Everyone, and I mean everyone, hated UNLV. Since freshmen were not eligible at the time of UCLA's run, Duke's. Now free to defend its title, UNLV was expected to confront its first real test in December when it played Steve Smith and Michigan State at the two-year-old Palace of Auburn Hills. Our reasoning for presenting offensive logos. Augmon would like to refute a few notions surrounding the upset. Defensively, Ackles was intimidating, often blocking shots out of position and using his length to grab rebounds. So weve made it to March. And many still question the charging call that knocked him from the game with under four minutes to play. On This Day In UK Basketball History On March 2, 1970, Dan Issel scored 42 points against Auburn. 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. Nuga, Justin For the first time in tournament history a 15-seed defeated a 2-seed. UNLV as a squad led the Big West in almost every countable category. All rights reserved, The All 22 - An Inside Look at Duke Football, Hide/Show Additional Information For Marty Clark, Hide/Show Additional Information For Bill McCaffrey, Hide/Show Additional Information For Bobby Hurley, Hide/Show Additional Information For Antonio Lang, Hide/Show Additional Information For Greg Koubek, Hide/Show Additional Information For Brian Davis, Hide/Show Additional Information For Thomas Hill, Hide/Show Additional Information For Christian Laettner, Hide/Show Additional Information For Grant Hill, Hide/Show Additional Information For Crawford Palmer, Hide/Show Additional Information For Clay Buckley, Hide/Show Additional Information For Christian Ast, Allentown, Pa. / Allentown Central Catholic. Find out more. Unsung hero: David Butler of UNLV, one of the toughest and best defenders in school history. 103-73. I should get it converted.". The left-hander often backed up Ackles or Larry Johnson depending on foul trouble and opposing team personnel. There is no additional information to display: True to Greenberg's word, Anthony fouled out when he was called for a charge on Davis with 3:51 remaining in the game. (AP Photo/Al Behrman), Wahlbergs $14.5M bungalow leads 2022 new home luxury, 3 women linked to robbery before police shooting, You can tell they love football: Raiders make big impression on young QB, Convicted Las Vegas killer overdosed on meth, coroner rules, Graney: Lady Rebels success increasingly hard to ignore, Graney: Booker comes through late as Lady Rebels win 18th straight, Rebels dismantled by San Diego State as series skid continues, Shooting woes doom UNLV in loss to San Jose State, Thats not UNLV basketball: Senior guard apologizes after blowout loss, Short-handed Rebels fall short against Boise State. It almost worked. "I'm not real big on their whole operation," the first-year head coach had said of UNLV. Thats right I said it. You call a jump shooting team getting to the free throw line 23 times to a post oriented teams 15 times better? 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. 2 in the nation and standing at 22-1 behind stars Oliver Miller and Todd Day -- had been camping out in front of Fayetteville's Barnhill Arena for a full week in advance of the game, and Rebels coach Jerry Tarkanian sought to put the tent city to good use for his own team. Students at Arkansas -- ranked No. Previous Season Next Season. We had been in close games. But what most didnt realize was that, as superb a returning starting five as UNLV had that evening in 91, Duke put on the floor three players (Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley) who would also be considered among the best in college history. This isnt the NBA where you need to be consistent in a best of seven series. Bryan Lindl, MS, LAT, ATC. But Augmon (31 points), Hunt (26) and Johnson (25) were too much. The Runnin' Rebels have one Sweet Sixteen appearance since 1991. All rights reserved. We didnt know it would also mark the beginning of the end of the programs reign as a national power. George Ackles: The most forgotten of all the members of the 1991 UNLV team, Ackles played the 1989 season for UNLV after transferring from junior college. "Um, no. The 1990 UNLV Runnin' Rebels are regarded as one of the greatest college basketball teams of all time. The guy had the power of a post player with the shooting touch of a perimeter man. Just stop it. Scoring was distributed across the team, too. You call getting a bogus and now famous Duke charging call that resulted in UNLV Greg Anthonys foul disqualification better? Can we imagine a recent Duke or Kansas or Kentucky team finishing off a regular season in such a humble circumstances? This collection contains programs for UNLV men's basketball games and annual guides for men's and women's basketball. ESPN and CBS analyst Jay Bilas was a Duke assistant coach for both the 1990 national title game, UNLV's 103-73 rout, and the following year's 79-77 Final Four upset that stopped the Rebels two . Because as a person he was highly intelligent, republican, business minded and was extremely well spoken in interviews. The final game on the regular season slate was Cal State Fullertona school with almost nothing to brag about in the basketball department (Leon Wood on the 84 Olympic squad?) Do you have a blog? Although UNLV is becoming one now. 1990-1991 UNLV Runnin' Rebels Roster # Player Class Pos HT WT . DePaul's appearance is, as of 2022, the last appearance of an independent team in the tournament. It was a strange affair. The wins came one after another. Duke assurance grew with every break they caught in the second half: Ackles picked up his fourth foul minutes after halftime, an ankle injury hobbled his backup, Elmore Spencer. 