So much for the predictions!

Anyone catch the Kent St. vs. UNLV game? Anyone see how we pretty much owned Kent St.? Anyone see Rebel-doubters' brackets fall apart? Check, check, and check.

What a way to start off the tourney. It wasn't a close game, the only part that was close was the beginning, and even that didn't last long. We (yes, we, didn't you see me on the court?) managed to hold them to 10 points for the first half, something that hasn't been done since 1939. Yes, 1939, as in almost 70 years ago.

The Rebs brought their game to that, uh...game. And now we'll need them to bring it again, multiplied by 10, to the Kansas game. We need to cause Kansas to force turnovers, and then we need to convert those to points. We need all the boys to play their hearts out, and put forth their best effort.

Reading the RJ today, one of the quotes in it talked about the Rebels underdog mentality. And it's true. People just keep doubting, and then we prove them wrong. I vote that we do that again today. Just like the song, let's give them something to talk about. Go Rebels!

Let the games begin!

I was hestitant to write this blog, because really, there's nothing I can say that hasn't been said about our team, our coach, and our upcoming game.

I could say that Wink deserves a hat trick after dropping three 3!s, or that NeNe is Michael Jordan (not Dennis Rodman, ReviewJournal, shame on you). Or that Coach K has done what no one really expected (but a lot of us hoped). But that's all been said.

With that, all I can really do is wish our Rebels "good luck". Regardless of what happens, it's been one heck of a season to watch, especially after being told time and time again it was going to be nothing special. So show Kent State what you can do, and whatever happens, know that you've all made me proud to bleed Rebel Red. Go Rebels!


(Sorry about the let-down, Brian.)

Throw some 3!'s on it

My oh my. What a game.

-I wasn't at the game, and I am bummed that I wasn't. According to my good ole radio, the Mack has been De-Rebeled, with no fireworks (!!!) , but with the addition of a soon-to-be-ankle-breaker of a MWC logo.

-The final score was 88-89, which is practically unheard of (by me, anyway) for our Rebels, or moreso of the other team they're defending. And how did the scores get so high? It was like TCU found a genie that granted 3!s instead of wishes. My goodness. I thought it would stop after the first half, because, well, that's ridiculous. But nope, the 3! rain just kept fallin'.

-With that being said, my respect for the Horned Frogs, which wasn't all that high (see a previous blog for a picture), has grown tremendously. It was obvious that TCU played with everything they had, and it almost paid off for them. Well played, well played indeed.

-After some extensive research, I've reached the conclusion that "Matt Shaw" actually means "Unexpected 3! point maker" in a language that is a distant relative of Russian. Where did they come from these past two games? Know what? I don't care, just keep 'em coming, Matt.

-NeeeeNeeee. He was my pick for the Leslie Pool Supplies (once again, thank you radio), Player of the Game, but Wink beat him out with a little baby 3 play. (Totally kidding on that one). Seriously though, R-Geau is EV-ERY-WHERE. Even the announcers were remarking on it, albeit in the form of cheesy jokes--wait, who am I kidding, I live for cheesy jokes. Tangent aside, Nene gets things done. I really can't praise him enough. The guy was one rebound away from a Double-Double. (Oh, yeah, anyone catch his interview in The LV Sun? He likes naps, I like naps, yesssssss!)

-You know how some people have a signature move? Nene's is two moves merged into one, a hybrid of basketball, if you will. It's the "Steal the Inbound Pass and Then Bring Tt Home With A Slam Dunk".


-(My blogging was interrupted by my Dad calling and telling me the Rebs were favored by something like 11 points. Eh, so we didn't win by 11, but we won.)

-Wink Adams. I'm trying to decide whether or not the game being decided by a 3-point play that wasn't a 3! is irony or just pretty damn cool. Regardless, Wink did it. He so totally did it. Being quadrupled teamed? Not a problem, he'll get fouled and then lay it in. Or previously in the game, he'll get the ball knocked out of his hands, recover it in midair, and get a basket. I swear, he needs a Jock Jam to be named after him. Let's Get Ready to Wink? Whomp! There is Wink? Who knows, it just needs to be done. And soon.

-Why hello with the defense Darg. Oh, and a few buckets, of course. It's getting to be commonplace, it's almost ridiculous. (Just almost though, so feel free to keep it coming.)

-I think that's all of the individual stuff I'm going to mention, even though of course all of the other Rebs, did their thing as well. Good job guys, good job.

