out the math (its hard to factor in the single game ticket fees) but it seems as though the mini-plans make sense if you plan on attending at least 4 games, and season tickets make sense if you plan on attending at least 6 games. For those of you who may attend a few with your child, the Rebel Kids Club is still a good and inexpensive option.

Anyhow, if you're serious about season tickets or mini-pans, contact UNLV Tickets asap, and make sure to, if possible, see the view from the seat you're interested in purchasing. There are a few that unfortunately have an obstructed view, so it would be wise to check that out first.

Is anyone else having a hard time waiting to occupy the Mack?

Reggie Smith headed back to the midwest

Transfer point guard Reggie Smith has asked for and been granted release from the Runnin' Rebels to transfer to a school closer to Chicago. The reason behind the sudden leaving has to do with being closer his ailing grandmother.

Reggie's time at UNLV was short, and due to the reliability of Oscar Bellfield, Rebels fans were waiting to see what Smtih could do with more minutes and more time in Coach Rice's system.

In a sudden dramatic change of events, the Rebels - once loaded with guards, has lost some great ones and will lose more after this coming season (Anthony Marshall and Justin Hawkins will graduate after the season). Fortunately, new guards are on the horizon. Daquan Cook and Katin Reinhardt are penciled into the lineup, and the Reggie Smtih transfer decision could easily have an effect on either one of their decisions to redshirt the coming year. Potent scoring guard Bryce Dejean-Jones will make waves at the shooting guard positon. Additionally, Dantley Walker will be added to the roster for the 2013-14 season, and the Rebels still have strong interest in Findlay Prep's Nigel Williams-Goss.

The Reggie Smtih loss also frees up another scholarship, making it two available for the 2012-13 campaign, which is shaping up to be epic. Reggie Smith will be missed, and hopefully he gets the chance to make the impact he is capable of at the college he attends. Good luck to you Reggie!

Coming full circle on recruiting: Update on Dantley Walker, as well as the news of the past week

Taking a break from the three part series previewing the roster of 2012-13, there is much to talk about as well as summarize that occurred on the recruiting front. Before discussing that which many of you already know, let’s get an update on Dantley Walker, future member of the Rebels for the 2013-14 year.

Dantley Walker Update

Dantley Walker: Man on a mission

For those of you familiar, Dantley Walker – prolific scorer from Panaca, NV committed to the Rebels, but as a Mormon he elected to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. This delays his arrival at UNLV as a freshman two years. I had the opportunity to interview his father/assistant coach Greg Walker last year, and get updates from time to time. The information we had previously, was that his mission was to be in Spokane, Washington – and he was fortunate to get an early start so that he didn’t have to begin his colligate career, then leave and come back to it two years later. He was clearly excited to go on the mission, and to be a Rebel.

Since we’ve last updated, Dantley Walker has been on his mission for nine months now, and is doing very well. He loves serving the call of the mission, but obviously misses competitive basketball very much. He served the first five months in Cordeau-d'lene, Idaho, and has been in Spokane, Washington since then. One of Dantley’s goals for his downtime was to keep in basketball shape and do all that he can to maintain readiness for the future. To that end, luck has smiled on him and one of his former AAU coaches from the Las Vegas Prospects, Rick Walter, now coaches at Spokane Falls Community College. Any morning that the two can find the time, he works out with Coach Walter and goes through some serious basketball workouts.

Elder Walker at the
training center

Elder Walker working on the
golf game

Elder Walker showing off the guns

According to Coach Walter, Dantley seems to be maintaining his basketball skills. As far as the hope that he might be playing pickup ball with formidable Gonzaga players – that hasn’t occurred just yet. So far, he plays with other missionaries and basketball players around Spokane. He does hope too hoop it up with Gonzaga players, or Spokane Falls players. As far as physical activity not on the court, he's lifting weights and jumping rope when he can and has added about 10 pounds to his frame since graduating from high school.

Dantley Walker and Coach Walter in Spokane, Washington

I inquired as to whether he’s been recognized (as a UNLV recruit) while out doing his mission work, and he really hasn’t because up there they’re more focused on Boise St, Washing St. U of Washington, Gonzaga, and Idaho St. But, they eventually all find out he’s going to be a Rebel, and think it’s really cool. For those that may not  straight off believe him, they check the internet – especially his YouTube mix tapes and find out quick enough. I also wondered if he regularly got heat (given what he’s doing) for not going to BYU – and Dantley normally appeases their question by pointing out that he is from Nevada, UNLV offered first, and as a matter of fact Coach Rice was very interested in Dantley as assistant coach of BYU. It a great situation he has with the Rebels, going on the mission and then coming back as a scholarship player, but he’s really interested in Coach Rice’s up-tempo system. He also sometimes mentions that the WCC isn’t as strong as the MWC, but has to be careful about saying that in front of the Gonzaga fans.

Yes, Dantley Walker has had some friendly suggestions  to just stay put after his mission and help the Gonzaga Bulldogs – to that his answer is “no way, gonna run and gun with Coach Rice and the Rebs.”

Dantley Walker will be back from his mission in July, 2013, and will begin practice at UNLV shortly thereafter. Best of luck to Dantley Walker and his family, he is perusing and admirable endeavor in the name of his faith, and that’s a quality trait to have. He’ll be more mature and focused, and hopefully will run point for the Rebels when he is ready to suit up.

Shabazz no more


Although there were many reasons that it would make sense for Shabazz Muhammad to join the Rebels, he cut UNLV from his list of five shortly before the McDonalds All-American game. Incidentally, he was MVP of that game, and won the dunk contest.

For whatever reason, Muhammad chose UCLA – a storied basketball program, that has become an embarrassment to its former glory, harbors a coach who nobody can say has any discipline over his players, hasn’t made the NCAA tournament in the past two years, and has been the jumping away point for numerous promising recruits – who go on to do great things elsewhere (Chace Stanback UNLV, Mike Moser UNLV, Drew Gordon UNM, Matt Carlino BYU). A lot has been said, straight out in the media that Muhammad, or rather his family, was essentially bought and sold under the guise of an Adidas shoe deal. For what it’s worth – I honestly hope not. While UNLV is not an Adidas team (Nike last time I checked), the choice of UCLA over the likes of national champion Kentucky, or Duke which is a perennial favorite and sucks up more TV time than anyone makes no sense whatsoever. UCLA holds no advantage over UNLV in terms of basketball prowess. On this subject, this is perhaps the only time I’ve ever agreed with that San Diego loving troll Ed Graney of the LVRJ on this point – we don’t need Shabazz Muhammad. No reason to be bitter towards him on this, for not choosing UNLV – but the angst I have (as well as many others) is about the stupidity of the choice of UCLA.

Mashour has left the building

Israel native Karam Mashour has declared his intention to leave the Rebels in search of a team that will give him the chance to crack the roster and play solid minutes. For a guy with the work ethic that he has, first to arrive and last to leave practice, as well as his unfettered support of his teammates throughout a season that allowed him less playing time than the season before – it’s sad that we couldn’t utilize him better.

His highlight of his career was the baseline dunk against the University of Central Arkansas. Less than a month later, came the lowlight – refusing to play garbage time minutes. It’s understandable why he’s frustrated, he played for the Israeli U19 national team, and supposedly was an athletic freak on the Las Vegas Prospects. Since arriving at UNLV, he’s not done anything but play garbage time for the most part. Mashour – a Kruger recruit and scholarship holder, showed more promise coming in, and was never given the chance to put that on the floor in front of the fans.

There certainly is a duality to this kind of problem – UNLV has largely been successful over the years, even back to the Tark days because of transfers. There is an ebb and flow of players who are constantly in search of playing time, or a system that better suits them or highlights their talent. Some people are searching for a challenge, others are looking to be a big fish in a little pond, instead of a little fish in a big pond. We get it, basketball is like life – sometimes things don’t work out as planned.

Karam Mashour, for certain, helped the Rebels the past two seasons, and surely improved his skills for practicing with and against a nationally ranked team. Hopefully, this experience serves him well wherever he plays next, and when he gets back to Israel and no doubt try his hand a pro-ball there. Good luck to Karam, and thank you.

In pursuit of Anthony Bennett

Numerous sources, LVRJ, LV Sun, Vegas Seven, have all noted that Anthony Bennett is the biggest prize left in the recruiting sphere, and the Rebels are hot on his trail trying to make his colors Scarlet and Gray.

I am cautiously optimistic that he will become a Rebel for several reasons 1) there is significant room now and in the future for a large power forward in our offense, 2) friendship with Khem Birch, 3) the Rebels are a damn good team worthy of his kind of talent, 4) excursion to his homeland, Canada this summer.

Hopefully Anthony Bennett does not feel any kind of distain that all the talk over the past year or two has been about Shabazz. Reality check – any town that has the consensus #1 pick will get a little crazy over him, especially so when we have a very good basketball team that could potentially land him.

Fact #2, Las Vegas is very high on Findlay Prep, and UNLV would love to land or retain as many Findlay Prep players as possible on the regular. The Runnin’ Rebels is the perfect landing spot for Anthony Bennett to spend 1-2 years bettering himself as well as the Rebels in pursuit of a championship and a pro-career. Anthony Bennett – WE WANT YOU TO BE A REBEL!

