VGK game. I took my daughter, part of her Christmas present, tickets courtesy of Mastiff. Thank you so much.

Glad they won and the flurry of goals was fantastic. Happy to see my daughter so into it.

Comparing …. Obviously VGK wins hands down with product, with atmosphere, experience … with everything. They really do a bang up job. Loved every second of it.

Been awhile since I’ve been at a sporting event where it didn’t feel like TAPS would have been the appropriate house music.

Was pleasantly surprised that in and out was so much easier than I expected. Not the concourse, that’s absolutely packed, but the drive to and from and the parking situation. Easy.

Comparing it back to the heyday of Rebel hoops. Easier to get in and out of TMobile. Atmosphere - I’d give it to the Rebels believe it or not. Packed house with UNLV vs VGK, edge Rebels … then again, I don’t have a reference point for this particular Knights game…. VGK has the better show/presentation with the theatrics, but given the time in history, the Rebel pre-game and light show was considered among the best around.

Then again, I’m more vested with UNLV, maybe the bias is too strong with me when comparing what we used to do to what the VGK is now.

I was also surprised that the Mack feels chillier than an ice arena but lack of bodies can do that, I suppose.

Fun, fun night, would have been better if I was pre-primed with adrenaline from a UNLV upset vs SDSU but it just wasn’t meant to be.

Posted below that I refused to bail out work today even though they were desperate (again). This was a big reason. I had this planned and it’s been difficult as hell to plan things with her hours and my hours (and so many extra hours …. And so many hours literally last second bailouts) … and I didn’t say anything because ever since my kids have been born, whether it’s vacations or extended outings, my paranoid ass doesn’t say that I won’t be home at certain hours … won’t mention it online, just don’t trust people and I’ve always been the cautious type. Don’t want to announce vulnerabilities.

Thanks again, Bull, you helped make a little girls Christmas great.

Professional coaching is complicated and there are several traits an NCAA basketball coach has to have. I've listed a few below. What is THE most important trait for an NCAA basketball coach? What trait does KK have the least? What traits should Harper concentrate on when searching for the new coach?

1. In-game strategy
2. Recruiting
3. NCAA rules management
4. Pre- game strategy
5. Pregame prep.
6. Player relationships
7. Fundraising
8.Public relations/Press
9.Assistant management

SDSU is better and we screwed the pooch out of the gate with not looking inside and just playing jack it up from long range.

It was such a bad start.

But they did show some grit, some fight back. In fact I think they did it pretty well. Might be the toughest team we will play all year (maybe not, because they aren’t a good rebounding team like they usually are). But I felt like we went toe to toe with them pretty well for most of the game, it was just too late. I don’t feel like it was SDSU taking their foot off the gas. I think it was UNLV playing decent defense against a poor offense but the difference was they started to get it inside more and make things happen instead of settling for threes. It seems like when we chopped it to 7 a couple times; we missed a three (and actual good threes that were pretty open, you can’t just ignore them; you have to take them and make some, just not take them 7 times in a row down the floor).

It’s a rough stretch for the Rebels to start conference; but they’ll win a couple of them at least. I think we are going to crush UNM.

Low scoring game.

SDSU - 66
UNLV - 58

Login to view embedded media Basically, he is being accused of sexually assaulting a minor who happened to be the sister of a player that just transferred out. Happened in the Bahamas in November.

I was told there was some locker room stuff that was going on that kind of separated the team because sides were being taken. But no idea on what exactly transpired there.

Who likes to bet on sports ??

Who likes to bet on UNLV sports ?

Who likes stealing candy from a baby ?

SDSU -9.5

Full squad will be available tomorrow vs SDSU

Can anyone confirm if we have this prospect on our radar?

A large part of our strategy appears to be moving the ball until a player gets an open jumper and then take the shot. That may work if you have a team full of dead eye shooters. But in the long haul most teams can't shoot jumpers at a high enough percentage to make that work. Love him or hate him OTZ basic strategy was better than this. Shoot open three's or get to the rim. Avoid mid-range jumpers unless deep in the clock. This increases overall shooting percentage (This years stats - Iowa State 12th - UNLV 63rd) and got players to the free throw line ( This years stats - Iowa State 15th - Rebels 320th) .

We have a soft team playing a soft strategy. If we shoot lights out we can win, but we don't do that too often.

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Former Gorman player transferred from NMSU

Going public soon. By the end of Monday if I had to guess

Time to quit pussy footing around. To hell with feelings. Put the best 5 on the court. Why was Boone not starting the day he was eligible? Is CKK not gonna start Hill next game cause he has been out and you dont want to hurt Ice's feelings? Are we not gonna start JJ cause J Webb came back? That's all BS. Put your best 5 out there for God's sake CKK or you are gone next year because you cant make the hard decisions.

Lu Rod and J Webb should be brought in off the bench for a spark or to give guys a rest when needed. Nice guys but they have no business starting here. J Webb gets abused on D and LuRod seems to think he's a 3 pt sniper.

