Rebels Just Revving Up

The rims are still rattling in Denver, the Blue Devils have returned home with their tails between their legs and UNLV is the baddest four-letter word in college basketball.

Scary stuff. Nevada Las Vegas didn’t just McNichol-and-dime Duke to death Monday night. The Rebels bulldozed Durham’s finest.

Most points scored in an NCAA final: 103, UNLV.

Biggest margin of victory in an NCAA final: 30 points, UNLV.

Most steals in an NCAA final: 16, UNLV.

The Rebels also outshot Duke (61% to 43%), out-dunked Duke (five to none) and did everything else but nuke Duke.

But the most frightening stats of the day are these:

F--Larry Johnson, Jr.

F--Stacey Augmon, Jr.

G--Greg Anthony, Jr.

G--Anderson Hunt, Soph.

Las Vegas returns four of five starters for next season, assuming Johnson keeps to his word that he’ll wait to turn pro. They are also Las Vegas’ best four starters--Johnson, the MVP of the Big West Conference; Hunt, the MVP of the Final Four; Augmon, the defensive pain in the ACC’s neck; and Anthony, the point guard who makes the Rebels run.

The lone defection is senior center David Butler, a strong inside scorer, but not irreplaceable. Waiting to step in is a familiar name, George Ackles, a 6-10 senior-to-be who started a year ago before redshirting in 1989-90 after breaking his wrist last summer. As a junior, Ackles averaged 5.6 points and blocked 64 shots.

So, Monday’s final was, at best, a mixed bag for the Big West. Sure, the conference picked up a few plugs on the telecast when UNLV rooters began chanting “Big West, Big West” late in the game--although Brent Musburger and Billy Packer felt the need to explain to their national audience exactly what a Big West was.

And, not many Big West teams did worse than Duke against UNLV during the regular season; in fact, only four: the University of the Pacific (which lost to the Rebels by 40 points), UC Irvine (36 points), San Jose State (34 points) and Utah State (32 points).

Two Big West teams--New Mexico State and UC Santa Barbara--beat UNLV. And Cal State Long Beach, which didn’t go to the NCAAs because seven Big Ten teams had to, lost three times to the Rebels by an average of 18 points.

So maybe it really was more than UNLV and the Big Rest this year.

More likely, though, the Rebels’ West Coast shadow just got bigger. Consider the competition.

Santa Barbara loses it two best players, Eric McArthur and Carrick DeHart. New Mexico State loses all-conference guard Keith Hill and top rebounder James Anderson. Long Beach already lost its coach.

The talent gap could be beyond breach next season, especially if UNLV’s recruitment drive continues. Already, the Rebels have landed a pair of prep plums, Shon Tarver of Santa Clara High and H. Waldman of Las Vegas’ Clark High, which, no doubt, has made Tark high.

Another question for the Big West to ponder:

Does this end justify the means?

Before UNLV joined the conference in 1982, the Big West never made it out of the regionals. Long Beach reached regional finals in 1971 and 1972--both teams coached, of course, by Jerry Tarkanian--and Cal State Fullerton swept into the West Regional final on its Cinderella ride of 1978.

But then, the Big West seldom had teams under NCAA investigation before UNLV joined the conference, either.

Tark continues to haggle with the NCAA over alleged infractions dating to 1977. If Tark manages to dodge that hammer, there’s always Lloyd Daniels. Daniels could barely read and was busted for possession of cocaine, but Tark found a way to enroll him, if briefly, at UNLV.

This little matter has interested the NCAA again. Already, investigators have made 10 trips to the Las Vegas campus this season, with their official findings still pending.

If the verdict comes back guilty, the Rebels could go from championship owners to renters in the stroke of a gavel.

But are the Rebels worried?

“You can call us bad guys, you can call us thugs, you can call us hoodlums,” Johnson said Monday night. “But please, at the end of that, just put: National Champions.”

At Nevada Las Vegas, that’s the bottom line.

The Rebels are running, free and easy and all alone. At the moment, the only ones capable of changing that are themselves.