Nicknames, Schedule Addition, Link to Hutson Interview, Rebel Legends Party

Updated Sunday 10:28 A.M.


Nicknames for up-tempo style

I'm kind of a nickname guy, so I am proposing some for the new up-tempo Rebel’s offense, maybe even some for the defense.

Option #1 – Run TMC

For those who have been into basketball for the last twenty years, this saying will bring back memories of the Golden State Warriors for which the nickname was coined (Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, Chris Mullin) which was actually a play on Run DMC. In our context, run clearly symbolizes the running, up-tempo style of offense, and TMC stands for the Thomas and Mack Center – our home court. By bringing back a ‘blast from the past’ nickname it is ideally suited to the retro-style shift that the Runnin’ Rebels are making with this juiced coaching staff. Print the shirts, have the cheerleaders scream “RUN” and the crowd scream back “TMC” in quickening pace – that’ll get things moving – it’s a winner.

Option #2 -  Rice-Rockets

Do I really need to explain it?

Option #3 – Lightning in a bottle

Don’t know why I thought of it, its been used in other contexts. The words make me feel good and I think it could fit. Maybe it should be a nickname for the bench players,  “open when you need of a quick burst of energy”. Sweet.

For the Defense

Option #1 – Amoeba 2.0

Coach Rice is a student of Tarkanian, played in his system, coached in his system. High likelihood that some form of the Amoeba defense returns. That said, this time he has the likes of Justin Hutson, and Stacey Augmon to make it even better. Amoeba 2.0 is fitting and pays tribute.

Option #2 – Pound The Ground

This takes us back to the days only a few years removed, where to psyche the team up our guys would slap the court to motivate themselves and their teammates to play lock-down defense. I’m sure it was equally demoralizing to the opponent. While the Defense has been respectable since that time, it really made it fun to watch and showed the passion and heart the players put into their defensive craft.

Option #3 – Man On The Run

Fast break points lead to transition opportunities for the opposing team, because they then try to play ‘your game’ and get the basketball back up the court as soon as possible after a bucket. Man on the run symbolizes having to get back on defense after our new and improved offense schools people. Although Coach Rice had a less athletically talented team at BYU, and that was a major motivator for not paying man-to-man defense, there is sure to still be some man-to-man because our guys do it well, hence the name still fits. 

Schedule Addition

This is totally preliminary and speculative, but either the December 7 or January 7 game (both should be home games) will be against the Canisius Golden Griffins of the MAAC. Because of the unconfirmed nature, the schedule page will not update quite yet. If true, you heard it here first. 


Source - their fan boards seem pretty certain about playing UNLV, likely December 7th. 


Justin Hutson Interview

Justin Hutson recently gave an interview to ESPN 1100, mostly about Kawai Leonard and the draft, but some about Rebels
Link (doesn't work with google chrome)

Rebel Legend’s Party

Those of you who went down to Hooters for the Rebel Legends party were surely not disappointed. Notable Rebel celebs in attendance included Moses Scurry, Eldridge Hudson, John Flowers, Kevin Kruger, Wink Adams, Romel Beck, Steve ‘Chop’ Jones, Kaspars Kambala, Trevor Diggs, Warren Rosegreen, Chancellor Davis, Dave Rice, Donovan Stewart, Bobby Florence, Freddie Banks, Christian Popoola & David Hollis. It was a fun time, well managed, well attended, and free – can’t beat that. Thanks to RebelSwag for putting on an event which hopefully will become an institution among Rebels fans and Las Vegas in general. 

Met with several of the people noted above, hoping they’ll be amenable to interviews in the near future. Here’s a few pictures I snapped:

Wide range of subjects

Remember Deshawn Mitchell? 

Mr. Mitchell has popped up in the news again for attempting to make another roster. Anyone who has read RebelReign’s Tre’von Willis retrospective is aware of the interesting path Deshawn has taken since leaving UNLV. Here’s the recap:

“In addition to the lost personnel, DeShawn Mitchell asked for a release after his freshman year and transferred to Rider. Somehow, that didn’t quite work out for Mitchell and he ended up at Snow College (in Ephraim, UT). As another aside on Mitchell, he was recently dismissed from the JUCO team (playing as a “sophomore”) in February, 2011 even-though he was their leading scorer.  Bad decision to leave UNLV.” – Tre’von Willis Retrospective, Part 2.

I have always been fascinated by the whole, “where are they now” inquiry – here’s where Deshawn Mitchell is now.

After being dismissed from Utah’s Snow College basketball team in February 2011, he continued to be enrolled and earned credit with the hopes of playing D-1 again. We now learn he butted heads with the coaching staff there, which lead to the odd late-season dismissal.

In pursuit of D-1 ball, Mr. Mitchell attempted to become a Rainbow Warrior at the University of Hawaii. U of H was a big supporter of Mitchell’s, naming him one of their more prized of six recruits going into this coming season. Unfortunately for him and Hawaii, the NCAA ruled that Mitchell, who academically would have been a junior, was not eligible because he did not have enough transferable credits.

Anyone who remembers Mitchell from his lone season at UNLV remembers he had impressive hops and was quite an athletic and promising freshman. Disappointing turn of events with his multiple stops and failures at every turn since leaving the Rebels. Ironically, had Mitchell made the Hawaii roster we would be playing against him this season. Best of luck to Mitchell, hopefully he hits the books, squares things with the NCAA, and finds himself a D-1 program.

http://www.staradvertiser.com/sports/20110618_High-scoring_UH_hoops_recruit_won8217t_join_team.html

Recruiting updates

Everyone knows UNLV locked up a commitment from USC transfer Bryce Jones. The updated picture on two other recruiting targets follow the same storyline – SDSU.

J.J. O’Brien, an extremely promising freshman from the wreckage that is Utah’s coaching change disaster, was a target of the Rebels as soon as it became known that he was available. O’Brien picked SDSU over other potential suitors, likely due to the depleted roster and room to shine. As a transfer, he will redshirt for a year and be back as a sophomore in 2012-13.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/jun/01/utahs-obrien-makes-transfer-sdsu-official/

Dewayne Polee II was a former recruiting target of Lon Kruger & Co, but he opted to join Steve Lavin and St. Johns in NY. When his mother fell ill, he sought to transfer to a school closer to L.A. to be there for her and his family. He too looked at schools who had recruited him originally, and likewise chose the Aztecs. Polee is currenly awaiting a decision from the NCAA as to whether he can obtain a waiver for the 1 year redshirt rule, due to the family medical reason. If so, we’ll see Polee in action, albeit on the opposing team this season.

http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/31902/sdsu-lands-dwayne-polee-keeps-reloading

Rebel Legend's Party

RebelSwag is presenting the first ever Rebel’s Legends party, here at the Hooter’s Casino (formerly San Remo) on Friday, June 24 @ 7PM Poolside. Should be a blast, go if you can, if you take pictures, send them to RebelReign1@gmail.com. Here is the flyer: