March 13, 2000
LAS VEGAS (AP) - UNLV isn't used to being treated this kindly by the NCAA.
Not only are the Runnin' Rebels back in the NCAA tournament - for only the second time since Jerry Tarkanian's Final Four team of 1991 - UNLV might have gotten a break in the seedings.
UNLV plays Friday in the South Regional against Tulsa, a team UNLV is very familiar with and beat twice last season when both schools were in the Western Athletic Conference.
And, if UNLV (23-7) can get by that game, the Rebels could face a Cincinnati team depleted by the loss of Kenyon Martin.
"I don't know you would call it a break or not," UNLV coach Bill Bayno said Monday. "There's no easy games, but I think there is more parity this year than ever before."
UNLV, which won its last seven games to get selected as the 10th seed in the South, is in the tournament for the second time under Bayno, who inherited a program in disarray five years ago and has struggled trying to meet the expectations of fans spoiled by Tarkanian's success.
Bayno can only hope the stay is longer than it was two years ago, when his team was bounced in the first round by Princeton.
"We've got four players who were on the team two years ago, but this is really a new experience for us," Bayno said. "We've just got to stick with what got us here."
What got UNLV in the tournament was a strong finish to the season that helped ease memories of blowout losses to North Carolina, Cincinnati and Utah during the season.
After a 96-52 defeat at the hands of Utah on Feb. 21, UNLV won its last seven, including three straight to win the Mountain West Conference tournament.
In the conference tournament final Saturday night, UNLV played arguably its finest half of the season, opening up the game with a 26-2 run and blowing out Brigham Young.
"Our sense of urgency and intensity was tremendous in that game," Bayno said. "Now all we have to do is find a way to duplicate it."
Tulsa (29-4) is ranked 18th, and has lost to only two teams all season. One of those teams is Fresno State, which beat the Golden Hurricane three times, including the WAC championship game.
UNLV beat Tulsa twice last year while both were in the WAC, but Bayno said that doesn't mean much.
"We haven't seen them in a year, and they're a different team now," he said. "We're familiar with them, but the negative is they're familiar with us, too. I don't think you can worry about that or analyze that."
Freshman Dalron Johnson said the mere fact the team made the tournament after many had written UNLV's chances off isn't enough.
"It's one-game elimination," Johnson said. "We can't be sitting around dwelling on the fact that we're excited to make the tournament. It's time to get back to work."