The addition of rosters, Preliminary observations about rosters, Update of Nevada HS records, Excellent video

Update Sunday noon - Added Christian Wood to 2013-14, Changed Bryce Jones' status (wrongly added a year to his eligibility)


This week’s update is more about changes to the website. This year's 'schedule' page has been fully updated and cleaned up, and all four interviews have archived links in the 'interviews' page. As far as the new pages, you’ll notice right above this there are now pages for the current year roster, as well as predicted rosters for 2012-13, and 2013-14. This is a way to keep track of who will be graduating, and the commitments the Rebels have been making for seasons beyond the current. I’ve found it gets tiring keeping all of the new recruits in your head, hence the ease of roster pages! 

The rosters are set up with hyperlinks to either the UNLV basketball website bio for each player, or in the case of a recruit, a link to information about that player.

Now that I’ve put in the work building the rosters, its time to make some preliminary observations.

#1 – If we don't sign a big-man in the 2012-13 class, we get smaller. UNLV loses interior size after this year with 6’10” Brice Massamba leaving due to graduation. Up to this point, UNLV hasn’t had any big men give verbal commitments for the entering class of 2012-13. Its been reported that the two big-man targets that UNLV has set its sights on are Matt Willms (6’10”)  and Robert Upshaw (6’11”). LV Sun  

It will be especially important to land a commitment from at least one true center to give Carlos Lopez some relief in the new running system. He can’t play the full 40 minutes (nobody can), and we don’t want to be without a true-center on the court for very long – teams with size could take advantage in the paint. 

A new big-man recruit who has a year with Thomas and two years with Lopez will learn a lot and improve his skill set, so the sooner the better. Besides the size issue, we’ll lose Oscar Bellfield and Chace Stanback, who are major pieces of the puzzle as well.

#2 – We lose three key pieces after 2012-13. The pieces are Anthony Marshall, Justin Hawkins, and Quintrell Thomas. Three key guys that will likely account for a decent chunk of the offense this and next season. Remember how happy everyone was that despite the coaching change UNLV only lost two primary players (Willis and Jasper)? This is likely to hurt a little more.

#3 – Major turnover after the 2013-14 season. UNLV will graduate 4 seniors after the season: Carlos Lopez, Karam Mashour, Mike Mosher, and Reggie Smith. All of the upcoming three seasons look highly promising, but anyone would have to concede it will be a little harder losing four players all-at-once.

This new ‘rosters’ feature  will continue to be updated, added to, and enhanced as news and information comes in. Any new commitments will be added as well so you can see what our rosters will look like in the future. Enjoy, and as always, if you have any suggestions please let me know or discuss in the forums.

Update on Nevada High School record books

The Nevada State High School Boys Basketball record books have been updated, and UNLV recruit Dantley Walker appears 27 times in the lists, topping many important categories. I'll not spoil the fun of which ones, please click the link, do a 'control-f' (find), and type Dantley Walker. 

NVHS Records

Watch this video – its fantastic!!

Interview with Jovan "Wink" Adams, Rebels snag Katin Reinhardt

On August 4, 2011 I sat down with Jovan ‘Wink’ Adams and spoke about everything, from coming to UNLV, playing at UNLV, and playing in the pros. Some of the subjects we talked about were his recruitment, the coaching change, memorable games / players, new players on the roster and in the future, playing overseas,  and what’s next for Wink.

RR: So I’m sitting here with Wink Adams. As I recall you came to UNLV from Houston, TX?

WA: Yes sir, close to Pearland Texas, suburb near Houston.

RR: And you went to private high school?

WA: I actually went to two high schools. My first year I played, made the team, but coach didn’t play me, I wasn’t getting minutes. So I ended up quitting basketball my freshman year and ended up joining the band, I was in the band for a year.

RR: Really, what instrument did you play?

WA: I played the Tuba, it’s kind of my hidden talent (laughs).

RR: In more of a orchestra setting or something else?

WA: Marching band, also jazz band. I love it, man its kind of my hidden talent. Not many people know about it. I love it. So I did that my freshman year, then I transferred to another school and played basketball two years there. Then I went to a prep school that a lot of guys I knew went to, they said there would be a lot of exposure. It was kind of the best thing for me, when I was playing at the 4 year high school I was only getting interest from a lot of junior colleges. I actually committed to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, they were my first letter. My coach told me to go to prep school and I would get some better colleges offering. First I didn’t want to do it, then I just went for it and it was the best thing that ever happened to me. My name just skyrocketed after ABC camp in New Jersey, with a whole lot of colleges seeing me. They got to see me play the point and I got to be the #2 ranked point guard in the country.

RR: Your height is 6’0”, when did you peak out in height in high school?

WA: It was late, like my sophomore or junior year. In 8^th grade I was 5’7” or 5’8”. I just stayed that height until my junior year. I grew a little then. I wore the shoes with the big soles on them to be a little taller. When I got to 6’0” I knew I wouldn’t go anymore, but I’ve always been a wide-shouldered big guy. Football was my first thing, and basketball kind of came along. I picked that up for my mother, and its something I stuck with.

RR: So if you weren’t playing point guard, what would you play?

WA: Two guard (shooting guard) was my main position otherwise. A lot of colleges wanted to put me at two. I played a lot of two guard at UNLV.

RR: You were ranked the #2 point guard, #19^th overall regardless of position, coming out of prep school, and you were Coach Kruger’s first and probably best recruit…

WA: Yeah, it’s kind of funny how that worked out. When you’re ranked that high on Rivals.com, those guys always want you to go to the top-five schools. The top five was UCONN, Florida, Alabama State, Okalahoma, and Arkansas.

RR: A lot of those, with the exception of UCONN were in the south, and you’d be familiar with them being from Houston?

WA: Right, growing up you would see them on TV all the time, big time schools. But for some reason, since I was a kid I always wanted to come to UNLV. My first hat, my first jacket was all UNLV, back when Larry Johnson was playing. He actually came to big-time tournament, and I asked my coach about UNLV, and it just so happened he knew Coach Lew Hill. I remember they watched me play in an AAU game, and that whole game I zoned out and had 36-38 points. When I went home I got my first letter from UNLV, and I told my mother – I know exactly where I want to go. UNLV jumped right to the top of my list, everyone was shocked.

RR: So did you have to decommit from Cal Poly?

WA: Yeah, I actually decommitted when I made the decision to go to prep school. UNLV wasn’t recruiting me at first, until I asked about them. It worked out for the best.

RR: So the relationship of your AAU coach with Lew Hill was good, but you’d have to answer ultimately to Lon Kruger, the head coach – how did that relationship get started?

WA: When I spoke with Coach Kruger, he just kept it honest with me. He expected me to perform, to be a scorer, do what I’m doing. I liked what he had going on, a new coach, new coaching staff, rebuilding the program – I just wanted to be a part of that. When he offered the scholarship, I jumped right on it.

RR: Freshman year at UNLV, you actually played significant minutes at UNLV, how was that?

WA: I started at point guard, and I was nervous. I was so nervous, my first shot was a three pointer off the backboard. I had like 8 points and 6 turnovers. Coach told me you got to slow down, let the game come to me. You just have to get into your comfort zone. After awhile he saw me scoring a lot, he pulled me to the side and said, you are a scoring point guard, so we’ll start you at the two. Playing the two was real comfortable for me, and once he did that I had no problems.

RR: You got to post-season play (NCAA or NIT) three out of the four years you were at UNLV, would you consider the most significant would be the sweet sixteen season?

WA: Right, that was my sophomore year (2006-07).

RR: Even though you guys got to the NIT the last one, you play a real tough team in Kentucky – at Kentucky.

WA: Boy, you know, we were excited to play those guys. Throughout the season you see teams on TV but you never know who you’re going to play tournament time. Kentucky, the way they play, it was a hostile tournament environment – and that’s exactly what it was. Everything they got going on, big time program…

RR: They never-not make the tournament.

WA: Never not make the tournament, it was exciting playing them, playing against a top program, it was big.

RR: Because you guys had so much success most of the time, what do you think, looking back now, made things click? How were you guys able to be so successful so consistently?

WA: You know, we had one of  the smallest teams. Joe Darger played 5 some of the time, and he was only 6’7”. My whole time at UNLV we stretched defense, just guarding guys, using advantages, getting out, running – just being bulldogs out there. That’s how we practiced, that’s how we played. I think our defense was the big time thing. When we’re in the gym and preseason doing a lot of conditioning and running. Every team we played saw our size, and it was our defense that did it.

RR: Among the coaching staff, was it all Coach Kruger, or who architected the defense?

WA: I think all of  them did, every coach had something. Coach Kruger was the operational guy, he knew defense, he knew the game – he said something you’d listen. Hensen was more on shooting, he’s one of the best shooters I’ve ever seen, he can really shoot the ball. He’d take us through drills during practice, constantly shoot. Coach Hill, was coaching our big men, teaching them down low moves, everything. Coach Grensing, he’s the yeller. No matter what, you’d hear him yelling something on the sidelines. Jason Kabo – strength and conditioning, he does a great job, he’s one of the best in the country. He’s behind the scenes but he makes it all happen. He breaks everyone’s workout down individually, nobody does the same workout. He breaks it down for your body, one by one. That’s why everyone was so successful during those years, I give a lot to Jason Kabo.

RR: Do you still consult with Coach Kabo?

WA: Oh yeah, even though I’m not there anymore. He still helps me out to create a program. He just wants to help people out, and he does a great job.

RR: As far as your time at UNLV besides the tournament runs, do you have any games that are particularly memorable to you. Do you relive them, not because you made a mistake, but the good times?

