MWC: UCONN transfer Roscoe Smith visiting UNLV tomorrow

[LaVidaLobo]

Nothing alford could do could make Alex Kurt heal faster.

Ahem, Alex KIRK.

[LynAskin]

I recently read a couple of books about Habits. (i'm kind of a self-help, motivation book nerd) One of the things that struck me, is that your habits are engrained. You can replace a bad habit with a better one, but the old bad habit is never really gone. Which is why an alcoholic can be sober for years, but can has just 1 drink, and revert to his or her old ways. Or, when you exercise for weeks or months, then one day, you sit down to watch a movie and eat junk food, you go back to your old habits and can stop exercising all together in a split second. Maybe those are not the best examples, but i think you get the point. But one of the main points of the book was that in times of stress or adversity, you revert to your old habits.

I really think our players have many years of bad habits built up. When in doubt chuck up a 3. And although we replaced that habit early on by running, when we were really taken out of our games (especially by UNM in the later part of the year), or when we faced major adversity on the floor, our team reverted to what they knew best, which is 4 guys stand around and one guy try to make something happen. When that doesn't work, chuck up a three. Anthony Marshall had to literally try and take it all on his back while 4 guys stood around.

My hope, is that Dave can take HIS players, teach them about spacing, shot selection, and to work inside/out, etc. . then, when adversity strikes. . .hopefully, these newer players, who haven't spent 4 years on Lon's offense, won't revert to that old habit of firing up a 3, because they never had that habit in the first place. The other major issue that Lon's players had/have is lack of real confidence. Seriously, if you took a bad shot in Lon's offense, you got YANKED. Imagine what that does to a kids psyche. Of course having better shooters, which i think we will have in Jones and Reinhardt will also help.

I certainly don't think winning recruiting battles = victory on the floor. There is a LOT more that goes into winning games than just recruiting. But, when you recruit the best players you can, some of those other things get a lot easier. I have no grand illusions about walking through this conference. Every night we'll have a target on our backs, and there is some really good basketball in this conference. This will be Dave's 2nd year. I'm thrilled with what he has accomplished so far, but there is plenty of room for improvement when it comes to X's and O's.

[wolf1960]

I do not consider Rice a GREAT coach yet, he is learning what it takes... He is a good coach with top talent..

[jdmgsr]

im getting tired of hearing about all the great recruits UNLV is getting... its making me envious :( they are cleaning up over there! what is rice and co. doing that other staffs are not?? do you think it has to do with his history with UNLV back in the 90's? Is it their facilities?? The city? What?!?!

[GiJoeRay]

im getting tired of hearing about all the great recruits UNLV is getting... its making me envious :( they are cleaning up over there! what is rice and co. doing that other staffs are not?? do you think it has to do with his history with UNLV back in the 90's? Is it their facilities?? The city? What?!?!

It has to do with being in Vegas. Having Bishop Gorman, Findlay Prep, and the lure of the Strip in your backyard makes it a hell of a lot easier to bring in top notch recruits.

[Digital Lobo]

It has to do with being in Vegas. Having Bishop Gorman, Findlay Prep, and the lure of the Strip in your backyard makes it a hell of a lot easier to bring in top notch recruits.

Their proximity to the West Coast doesn't hurt either. For example it is what, a 5 hour drive from LA to LV? Additionally, LV is a big city and it consistently turns out more D-1 players than the entire state of NM.

Sent from my iPad

[Rebelworks]

Imagine how frustrating having a coach like Lon Kruger consistently fail to bring in top notch recruits despite these inherent advantages. Big city, lots to do, proximity to LA and the beach, and the mountains for snowboarding/skiing. Nice campus, great fans, world-class venue in the T&M, and a program that's #4 all-time winning% and has multiple Final Four banners to go along with an NC.

I will give Kruger some credit, he did get the Mendenhall Center built which is a HUGE recruiting tool as it's a Top 5 practice facility in the country. With the $12 million pricetag it's beautiful and state-of-the-art. Something that makes it unique to the majority of program that have a practice facility for their BB team is it has it's own weight-room with cutting edge equipment. The Heat's Joel Anthony donated $250,000 to add to the weightroom.

Aside from the facilities, with lon Kruger it was frustrating to have programs like Bishop Gorman and Findlay Prep (made by UNLV supporter Cliff Findlay) and to consistently whiff on recruits from the Las Vegas area. UNLV got "shabazzed" by local recruits every single year and had to watch programs like Kansas, Kentucky, Texas, Duke, etc reap the benefits of landing LV recruits like Elijah Johnson, Nick Johnson, Corey Joseph, Shabazz, etc, etc while UNLV sat around as the bridesmaid, never the bride.

Now Rice, while I question some of his coaching skills, his recruiting abilities are tireless, he just never turns off, never stops working. In his 1st year landing Khem Birch and Anthony Bennett, it's the first two Mcdonald AAs UNLV has landed in one class since Larry Johnson and Elmore Spencer.

[LoneLobo]

It's obvious that UNLV will be expected to dominate the conference if they keep landing classes like this. It'll be that much better when we keep beating them with our "unheralded" recruits...

[liloldlobo]

Lots of stars on these new Rebels, Lots of high praise from all quarters for these new Rebels, Lots of great expectations for these new Rebels.....but...
Without the 4-5 stars, high praise and expectations Coach Alford's Lobos win Conference TITLES with DEFENSE and TEAMWORK...that fact will not change.
In the end it is 5 on 5, Coach vs Coach, bench vs bench....I like our chances.

[Rebelworks]

Lots of stars on these new Rebels, Lots of high praise from all quarters for these new Rebels, Lots of great expectations for these new Rebels.....but...
Without the 4-5 stars, high praise and expectations Coach Alford's Lobos win Conference TITLES with DEFENSE and TEAMWORK...that fact will not change.
In the end it is 5 on 5, Coach vs Coach, bench vs bench....I like our chances.

Good points but, Alford has never faced a UNLV team (or any team) with this level of talent coming in from a single recruiting class before--So I wouldn't use past accomplishments to draw comparison to the present. Last years UNLV team was very formidable before they tired out (see UNM @ UNLV, UNLV vs. UNC) after the team lost their legs in a transition season (from slow halfcourt system to running game) their fatigue was apparent when players like Moser were worn into the ground and half the players they were.

In the end, it comes down to UNLV getting substantially deeper and better throughout the offseason acquiring coveted elite talent---and UNM lost an elite talent in Gordon and gained a couple guys that have UNM fans crossing their fingers are "diamonds in the rough"--Alford is a great coach who always has his team in the thick of things for a conference title, but he also has a losing record vs. UNLV and SDSU who have brought in better talent---The gap is increasing as UNLV and SDSU are bringing in their best recruiting classes in recent memory.