Johnson, Cheickna Im so happy for all of them. From there the gauntlet was thrown, but not before former UCLA ball player Bill Walton wrote in his 1978 book On the Road with the Portland Trail Blazers, UCLA players were so well taken care of far beyond the ground rules of the NCAA that even players from poor backgrounds never left UCLA prematurely (for pro basketball) during John Woodens championship years. 2022-23 Men's Basketball Roster - University of Nevada Las Vegas "Um, no. Duke lost to UNLV by 30 points in the previous season's championship. 1991-92. UNLV will finally commemorate its 2021-22 Mountain West regular-season and tournament championships ahead of Thursdays game against Utah State. By this point in his career he had already taken the NCAA all the way to the Supreme Court. Because many people forget or simply ignore the plain truth - LJ kicked everyone's ass on the court. Men's 2021 Final Four: Will anyone disrupt the Gonzaga-Baylor collision course? Everything came together perfectly. Games played in Detroit since have either been at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Ford Field or, starting in 2018, Little Caesars Arena. 1991-92 UNLV Rebels Men's Roster and Stats. The wins came one after another. The Runnin Rebels of lore were great in a number of ways. To mimic the Runnin' Rebels' swarming defense -- which shifted between man-to-man and the Amoeba, a 1-1-3 zone that combined ball pressure and corner traps with man-to-man concepts -- Duke starters played 5-on-7 against the bench in practice. 103-73. Before that St. Josephs in 2004. Fresno State enters having made 76.1 percent of its free throws (289-380), which currently would eclipse the school record for single-season free throw percentage (74.2 percent, 484-652, 1991-92). The 1991 Runnin Rebels are the greatest college basketball team of all time. Hinton. As motivation, Krzyzewski told his players in a brief aside that his 1985-86 team, which lost the national championship to Louisville, was the best collective he had coached. And Rancho High product Anthony, the point guard, was the glue that held it all together. Elmore Spencer: How many teams have a first round pick at the center position on the bench? But he picked up his dribble and passed to Hunt, who was about 30 feet from the basket. Kansas defeated Williams' mentor Dean Smith and North Carolina (where Williams later coached) in the semifinal. UNLV crushed Utah State, then had a party on the court with its fans Thursday to celebrate its back-to-back Mountain West regular-season championships. I dont think they knew what to do theyd never been in that situation before. Unsung hero: Brian Davis, a reserve wing for Duke, scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting in 21 minutes. But the 1990 team is for another article at another time. All rights reserved. Tarkanian died in 2015.) Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Iwuakor, Michael Greg Anthony: He was quite simply the engine that ran the rebels and quite possibly the most hated Rebel. Hamm Jr. Reece Place in Vancouver, Canada on December 1, 1990. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. But lets cut through all the PC rules and regulations when it comes to picking the best team of all time and just come out honest and swinging. Dikembe Mutombo was 7-foot-2, Alonzo Mourning was 6-10 and Georgetown slowed the pace of the game down to a crawl. Why many fans could not forget David Butler, coaches proclaimed that Ackles, not Butler, was the better fit despite not being much of a scorer. Say what you want about level of competition, but while the Big West wasnt the Pac-10 or ACC, think of Memphis in conference USA. At the time, we knew the defeat ended UNLVs undefeated season after 34 wins. If there was a weakness to Ackles, other than his lack of offensive ability, it was his foul trouble. Duke, coached by Mike Krzyzewski, won a rematch of the previous year's national final matchup against undefeated UNLV 7977 in the semifinal,[1] then won the national title with a 7265 victory in the final game over Kansas, coached by Roy Williams. Big West Reg Season Champ. Thats the beauty of college basketball and its blemish. H Waldman: Smart player with solid 3-point shot and quality passing. Not #1. "Beating that UNLV team was a pivotal moment in Duke basketball history," Grant Hill says. Yes, I know that. These sites are not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with with these teams or institutions. Sure, Duke was a dangerous team, but pre-season, everyone had them pegged as top 3 team. Veterans from that IU roster fielded a high volume of calls from the media that week. To understand just how different it was, consider the following four numbers. The left-hander often backed up Ackles or Larry Johnson depending on foul trouble and opposing team personnel. In it, Dukes head coach confesses that the 1990 team were exceptional and destroyed his team. Three lottery picks and a Hall of Fame coach. Stanford Cardinal (13-17, 7-12 Pac-12) at Oregon Ducks (17 . Marred records from the Sun Belt, to the American East, to the West Coast Conference, and everywhere in between. Some teams were ranked. Best NCAA Tournament Player: Was it Carmelo Anthony or Christian Laettner? Amazingly these same sports writers who have jumped on Tarkanian throughout his coaching career, especially after his team lost to Duke in 1991, either havent or only lightly brushed the Sam Gilbert connection to Woodens legacy. Stacey Augmon, who had set off an impromptu autograph mob scene on the campus of UBC the night before, opened the game with a thunderous dunk. A fourth player, George Ackles, went . UNLV basketball made about $1.5 million during its championship season of 1989-90. . Why? Walton went on to write, If the UCLA teams of the late 1960s and early 1970s were subjected to the kind of scrutiny Jerry Tarkanian and his players have been, UCLA would probably have to forfeit about eight national championships and be on probation for the next 100 years. Essence Booker, one of four honored on Senior Salute afternoon, made key plays late to lift UNLV to an 18th straight win in beating San Diego State. Always winning. Even the Late John Wooden couldnt stand the idea that the 1991 Rebels were better than any of his teams. Krzyzewski. UNLV never let down. 2023 The Draft Review. What happened: You can count on hand how many times an NCAA final has seen such dominance created by defense. Every Sports Reference Social Media Account, Site Last Updated: Saturday, March 4, 6:03AM. Huh? In fact, the team that beat them (Connecticut) spent more time on the court as the #1 team in comparison to Duke. 1990-1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels Roster # Player Class Pos HT WT . The UNLV mens basketball team got a steal and a layup in the final seconds to rally past Air Force on Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center. Coach: Jerry Tarkanian. Simply put, most opponents were already beat before the game even started. I still have the game when they played Arkansas at Arkansas -- when Larry Johnson swung on Todd Day and missed -- on tape. 1990-91. Weve never discussed going undefeated.. With Anthony on the bench, UNLV managed just three points the rest of the way. Have you ever felt as if youre in a washing machine on a super speed setting? Williams, Jordan The UNLV men's basketball team, called The Runnin' Rebels, and the women's basketball team, called the Lady Rebels, are NCAA Division I teams and part of the Mountain West Conference. Radio Broadcast InformationCreighton (18-11, 12-6 BIG EAST) plays its final home game of the regular-season on Wednesday, March 1, when it hosts Georgetown (7-23, 2-17 BIG EAST). "Beating that UNLV team was a pivotal moment in Duke basketball history," Grant Hill . "I still look at those games like, Wow' when I see the level we were playing. Wins over Utah and Seton Hall at the Kingdome in Seattle carried the Rebels to the national semifinals in Indianapolis and a rematch with Duke. UNLV point guard Greg Anthony: The only thing that surprised me was that we didnt play as hard as we normally do. Duke's gameplan against UNLV mirrored every David's game plan for Goliath: manage the game, be efficient on offense, no fast breaks, no turnovers, be aggressive and sprinkle in a hard foul every once in awhile. Men's Basketball Hosts Senior Day Wednesday vs. Georgetown Do you have a sports website? IT WAS TOUTED as the game of the year in college basketball, and it would tip at 11:20 in the morning local time on a Sunday in February. For the first time in tournament history a 15-seed defeated a 2-seed. Duke, meanwhile, won the first of five National Championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015) two nights later. During the weekend of the second round, the national telecast began at noon, with the regional windows (three on Saturday, two on Sunday) following. We could have played them 20 times and not beaten them in any.. Gambling problem? At the other end of the floor, however, Duke was overwhelmed on its defensive glass as the Rebels pulled down half of their missed shots and Johnson personally recorded eight offensive boards. But unlike Conference USA with its marginal prospects, the Big West had several solid pro prospects in Randy Brown, Cedric Ceballos, Lucious Harris and Byron Russell. What to do? On March 2, 1991, the UNLV Runnin Rebelscoached by perennial NCAA-tormentor Jerry Tarkanian and led by future NBA first rounders Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, and Greg Anthonyfinished off a perfect regular season. The timing of the NCAA's ruling left Johnson and Augmon in a difficult spot because by then the 1990 NBA draft had already taken place. Koubek, Brian Duke's game plan worked from the opening tip, with the Blue Devils hitting their first five shots for a 13-5 lead. Jones and Stanford host Oregon. And the change . The Rebels earned their second consecutive West region No. Hunt had a sweet shooting stroke, solid perimeter defense and above average athleticism to finish above the rim. Two of the program's prize recruits, Ed O'Bannon and Shon Tarver, promptly withdrew their verbal commitments to Tarkanian and enrolled at UCLA instead. Hurley, Antonio He still can't bring himself to click on the link provided by the NCAA's March Madness channel on YouTube. Duke led 79-77 with 12.7 seconds left in the game. 1991-1992 Kentucky Basketball Roster - Walter's Wildcat World Now you know what Duke experienced for 40 minutes. The 1991 Rebels were the bad guys and they loved every minute of their role. "We were a little more focused and more mature," Thomas Hill says. Yet for my money, there was no greater team in college basketball than the one that came next, even if its final shot happened not to go through the hoop. How could he not take up for what he had built? Anthony was icing his shooting hand during timeouts, Hunt was also banged up, UNLV was assessed a technical for protesting a hard foul by Bobby Hurley, countless 50/50 calls went Duke's way including an egregious non-call on Laettner with 1:31 remaining. More School Info. The 1990 NCAA tournament concluded with UNLV winning the national championship thanks to a 30-point rout of Duke in the final, 103-73.The margin set the record for largest in championship game . Then UNLV smashed Duke in the NCAA Championship game. We havent talked about it once, Tarkanian told the Los Angeles Times when it was all over. Much was expected of him, but he never seemed to get going. If you doubled Larry Johnson in the post or tried to collapse the driving lanes of Augmon or Anthony, you paid the price. Ray Brewer, a proud local, has been part of Greenspun Media Group since the mid-1990s. They were the number one team that entire season. UNLV 77, Duke 79, Kentucky 103, Duke 104, Notre Dame 91, UConn 89, Texas A&M 63, Stanford 62. He went on to express his view that the Rebels, in effect, played by a different set of rules and that the UNLV program should be investigated from top to bottom, up to and including the players' grades, class attendance, cars and summer jobs. Unsung hero: David Butler of UNLV, one of the toughest and best defenders in school history.