WA: I think, off the top of my head, the TCU game my junior year. Those guys shot 17-19 during the MWC tournament in the first round. Those guys shot the lights out, and it came down to the wire. I think with about 5 seconds left I got the ball and got an and-1, and it was crazy. That game, I still watch it and it gives me goose bumps, I watch it all the time. To see a team shoot that well, 17 for 19 is amazing. I still don’t know how we won that game.

RR: That’s nearly 90%.

WA: Yeah, they shot the ball ridiculous; I still don’t know how we won that game to this day. Biggest game I ever played in.

RR: Is there any matchup with other players you encountered during your collegiate career – that was the best matchup you ever had. I’m not taking about people you dominated, but they pushed you to be better. Like, for example, Tre’von had Jimmer.

WA: I think I had a couple. My freshman year, I think Brandon Heath (SDSU) was one of the best scorers ever in the Mountain West. Playing against him, you learn a lot. When you play against be best, you learn more. Brandon Ewing (Wyoming) was another. J.R. Giddens (New Mexico), there was a lot of guys who played in the conference who were tough matchups and pushed me, it was a battle day in and day out to play against those guys. If I could do it all over again, I’d do it.

RR: Is there anybody looking back, knowing what you know now, you could have bested them? They may have had your number back then but now you feel you could take him?

WA: Back then, Jimmer. When we played against him he was young, you could tell he was going to be good, but not player of the year good. When we played him, he’d score 15-16 points. I think if we played him the way he played this year, who knows.

RR: You had to deal with Lee Cummard, Jonathan Tavernari.

WA: Trent Plaisted too, they had a tough team. We couldn’t beat them at home.

RR: When the team traveled out for tournaments, there was a lot of hoopla, like a bowl game. Is there anything memorable and special you remember about those tournaments?

WA: I think, the most exciting part was seeing where you’re going to play, selection Sunday, seeing where and who you’re going to play. That’s the best thing. When you actually get there, its an incredible vibe. You have fans from everywhere, different teams, cameras, playing on a neutral court, the whole tournament itself is an exciting time to play.

RR: What about the seeding, UNLV normally has been placed in 8/9 seeds, does that kind of stuff fade to the back because theoretically, any team 1-64 theoretically has a shot to win the whole thing?

WA: I think my junior year we were in that range, junior year, 8-9 seed. Sophomore were 29 and 6, and we got a 8 seed. We thought we were going to get a four seed because we were one of the best teams in the country. When we got the eight seed, a lot of people were disappointed thinking we would be seeded better. When we played Georgia Tech and Wisconsin, both good teams, Wisconsin was a 2 seed, we just made the most of it. At the beginning of the year Coach Kruger said, we could be one of the last sixteen teams playing – and we actually did it. I tell people, if he had said “we could be one of the last eight” we could have made it to the elite eight (laughs).

RR: Even though you’re from Houston, have you made Las Vegas your home? Even though you’re playing international basketball.

WA: I live here now, my wife, she’s actually from here. We just bought a house in Centennial. I love being here, being a part of the program, going to the alumni meetings. This is definitely my home.

RR: After UNLV you went to Turkey. What was the name of your pro-club?

WA: Olek Unow, it was 2 hours away from Istanbul.

RR: How did you feel about the experience?

WA: I was excited to go, my first time playing overseas. If it had been Africa, I’d been excited to go. When I got there, it was a culture change. Women were covered up, you would walk through the streets and soldiers were out with big guns. At one point I was kind of nervous not knowing what would happen. It was a good experience. It’s a Muslim country so five times a day they have the bullhorns throughout the whole city, the call to prayer. Its so loud, me and one of my teammates who was there in his first year as well, it came on and (laughs) we were nervous, didn’t know what was happening, we were scared out of our head. Coach told us what was happening, we got used to it, it was a good experience.

RR: Before playing overseas, you played summer league?

WA: Yes, it was the New York Knicks, at the Las Vegas summer league.

RR: How does it work, when you aren’t drafted but you get onto a summer league team?

WA: The team can just pick you up. My agent called me and told me the Knicks want to pick you up for the summer league, and I signed a contract for summer league. When I got that news, it was great news. When I first came to UNLV for summer league, it was great – fans were built in.

RR: After the summer league, did you have the option to go to the NBA D-League as opposed to going to Turkey?

WA: Yeah, I did, but the money was a big issue.

RR: Doesn’t the NBADL pay like $50k a year?

WA: No, in the 6 months I played in it, it paid only like $13k. The players I know who have played in it are like, man, I’m not doing that again. If you’re going to settle for D-league you might as well work a 9-5, make more money doing that.

RR: After Turkey, you did played D-League ball with Tulsa?

WA: Right, I finished the season with them, we played in the championship but lost to Rio Grande.

RR: And then the Sioux Falls Skyforce?

WA: I also played in Belgium. While I was there I got drafted by the D-league. I wanted to come back and play basketball in America so badly that I left Belgium and played for the Skyforce in South Dakota.

RR: Besides the pay issue with the D-league, what was your overall impression? Level of competition, focus on getting you ready for the NBA?

WA: I think some teams are actually owned by NBA teams, so Tulsa was owned by Okalahoma City, and a lot of things they do are different from other D-League teams. A lot of guys from OKC who get drafted but are not playing, they got sent to play with us, which is always a good thing.

RR: Did you find the competition was better in Turkey or Belgium vs. the D-League?

WA: No, I thought the D-league had better competition. You had ex-pros, people who have played in the NBA, former big-time players from college.

RR: Did your European teams ever get a chance at the Eurobasket championship over there?

WA: No, the two teams I played for were always in the middle of the pack. I haven’t had the chance to play for a title team yet, but hopefully in the future.

RR: Is the pay respectable over there?

WA: Yes, and they pay you cash.

RR: Something I’ve read, and I don’t know if its merely isolated to the Greek teams, but given the global economic situation, I hear that on some European teams players don’t sometime get paid, checks don’t cash?

WA: Oh yeah, a lot of teams in Greece. They offer you a lot of money but can’t pay it. I had a friend. AJ Abrams who played for Texas, he played in Greece for 6 months and only received one check. He said he had to leave, man they were giving him $200 here and there, enough to eat. He said he couldn’t do it. When I was in Turkey, the team that Deron Williams is going to, people who I know on that team, they were always late on payment too. That’s why I was surprise he signed with them, and that there was talk of Kobe going there too.

RR: Because of the NBA lockout, do you expect a lot of NBA players coming over and playing with you or on opposing teams?

WA: Yeah, a lot of the teams I knew and played against have players now. Sasha Vujacic is recently signed on. A lot of have NBA or ex-NBA guys. I know I’ll play against at least a couple guys.

RR: I think I read in the RJ article that you’ve given up hope on the NBA dream?

WA: Yeah, well I mean, if it happens, it happens. You get older, and every year only 15-30 spots open in the NBA and there’s 2000-3000 players trying to get them. The odds are against you at all times. When you have the opportunity you have to take advantage of it. If it happens, it happens. Right now my whole thing is to try and make the money before my career is over.

RR: Is there any countries that you wouldn’t play for? A lot of people now are playing in China, maybe Kobe too?

WA: I would love to go to China, it has the best market overseas. They have the most money and they can afford to pay players what they’re worth, and you know its going to pay on time. China, aside from the NBA, have some of the better known leagues. A lot of NBA players, even when there wasn’t a lockout, they left the NBA to go to China and make the same type of money. China is a great place. Definitely open to it.

RR: How do you get hooked up with the international teams?

WA: Usually how it works it you have an agent in America, and his company has a company they work with in Europe, and they have their own agents. So really you have a agent in America, and one in Europe. The European agent is marketing you, and when he find a team that wants you, he talks to the American agent, who talks to me.

RR: Do they have a highlight tape of you that they send?

WA: Yeah, they have some film. I think every agent has his main business somewhere. One agent may have contacts more in Germany, someone might have connections somewhere else like Italy, Turkey, but not in Germany – so that how it is. Agents are a lot about who you know.

RR: You’re done with the D-league right, not going back?

WA: Never.

RR: From the teams you’ve played on at UNLV, you still keep up with your former teammates?

WA: Oh yeah I still work out with Marcus Lawrence, Scott Hoffman, Curtis Terry, a lot of the guys. I think we kind of drawn to each other, we’ve been through it all, the good times and the bad. We all kind of look out for each other.

RR: I’ve read some about your interest in coaching, and you were close to coaching at Centennial high school.

WA: Yes, they actually hired me. I was out there in the summer time doing some work. I felt like putting the ball down for a little while and trying coaching. When you’ve been playing for so long, its kind of hard to decide to just stop playing. I’ve stayed in shape, and my agent has come to me once in a while and asked if I wanted to keep playing, and I was open to it. When the time came, I just decided I couldn’t put the ball down yet.

RR: Speaking of keeping in shape, you’ve already played one pickup game this morning at Dula Recreation center, and you have a few more?

WA: I’ll play another at 2pm at UNLV open gym, and then another at 5:45 at Valley High school.  That’s a normal day for me. That’s how I keep in game shape. I come over here in the morning and play. Me and a friend we’ll go to UNLV and put up about 500 shots, and do some running on the track. Got to get a workout, eat, breath, and sleep basketball. I get to the gym by 9am, run on the treadmill, play with those guys, do it all day.

RR: Ever play over at Impact basketball academy?

WA: I have before, when I first came out before I went to Turkey. It’s a good program, they do a lot of things over there and have a lot of great players come over. Nationwide, a lot of guys flock to it and love to workout over there, so it’s a good thing.

