BIG WEST PREVIEW : UNLV’s Chance at Being No. 1 May Lie in the Conference

The Big West Conference has long been awash in the reflected glory--and shared tournament revenue--of Nevada Las Vegas.

So if you think UNLV is in limbo as it awaits the result of its appeal of the NCAA ruling barring the Rebels from defending their NCAA tournament title, consider the rest of the conference.

Put it this way: If Duke is safe from another tournament final onslaught, who pays?

Some Big West coaches think they know.

“If they can’t play in the (NCAA) tournament, they’ll be driven to prove they’re No. 1 anyway by winning all their games, and by winning them all by big margins,” said UC Santa Barbara Coach Jerry Pimm, whose team holds the distinction of being the last to defeat UNLV, 78-70, on Feb. 26. “Whether or not they could do that would be their quest.”

Say you’re San Jose State, which lost to the Rebels by scores of 100-80 and 105-69 last season; or UC Irvine, which lost one game by 103-67? And now UNLV is going to get mad?

Even New Mexico State, which beat UNLV early in the season and went 26-5, lost to UNLV by 23 points in February.

“Before, they’ve always played knowing they would get in the tournament anyway,” Pimm said. “But every week, every game, would become very important. They could take the challenge like that, to show they’re the best team in the country and say, ‘OK, we can’t play, but let’s end up No. 1 in all the polls.’ ”

As Cal State Long Beach Coach Seth Greenberg sees it, every Big West team could become party to UNLV’s vendetta.

“If (UNLV is barred from the NCAA tournament), I think they’ll use the regular season as a postseason tournament so as to make a potential farce out of whoever wins the (NCAA) tournament,” Greenberg said.

So Big West coaches say they support UNLV’s appeal. Is it fraternal good will or just self-preservation?

UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian said there would be neither a let-down nor vengeance from his team if the NCAA ruling stands.

“Our guys are good guys. They play hard all the time,” Tarkanian said. “They’ll compete.

“You would be shocked if you sat through a week of practice. The Rebels never talk about any of that stuff. When we won the championship, we never talked about vindictiveness.”

If UNLV’s appeal is denied, the Big West will have to decide whether to allow the Rebels to play in the conference tournament.

To include UNLV could deny another team a chance to win the automatic NCAA bid that goes with a conference championship.

But to exclude the Rebels would be a blow to image, TV ratings and gate receipts.

“It would be a tough decision,” said Jim Haney, conference commissioner.

And the Big West, like UNLV, would rather not face it unless absolutely necessary.

A look at the conference:

CAL STATE FULLERTON

1989-90 Record: 13-16, 6-12

Conference finish: Seventh

A promising team went awry last season. The Titans won six games in December, but played erratically after that and lost eight of their final nine.

The players responsible for most of the scoring, Cedric Ceballos and Mark Hill, are gone--Ceballos to the Phoenix Suns. Junior point guard Wayne Williams is the only returning starter.

But Coach John Sneed says this team’s chemistry has improved, and, although chosen to finish last in the Big West by conference coaches, he says the Titans can be better than that.

Forward Agee Ward, a junior, is the most experienced returning player other than Williams. The top newcomer appears to be guard Joe Small, who was the top community-college scorer in the state last season, averaging 25.3 points at the College of the Sequoias.

CAL STATE LONG BEACH

1989-90 Record: 23-9, 12-6

Conference finish: Fourth

One conference coach says Long Beach has more good players than any team in the Big West--including UNLV, which he concedes has the best starting five.

Coach Seth Greenberg has most of the players back from a team that was left out of the NCAA tournament on a controversial decision by the selection committee.

The biggest loss was point guard Tyrone Mitchell. Bobby Sears, a junior, probably will steer the 49er running game. Lucious Harris, a sophomore guard who was conference freshman of the year and scored in double figures 26 times, is on top of a pile of talent that runs very, very deep.

The schedule includes road games against Arizona and Syracuse, but Greenberg says the biggest questions about his team concern its green neon “California Gold” uniforms.

“They’re so ugly they’re nice. And if you think they’re so ugly, wait until you see our warm-ups.”

FRESNO STATE

1989-90 Record: 10-19, 4-14

Conference finish: Ninth

With the departure of Ron Adams, the last vestiges of the Boyd Grant era are gone. Gary Colson, the former Pepperdine and New Mexico coach, will junk the Bulldogs’ trademark deliberate, defensive style in favor of an up-tempo game, despite the personnel he has inherited.

“I feel sorry for (the players), but I think I have to go with what I think will work,” Colson said. “Maybe we could win a few more games this year by controlling the ball, and they have done a nice job with that before. But I don’t think that’s the answer in the long run for us. We need to play up-tempo so we can recruit to be competitive in the league.”

The top three scorers, juniors Wilbert Hooker and Tod Bernard and senior Chris Henderson, are back. Bernard, at 6-5, has moved inside, where he and Henderson, 6-6, will play on the league’s smallest front line.

NEVADA LAS VEGAS

1989-90 Record: 35-5, 16-2

Conference finish: First (tie)

Larry Johnson, a consensus first team All-American; Stacey Augmon, the MVP of the NCAA West Regional; Anderson Hunt, the MVP of the Final Four; and Greg Anthony are back from a team that won the NCAA championship game by the largest margin in title game history.