-Tournament play is way more intense than I expected (and I think that goes for a lot of other people too). Our boys need to remember that everyone wants to win as bad as we do, so we need to bring it. Go Rebels!

Sorry for the delay...

I was planning on writing shortly after the Senior Game, but apparently my professors are people who will allow you to enjoy Spring Break only if you happen to survive the week leading up to it. So this will be a miscellaneous, catch-up sort of blog.

-I didn't even have a very good recap of Saturday's game because I was so into it that I didn't put tidbits in my phone like I normally do. I think that game was one of my favorites this season, if not the favorite. All I can say is that Terry and Bailey deserved to go out big, and big they did. Way to go. (For a more in-depth synopsis of that game, check out JB's blog, the link is on the right.)

-MWC Coach of the Year, Lon Kruger. I'll be honest, I don't really follow the other coaches (does anyone?), so I guess I can't really be honest say he was the best pick. Oh, wait, the title of my blog page lets me do just that. He was the best pick. Daddy Krug took a season that was meant to be nothing remarkable and made it into something that was, even with the drama-drama of losing 3 players. Congratulations, Coach K, you deserve it.

-Now for my version of March Madness talk. Apparently there's been a lot of upsets, so teams that wouldn't normally go to the Dance are going, and then of course the ones that are still really good go, so because of the upsets, that leaves less spots. Or at least that's what I got when my dad was telling me this at 7 this morning. My brain doesn't function all that well before 8, so who knows?

-I do know that we're going to have to rock the championship. It's our home-court, and I'm hoping our boys want it bad enough to win it. Go get 'em. (" 'em" being BYU and New Mexico especially).

Let's get physical, physical!

To the UNLV non-believers, the 2007-2008 basketball season was supposed to be a bridge year, a year from greatness to not-so-greatness and back to greatness again. And really, in a way, who can blame the naysayers? We lost four of our starters, and one of our upcoming stars was red-shirted by the NCAA. So it's even more gratifying when this season's basketball team has the same record as last year's at this time, 22-7. It just goes to show what one heck of a coach can do.

For the game against TCU, I wasn't able to attend due to unforseen circumstances. I stooped as low as trying to bribe my 12 year old sister with food, and being a middle-schooler admist college kids, because hey, desparate times called for desparate measures. Too bad they didn't work.

It might be a good thing though, because I have more details than I would if I were at the game:

-Poor, poor Terr-Bear. He got cut up, stitched up, and threw some 3!'s up. Really, not many people can have five stitches to the face, and then come back and do some damage. Oh, but CT did. In the post-interview game, he said that he only has a few games left and wants to play as much as he can. Go, Terry, go!

-If Terry's injury didn't tell you, I'll state the obvious, and that is it was one physical game. TCU played down and diry, and so UNLV called it, and raised it. Finally the refs started making some calls though.

-Just like the article in the RJ said, R-Geau really does do everything. Wherever the Rebels need him to be, magically, he's there. He had steals, points, rebounds, whatever they keep stats of, chances are he had numbers in it. I think he's resposible for getting the run started during the second half, propelling it from a 3 point game to a runaway.

-Darg and his defense. Man oh man. Oh, and his offense is pretty damn good too, he finished with 15 points.

- Mr. Adams. Back to back 3!'s? Getting past three defenders to lay in the ball? Another 3!? Seriously, I think we should write the U.S. Mint and talk them into printing a 3 dolla bill with Wink and Darg on it. How can they refuse?

-Yeah-Bailey! He is a force to be reckoned with. At the beginning of the game, he was responsible for all of UNLV's 4 points. And he made his free throws when we really needed them.

-Shaw is a defense machine. He forced I don't know how many of TCU's turn-overs, but I'm going to guess that it was quite a few. Oh, yeah, the man can get rebounds too.

-Troy Cage, the somewhat of a mystery man. He played a few minutes, and got on the board with 4 points, 2 of those being from a slam dunk! Not bad at all, not bad at all.

-Ken-Doll had to step in for Terry after The Incident, and he did just fine. And later in the game, he had a wild one-handed jumper that found it's way into the basket. To quote the announcer, he has "potential." Lots and lots of it.

-And of course, I can't forget Mo, who finished the game with 3 points.

-The announcers were saying that Coach Kruger should win MWC Coach of the year, if not National Coach of the year, and I couldn't agree more.

See you at the white-out on Saturday, let's send Bailey and Terr-Bear out with a bang. And a W.