RR: Obviously, you’re who career was under Coach Kruger, what did you think about his leaving?

WA: I didn’t think he was going to leave, but once again – money issue. I think his deal, who could turn it down, it’s a no-brainer. I think Coach Rice came for the love of the program. I don’t think he’s getting as much as Coach Kruger was, he played for the Rebels. Once you play for the school, you feel like you’re a part of the program so I feel that Coach Rice coming is good for the program. He is the first coach who has played here who actually coached here. They’ve brought back Stacey Augmon and brought in Justin Hutson and Heath Schroyer, it’s a great program and things are going well. Coach Kruger did a good job, and Coach Rice is going to build on top of that.

RR: You’ve played pickup games at UNLV, and you’ve played with a lot of the current players, since a lot of people haven’t seen the new guys play – what do you think of Mike Moser?

WA: Oh man, Mike is going to be really good. I think he’s a great outside player like a Matt Shaw. He’s a big man who can step out, and its hard to defend him. He can put it on the floor, shoot it, rebound. He’s long and athletic. He’s going to be a big key to the program this year. All the guys, everyone is working hard. Anthony Marshall, he’s playing through the roof right now. He’s getting bigger, stronger, shooting the ball well. Chace, all of those guys are working hard this summer so I can see them having a good season.

RR: Have you played much with Reggie Smith?

WA: Yeah, Reggie’s one of the most athletic 5’10” guards I’ve ever seen. This guy can throw it down, he can jump, shoot it, put it on the floor. And he can defend which is very important. Reggie plays good defense and the knows the game. Its going to be a big-time backcourt with him.

RR: Do you think he can fill Bellfield or Marshall’s shoes when he graduates?

WA: Yes, he’s doing well. Reggie brings a piece they need, a guard that can defend, play the passing lanes, defend around the rim – so that’ll be big.

RR: You’ve built a relationship with recent signee Dantley Walker?

WA: Yeah.

RR: I’ve spoke with Greg Walker, Dantley’s father, and they spoke about the great influence you had on Dantley. How did that relationship start?

WA: A friend of their family, works at the bank with my mother-in-law. She invited us to a game, said I want you to come see. I came to the game and the whole team ran to me and asked for autographs. I was like, these are pretty cool people. I watched him play, and I was like – UNLV needs him. He can see the floor, and shoot it. He’s like Jimmer, but not as big. He can handle the ball, shoot it, he’s crafty with the ball – everything Jimmer does, he does. When he decided that he wanted to go to UNLV, said that I and Kevin Kruger were his favorite Rebels. From that day, we’ve just had a great relationship, text him all the time. This past 4^th of July I played in a 3 on 3 tournament with him, and we won it. He’s become like a little brother to me, always texting and calling. I love the kid, he’s going to be a big part of UNLV in 2 years, and I’ll definitely come watch him play.

RR: I ask players what kind of shoes they play in – what do you prefer?

WA: I think, as far as just waking around in, love the Nike Air Force One shoes. To play in, I love Nikes, Adidas, no preference. Just depends on how the shoe is made. I don’t like light shoes, I’m a heavy set guy so I like the heavy shoes. The pro model Adidas. I’ve played in Jordans, I’ve played in all Nikes.

RR: That’s partially determined by the team?

WA: In college, UNLV was a Nike team, so it was Nike shoes and I kind of got used to it. Back in AAU ball it was Adidas. When I used to the Nikes, I loved them.

RR: How far do you think the Rebels can go in the foreseeable future?

WA: I think in the next two or three years, definitely see at least the second round, sweet sixteen. They’re getting some guys in there that are great, and the Coaches they have can recruit the pieces they need. Once they put it all together, they will be an up and down team. I think they’ll go pretty far in the tournament once it’s put together and on the same page. Defense, practice, and work hard builds a good team.

RR: What’s next for you now?

WA: I’m leaving this Saturday to go play basketball in Switzerland. As soon as I get there, there will be a training camp, and then the first game will be on the 15^th. That’s why I’m working out so much, getting ready for it. Switzerland should be good, a bit more Americanized than say, Turkey or some other places. It’ll be fun.

RR: Well everyone wishes you much success.

WA: Thanks.

Also published at the MWC Connection

Rebels snag Katin Reinhardt

Coach Rice and Staff secured a significant player in Katin Reinhardt. While there was a lot of talk from Reinhardt in the papers about Coach Rice telling he would have the freedom that Jimmer had when Rice was at BYU, I think Reinhardt is a much different player than Jimmer. 


Although I've not seen Reinhardt play in person, from watching the youtube footage I'm seeing some excellent passing that reminds me of first - Jason Williams (ala Sacramento Kings days), secondly a Steve Nash or Deron Williams type. 


Nonetheless, excellent pickup for our Rebels. Likely more pieces to this championship puzzle lie ahead. Welcome to UNLV. 

Update on Dantley Walker's Mission

Recently received an update from Greg Walker, Dantley's father. 


Dantley is now at the Missionary Training Center. They dropped him off on Wednesday morning, August 3rd, in Provo, Utah. He'll head to Spokane on August 22nd. 


Wink Adams and Dantley recently played in a 3-on-3 tournament together on July 4th and won it. Dantley also won the 3 point contest by hitting 23 in one minute in the championship round. 


Best of luck to Dantley over these next two years!

Shabazz Muhammad as a Rebel

No, Shabazz Muhammad did not just commit to UNLV, this is just a glimpse into a possible future that would be excellent news for UNLV, the fans, and even for Shabazz.

Although this is just a possibility right now – it s a possibility that makes a lot of sense and is a great choice. Before we talk about the benefits for everyone, let’s look at who Shabazz Muhammad  is:

Shabazz Muhammad is a 6’6” 205 lbs shooting guard who is entering his senior year at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, NV. He has been called the best basketball recruit in Southern Nevada history. He is a scoring powerhouse, averaging 25 points per game and a season high last year of 38 against Sierra Vista HS. He is the correct size of a shooting guard, even for NBA standards (MJ was 6’5” and did pretty well). He also has a powerful body, he is able to take the ball to the rim, and pull up inside the arc. He has been known to hit from 3, but that is one of his few offensive weaknesses. Defensively, he is a supreme athletic specimen, he has the quickness and ability to stop others and recapture the ball to lead a fast break. Defensively, the only critiques have been of his ball handling under-pressure, and gambling a little too much trying to go for a steal. Remember this, he’s the #2 prospect in the nation and he was only a junior – nobody’s perfect. He is hardwired to be competitive and his drive to win is extremely high. Everything continuing the way it should for Shabazz, he will be playing at the highest level of basketball professionally, the only question is what path will he take to get there.

The reasons why Shabazz Muhammad should play for the Runnin Rebels (in no particular order):

1.      Vegas is a basketball Mecca – it’s all here, there is nowhere that can compete with Las Vegas in terms of basketball prowess and exposure. Besides UNLV being a traditional basketball powerhouse, we have the NBA summer league, USA Olympic team training camp, qualifiers, and exhibitions, Impact Basketball Academy, Tarkanian Basketball Academy, Thomas and Mack Center, Mendenhall Center (soon to be completed), likely stadium projects that will eventually snag the Sacramento Kings – it’s all here.

2.      Family – Any person who has succeeded at the highest levels, athlete or not, will tell you that they couldn’t have done it without their support system. Playing locally means that your parents, brothers, sisters, friends, former coaches, and mentors are available to you. Would you rather make a telephone call from another timezone when you are going through a tough time, or meet face-to-face and end it with a hug or handshake. Your games will be well attended, but will your family and friends be at all your home games? There are clear advantages to playing collegiate ball in Las Vegas. It’s also a two way street, besides the benefits your family gives to you, think about what you give to them by being local. Shabazz has not had a problem with travel around the country when on the road with Dream Vision, but he’s also had that support system there as his father is an assistant coach with the team. Have it both ways – continue doing what you love with the people you love backing you up – it’s a no brainer.

3.      Staying local – There is something to be said for staying local and being successful. Take Butler University. If you look at that team, it’s a small school with limited historical success in basketball. That said, they’ve just reached the national championship game twice in the last two years – incredible. Chalk some of it up to great coaching or luck, but also look at the roster. Ten out of the fourteen members of that team are from Indiana – the same state as Butler – they are locals, that’s 71% of the team! No disrespect to the excellent players past and present who represent UNLV Basketball but are from places far and near, but even they would agree – if talent is in your own backyard, keep it on lockdown. UNLV has quite a few scholarships available for when Shabazz Muhammad is going to start as a freshman, why not fill that team up and have the roster eventually be Anthony Marshall, Roscoe Allen, Shabazz Muhammad and Ben Carter as the locals. Quite a team, no? So Anthony Marshall graduates and let’s say Muhammad decides not to declare for the draft until after his sophomore year, then you get Dantley Walker and perhaps Nigel Williams-Goss added to that squad – fantastic team of locals, not counting the remaining great players we have / will be getting.