The only starter who is not back, center David Butler, is replaced by George Ackles, who started 27 games two years ago but redshirted last year after breaking his wrist.

“The thing that concerns me, and I know it’s something that concerns all coaches, is that we can’t afford any injuries to our key people,” Tarkanian said. “We have a tremendous drop-off any time we go from one of our starting positions to the next person, but our starting five is very, very good.”

Ask Duke, a 103-73 loser in the NCAA final.

The one freshman is an important addition: H Waldman gives Tarkanian a backup for Anthony at point guard. And yes, his name is H with no period; his mother disliked the family name Herb.

NEW MEXICO STATE

1989-90 Record: 26-5, 16-2

Conference finish: First (tie)

UNLV’s guards had the Final Four as their showcase last season, but they were beaten for first-team all-conference by the Aggies’ Keith Hill and Randy Brown. Only Brown is back to lead the next of a succession of stunningly athletic and balanced teams Coach Neil McCarthy has constructed from community college talent.

McCarthy says Brown can be the first player he has coached in his 16-year career to play in the NBA. Forwards Reggie Jordan and Michael New are the other starters back from the team that relegated UNLV to the second seed in the conference tournament after sharing the title.

The Aggies faded at the end last season, losing to Long Beach in the Big West tournament and to Loyola Marymount in the NCAA tournament.

PACIFIC

1989-90 Record: 15-14, 7-11

Conference finish: Sixth

Three years after going 0-18 in the Big West, the Tigers are on the brink of breaking into the conference’s upper division. Coach Bob Thomason took over the season after the Tigers reached their nadir, and in two years he has made them a threat.

Pacific beat UC Santa Barbara in two of three games last season, including in the Big West tournament.

The team’s top scorers, junior guard Dell Demps and senior center Don Lyttle, are back, and both have a touch from three-point range, a favorite tactic of Thomason’s.

Lyttle’s consistency and rebounding will be critical for a team that had particular trouble at defensive rebounding, Thomason says.

SAN JOSE STATE

1989-90 Record: 8-20, 5-13 in the Big West

Conference finish: Eighth

A year after the walk-out against Bill Berry decimated the program, Stan Morrison coaxed eight victories out of the Spartans, and a team that was a consensus last-place pick finished eighth.

Troy Batiste, a scrappy guard whose 12-point average was second on the team, and sophomore guard Charles Terrell, a walk-on last season, are co-captains and the emotional core of the team.

Morrison said he may play 12 players, but adds a caveat: “That may mean we have a lot of mediocre guys.”

The talent pool should be deepened by new players such as freshman forward Mike Brotherton and Michael St. Julien, a 6-4 forward who won the national community-college high jump title with a leap of 7’ 3 1/4.”

UC IRVINE

1989-90 Record: 5-23, 3-15 in the Big West

Conference finish: 10th

This Anteater team will be better.

“It’s got to be better, after what we went through last year,” said Coach Bill Mulligan, whose team set a school record by losing 15 games in a row.

Ricky Butler, a 6-7 senior center who has weighed close to 300 pounds at times, was driven by the misery of the season to slim down to 245 and should exceed his team-leading averages of 14 points and seven rebounds a game. Forward Jeff Herdman is the only other senior, and after losing his touch last season, will try to regain the form that helped him briefly lead the nation in three-point shooting percentage two seasons ago.

Guard Dylan Rigdon and forwards Jeff Von Lutzow and Craig Marshall will try to fulfill the promise they showed as freshman. But the player who might be most crucial is Gerald McDonald, a point guard out of Compton College who must steer the all-out running game on which Mulligan has staked hopes of a comeback.

UC SANTA BARBARA

1989-90 Record: 21-9, 13-5 in the Big West

Conference finish: Third

The Gauchos were the winners of a strange either/or NCAA bid game between Santa Barbara and Long Beach last season, and proved they belonged in the field by beating Houston and advancing to the second round, where they lost to Michigan State. But superb rebounder Eric McArthur and guard Carrick DeHart, who each averaged 15 points, are gone from a team that was the only one to beat UNLV after January.

The best returning players are senior forward Gary Gray, junior guard Paul Johnson and junior forward Lucius Davis.

Six players will rotate in the guard positions, and Coach Jerry Pimm says the Gauchos will turn to more of a running game by handing the ball to sophomore point guard Ray Kelly, a strikingly quick transfer from Texas Christian.

The area of concern is inside, where Pimm hopes Gray will get help from another transfer who could make a difference, Sam Robson, a 6-11 center from North Carolina Charlotte.

UTAH STATE

1989-90 Record: 14-16, 8-10 in the Big West

Conference finish: Fifth

Three seasons ago, Utah State won the Big West tournament, earning its first automatic NCAA bid in Rod Tueller’s last year as coach. In the two seasons since, neither of the teams coached by Kohn Smith, Tueller’s hand-picked successor, has broken .500.

This could be the first.

His best player, Kendall Youngblood, was the conference freshman of the year two seasons ago and has played everything from point guard to small forward.

Seven of the top eight scorers are back, including four starters. Rich Jardine, a slender forward with a long-range shooting touch, and Randy Funk, his more rugged counterpart, give the team experience inside.