Workday.

I’m still floored.

I had a serendipitous event today.

I found Hank. He’s 98 years old, still alive. Still has his mind, was blind in one eye (the patch) and the other eye he barely has vision. His hearing is almost gone.

I’ve searched for him for quite awhile. Not, eh, let me to an internet search for him type of search. Had friends exhaust their avenues, checking obits; old numbers, old friends, I faxed the office at the complex he lived in, called them, drove to his complex and asked around … and I’d call his number every week, all disconnected. I figured the worst given his age. But I tried and tried and tried and tried, even as of Friday last week. Today, not looking for him at all, I found him.

We met in 2000 and took in many basketball practices together. He’s been to my home for some holidays and other occasions. Many other Rebel occasions. Everyone at least knew who Hank was … the patch was the dead giveaway and he was always around men’s basketball.

Even though he stopped attending practice (he just couldn’t get there anymore, too hard for him. Menzies banned him from practice and he stopped going, by the time Kevin was here, he just couldn’t get there. So he and I would talk every week, every couple of weeks, he’d call, I’d call, always keeping tabs on each other.

I loved his stories because he lived them. Loved hearing about the depression and wars, culture and the politics. Hank and I agreed on things less than 1 percent of the time; whether it be hoops and hoops strategy, world events, politics, anything. We talked about everything. It really was like grandfather/grandson in many ways. Even though we never agreed and we can both be hardheaded (I can’t match Hank though), there was never any hard feelings. I respect the hell out of the guy, peculiarities and all. We just got along well in spite never agreeing on anything. I respect elders especially enjoy when they can share wisdom and experiences.

I mean there were times where it got red faced heated and I’ll probably always be a fkn jughead to him but I’ll probably always be a goddamn son of a gun to him - and he will always be a crotchety son of a bitch to me.

Anyway, I can’t get into too much detail, obviously. He’s doing ok. Not dying of anything chronic but he’s 98 and falling apart, losing senses but not his mind, though it is starting to slip, but I’ll cut him some slack.

It really was a great way to end the day.

Bryce Hamilton averaged 4.3 PPG in his Freshman year. In his Soph. year he average 16 PPG. Brooklyn Hicks average 2.6 PPG this year. How many points will he average next year? IMO, anything over 8 PPG will be a bonus.

6’11” big man in the portal from Creighton. Redshirted this year. Can shoot the 3. Dad is UNLV football OL coach.

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Emphasis on the 3 or a layup. Rarely a 2-pt shot outside of the paint.

We had two play-in games that matched up a MWC team with and equally seeded team. Won one/lost one. ALL the rest of our games went according to seeding. We won the ones we were supposed to and lost the ones we were supposed to. We had no upsets.

I don't get all the pant wetting about the performance. This went exactly the way the NCAA selection committee thought it would.

And our top two seeds got blown out by two NO. 1. seeds. They are way better than us, and It showed. Did anyone really think we stood a real chance in this games? I didn't. And when things go downhill in BB a team can get blown out. Remember the AF game? When nothing is working it can get totally out of control fast.

As far as our schedule goes this years was O.K. If we won what we could have, we would have been in the dance. We don't need to go into lions dens and get blown out. Blowouts hurt our ranking. But we do have to get some decent teams on the road. We need to do that because very few top 50 teams will play MWC teams in their home arenas. They are afraid of a bad loss.

Shakur Juiston average 15/10 in his first year with the Rebels. Will any of our forwards be able to come close to these numbers? Which one? What will the implication be either way?

Bye Bye Duke!

I flip flop on this worse than I'd like to admit. One day I think that he needs to be fired at the next TV timeout while the next week I think he needs a statue erected alongside Tark (ok, not this dramatic but not that dramatic the other way, either).

I'm currently in the 'let's keep him' camp. I've seen him switch some stuff up and break away from some of his usual tendencies. I think we've seen a zone out of him and his offense is moving the ball better. We aren't doing so much 'chucking it from the cheap seats' (minus Jackie Johnson) since we are running our offense through the post.

I do anticipate that we split the next two games and, likely, only win one in the MWC Tournament. I don't see this changing the way that I feel about this.

He could still improve the roster construction but he's utilizing the length and athleticism we have in a better way. I also feel like he's getting more comfortable on the sidelines during games as he's showing more emotion and working the refs better. Overall, I've seen improvement in his 'Junior year' of coaching.

Don’t know how …

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Tark built UNLV in more ways than just hanging a banner!

Gone way too soon. He was one of a kind.

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Kobe Sanders commits to RENO

Milos Uzan is in the portal. This one is actually someone that you should keep an eye on. For those that follow me on Twitter, this was hinted at a couple of weeks ago. Every ounce of effort should be focused on not messing this and Jefferson up.

I know the father has posted a lot of positives on KK and UNLV in the past.



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Lost 6 straight, 3 and 9 in MWC, need to sweep staff out, 7 years of nothing.

In the portal. Any chance?

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we are likely to get Jefferson from St Mary's.... and I do think it's a worthwhile pick up on it's face. I don't think he's a world crusher but I think he's talented and can make a difference. Am concerned about a bit of duplication. He's not as soft as Cottrell, but he's not a bruiser either. It's that Matt Shaw mold a little bit. Doesn't mean they have value, but they are bigs that aren't exactly forces against size.

With 4 of my players for junior day.

It sounds like we will get access like the old days lol.

I will let you know all know what I think. Prolly won't be like my practice reports if the old days, though 😂

Not comprehensive, just noting I've seen two now and not seen them posted here.

Entering the portal:

OL Alani Makihele
WR Zyell Griffin

Have I missed others?

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How bad would this fake out MWC defenders?!

I think KK is back but there are other threads to talk about that, assuming he is back what needs to happen for next season.

Players:
Obviously who comes back, I think Dedan is back, Whaley is next most important returner. The other bigs. Does Hill get a redshirt, does he use it, does it matter? Does Cottrell have something to contribute? He had a few better stints at the end of the year but I don’t see him as a major contributor on a tournament team. Best case is a year removed he is way better and can give solid minutes off the bench. Does Jones get a Covid year, he is better than some other foul coverage we have had in the past.
The guards, Hicks, Nowell, and Johnson all are the same to me. All need to become better shooters, but if they left I think I would be fine and you could (not sure on will) be able to find replacement level players.

Signed players:
Cherry is a straight up replacement for Kalib Boone.
I would expect Evans to be similar to Hicks.
N’Diaye is a project and anything next year is a plus, imo.

Need:
Regardless of transfers outs, we need at least two solid shooters, preferably one that can play some point.
a wing to replace Rodriguez.

Offense:
We more off ball movement. We didn’t have shooters but played like drive kick, or post double kick was the best options. Rodriguez was pretty much worthless this year in this scheme. With the passing of Whaley and Thomas we should be looking to get people open off the ball moving to the basket.

Defense:
I really liked what they did during conference, some was personnel and some were changes in scheme. Biggest changes we need to be more physical on cuts, we need to teach/figure out how to bump the cutters like our players get bumped.

Todd Simon to Utah State.

Thoughts?

CRhodes

Are we really that bad? Imagine what an NCAA tournament team would have done to us.

Has televised all the Duke games in the NCAA tournament. Go figure