4.      Coaching style – Coach Dave Rice has been a man of his word, everything he has said up to now has come true, and I believe him when he says he is going to turn the Runnin’ Rebels back into the Runnin’ Rebels. He even maintains he will continue to keep the team’s defense up to the level it was under Lon Kruger, a defense that was feared and respected throughout college basketball. What player wouldn’t want to be a part of that system? Fast-break transition basketball is awesome to watch, and fun to play. Tarkanian’s teams thrived on quick scoring, and Coach Rice is a Tarkanian student. Shabazz would be ready to start right away at UNLV, the offense and defense would be tailored to his strengths, and an added benefit is Stacey Augmon is here not only teach how to play excellent defense, but as a former NBA player development coach he would prepare him for the NBA. This fits perfectly. Additionally, with a runnin' offense Shabazz's draft stock could rise considerably. An offense that runs closer to 70 ppg has a leading scorer with around 15-16 ppg, but an 80+ppg offense has much more shots and scorers could average closer to 20 ppg, maybe more. What has more significance, Shabazz averaging 15ppg or 20ppg? NBA teams would project him as having more all-star potential with 20ppg in college ball, which leads to a higher draft pick and more guaranteed $$$. It's that simple.

5.      Being the hero – "Local kid helps make UNLV champions again". You can’t script it any better than that. Why go to Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, or North Carolina where you are just the next cog in a system that their fans expect will be there again and again? That’s boring. Who wants to be the new kid buried in a lineup of Mr. (insert your state name here)’s playing in Lexington Kentucky? Why play for Arizona, it’s like Las Vegas – but boring. Forget that crap, stay and be a rock star or royalty in Las Vegas, be the guy to brings an already great program back to the promised land. That’s a story people want to hear, that’s a story the national media wants to write about. No matter if you become Lebron James or Greg Oden, Las Vegas will always appreciate and admire you, you will be a hero to this town. Can the same be said of one of the schools I mentioned? I sincerely doubt it. The impact of Shabazz Muhammad playing for UNLV goes beyond just his time here, be it for only one or all four years. Other excellent local players will want to come play, along with great players from around the nation, and all because one man decided it was the right thing to do. Brilliant.

Shabazz Muhammad playing for UNLV benefits himself, his family, his city, and his State. When you are a top-5 prospect, you write your own ticket. Be a Rebel, and become legendary.

Also would like to congratulate USC Transfer Bryce Jones for making the decision to become a Runnin’ Rebel, you won’t regret it! Likely more on Jones in a future story.

YouTube Clips of Shabazz Muhammad’s dominance:

More fun:

Dantley Walker mix tape

Just received this video compilation of Dantley Walker - it also shows him executing several cross-overs:

Dantley Walker's Mission

Just got an email from Dantley's father Greg, they have been informed Dantley's mission will be in Spokane, Washington!


Here are some of the obvious positives:

1) Plenty of gyms available to put on muscle
2) No food safety issues or diseases one would encounter in developing nations
3) Home of Gonzaga University
  a) They are usually decent to good at basketball
  b) High quality pickup games should be available

Dantley will leave for his mission August 3rd.
He is very happy with the destination and looks forward to the future.

Let's all wish him well on his mission!

Interview with Dantley Walker's father and assistant coach - Greg Walker

Dantley Walker - UNLV Point Guard of the Future 

Rebel fans, I recently had a chance to speak with and interview Greg Walker, Dantley Walker's father and assistant coach of his high school basketball team. Everything you wanted to know about UNLV's future point guard, you're about to find out. Additionally, the Walkers have been extremely accommodating in providing information and pictures - even the avid Dantley Walker fan will learn something or see a photograph they haven't yet seen. In true RebelReign.com style, the following is a transcript of the interview, enjoy:

RR: RebelReign.com
GW: Greg Walker

Signing day

RR: I’m talking to Greg Walker, Dantley Walker’s father. Obviously the most recent thing is that Dantley has recently signed his letter of intent to play for the UNLV Runnin' Rebels, to come play for UNLV when he comes back from his mission, is that correct?

GW: Yes, that’s correct. It was Thursday and with Coach Kruger we were actually going to go down there and sign it. But when Coach Rice came, he faxed or fed-ex’d it out here, and we had an assembly and he signed in front of the whole high school and we sent it back.

RR: Ok, that’s interesting. I had seen the picture of Dantley signing, but didn’t know it was taken in Lincoln County, it almost looked like it was taken at UNLV.

GW: They rounded up some UNLV Rebel banners and posted them on the wall; it was at our high school here in Panaca.

RR: That would explain the creases you could see in the banner, it had not been hanging long (laughs).

GW: (laughs) yeah, I think it was folded up.

RR: Were you actually there?

GW: Yes, well I teach here, but I was actually at some meetings. So I picked up the family and was there. It was probably only 10 minutes, but it was cool. We’ve been waiting to do that for a long time so it was great.

RR: Obviously this was a pretty big event for the high school, pretty small high school, what is the total enrollment out there in Lincoln County High School?

GW: There are about 2000 people in Lincoln County,  and about 200 students in the high school. Sometimes over 200, sometimes it dips under, but usually right around 200. About 50 kids per class year.

RR: What do you teach?

GW: I teach English, a high school English teacher. When I first came out here I was the head baseball coach, and assistant boys basketball coach. When I was at Chaparral high school for my first year-and-a-half in Las Vegas, I taught and coached there as well. I got an offer to go (to Panaca) and I took it.

RR: How is life in Panaca vs. Las Vegas?

GW:  (laughs) It’s a lot slower, a lot slower. You know I liked coaching in Vegas, but didn’t like teaching there too much. They were cramming about 45 kids in a class. We just thought (Panaca) would be a good place to raise a family. My wife was from Mesquite, she grew up there and it was a small town, and I moved from Oregon my senior year to Moapa valley – which is a small town. So we are both familiar with small town life. But it was still a little adjustment after being in Las Vegas for 6 years- when I was at UNLV and then teaching. There are good and bad things about both places.

RR: Nowhere is perfect.

GW: Right.

RR: How many kids do you have besides Dantley?

GW: I have two girls and another boy. I have a girl, Hailee, who is a freshman; a girl, Jade, that is a seventh grader; my boy, Kobe, is in 4^th grade.

RR: Are they all athletes as well?

GW: The girls are more into dancing and cheerleading, my youngest is really into all sports too.

RR: I want to talk about Dantley, let’s get a good history there and then move onto some other areas. Obviously, everyone knows you named him after Adrian Dantley, the famous Notre Dame standout who was a heck-of-a NBA player, and now an assistant coach.

GW: Its funny, because every article that has been written about Dantley brings up the naming thing. Its not so much that he was named after him, but we liked the name. Adrian Dantley was my hero growing up. I patterned my game after him, kind of an undersized post. I went to his camp in Salt Lake City when he was playing for the Jazz, and just loved the way he played the game. So that’s where we got the name.

RR: Nothing in particular about Notre Dame or the Jazz that you would have been focused on?

GW: Not Notre Dame. I graduated from high school in 1987 and he was with the Jazz when I was in high school, so I definitely was a big Jazz fan during that time. We would get the games on the satellite in Oregon and we would watch just about all of his games. I was 6’0” and played post, he was 6’5” and played post. I just tried to emulate his game. No Notre Dame connection, that was before my time.

RR: I’ve read numerous articles about your son, a few of the articles have mentioned his shooting ability changing in the 7^th grade, could you tell me about that?

GW: (laughs) Yeah, well we had a couple of guys that got him going in the Utah leagues, the Junior Jazz and the Border League it’s called out here. He would go play in Cedar City and St. George, Utah. We got him going pretty young, when he was in 3rd or 4^th grade. When he first started he was probably the best ball handler and passer, but wasn’t necessarily the best shooter. He was really small. Shooting just came with practice. I think 6^th – 7^th grade is when he got really serious about working on his whole game and started spending a lot of time in the gym. We just would go there for hours, working on his shot, dribbling, and everything.

RR: Since we are talking about Dantley in the end of elementary and junior high, was he looking at other sports or particularly gifted in other sports?

GW: Yeah, he was a really gifted baseball player. In fact, I’ve had people tell me – 'you’ve picked the wrong sport, you should have pushed him more in baseball.' You don’t have to fight the size issue so much in baseball as you do in basketball. He was an excellent fielder, switch hitter, could pitch – just a really good glove, but I knew more about basketball than baseball and he just liked basketball a little better than baseball, so he kind of gave baseball up even though he didn’t want to. I said, if your goal is to play college basketball then you probably need to give up some  things like that, so he did. You really do have to give it up if you are playing AAU ball. The high school season ends in February and AAU kicks up in March. Its hard to play high school baseball if you’re doing that.

RR: There are so many time commitments for high schoolers in general, you pile on all these extra-circulars you have to a lot your time otherwise you’re spread too thin.

GW: Right

RR: I don’t think I’ve read that anywhere, so that’s good to know.

GW: Not too many people have asked about it outside of Lincoln County. He was always an all-star, one of the better players, but outside of the County nobody knows.

RR: So, he started really putting in the time, what people would classify as a ‘gym rat’ around the 7^th grade, and it continued from there?

GW: Yea, right around then he gave up the other sports. That would have been the last year of  baseball majors, and it was year round basketball from there. Definitely a gym rat. Just about every day but Sunday, we would work on something or he would work on something.

RR: Do you have a hoop at the house, or how does he get his practice in?

GW: Well, we have it good out here because I have keys to the gym. But yeah, we definitely have a hoop here. We used to play on it a lot when he was younger, go out and go at it. Pretty soon it was just, lets get in the gym and do things full court. Its right next door, about 100 yards away from our house, so any time he wanted to get in he would take the keys and get in. The administrators would look the other way and not kick him out. Mostly the gym over the backyard as he got older.

Coach Wood, Dantley, and Greg Walker

RR: Having a knowledge as an assistant basketball coach did you have any ideas on the position Dantley would play or was best suited to?