Rant over! (Maybe) lol

So........... my wife and I went to Appleby's last night. It's a bit of a production for us to enter a restaurant at times because my wife is mobility challenged. Let's say nobody mistakes us for millennials. But we got seated fine. So the server was taking the order from the folks behind us and I heard her interacting with them all normal like. But when she came to us it seems she KNEW what she was dealing with. ELDERLY PEOPLE. First she asked us if we knew what a happy hour was. When we convinced her we did in fact know she took our drink orders. When she came back I noticed she was talking loud and slow. SIR..........CAN........... I......... TAKE......... YOUR............ FOOD......... ORDER? She obviously has grandparents who can't hear and are weeks away from memory care. Well dinner was good - or as good as you can expect from Appleby's. Now she arrived to discuss the bill. Well Appleby's has one of those pay machines on the table that posts your bill as well as lets you play games. All you do is insert your credit card - add the tip - and - easy/peasy it's all done. But she was convinced we were not capable of operating the machine so she hovered over my shoulder to make sure I did it right - step, by, step.

I fully expect this kind of care to continue to get worse as we continue to age. Most likely I'll get a drool cup at the beginning of the night without even asking.

So, this is what to expect if you live long enough to be elderly and go out to restaurants.

Last year I was happy Odom was successful enough to at least fill the roster. Now, after some success, I find myself looking much harder at each recruit for quality. Interesting the difference a successful year can make.

Consensus 4 star running back Michael Allen and NCST transfer committed to UNLV. This could have a Ricky White type impact at the running back.

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… I’ve always enjoyed elderly people. Even when I was young. The stories, drawing from their experiences, history of the country world, etc. It never really mattered whether they were related to me, older men in the neighborhood, some of my elderly teachers/professors … there’s always so much to learn.

One such man was Hank Z. Many of you know him from practices and games, he’s been a fixture since the mid 80’s. Really good man, extremely hard headed, just a stubborn old goat. We didn’t agree on all that much, very little in fact, but it was all good and I learned alot of basketball, other sports, a lot of US history/WW2/Great Depression stuff from him. We were pretty close. He’s been to my home, I’ve been to his, we’ve been at events outside of game time together.

Sadly, about 10 months ago, I lost touch with him. We talked every couple weeks and it always lasted an hour or two. He was not getting up there in age, he was passed there … I believe 95. He wasn’t ill, just broken down, bad joints, had trouble getting around, but still very sound of mind, no chronic diseases.

I’m assuming he passed. His cell has been disconnected, nobody I know that knows him knows if he’s around. He’s long been disconnected from being around the program (last happened with Rice, Menzies didn’t want Hank around, too immobile by the time Otz got here). So nobody knows but everyone suspects; yet no obit.

I can’t remember his exact address, it was a mobile home anyway, I get lost in those parks. He used to work as security in his home park, driving around in a golf cart; I used to use his office fax to send him schedules for AAU and Rebel games and such (he didn’t know what the internet was, very old school). I faxed that machine with my return number and details stating I was looking for him, but nothing. I kinda hit the end in my search, I call every week to his cell (his home phone was dcd 20 years ago). But it’s just a dead number. I’ve feared the worst, but hope maybe he gave up the phone and he’s ok at his place. But he’d have found a way to find me.

If anybody here has a way to find out, please let me know. It’s been at least 8-9 months since we’ve spoken, maybe longer.

That was fast
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Hey, guys....

A little personal insight on the new transfer RB Allen.

As some of you know, I moved to NC to live and coach after having coached here high school football here for over 20 years.

Anyway, I moved to North Carolina and was coaching at a high school there. I was co DC responsible for the back half of the defense and we were playing Allen's team JH Rose who was well coached, seriously talented and headed for a deep run far into the playoffs that year.

Long story short, Allen was easily the best player on the field. He was physical, definitely fast enough and could really catch the ball. All week we game planned to stop him and.....didn't 🤣


For what it's worth, I also appreciate the way he handled himself on the field. Tough, competitive player who still understood how to act.


I will be very surprised if this dude doesn't thrive in this offense. Especially if we find a trigger man who can run RPO and option with Allen

I'm not saying that UNLV is looking at this guy, because I have no idea. Malik Hornsby is a former top 100 prospect who was at Arkansas for 3 years, prior to transferring to Texas State. He ended up being the backup at TX St behind TJ Finley (LSU, Auburn transfer). Finley threw for over 3,400 yards, and had 24 TDs to 8 INT's, so pretty good stat line for him this past year.

I have no idea how good Hornsby is, as he's barely recorded any stats, but if nothing else, this could be a good depth piece if they have a relationship with him from the Arkansas days.

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Handlers suck. They just do.

I know a lot of people here know and have known them surrounding the programs.

They’re basically unlicensed agents, under the radar, always shady shysters.

They’ve hurt our programs in the past. Not going to get into the whos of the situation, but they have hurt us. They’ll give bad advice to a kid as long as it lines their own pockets and then they move to the next. They surround like vultures. It’s gross.

Oh, it’s not a UNLV thing, it’s everywhere. But it stings. It can change the trajectory of a program, such as a fringe kid leaving when he wants to stay, but taking the advice … and he struggles in a minor league, maybe he will eventually make it and get some real pay, maybe he won’t. But the handler will make money either way. And instead of a team improving because they have a returning fringe pro go starting, the team has to scramble to replace. And you take a hit no matter who you bring in because nothing is more valuable than a guy who has a shot at the league and he’s an upperclassman for you (talking hoops, of course).

There is no control; the NCAA isn’t and can’t oversee shit. So more and more come out of the woodwork, looking to dig their claws into a guy.

It really sucks.