So...there is 1:15 left in the fist half against pre-season MWC favorite Utah State and we are up by 11...and not a SINGLE post on this board. WOW. This has to be the lowest point of apathy I have ever seen on these boards.
Utah State Game
- Thread starter UNLVFansincebirth22
- Start date
Yeah, losing tends to do that! Hopefully we can get back to .500 and Winning Rebel Basketball shortly. A Happy New Year to all, Go Rebels. We are up 51-36 with 11 minutes left to play.
https://unlvrebels.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2019-20
https://unlvrebels.com/sports/mens-basketball/schedule/2019-20
We have looked MIGHTLY impressive tonight. Ball movement on offense has been crisp, allowing for TONS of open looks. Defense has been even more impressive. If this is the long-term plan for our team's identity in coach Otz's system, Im fully bought in.
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Every game I see a few more corrections as they get more of the team involved in the game and continue to slowly reduce the mistakes. Play like they did verse USU and they will finish the season with a winning record.
We can get Bryce going and be the 2nd consistent scorer to Amauri and it'll help make life so much easier for the rest of the team. Get Mitrou back and we could be the dangerous team that no one wants to play.
Was at game - paid for cheapest upper deck tickets and sat in second row behind unlv bench. love the effort level. MUCH better than the last couple of years when Utah State pretty much scored at will on us. jonah antonio is giving 100% effort on defense - diong too - hardy giving 99% - this team deserves our support imo.
Reality check - a futures bet for Utah State to cover on the return game would probably be a good investment.
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It looks like the coach is finally earning the trust of the players and they are buying into his program. It is nice for the first time in years to wake up after a big game and know that UNLV was by far the better team and gave everything they had. It is starting to look like the AD may have made a good hire, it is just going to take the entire season to get all the parts working together. Looking forward to seeing how UNLV does against AF in a game that they should be able to win easily.
Great effort on both ends of the floor. Probably the best off the ball movement we have had in a long time. The sequence towards the end of the game when Tillman got fouled after we passed up a contested 2 and a kick out three for a better shot was something we did not see often early this season. The two would have been blocked and the three would have been shot. Every player brought energy and played hard and executed on both ends.
All that said Utah State was flat. Not sure if it was New Years or looking ahead to SDSU, but they did not play like they have been. Some of that was probably due to UNLV’s defense and hustle as if you come out flat and the other team has energy it can make you even flatter.
This team is still limited, but if they play with this effort and movement the rest of the season it would be a good progress for the program. The team has the ability to finish top 4 or higher.
All that said Utah State was flat. Not sure if it was New Years or looking ahead to SDSU, but they did not play like they have been. Some of that was probably due to UNLV’s defense and hustle as if you come out flat and the other team has energy it can make you even flatter.
This team is still limited, but if they play with this effort and movement the rest of the season it would be a good progress for the program. The team has the ability to finish top 4 or higher.
Probably a bit of looking past UNLV to SDSU and UNLV playing tougher than expected defense(we've been so lax on D the past few years). We got the split at the very least and that's great against this Utah St. team. It's early in the season so not going to get stupid and make foolish predictions. Just hope we keep building on an identity for this team with each game.
That is called improving, which is something Menzies teams never did!
You mean like last year when we were mediocre in the OOC and 3-0 in conference?But it is nice to have been mediocre in the out of conference games, and 2 and 0 in conference play. That is very different than the recent past. Any positive sign has to be grabbed and cherishedGo Rebels.
Very different.
You mean last year when the first 3 wins in conference came against 12-20 CSU, 8-24 Wyoming, and 14-18 New Mexico. UNLV did not beat a single team in conference play last year that had a winning record in or out of conference. The best in conference team that UNLV beat was 14-18 New Mexico. The Utah State win was miles above any Menzies victories.
At UNR when they were ranked (and hurt).
I was responding to Hiker and what he stated.
... It was nice to be mediocre out of conference (as we were last year) ....
And be 2-0 in conference play (we were 3-0 last season).
... And then he says how different it is now when it was virtually the same by the quantification he mentions a mere season ago ... I find it funny.
I’m not defending Munchies, we couldn’t have had a worse coach. I’ll take Otz 100 times out of 100 times over Munchies because he believes in accountability and Menzies likes the excuse making and playing the victim way.
I just find it funny that you didn’t have to go far back in time to find a point where it wasn’t at all different.
But I get it, everyone wants to forget the Menzizoic Era. It was a deep freeze.
Any?
Or any from last season? Any from last season I’ll agree with. Any ever is debatable, but beating an injured but ranked UNR team in the road, I think, is probably better than beating a good but injured USU team at home.
I think calling the team mediocre in OOC play in the last couple of years is being incredibly generous. The OOC record for both years sucks so of course people won’t be excited in the 2nd conference game.
