A peek at college hoops' last Rebel team
Posted: Tuesday, November 10, 2009 8:48 PM
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Greatest ever
Perhaps no team captured our attention the last 25 years like the 1990 Runnin’ Rebs. Maybe the Fab Five or a handful of others come close.
But for sheer larger-than-life value, I go with Tark’s team.
Maybe that’s why I got a little tingle reading this story from the Las Vegas Sun’s Ryan Greene about the Rebels’ reunion.
Eric Risberg/AP |
Larry Johnson was a beast for UNLV.
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Everyone except Stacey Augmon (who’s working as an NBA assistant) was on hand. Player of the year Larry Johnson. Massive rebounders David Butler and Moses Scurry. Gunner Anderson Hunt. Brainy floor general Greg Anthony. And, of course, coach Jerry Tarkanian.
It sounds as though the current UNLV squad enjoyed it as much as the rest of us would have. I mean, this was the team that destroyed a damn fine Duke team by 30 points in the NCAA championship game. These guys seemed like they could anything. I always remember them as an up-tempo offensive juggernaut, but they were even better on defense.
"Physically dominating, defensively they were great, rebounding the ball they were great. They dictated on both ends of the floor every night out," said current Rebels coach Lon Kruger.
And, like every great team, it had stars and role players, someone for everything. This quote from Butler sums it up perfectly. The part about Johnson kills me.
"No one man is more important than the team," he said. "Everyone on our team had a role to play. Myself rebounding, Moses rebounding, Larry (Johnson) scoring a bunch of points. Greg (Anthony) just controlling the team and Anderson Hunt was one of the greatest shooters of all-time in my opinion."
There have been other great teams – ’96 Kentucky, ’92 Duke, ’07 Florida, among others – but do any of ‘em seem like they had as much fun as the Rebs? That’s the kind of college team I’m not sure we’ll ever see again.
Follow me on Twitter (@BeyndArcMMiller) and get more college basketball news at NBCSports.com.