GW: I’ve been around basketball my whole life, I told my wife if we have a boy, “I don’t care if he is 5”10” or 6’10” I am going to train him to be a point guard.” My problem was I had a lot of the same kind of success as Dantley in high school, but because I was a (post) inside player I couldn’t play D1 college basketball-it didn’t translate to that level. I didn’t want that to happen to Dantley. He was a little guy when we were at Chaparral, and we were working on his handles making sure he could be a point guard. He would give half time dribbling shows during our games at Chaparral when he was 3 and 4 years old.

RR: So, if he were 6’8” or 6’9” he would be Magic Johnson.

GW: (laughs) Yeah, I wish he would have gotten that height. He can play the 2 very well too, but there wouldn’t be too many D1 schools looking for a 5'11 2 guard.

RR: And by -2- you obviously mean shooting guard.

GW: Yeah, and so I think we made the right decision. I think if he wasn’t a point guard he probably wouldn’t be headed to the D1 level.

RR: With him being a gym rat, what would he be doing? Would it be just him shooting baskets from all around the floor, or would it be pickup games?

GW: Out here, it was tough to get pickup games. There was some guys who would get up and play three days a week, at the church, at 5:30 AM. He would set his alarm and get up on his own and do that, just to make sure he got his games in. Sometimes they would play Tuesdays and Thursday nights, and we always got him to those games. But, more than anything else, him and I were in the gym just working on everything. Shooting off the dribble, shooting off picks, shooting full court, left hand, right hand, driving, floaters, footwork, dribbling, we had a whole routine and it would usually take us about an hour and a half. We would always have him shoot at minimum 150 3's besides everything else we did. After that he would stay and do his thing, and I would go because I had enough. We would do that for years – we still do it sometimes. And that’s it, since we weren’t living in Vegas you couldn’t find a game to play in everyday. So he was like Larry Bird, just working on his skills on his own all the time.

RR: It’s tough in a city of that size to find a pickup game. When he did find a game were the opposition grown adults, decent competition.

GW: Yeah, I guess so-pretty decent. It was a lot of adults. Now, basketball is pretty big out here and a lot of the high school kids will get together with some of the better older guys and have some pretty good games. Once he got to high school we got him right into the Las Vegas Prospects after his freshman year. He was basically playing basketball from November till August. So, it’s only really during the fall when he had to try and find games here in Panaca since entering high school.

RR: I’m going to make an assumption here, so correct me if am wrong. There comes a point when a son, if he is good, is going to beat his old man in a game of 21. Assuming that happened, when did it happen?

GW: (Laughs). It happened! What’s funny is we used to play a lot of half-court, and I’m taller and bigger than him so I could always drive in and score on him. I said, you know what, we need to play full-court. So, we go and we play full-court 1-on-1, up and back. The rule was you could never walk the ball up-full speed the whole game. And we played to 11 by 1’s, best of seven. When he was younger I would always win the series. Each year he would keep winning more games. This last fall, I would be lucky to win a game. He would take me 4 games to 1 or 0. It started changing his junior year when he started beating me more than I could beat him. It was good because it kept him in shape and kept him playing full court. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen him play, but he could bring it up and just, kind of like Jimmer, pull up and shoot wherever he was. I think a lot of that was from us doing those full court 1-on-1 games so much-and all the shooting drills.

RR: No, unfortunately I haven’t seen your son play. I’m in that 95% that have only seen it on Youtube. I guess you trained him to beat you, so it was bound to happen.

GW: Yeah, we’ve had some pretty good battles. Talking trash, we’re both fiery and competitive. That’s one of the reasons he is successful – he is just so competitive. It doesn’t matter what he’s doing, he just wants to beat you. I think that’s helped him in basketball and other things. If you’re playing checkers or whatever, he wants to beat you.

RR: Kind of like the Michael Jordan mentality, wants to win at whatever activity.

GW: He’ll keep on playing until he finally wins. He won’t leave till it happens.

RR: Lets go down the statistics, I want to make sure everything I’ve read is correct.

GW: OK

RR: Dantley’s height is 5’11”.

GW: Yes, we’re hoping during his mission he can gain another inch.

RR: Well, he’ll have to drink a lot of milk.

GW: Yeah, stretch him out.

RR: He is going to graduate high school this year, and has a pretty good GPA.

GW: Yes, I think its 3.7.

RR: He’s currently only playing basketball, and been doing that primarily since 7^th grade.

GW: Yeah, as the sole sport. Organized basketball since 4^th grade.

RR: His high school team is the Lincoln County Lynx.

GW: Yes.

RR: The data I have says the team went 24-7?

GW: That sounds right. Tied for first place in league with Agassi Prep.

RR: League play, 11-3. What is the league, just all similarly sized schools or geographically?

GW: Yea, it's based on school population and geographically the southern part of the state.

RR: He averaged 36.2 PPG this last season.

GW: Yes

RR: Basically, his production is what a lot of people talk about because, for example, he scored 73 points in a game this season and that was the highest point total by any high school player in the country this year.

GW: That’s right and we won that game too.

RR: So people are looking at his scoring, but he has very respectable other categories. Assists per game, 10.2; rebounds per game – just under 6 (5.4), steals per game 5.4. So besides being a scoring powerhouse, with the other stats he could essentially score -0- points a game and still be a valuable asset.

GW: (laughs) Yeah, by his sophomore year he really had a well rounded game. He’s always had to do a lot of scoring for us. If you’ve heard, Dave Rice has said some good things about Dantley, such as talking about his good passing ability. I honestly think that will be more of his role on the college level. I think he’ll be more of a quarterback running the team type player. He'll still bust the 3 it if they play off of him but he'll  have a lot of others that can score too, at UNLV.  He’ll get you the ball, whether on the fast break, half court offense, or if you need to get it to the post or a certain player – he can do it. He has really good court sense.  Because he scored so much, sometimes his passing got lost in the shuffle.

RR: There is a statistic I don’t have because it wasn’t published. But obviously in order to average 36.2 PPG you have to jack up a lot of shots.

GW: Yes, he definitely had the green light. That’s the thing, I can’t remember exactly how many he shot each game and stuff like that, we have it somewhere. But, if he had a half decent look, Coach Wood gave him the green light because a lot of times he could shoot threes better than some of the kids out here could shoot lay-ups. But because he had so many guys on him, because he was such a good scorer, every team was throwing 2-3 guys or a gimmick defense against him, and he was still able to score 36 in spite of that. So, yea he was playing against a lot of 2a teams, but he never was being guarded straight up by one man.  Sometimes it seemed half of the opposing team was guarding him.

RR: The game where he scored 73, do you remember what kind of defense they threw at him that game?

GW: I remember it was Agassi Prep and we beat them. And the thing about Agassi, it was great that he scored 73 against them because they are a legit team. They were the state champions. I think they beat the northern team by 30 points to win the championship this year. Really athletic, big kids. Anyways, what they did was as soon as he got to half court they would double him right there. Or they would just double him full court.  A lot of teams did that. As soon as he passed the half court line they sent two kids at  him and would try to push him to the sideline to try to get him to pass the ball. That game it didn’t seem to matter, he was just in the zone. Everything he threw up just went in that game. Some of the shots he made were from 6 to 8 feet behind the 3 point line.

RR: So, getting back to where I was headed originally. Has anyone compiled the number and figured out his shooting percentage?

GW: You know what, we did from watching tape of his games.  His senior year, he was over 50% from inside the 3 point line, and he was in the low 40’s from outside, I think 41% from 3.

RR: Wow, that’s incredible, especially for the amount taken.

GW: Yeah, they would play him so tight that he would get fouled too, so he got to the free throw line a lot.

RR: How is his free-throw percentage?

GW: He lead the nation in free throw percentage as well. He made 262 out of 290 free throws, and he shot exactly 90%

RR: Ok, so we have a Danny Ainge here.

GW: According to MaxPrep that was the highest percentage in the nation.

RR: Now, since you’re also a coach, you would agree with me that its unusual for a person running the point guard would not be a prolific scorer like that, it takes a lot of energy to run a team. A lot of energy is used taking the ball up the court yourself, as opposed to being the one who scores by coming off the block and shooting.

GW: Yeah, we never took him out unless it was a blowout. We wore him down. If we took him out it seemed like we would fall apart. And a lot of teams, they would guard him full court and try to wear him out. He always had the ball in his hands, always. And that’s why some people wonder, if he scored 36, how did he get 10 assists? That’s exactly how, he always had the ball in his hands. He had some games where he would just about collapse at the end of the game, but he got in such good shape that he could handle it. I’d say he's a lot like The Jimmer that way. If you saw him this year they hardly ever took him out, and he always had the ball in his hands, but he seemed to do alright. Energy wise, by his junior and senior years he could handle that, go go go. It definitely took a toll on him, wearing him down. Sometimes by the end of the game he would just about drop.

RR: Regarding wear-and-tear, has he suffered any major injuries up to this point?

GW: No, he’s been blessed or lucky not to get injured. Only in his sophomore year I think he missed 2 games due to a sprained ankle. It could have been 1 game if my memory is correct.

RR: On another subject that may fascinate some, what kind of shoes does Dantley wear?