1983 Houston and 85 Georgetown were defeated by complete underdogs that many didnt even peg as final fours participants. UNLV basketball scores, news, schedule, players, stats, photos, rumors, depth charts on RealGM.com . Check out the detailed 1990-91 Virginia Tech Hokies Roster and Stats for College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com. If Anthony didnt get into foul trouble against Duke, wed almost certainly be talking about UNLVs back-to-back championships today. The Rebels never even rolled out their crippling press for the final contest of the regular season. 2023 Duke Athletics. But the committee saw the matter differently and imposed the ban on postseason play for 1991, making UNLV . Sure, Duke was a dangerous team, but pre-season, everyone had them pegged as top 3 team. Anthony's shot on the play went in the basket, and if it had counted, the Rebels would have had a 76-71 lead. Buckley, Brandon KOZN (1620 AM) and KOOO (101.9 FM) will carry all Creighton men's basketball games during the 2022-23 season. McCaffrey, Bobby The following are the sites that were selected to host each round of the 1991 tournament: Regional semifinals and finals (Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight), National semifinals and championship (Final Four and championship). DeShawn Henry. Hamilton. 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. No team has won 40 games or more in a row in the 30 years since. Updated December 31, 2020 - 7:44 pm. We won some. But still, UNLVs last game of a perfect season was played in a gym. On February 10, #1 UNLV traveled to Fayetteville to face #2 Arkansas. Get the latest news, stats and more about Quez Wright on RealGM.com 1988 Men's . Both were ejected. Let it burn into your cranium. The NCAA had announced in August 1990 that due to recruiting violations committed by Tarkanian and UNLV beginning in 1977 (yes, 77), the school would be banned from the 1991 NCAA Championship. During the UNLV golden age they won an impressive 45 games straight when you include their final 11 games of the 1990 championship season. Thats like saying the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpacks victory over Phi Slamma Jamma meant they were better. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Then Michigan State by 20. When Krzyzewski was asked about that image at the Sunday news conference, he replied, "It really doesn't bother me.". The Hoyas pulled to within four before falling 62-54. Quick Links. Kansas made its second trip to the National Championship game in four seasons, the prior appearance being 1988 when they defeated Oklahoma. Stanford Cardinal (13-17, 7-12 Pac-12) at Oregon Ducks (17 . Simply put, most opponents were already beat before the game even started. The Rebels got some extra time to prepare for Air Forces unique offense, but are likely to be without two starters again as they try to snap a three-game losing skid. Huh? Because they were vicious and explosive, while destroying everyone by an average of 26.7 points. All Rights Reserved. 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. The foul would go down in UNLV lore as the questionable call that cost the team a championship. Anthony was a confident player, tough as nails. The Blue Devils opened the game against UNLV by making their first five shots and taking a 15-8 lead. In the first three rounds, games were shown on a regional basis, except for one game each on Saturday and Sunday in the second round. 4,032 fans showed up to see the Rebels cruise to a 104-83 win. The Blue Demons would join the, This page was last edited on 30 January 2023, at 22:15. What else could he say? . To this day, the Rebels are the only team to top 100 points in the title game, and the win over Duke still stands as the largest margin of victory ever recorded in a championship final. Always winning. The Duke and UNLV programs went on wildly divergent paths following the game. Mountain West Basketball, UNLV Basketball, Mountain West Basketball, NCAAB, UNLV, Mountain West Basketball: Utah State vs. UNLV--Preview, Odds, Prediction, Mountain West Basketball: New Mexico vs. Boise State--Preview, Odds, Prediction, Mountain West Basketball: Chase for the Regular Season Championship, See college football stories in your feed. "It legitimized us as a serious program. It wasn't. Question, Comment, Feedback, or Correction? . At the time, we knew the defeat ended UNLVs undefeated season after 34 wins. 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 happened: You can count on hand how many times an NCAA final has seen such dominance created by defense. Varnado Jr. Bryan We could have played them 20 times and not beaten them in any.. 