April 3, 2007

LAS VEGAS - The UNLV men's basketball team finished the 2006-07 season ranked 14th in the nation as the final USA TODAY/ESPN Coaches' Poll was released on Tuesday.

Powered by a trip to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16, the Runnin' Rebels moved up four spots to earn their highest final ranking since being No. 7 in the final Associated Press media poll of 1991-92, which came out before that year's NCAA Tournament. Unlike the coaches, the AP does not issue a poll after the tournament.

This marked the 14th time since 1975 that UNLV finished in the top 15 of at least one of the two major polls. Head coach Lon Kruger's squad, which tied with UCLA, Georgetown and Wisconsin for the sixth-most victories in the nation at 30-7, won the 2007 Mountain West Conference Tournament Championship and advanced to the regional semifinals in St. Louis with wins over Georgia Tech and then those same Badgers, who finished tied for 11th. The Runnin' Rebels were the only MWC team to finish in the top 25.

FINAL 2007 USA TODAY/ESPN COACHES' POLLRank School (votes)     Rec.    Pts.    Last RK1. Florida (31)         35-5    775     32. Ohio State       35-4    744 13. UCLA                 30-6    699     64. Georgetown       30-7    694 85. Kansas       33-5    627 2   North Carolina       31-7    627     47. Memphis      33-4    594 58. Oregon       29-8    531 129. Texas A&M        27-7    521 910. Pittsburgh      29-8    459 1011. Southern Illinois   29-7    425 15    Wisconsin       30-6    425 713. Butler      29-7    360 1914. UNLV                30-7    309     1815. Southern California 25-12   294 2516. Texas       25-10   287 1117. Washington State    26-8    280 13t18. Tennessee       24-11   238 NR19. Vanderbilt      22-12   234 NR20. Louisville      24-10   222 1621. Nevada, Reno        29-5    217     13t22. Winthrop        29-5    108 2123. Maryland        25-9    72  2224. Virginia        21-11   56  NR25. Virginia Tech       22-12   54      NR
Dropped out:No. 17 Notre Dame, No. 20 Marquette, No. 23 Brigham Young,No. 24 Creighton.

Others receiving votes:Xavier (25-9) 38; Notre Dame (24-8) 37; Marquette (24-10) 28; Virginia Commonwealth (28-7) 25; Creighton (22-11) 21; Michigan State (23-12) 19; Boston College (21-12) 18; Brigham Young (25-9) 10; West Virginia (27-9) 10; Kentucky (22-12) 8; Davidson (29-5) 4; Clemson (25-11) 2; Akron (26-7) 1; Duke (22-11) 1; Indiana (21-11) 1.