If we went into another direction would u be on board??
- Thread starter Rebel_Luv
- Start date
I'm a pretty magnanimous and forgiving guy. But even coming from that general nature I would never consider coaching at UNLV if I was done as dirty as CDR. NEVER!!
let’s get bird back here. Cleared of all charges today. At least he knows how inept we are so it won’t be a shock to go through the hiring process again
At least he won't have to be paraded before the BOR again
I‘d take chance on Beard before Dave. Now you could pair Dave with a solid HC as a tandem, that wouldn’t be too bad an idea. But these youngsters need a good coach who has done it all before. Coaching, recruiting, adjustments and being able to relate to the players you recruit to help keep them hungry. Dave is a good recruiter but his teams bombed in the MWC too? We need good coaching and recruiting!
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I'm afraid I don't I care much either way at this point. I'm convinced there's been an Armenian curse on this program ever since Tarkanian was ousted.
We could have had either Cronin or Beard and the program would be in top 20 year after year and this discussion would not be happening. Seems we have to give KK another year but if he has another mass exodus this year it is hard to see much improvement coming. Most of the transfers have already transferred once so transfer market will not be as deep this year.
His second year was his best, our best overall NCAA seeding since Tark. Yeah, UNLV lost to Cal in the first round.
But I’d hardly call the largest impact of those teams Kruger’s players for the most part. Anthony was very important, Jhawk had a tough year and QT was role. I’d say Bennett and Birch and BDJ carried most of the water for that team, none of them Kruger guys.
Funny you said this. I was watching the superbowl with a couple other UNLV fans and we had this discussion during the game. We are all convinced there is a Tarkanian curse on UNLV basketball due to how they forced him out.
I feel like it really hit home when Tark actually passed. Obviously he hadn’t been here in awhile … but I do feel like the program was cursed for ousting him in that manner. And while we were treading some water, showing some potential he passed on … and we’ve nose dived since.
No, I don’t believe in curses and superstitions and that stuff. But it’s peculiar.
It reminds me of the story around the Portuguese soccer club SL Benfica. Bela Guttman was one of the best coaches in Europe at the time and he had turned Benfica into a powerhouse. He wanted a pay raise but Benfica said no. He left the club and allegedly cursed them, saying that "Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions again." It got so bad that Eusebio (who Guttman coached in the 1960s) went to his gravesite before the 1990 European Cup final (which Benfica was playing in) and begged Guttman to forgive Benfica. It didn't work.
Forgot about BDJ. Thought it was a good mix of both the 2nd year. Moser was apart of that team too. Guess my point was when it was all his players it was bad. Was a huge Rice fan and I was wrong. He could recruit, no question. Just not understanding when this board still brings up the good ole Rice days. Your 3rd year should be the time when your program takes the next step and didn’t happen. The program tanking wasn’t Rice’s fault either. It’s how it was all handled. Should have let him ride out his last year.
I thought Moser was on that first team with Oscar, the one that beat UNC. And he had the bad injury to the elbow a few games later. And left after that year … memory isn’t what it once was.
I don’t think it is so much the glory days of rice as much as it is how far we’ve fallen since then.
The most winninest coach behind Tark and Lon at UNLV? Yeah, I'd be on board.
Not to mention you have to do something to break the curse started by all this madness of firing him in first place. He's taken past 2 years to reflect on coaching, lives in the gym, recruits like crazy and would also be able to get portal guys?
I feel like the people that say "he needs to be paired with an older HC" aren't watching what we have been since he got canned. He was a good coach, had some unfortunate injuries/player issues but damn those teams had some talent and the team that could've been in place that next year would've been very good..
Not to mention you have to do something to break the curse started by all this madness of firing him in first place. He's taken past 2 years to reflect on coaching, lives in the gym, recruits like crazy and would also be able to get portal guys?
I feel like the people that say "he needs to be paired with an older HC" aren't watching what we have been since he got canned. He was a good coach, had some unfortunate injuries/player issues but damn those teams had some talent and the team that could've been in place that next year would've been very good..
I think Rice's issue was having "experienced" coaches on the bench that oftened overshadowed him.
Had Rice not been fired and was still the coach today, I don’t know what he would have accomplished, but I’m very certain it would have been no worse than the garbage product that UNLV BB has run out on the floor since then.
I’m not saying that firing him at the time, well maybe after the season was the wrong move, I agreed with it, but in retrospect UNLV BB would be in a better spot today if he was still the coach. Not that just slightly better than since he’s been gone is anything to get excited about but at least there would have been stability. Look at SDSU, not a more stable program in the MWC or many more stable programs in the nation for that matter.
The turnover in this athletic department both FB and BB is incredible and there hasn’t been any improvement from one guy to the next.
UNLVs athletic department an absolute embarrassment and has been for years.
I’m not saying that firing him at the time, well maybe after the season was the wrong move, I agreed with it, but in retrospect UNLV BB would be in a better spot today if he was still the coach. Not that just slightly better than since he’s been gone is anything to get excited about but at least there would have been stability. Look at SDSU, not a more stable program in the MWC or many more stable programs in the nation for that matter.
The turnover in this athletic department both FB and BB is incredible and there hasn’t been any improvement from one guy to the next.
UNLVs athletic department an absolute embarrassment and has been for years.