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 core five of Butler (15.8), Anthony (11.2), Augmon (14.2), Hunt (15.9), and Johnson (20.6) each . Twenty-five years later the question is still asked: How did Duke pull it off? Heck, I was a kid living in Canada and I couldnt get enough of Greg Anthony, Stacey Augmon, Anderson Hunt, and Larry Johnson (and I guess we can toss George Ackles in there too). (Editor's note: ESPN reached out to multiple starters from that team as well as to one member of the coaching staff. Copyright 2000-2023 Sports Reference LLC. We all loved him." The perfect season was over, and so was the pressure that accompanies maintaining perfection. "As great a team as that UNLV team was, we were a pretty darn good team too," Grant Hill says. Who will win each 2023 conference tournament? For the second time, Indianapolis was the host of the Final Four, this time at the Hoosier Dome, which would host the Final Four three more times. As journalists its just easier to say that bad guys wear black and good guys wear white when in truth the real intentions of men are somewhere in the middle called the grey area. It began on March 14, 1991, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana. And their opponent in the Final Four was the same team they had defeated 103-73 in the previous year's national championship. Larry Johnson scored 26. 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). Burist, Kevin Christian Laettner of Duke was named the tournament's Most Outstanding Player. But what makes them different than, say, 83 Houston, 85 Georgetown or 99 Duke? "We had something to prove. Within the span of just 2:43, Hunt scored 12 points and UNLV uncorked an 18-0 run on its way to a 103-73 win. Justin Webster called the Rebels 91-66 loss Wednesday to Utah State the worst game hes ever played in during his basketball career. Plastic Man, with his elastic arms and legs, made it a nightmare for offensive players in an age where defensive player like Shane Battier take acting classes to engage in flopping to gain foul trouble on his match-up. Everything came together perfectly. And Rancho High product Anthony, the point guard, was the glue that held it all together. [2] This was the first National Championship game for Williams as a head coach. 1990-91. Place in Vancouver, Canada on December 1, 1990. 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. Iwuakor, Michael Georgia Tech, with Kenny Anderson and Dennis Scott, gave UNLV a game in the Final Four, but UNLV pulled out a 90-81 victory. Any future tournament games played in Charlotte would be played at Spectrum Center (although the Coliseum did host the Final Four in 1994). Christin Hinton. How could he not take up for what he had built? And Tarkanian had to promise to pursue no further legal action against the NCAA. Get the 1991 NCAA tournament bracket, scores and more here. 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. Muoka, Bryce 27-0. The team blitzed through the regular season. Christian Laettner, a progenitor of the stretch big, further opened up the court with long jump shots. Video & Recruiting Coordinator. Ast, Mike Duke was 30-7 and had won the Midwest region as the No. These sites are not endorsed by, sponsored by, or affiliated with with these teams or institutions. "We were basically outplayed," he said, "but I still think we're part of history. Join our linker program. A 30-point blowout doesnt usually have much pride or excuses associated with it. 1 UNLV Runnin' Rebels during this 1990-91 season, and he was afforded a special seat for the contest. As it happened, that loyalty would be rewarded by the least likely entity of all, the NCAA itself. Augmon used good ole fashioned foot speed and length to disrupt positions 1-through-3. But with three new starters the 1990-91 Duke squad was a much different team both in roster and disposition. Why, you might ask? The opponent: Alabama-Birmingham. To make things interesting Coach Jerry Tarkanian always scheduled a tough out of conference schedule that, in 1991, included Arkansas (2), Michigan State (4), and Louisville (23), all top 25 opponents at the time. Webster, Donovan Learn more and register, College Basketball at Sports-Reference.com Blog and Articles. 2023 The Draft Review. Unsung hero: Brian Davis, a reserve wing for Duke, scored 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting in 21 minutes. Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, George Ackles and their teammates would enter the 1991 Final Four having trailed their opponents for a total of just one minute and 20 seconds in any second half all season. UNLV Rebels Men's. Roster and Stats. Solid scorer; a starter at any other school. Four of Fresno State's 10 wins have come in true road games (three in conference play). Gambling problem? I just feel so happy and fortunate that we got here and were able to win it., Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski: We were overmatched. Visit ESPN to view the UNLV Rebels team roster for the current season. Ja Morants allegations of aggression off the court, explained. . He had made his famous The NCAA was so mad at Kentucky they gave Cleveland State two more years of probation quip. Coach: Jerry Tarkanian. Instead, the Rebels overcame a one-point deficit midway through the second half and won going away, 95-75. Before that St. Josephs in 2004. "We wanted to show him that we were his best team," Grant Hill says. ", Duke had also added a freshman sensation. 25 years later, UNLV players still feel the heartbreak of losing toDuke, The Clippers Russell Westbrook experiment is off to a terrible start.