GW: (Laughs) It’s cool because when he was a freshman, sophomore, and junior, he loved the old Jordan’s and we found them for him to wear. It's popular now to wear them but when he was doing it nobody else really was. We found him a pair of the Jordan VIs. The red and white Carmines when he was a sophomore. They matched our red and white jerseys. Those are my favorite old school Jordan's. They weren't cheap but he looked great in them. When he was a junior he wore the XIs and some of the IV and V's too. I found most of them on ebay. They weren't selling them in Foot Locker, like they do now.

RR: Aren’t those the ones that look like the wrestlers earpieces on the side, the bulge?

GW: Yeah, I think he wore those too.

GW: Yeah, those are what he wore the first three years, and nobody else was really doing that, so that was kinda unique to him. People would ask him, “where did you get those shoes?” People really liked them. He would go through a couple pair a year. Christmas time, we would get him another pair. For Christmas or Birthdays he only wanted basketball shoes. This year he got away from that, and went with the Hyperdunks. He really liked how light they were. Also this year he wore the Hyperfuse.

RR: What shoe size does he wear?

GW: He wears size 11.

RR: Obviously when he’s at UNLV they’ll be giving him his shoes, so you won’t have to break the bank anymore.

GW: That will be nice. Now maybe I can buy me a pair once in a while.

RR: Obviously he just signed the letter of intent, in the middle of his selection process there was a coaching change, that must have been a shock?

GW: You know, it was. He was pretty bummed out about it when we first heard it. He was gone to a track meet and I texted him the news and it pretty much bummed him out. Everything was back up in the air after that.

RR: Obviously, the common practice is when you give your oral commitment to a coach, and that coach leaves things are really up in the air, seen that way from both sides. Is that correct?

GW: Yeah, Coach Henson called right after it happened. I think he was at the Final Four. He called and apologized, and he said, “You know I know this screws you guys up.” I really liked Coach Henson, so I said, “hey – these things happen.” You can’t blame him for going, he got a good pay raise and everything. So, like everyone else we kind of waited to see what would happen.

RR: I don’t remember how long, but in about 10 days to two weeks a new coach was picked, and by the result I would assume you guys are really happy with Dave Rice.

GW: Ecstatic. Really no other coach, except maybe coach Tim Duryea of Utah State, knew his game better. We couldn’t have done any better than Rice. Great man. Great coach. Coach Kruger really didn’t jump in till mid-January. Coach Rice has been watching Dantley since his sophomore year. He called Dantley the summer after his freshman season,  and he has been following him really close since that call. Coach Rice was the first D-1 coach who ever came to our gym to watch a player and our school has been here for over 100 years!

RR: That’s pretty important.

GW: Yeah, so he knew everything about Dantley, so we figured that if Coach Rice got the job then nothing was going to change. If Theus or somebody else would have got it, I am not sure what we would have done. He had Utah State waiting in the wings. Coach Duryea called when the coaching change happened and asked, “what’s going on”, and we said “we don’t know” and he said, “well if Coach Rice doesn’t get him, we’ll get you over here”. Utah State was really loyal, they could have had Dantley over for an official visit while the coaching change was in limbo, but they wouldn't mess with the situation until Coach Rice made his decision. So we were a little worried, but not too worried because if it fell apart at UNLV he could have gone to Utah State.

RR: Yeah, Utah State has a really good program, but they play in a weak conference.

GW: Yeah, that’s true. The thing with Utah State is they have a great basketball program, they can compete with almost anybody, but the WAC isn't what it used to be. BYU will play in the WCC next season. That is fairly weak too. We are glad he'll be playing in the Mountain West.

RR: Right, level of competition isn’t there, so..

RR: A couple of more recent developments, Coach Rice has recently appointed three assistants, Justin Hutson, Heath Schroyer, and Stacey Augmon, how do you feel about it?

GW: I feel really good about it, I have been following it really close. I watched a Wyoming game last year that Coach Schroyer coached, the whole family came down for that senior night game. I know about Augmon, I was as UNLV when he was there – I think it’s a great coaching staff. We know Stacey Augmon because he played at UNLV and was a pro and all that. We really don’t know the other two except from what we’ve read, but from all that we have read it’s a really good staff.

RR: Probably a stacked staff, never heard of a staff like that.

GW: I agree.

RR: At what point had your fears and Dantley’s fears been put to rest throughout this coaching transition, when it came to signing with UNLV?

GW: As soon as they announced that Coach Rice got the job, I was about 99% sure it was all good for him to keep his commitment. He got the job Monday, and he called Dantley Wednesday night and said “Hey, you still got that scholarship if you still want to come. We’ll defer it for the two years”. So I think as soon as Coach Rice got the job it was pretty much a done deal.  We felt very good about it and we're glad he would still be a Rebel.

RR: I assume as they announced assistant after assistant, that feeling just got stronger?

GW: Yep, you know what, no matter who he would have hired as assistants; he still would want to play for Coach Rice.

GW: There are things that some people don’t know. One of the things that limited Dantley’s recruitment is we told everyone straight out that he was going on a two year mission. And so, we were looking more at the Utah schools because they work more with missionaries.

RR: Right, they understand that and work with it all the time.

GW: Yeah, and Rice, having been at BYU had dealt with that, and he actually knew more about it than I did. He called me and I started to say, “well, with his mission...” He said, “Hey,I’ve been working with missionaries for six years, I know more about missionaries (working with the NCAA) than the Mormons do” (laughs). When we had talked to Coach Kruger before, he said to us, “Well we only have one scholarship for next year, if you want it, its yours”. I said, “Well coach, with his mission you won't burn his scholarship until 2013”, He said “You sure?!” I said, “Yeah, you still have one to give.” Coach Rice has worked with that for awhile so that’s good. He’s familiar with the church and how missions work.

RR: Let’s talk about the mission. My understanding is it’s a rite of passage for boys in the Mormon faith, a bit more optional for girls, isn’t that correct?

GW: Well, its optional for both. Nobody is forced to go on a misson. It's up to the girl or boy if they want to go.

RR: Definitely more prevalent for boys.

GW: Yes, the last statistic I had heard, I think, is a little less than half of boys at age 19 go, and girls even less.

RR: So, for how long has Dantley wanted to go on a mission?

GW: I think he’s always planned on going, I went, all his uncles went. I think its something he’s always wanted to do. There were some times when he was a freshman, he said, where he was questioning it a little, “what if I got a scholarship, should I still go on a mission?”. But, overall, it's just something he’s always wanted to do. He’s going to give that two years of service to God and the church and I think most of us agree that he should. I even heard Coach Rice talk about it a little bit – he said it will really help him as a person. I think it may even help him physically, it will give him time to get bigger. I think when he finally gets back and can play again it will be better than him going and playing right now.

RR: When you went on your mission, where were you sent?

GW: I went to Canada, Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

RR: Is it a French speaking province?

GW: There is some French speaking people, but we only taught the English speaking Canadians. My French is poor.

RR: All kidding aside, I’ve read some comments that a lot of people would like to see your son go to NYC so he can play some street ball. (laughs)

GW: (laughs) You know what, he said that too. People ask him where he wants to go, he’ll say Brooklyn. (laughs). When he gets the time to play he can play.  But he’s just joking. He'll be happy to go wherever he is assigned. He would like to go somewhere where there are gyms and weight rooms and things like that. There is over 350 different missions, so its hard to guess where he might end up. We should know in the next couple weeks.

RR: He’s not out there for the whole two years, there is training and additionally if you are going to go to a non-English speaking then there is a language school that takes more time.

GW: If its English speaking its 2-3 weeks; if a language has to be learned then they will be in training for a couple months.

RR: But that doesn’t add any time to the 2 year commitment?

GW: No.

GW: And they are working with him so he can go early. He doesn’t turn 19 until the end of October, that’s usually when they go. But, the church knows he has a scholarship waiting so they’ll get him out there 3 months early. The church doesn't want the kids to lose scholarships so they're good at working with them. We would like to get him out about August 1^st.

RR: Which academic year will he be starting as a freshman?

GW: That will be 2013. And a red shirt season is always a possibility when he gets back. They are going to play that by ear. It all depends how well he adjusts after being out for two years.

RR: When someone is on a mission, how much time would they have to practice basketball or go to the gym to put on some bulk or anything like that?

GW: Well, what they do now, and it's different from when I went, it's mandatory that they get at least 30 minutes of exercise in a day except on Sundays. I told Dantley that if you got 30 minutes in the morning, then get up even earlier and get to a gym or weightroom. They have one day a week, called a preparation day (a day off) and on that day they can do all of that stuff too.

RR: The personal day, once a week?

GW: Yes

RR: Obviously you and Dantley, your family has numerous basketball players in your family, who have had accolades in Nevada – can you tell me a little about that?

GW: Yeah, in Oregon too. I actually did most of mine in Oregon and was all-state there. We moved to Moapa my senior year. Like Dantley, I got player of the year for 2A at Moapa. That was back when there only was 1A, 2A, and 3A. I got recruited by Coach Dave Rose (BYU coach) to play at Dixie when he was there, but passed it up and went to an Idaho JC. I have three younger brothers too. Same thing, always all-state and player of the years. On my wife’s side, she has brothers who were really good players too. I have an uncle who played at UNR way back when, in the 60’s I think. Dantley's great grandpa,on my side, played at Utah State. So basketball has been big on both sides of the family. If you look in the Nevada State NIAA records, you’ll see all of us in there. Rich Bowler (my wife's brother), Rex Jensen (my uncle), me, my brothers Kyle and Kevin. We're all over the place in that thing. But Dantley's name is in there now more than anybody's. He's first place in a lot of categories. That’s our favorite sport-basketball is in our DNA I guess.

Link: http://static.psbin.com/s/z/v6753wvbkak791/Basketball-_Boys.pdf (not yet updated for the past year, normally occurs late summer)

RR: I’m jumping around a bit, your son was named first team Parade all-American. Ranked one of the top-10 players in the country. Was there any prize money that came with that?

GW: (laughs). You know what, it was funny. He got all these awards the last four years (he was 1st team all league all 4 years, 1st team all-state all four years, mvp of the league twice, mvp of the state twice, RJ 1a-3a  player of the year twice, etc.), and he was asking me about being an all-American and I said, “you know Dant, I don’t think they’ll even consider you. You’re way out in Nevada and you play at a 2A school. It would  be great if you even got fourth team all-American, but I don’t think they’ll consider you” It was about a week later he came in, and said “hey I just got a phone call, I am first team all-American” and I said “what?!” So yeah, it was a big surprise. A nice surprise.

RR: So no scholarship or prize, did he get a plaque?

GW: As far as I know all they sent to our school were two plaques, certificates, and  a couple of the magazines where they list him and all the other all-americans, but that’s basically it from Parade.

RR: Since he signed with UNLV, has he had a chance to mingle with any of the current players?

GW: The only time he got to do that, was on UNLV senior night. Coach Kruger had him down, and he was in the locker room and hung out with them. He knows some of the players from AAU, but that was about it. Then Coach Kruger left, and then Rice got the job, and I asked Coach Rice if he could play and lift with the guys until he leaves, and he said “yeah”. So hopefully he’ll get to go down there on weekends and play and stuff, which I think will be good for him. He knows Anthony Marshall and Karam Mashour from the Prospects. So he definitely knows those two well.

RR: Obviously, being on the AAU circuit gave him a higher level of competition then just playing high school?

GW: Oh yeah, after his freshman year, right after they won the state championship, I said we need to get you in playing with and against better kids. If you can do these sort of things against them, then you probably have a future in this. If you can’t then you’ll probably just be a good player out here. So he got a tryout with them, and made it. He started for them his freshman year and played with the Prospects and Utah Select the next 3 summers. AAU is really important. If he didn’t do AAU ball he probably would not be at UNLV.

RR: So it had a profound impact on his playing ability?

GW: Oh, for sure.

RR: And the exposure as well.

GW: Yes and no. Sometimes I think it’s a little overblown. Some people say, ‘well it doesn’t even matter what a kid does in high school, everyone just scouts AAU’. I think that’s partly true. I think the things he did his senior year in high school got him more attention, overall, than the AAU. But his senior year wasn't a typical season either. His amazing senior year combined with the AAU ball got it done.

RR: Did you hear Coach Rice’s interview two days ago (from the week of May 3^rd on the radio)?

GW: Yeah, I heard parts of it.

RR: Did you hear the caller who asked if your son could play defense?

GW: (laughs) yes I did.

RR: What do you have to say about his defensive skills, I know from a stats perspective the only one I see that is defense qualified is steals. There are offensive and defensive rebounds. Just under 6 steals a game is respectable, but how is his defensive game.

GW: You know what, in all honesty that is the one area he will have to improve. That man to man defense. I kind of compare him to a lot of the players, say a Steve Nash, a Larry Bird, a Bobby Hurley. Those type of players, they are not necessarily going to lock up a player when they’re playing man-to-man defense, but within the scheme of team defense he’ll be excellent-just like those players. As far as anticipation and everything that goes with that he’ll be fine. He gets a ton of steals. A lot of it is just size, he’s just not a real big kid. That was one of my concerns about him playing for Coach Kruger – he ran 100% man-to-man all the time. I think with Coach Rice coming in, he coached a lot of non-athletic type players up there at BYU and they played a lot of zone. There are definitely places he can play within the zone, and certain match-ups where he’ll do just fine. That’s just something he’ll have to work it. A lot of high school kids are in the same boat. Everyone LOVES to play offense, everyone LOVES shooting the ball, and you kind of HAVE to play defense. So, he knows he’s going to have to get more serious about the defensive end too, he definitely knows that.

RR: Well from what you told me about his competitive spirit, I think it would come hand in hand. He’ll learn how to shut down his opponents so he wont have to score so many points.

GW (laughs) Yeah, he’s not going to have to do everything at the college level. His college game will be a little different from his high school game. For us, he had to do everything, and with the Reb’s he is going to be a part of  the whole scheme. It won't all be on him all the time. At UNLV everybody's got game.

RR: Besides defense, is there any other areas Dantley is putting special attention on working.

GW: The main thing is his body, he knows he needs to get stronger because he is not tall. So, he’s living in the weight room. He’s going to get with the UNLV strength coach and take that program with him on his mission. Those are the main two things, he knows he has to put the same effort he puts into offense into defense, and when he does that he’ll be a good defender. He knows those two things are what he needs to work on. Getting stronger and loving defense as much as offense.

RR: Its something I talked about with Coach Anthony Brown, but this goes to the bigger equation as to why UNLV loses out on local recruits. And you can discount kids who go Findlay prep because they are not ‘locals’ they come here because of the good program, but one of the things he said kids need to grow up dreaming about playing at UNLV, that should be an aspiration. It seems to me, based upon things that have been said, maybe Dantley grew up wanting to be a Rebel – am I correct in that statement?

GW: Yes, you are correct. I would say, and this might sound weird to people outside of Nevada: The main three schools he wanted to go to were UNLV, BYU obviously because he is Mormon, and Utah State. A lot of people might laugh about that.  Why not Duke or North Carolina? Well, I grew up during the craze, when it was Tarkanian and winning championships. Dantley was born in Las Vegas, and we’ve always been right here in Nevada. Wink Adams and Dantley became great friends this past season. He came to the last 7 games or so we had this year and loved watching Dant play,  and Wink gave him his UNLV jacket after his last game. So, Dantley has always loved the Rebels. He went to Lon Kruger’s camps when he was in middle school, got to know Coach Henson. The thing is, UNLV never showed any interest until about January of his senior year, so they weren’t looking at him and we weren’t looking at them – we didn’t think it was going to happen. When it did happen, we were just like “wow’- we were kind of shocked. I’m not exaggerating, UNLV was a top 3 choice-if not #1.

RR: You’re an alumni, your wife is an alumni, we have a great basketball history.

GW: Yep, a bunch of our family have graduated from UNLV besides us. There’s a lot of us who have gone to UNLV, so we all are Rebels.

RR: Just a couple more questions, your son is a point-guard, is he a vocal – yell out the calls guy or more of a hand-signal guy?

GW: He can be vocal, if he was in there next year I don’t know if he would be vocal because he would be the youngest one on the team, but he’s used to running things and he doesn’t like to lose, so he can be pretty vocal if needed. I’d say more than that, he’s been kind of a lead-by-example type player. Nobody is going to out work him, everyone follows his lead. It will be kind of interesting to see, once he gets with his group in 2013. 

RR: You’ve heard the cliché, coach’s son – high basketball IQ. Does that accurately reflect Dantley?

GW: Yep, that would definitely reflect Dantley. And at his size, he would have to have one. Its not like he’s getting by on athletic ability. He’s never the biggest or can jump the highest- he’s smaller and quick and he has that high basketball IQ.

RR: I’ve read he idolizes Steve Nash?

GW: Yeah, his favorites are Steve Nash and Stephen Curry and Jwill.  I’ve always talked to him about Bobby Hurley because they are the same size, play the same position, and Hurley did great things. I hate to bring up Duke guys-I hate Duke, but he and Dant are similar. I liked Mark Wade too. He's my favorite all-time Rebel. We've exchanged emails since Dantley signed with his team.  Wade was Dantley’s size, 5’11”, never shot the ball but was a great point guard. Still holds a bunch of assist records.  He loves Pete Maravich too. Dant has all the Maravich DVD drill videos. He likes some of the older guys. I named him wrong, should have named him Pete. (laughs)

RR: A lot of the Youtube clips are of Dantley jacking up threes, some lay-ups and some good passes. I don’t know if I don’t remember seeing it, but does your son have a cross-over?

GW: Oh yeah, oh yeah – he’s pretty famous for the cross-over. Whoever made the Youtubes, they kind of put the things in there they wanted to see. The one they used when they retired his jersey out here at the high school, someone was putting one together and Dantley said “hey, put more of my passing in there because I only ever see ones of me shooting threes” but yeah, he definitely has a cross-over.

RR: Had he looked at any Tim Hardaway tape?

GW: Yeah he knows Hardaway and his crossover. Dwill and Iverson too. He can break some ankles. In the Youtube tapes you always see him finishing, but a lot of the time how he got to that point was crossing-someone over.

RR: Well, that’s all I had laid out, is there anything else you think people would like to know about your son?

GW: We covered a lot. He knows he has a lot to prove, and I know some people out there think, “wow, they took a chance on this 5'11 white kid  from a small town” but its been that way his entire life, be it middle, high school, AAU ball, and everything else. He’ll show everybody what he can do in a couple years. Nobody is going to outwork him.  I know that. Whatever it takes to be successful, he wants to do that. The main thing he wants to do is help the Rebels win, to get back to where they were in the late 80’s and early 90’s. He wants to be a part of a winning program. He loves to fast break and push the ball, and that's what Coach Rice is planning to do.

RR: We all hope that happens obviously. I think that’s fantastic. Thank you for participating in the interview, best of luck to you and your son on his mission.

GW: Thank you