UNLV basketball is in a class all by themselves!
- Thread starter Rebel1986
- Start date
Not that rebels are good this year. But the schedule has been much tougher, even the cup cakes have not been horrible like they have the other years
You have to be kidding me
Rebs have horrid defense and rebounding and bad 3 point shooting. I am just saying some of the teams we have played have more athletes than us which speaks to player evaluation and recruiting. We run off K Gibert and Keyshawn Hall and replace them with not as good of players.
It’s not all doom and gloom, the next two games line up nicely to get above .500%…
Even more telling. Rpi we are at the bottom in our Conference with SOS and 2nd to last in Rpi. http://realtimerpi.com/rpi_mwest_Men.html
Guys, it’s not all bad. You’ve gotta look at the bright side.
We didn’t lose at Dayton at least.
And what you also are failing to realize - these critical injuries to major key players are crushing what was going to be a promising season. No way UNLV loses to Southern, Florida State, Richmond and LMU if they were healthy. UNLV would be 7-0 and probably ranked if there were no injuries. And that would bring the fans back. Even though season ticket holders aren’t showing for games, with an undefeated and ranked UNLV, the crowds would be huge and loud and that loudness makes them rebound better and become a dominant defensive team that can scorch the nets with a fluid offense.
But no, you always have to look at the very few negatives and not understand the massive misfortune this team has faced. That’s what fake fans do. Real fans see the truth. You fake fans on this fake fan site make me crazy.
I’m heading over to Rebelkumbaya.com where the site is tastefully adorned with unicorns, glitter and lollipops - and REAL fans. Screw you know-nothings!
We didn’t lose at Dayton at least.
And what you also are failing to realize - these critical injuries to major key players are crushing what was going to be a promising season. No way UNLV loses to Southern, Florida State, Richmond and LMU if they were healthy. UNLV would be 7-0 and probably ranked if there were no injuries. And that would bring the fans back. Even though season ticket holders aren’t showing for games, with an undefeated and ranked UNLV, the crowds would be huge and loud and that loudness makes them rebound better and become a dominant defensive team that can scorch the nets with a fluid offense.
But no, you always have to look at the very few negatives and not understand the massive misfortune this team has faced. That’s what fake fans do. Real fans see the truth. You fake fans on this fake fan site make me crazy.
I’m heading over to Rebelkumbaya.com where the site is tastefully adorned with unicorns, glitter and lollipops - and REAL fans. Screw you know-nothings!
What key players?? The transfer from Oklahoma (the Vegas kid) was playing like TRASH before he got injured he wasn't a difference maker and Nowell well we still don't know. The sad thing is the Only players that can get there own shot on this Team is and DJ and JJ3
Getting your own shot isn’t always great. Not bad to have a player or two that can bail you out and get their own shot when the team needs it, had it last year with Harkless, year before with Hamilton … but it can make for a garbage system … getting your own shot is more about individualism than team. It leads to hero ball. Hero ball is unwatchable to me.
Truth as it always is somewhere in the middle.
Everything isn't as terrible as what this site likes to portray, and we aren't where we are simply due to injuries.
And the narrative of a "slow build" is completely false.
Starting with the slow build. CKK has not been trying to do a slow build. He has relied on primarily 1 year players at to fill out his starting 5, going for win now over later. We've been unfortunate with some like Cottrell's injury last year and Shane's injury this year, with our few multiple year transfers, but when you are rolling out a nearly brand new team every year, that's a no build, not a slow build. Truth is, if he went for a slow build from the beginning we would probably be in a better position right now.
Another aspect of "win now". We would default to one player to bail us out to give us points his first two years. One player making especially difficult plays to keep us in game as opposed to building a more cohesive, purposeful offense. That is short term to a "T". Trying to build an offense and a system over running clear our after clear out would be a "slow build" and working more towards the future.
From a logical perspective having more consistency would allow more things to build on and gives more potential for better basketball. Even the defense has changed from year to year.
Injuries and with the Boone situation did affect this team over the past few years. We have lost key players, over the national average, nearly every year.
Truth is that this year has the best roster top to bottom over the past 3. It's has proven players at better teams in tougher conferences. The problem is we don't have that safety valve to bail us out. Even with a true PG, the lack of an actual offense is hurting us. The fact we have a true PG and more players that can score has actually made our half court offense better by default, but it still isn't consistent enough.
The problem is that we are a collection of guys that aren't much of a team.
Also I must say that I feel bad for Harkless and Hamilton. Those dudes fought their ass off for this team and made ridiculous play after ridiculous play and were almost hated for it. They were asked to do things more than they should have and they played hard, especially Harkless, who also played tough defense.
If you go with slow build now, you’re going to lose young players, too easy to transfer out and get PT elsewhere. Which leaves you scrambling from the start. There are no more Winks, Umehs and Dargers. Kids aren’t going to be patient and wait their turn.