This game really surprised me, and hopefully the team can build on this. The other conference win was a double OT win at a 4-10 Fresno State team. So I’m feeling better about this team but still wouldn’t say I’m excited yet.
Wasn’t that 3-0 start in conference last season the first 3-0 start in conference play in a long time? Even though it was against weak competition, a 3-0 and 5-1 start did get my attention because I’m so used to seeing the team struggle so much against conference opponents.
This game really surprised me, and hopefully the team can build on this. The other conference win was a double OT win at a 4-10 Fresno State team. So I’m feeling better about this team but still wouldn’t say I’m excited yet.
Wasn’t that 3-0 start in conference last season the first 3-0 start in conference play in a long time? Even though it was against weak competition, a 3-0 and 5-1 start did get my attention because I’m so used to seeing the team struggle so much against conference opponents.
What make it even worse for UNLV under Menzies is that the MWC as an overall conference has really not looked very good over the last few years with the number of teams in the conference with a winning record from year to year slowly dropping:
2015-2016 8 teams with a winning record and 3 teams with a losing record (Rice)
2016-2017 7 teams with a winning record and 4 teams with a losing record (Menzies)
2017-2018 7 teams with a winning record, 1 team with an even record and 3 teams with losing records (Menzies)
2018-2019 5 teams with a winning record and 6 teams with a losing record (Menzies)
During this period of time the UNLV OOC schedule got much weaker, the conference got weaker, and UNLV got weaker.
2019-2020 the schedule for UNLV has improved, the conference is still about the same as in 2018-2019, and the jury is still out on how much if any UNLV has improved. The best sign is that the team looked really bad to start with and has slowly started to show some improvement and did have a big with against Utah State without our point guard which evens out for the loss of their player.
2015-2016 8 teams with a winning record and 3 teams with a losing record (Rice)
2016-2017 7 teams with a winning record and 4 teams with a losing record (Menzies)
2017-2018 7 teams with a winning record, 1 team with an even record and 3 teams with losing records (Menzies)
2018-2019 5 teams with a winning record and 6 teams with a losing record (Menzies)
During this period of time the UNLV OOC schedule got much weaker, the conference got weaker, and UNLV got weaker.
2019-2020 the schedule for UNLV has improved, the conference is still about the same as in 2018-2019, and the jury is still out on how much if any UNLV has improved. The best sign is that the team looked really bad to start with and has slowly started to show some improvement and did have a big with against Utah State without our point guard which evens out for the loss of their player.
That's a good assessment. But more than the record of MWC foes, take a look at the slide with overall RPI of the conference, it's been on a decline since it's peak with Jimmer and Kawhi of course, but it REALLY plunged to depths UNLV has never been involved with (yes, including the old BWC) over the past three seasons.
So looking at above 500, below 500.... you have to consider who THEY played. This conference does not challenge itself often in OOC, no schools have. That's on C. Thompson, he needs to use some teeth.
And I agree, calling this OOC, last OOC, the OOC before that, and the OOC before that anywhere in the neighborhood of mediocre is extremely generous. Maybe it's the PC crowd afraid to call a spade a spade because they might offend somebody when they describe it appropriately.
Menzies did everything in his power to play a creampuff schedule and impress the ignorant segment of the fanbase with a win total and the UNLV/media spin factory was at his disposal.
Otz will play some teams. He hit the road this season more than Menzies did in his three seasons combined (I believe... it's close, but there were a couple of "forced" MVC challenge games that Menzies had to play, without those, lol).
I loathe the sissified, scaredy cat approach.
If you are in a top 5-6-7 conference, you have wiggle room with your OOC. If you are below 10, you better build up that resume by playing a top 150 OOC IF your goal is to make the NCAA without winning your conference crapshoot tournament. UNLV went around 320 in MM's second year. That'll tell you how he thinks, especially considering he did the same thing at NMSU. Fool the people.... lol. Ain't biting into bullshit Marv.
The AF game is a must game, and then a game against a decent BSU team that could be an indicator if UNLV is improving, or if it is a one time thing with the Utah St. blowout win. They have a couple of very winnable games after that and then they have three games verse New Mexico at home, unr on the road, and sdsu at home. Win 2 out of 3 or better of those last three and they have really shown us they have turned the corner
The AFA has to be a win. No reason whatsoever to drop that one.
Agree with us hitting the road in conference. Was good to win at Fresno, though Fresno is absolute junk this season. Still good to get a conference win on the road. Adding Boise to that and these guys should gain some confidence.
At this point, avoiding day one MWCT play is the goal and it’s looking great right now. It’s all still going to come down to three (hopefully not four) games in March for this team.
I f*cking hate this conference. You have to travel to places like Laramie, WY and Boise, ID in the middle of the winter.