The UNC game year Moser was a star along with Chace, Oscar and AM. They lost to Colorado in the Pit (Albuquerque) that NCAA tourney.
The next year with Bennett, BDJ, Katin, AM and Birch (at the new semester) Moser hurt his elbow badly during the game at Cal (December). I traveled for that game and we won while ranked #21. Bennett showed his NBA potential in that one.
It was later that year we lost to UNM in the MWC tourney final. We then entered the tourney dance as a #5 seed and lost to Cal in the BS rematch. Mike Moser was not the same that year after the injury. Mike was one of my favorite Rebels since the 87 and 90 teams.
You can break curses with the right hire.
You following me on Twitter now? Lol...
This is exactly how you undo bad vudu... not to mention, can't get any worse than Menzies era..
And I certainly wouldn’t say “improvement” keeps him here, because improvement isn’t difficult when you control the schedule. “Improvement” isn’t merely number of wins. Accomplish something.
Can't get any worse than Menzies era? It can be easily argued that outside of Menzies first year when he was hired too late to recruit, we had better players then than we have had since.
On the topic of Rice and his best year. I still can't get over how screwed we got with our match up being the #12 seed in Cal in freaking San Jose. They would never in a million years put a p5 team against a much lower seeded non p5 team just down the road from their campus. One of the most egregious 1st round match ups in tournament history. Win that game, does it change the trajectory of Rice and how the fans felt about him? Who knows but it was complete BS.
UNLV got completely screwed. A top 5 seed should get the friendlier benefits. Cal was better than a 12 seed too and the game was essentially in the backyard.
But UNLV didn’t lose the game because Cal had easy travel and more fans. UNLV didn’t lose because of officiating. UNLV lost because they played like garbage and by the time they woke up, the damage had been done.
But yeah, win that one, who knows the trajectory?
But if LJ hits that shot vs Duke, where are we as a program now?
Or what if Ball State hits a late three pointer? (I still think we’d have rolled as a program).
Fine line for nearly everything in life.
Wasn’t it just one year earlier when UNLV was I think a 4 seed playing in a friendly MWC arena in ABQ and got boat raced by a 13 seed Colorado?
UNLV woukd have list that game to Cal regardless of where it was played.
I think that was 11/6 maybe? Similar to the flow of the Cal game. Losing in the second half, arms distance; just kinda going through the paces, not making a dent, then a pretty strong rally late to make it interesting, a key missed shot late that was a back breaker, lose by a couple buckets.
Poor showings for sure; they did the typical MWC in post season thing.
I mean they lost the game by 3 while shooting 6 for 20 (30%) so to say the location played no part in that game is simply not true. I was at the game and Cal definitely feed off the crowd.
The biggest thing we didn't know at the time was Allen Crabbe was by far the best player on the court when everyone assumed it was Bennett and blamed Rice for losing to a much less talented team. Whatever ancient history at this point.
The biggest thing we didn't know at the time was Allen Crabbe was by far the best player on the court when everyone assumed it was Bennett and blamed Rice for losing to a much less talented team. Whatever ancient history at this point.
Unfortunately they are up 5 on Porto with 14 games left. Hoping Porto makes up the difference and benefica continues their curse of no championship
Moser was injured majority of that second season and came off the bench when he was healthy again.
Too many “reliable” UNLV guys had poor games. Now I know UNLV had some players with attitude issues or other issues, and even though they didn’t play well (Katin, BDJ, and Bennett), they didn’t shoot super well, but those guys had more of a positive offensive impact (something like 40 of the 60 points) while the “reliable guys”, the “good teammates” (Marshall, Birch, Hawk, QT, Moser) gave UNLV around 20 points combined.
I wouldn’t say the “problematic” guys stepped up, but they were near what they usually do. The “good guys” didn’t show up at all.
In the end, it was the inability to slow down Crabbe and some slob nothing big off the bench (can’t remember his name) that killed UNLV.
UNLV was the better team … but this never should have been some UNLV blowout despite the gap in seeding. In December, UNLV needed last second heroics from QT off a Marshall misfire to win at Cal by a point. Yeah, UNLV was ranked, so they “should have” won that particular game, but it was on the road, it was packed and loud, it was tightly contested from the beginning. That game was Bennett’s coming out party in a sense. National TV and he showed up. That was his huge baseline dunk very late in the game over the top of a Cal big and he ended up with a big double double that game. If I’m not mistaken, BDJ really brought it too. I was at that game with Grant (rebbobiscuit here) and it was a lot of fun.
The NCAA game had a different vibe. It really felt ominous that whole game and before the game. Just a bad feeling as a fan. I recall that very vividly.
For the right hire...the same old bs over the last 23 years all will be..is no curse...in the end tark quit fighting..resigned ..after left Fresno sat right on the sidelines next to lon hoping for a winner.unlv has switched all the wrong switches on the safe hire all has been...so at this point who cares..
At the hotel pregame I asked you how you felt about the game, you said not good. And from the beginning it wasn’t.
Ah, yes, I recall that now. I really felt the way I felt after we lost to CSU in the MWCT finals. Or SDSU. Just an ominous, impending feeling of doom. I was nauseous pregame, not from nervousness … because I knew deep down the team wasn’t reliable. Talented, but not reliable.