So you better get it right in the portal. We don’t. For every single or double, there are 3 strikeouts and a foul out. I know people pumped up Cottrell here but the guy is as soft as charmin, coming from a tough conference or not, coming from a notable prep school or not, coming from a strong HS or not. Saw him in high school. He’s soft and has been soft. He’s a very small big. I bet you anything Creighton will take it right at him tonight without hesitation, in fact they’ll seek him out, they’ll seek out Webster too since he cannot defend. That’s not Cottrell’s fault; he is what he is and has value, but not as being used. It’s like a Chop Jones at PF or Darger at Center philosophy. Players being asked to do something that goes against any strength they may have.
The roster construct is absolutely terrible and has been. And the design isn’t helping anybody either.
I hate the hero ball we saw out of the two you mentioned. Can’t stand it. But they were the best and really only options we had and they made the a bad offense by design a little better, without them, we see how bad the offensive design is, and that’s with a great playmaker running the show.
The roster is severely flawed, the system is severely flawed … and the results are falling in line with that.
I don't think I've ever been more excited about UNLV's athletic future and just as depressed at the same time. I'm more interested in the Lady Rebels schedule than the men's basketball team. Thank the Lawd we have the Ladies to thwart off what has become of our once beloved men's program.
I'm also extremely grateful we have a competent AD that can reverse this path we're on at the end of this season.
I'm also extremely grateful we have a competent AD that can reverse this path we're on at the end of this season.
This was the Desiree tax that must be paid for hiring her.
Arguable in each one but … football, all time high … lady rebels, all time high …. Men’s hoops, all time low.
I don't think the roster is as flawed as you. There are proven pieces on this team. Big 12 all conference teams. Power conference starters. Players with usable skillsets.
It is the lack of any true system.
The other false narrative was "we just needed a PG", PG is way overrated. You need an offense, and if your offense is dependent on any single player, PG or otherwise, then you are going to be in trouble.
DJ has been very good, better than I expected. Put him in a system that actually creates open looks other than spread it out and drive and dish, then he would really shine.
I agree that it is tough creating consistency, but we have much more turnover than most teams. Most other MW teams have had significantly more consistency. Oh, yeah and we have out recruited them for the most part, yet we still have struggled in conference.
Point being saying that CKK doesn't work because slow builds don't work, is like criticizing Trump for having black hair. Plenty of reasons for criticism, but slow build is not one of them. CKK has been trying to win now this entire time, and not trying to build has hurt in year 3.
Would consistency help? Sure it would. Would we be a true MW contender now? Probably not, just because I haven't seen enough of an actual consistent style of play, offense, defense trying to be established and to build from. New players every year makes that tough, but still. No identity over the past few years.
Even last year we trapped, we pressed, we pushed in transition. Not of that really has carried over to this year.
We have the players to be good enough. Just don't play well as a team. We don't do enough to create situations to allow players to shine and hide weaknesses.
I agree on Cottrell, but he is a decent back up 5. Can be used in the pick and pop game. You can tell that he has lost all explosion. Which is understandable with the Achilles injury alone. But with the other ankle being out of commission for nearly a year, that kind of thing is going to happen. But he has some strengths, as does most of our players, but
Cottrell?
Different situation.
Jasper was arguably negligence. He was told to start playing way too soon for the procedure that was done on his knee from what I remember he had ( either microfracture surgery or some sort of cartilage graft procedure). Whatber it was, he started impact much sooner than all of the protcols that I have seen b(by a lot) and it ruined his career.
Cottrell, was in a way the opposite. Don't know exactly was his injury was. Obviously something was re-aggravated with him trying to play last season, but they shut him down quickly. Just some bad luck in his case.
You’re making a point, then, that the coaching is absolutely awful then. If you have the players and have what you need to field a good team, but you are as bad as we’ve been … the issues have to lie somewhere.
I agree the systems on both sides is awful. But they fail with intangibles too … they aren’t tough. The effort is low.
We’ve beaten it to death how poor the systems are. You don’t need to be a basketball guru to see it.
It’s just gross to keep witnessing this over and over and over.
I never said coaching was good.
There has been missteps. There are things that Kevin does well. I truly think that his players like him, I like some of the qualities he Inherited from his dad. I truly think he cares.
I loved how we attacked in transition last year. I hate how we abandoned that this year. I love going with a defensive focus last year, I hate starting with a match up zone and then sticking with heavy, predictable help defense. You got a bunch of lock down defenders let them do their thing.
I don't like the heavy reliance on one player for offense, especially without a reliable point guard in lieu of having more of a systematic approach to create looks through plays.
I don't like the refresh every season, though I like most of our players individually.
Kevin is learning how to be a head coach the hard way. That's what happens when the first time you are the head coach at any level is at a place like this.
Last game was fantastic. Was it a flash in a pan? Maybe, but at least a glimpse of what this year's team can do when they when they are locked in.
I've had some admittedly small hope that once/if everyone got eligible and healthy this team can get it together by conference season.
I want Kevin to succeed. I don't want yet another refresh. Do I have tons of confidence? No. But Kevin deserves the rest of this season to make something happen. Personally even this season, if we finish in the top 3-4 of conference I think he should get another year. Regardless of post season.
