This city rides you when you are hot and fades you when you are not. Nothing is more apparent when you are staring at a wall of facebook status updates about how dismayed/upset/disappointed the world is in the UNLV Running Rebels and their first round exit in the NCAA basketball tournament.
This is the only town in America (other than Los Angeles) where the final five seconds of competition does more to shape how an entire city views the collective success/value of a team’s season than a complete season’s worth of work, effort, and results. Everything hinged on the last few seconds. If UNLV were to somehow defend UNI’s last possession and then score to win the game the Rebels would be celebrated and revered, regardless of what happened in the second round. But when Ali Farokhmanesh hit a three pointer five feet behind the line to go up by three in the closing seconds, in the minds of the fans, the Rebels went from potential Goliath slayers to goat slackers. In a related story, Farokhmanesh is now the longest 4 letter F-word in the UNLV and Kansas fan lexicon.
While it is understandable for Rebel fans to be saddened by the loss or disappointed that we will not get the chance to takedown the tournament’s overall number one rated team, Kansas; it is not understandable for individuals to let the last five seconds of the season moot an entire year of hard work. Remember…This team overachieved.
This entire year has been a work in progress in which two remaining starters from last year’s team were expected to come together with two transfer students, both of which had to sit out a year, and a center position that was, at best, a patchwork of players too young, too little skill, or playing too much out of position (I like Matt Shaw at power forward). Given these facts, the run the Rebels made this year should be applauded by fans, not defrauded.
Next year the team will return almost/all of its starters (Santee will graduate and , yes, he did begin most of the games, but I still wouldn't call him a starter, especially with Massamba getting the additional minutes down the stretch), which alone should lead to a visible improvement considering that Anthony Marshall and Justin Hawkins, both freshmen, contributed significant minutes to the Rebels, especially down the home stretch. Add to this Quintrell Thomas, a Kansas transfer, who is apparently a force to be reckoned with on the practice court versus the first team. Suddenly the Rebels look like they are on the verge of a special season.
While it is understandable for Rebel fans to be saddened by the loss or disappointed that we will not get the chance to takedown the tournament’s overall number one rated team, Kansas; it is not understandable for individuals to let the last five seconds of the season moot an entire year of hard work. Remember…This team overachieved.
This entire year has been a work in progress in which two remaining starters from last year’s team were expected to come together with two transfer students, both of which had to sit out a year, and a center position that was, at best, a patchwork of players too young, too little skill, or playing too much out of position (I like Matt Shaw at power forward). Given these facts, the run the Rebels made this year should be applauded by fans, not defrauded.
Next year the team will return almost/all of its starters (Santee will graduate and , yes, he did begin most of the games, but I still wouldn't call him a starter, especially with Massamba getting the additional minutes down the stretch), which alone should lead to a visible improvement considering that Anthony Marshall and Justin Hawkins, both freshmen, contributed significant minutes to the Rebels, especially down the home stretch. Add to this Quintrell Thomas, a Kansas transfer, who is apparently a force to be reckoned with on the practice court versus the first team. Suddenly the Rebels look like they are on the verge of a special season.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment