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Rebels2k3

Pondering alternate history for UNLV basketball...

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Last night, I was thinking about the 1990-1991 season for UNLV and how Tarkanian lost several recruits for that particular year because the NCAA was set to put UNLV on a post-season ban for the next year.  If the NCAA never put the hammer down, UNLV would have had Shon Tarver and Ed O'Bannon on that roster. Darrin Hancock, who later played for Kansas and was an athletic freak, was also set to come but Prop 78 made him ineligible due to grades and he was forced to attend community college instead. 

If the NCAA never put UNLV on a ban, for whatever reason, and Hancock made himself eligible...would we have still gone undefeated until the Duke game? Would we have beaten Duke? In regards to Duke, we still would have lacked a backup point guard...assuming Greg Anthony still gets fouled out in this alternate timeline....but we would have had more talent on the bench for sure.

What do my fellow UNLV fans think? Would this team win the national title in 1991 or nah? Random thoughts, but I thought it was worth discussing.

 

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I don’t know about the game specifically but I would guess you guys wouldn’t have had the struggles you had later on in the decade. 

thelawlorfaithful, on 31 Dec 2012 - 04:01 AM, said:One of the rules I live by: never underestimate a man in a dandy looking sweater

 

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So, 34-0 and extra depth heading into the rematch with Duke.  Sounds like a win to me in this alternate scenario.  You don't come up short vs Kansas in the title game.

If the NCAA never put the hammer down, does UNLV stay in the Big West until Tark's retirement?  Because he was the driving force that produced those at-large bids for UCSB and NMSU.  

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Guest RoscoesDad
19 minutes ago, Rebels2k3 said:

Last night, I was thinking about the 1990-1991 season for UNLV and how Tarkanian lost several recruits for that particular year because the NCAA was set to put UNLV on a post-season ban for the next year.  If the NCAA never put the hammer down, UNLV would have had Shon Tarver and Ed O'Bannon on that roster. Darrin Hancock, who later played for Kansas and was an athletic freak, was also set to come but Prop 78 made him ineligible due to grades and he was forced to attend community college instead. 

If the NCAA never put UNLV on a ban, for whatever reason, and Hancock made himself eligible...would we have still gone undefeated until the Duke game? Would we have beaten Duke? In regards to Duke, we still would have lacked a backup point guard...assuming Greg Anthony still gets fouled out in this alternate timeline....but we would have had more talent on the bench for sure.

What do my fellow UNLV fans think? Would this team win the national title in 1991 or nah? Random thoughts, but I thought it was worth discussing.

 

Of course we would have had more talent on that 91 team. I am not sure if that's even a question.

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2 minutes ago, RoscoesDad said:

This is confusing me.  UNLV played Duke in '91.  Our PG backup was H Waldman, not too bad.  The postseason ban wasn't until 92.  

Right, but Tarkanian used Anderson Hunt at PG when Anthony fouled out. Also, Tarkanian let O'Bannon and Tarver go since he knew the postseason was coming for the 1991-1992 season.

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18 minutes ago, mugtang said:

I don’t know about the game specifically but I would guess you guys wouldn’t have had the struggles you had later on in the decade. 

Probably not, assuming Tarkanian had no obstacles, another damn good squad was shaping up for the 1991-1992 season with Chris Webber and Jalen Rose most likely, and Jason Kidd probably coming in 1992. Who knows what would have happened after then.

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Guest RoscoesDad
6 minutes ago, Rebels2k3 said:

Right, but Tarkanian used Anderson Hunt at PG when Anthony fouled out. Also, Tarkanian let O'Bannon and Tarver go since he knew the postseason was coming for the 1991-1992 season.

Edited my post...still a bit confusing how it was worded.  Of course that team would have been deeper.  And the 92 team would have had a starting 5 of Jason Kidd, JR Rider, Shon Tarver/Ed O, Evric Gray and Elmore Spencer, which likely would have done another final four.

 

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24 minutes ago, RoscoesDad said:

Edited my post...still a bit confusing how it was worded.  Of course that team would have been deeper.  And the 92 team would have had a starting 5 of Jason Kidd, JR Rider, Shon Tarver/Ed O, Evric Gray and Elmore Spencer, which likely would have done another final four.

 

Think UNLV would have had a nice run of really really good teams - a run of top 10 teams - How long would it have lasted is tough to say, because really strong programs always seem to take a dip after some number of years (more so in FB) ...........but UNLV might have solidified the program as a top 5 for another decade maybe

Another unknown was how long guys would stick around..........the 1989-1991 team stuck around, right after that was when top recruits began to skip college altogether so reloading would have been harder to do 

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2 minutes ago, UNLV2001 said:

Think UNLV would have had a nice run of really really good teams - a run of top 10 teams - How long would it have lasted is tough to say, because really strong programs always seem to take a dip after some number of years (more so in FB) ...........but UNLV might have solidified the program as a top 5 for another decade maybe

Another unknown was how long guys would stick around..........the 1989-1991 team stuck around, right after that was when top recruits began to skip college altogether so reloading would have been harder to do 

The whole leaving early thing didn't really start occurring until the late 90s.I assume guys like Webber, Rose, Kid, etc, would have stuck around 2-3 years at least.

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34 minutes ago, Ernie Baer said:

Had Jerry redshirted H Waldman instead of Dedan Thomas UNLV would have beaten Duke even without O’Bannon, Hancock and Tarver.  No disrespect to H but Dedan was the true point guard they needed as a back-up.  

And Chris Webber was never coming to UNLV.  

Webber said he was a big fan of UNLV and Tarkanian in high school. Why do you think he wouldn't have come if things played out differently?

Forgot about Dedan. I agree with you there.

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7 hours ago, Rebels2k3 said:

"Tarkanian lost several recruits for that particular year because the NCAA was set to put UNLV on a post-season ban for the next year. "

It seems like it wasn't the looming NCAA ban as much as Tark anticipating his departure (due to Maxson) and he had quit having committed players (such as Tarver and Ed O) sign letters of intent because he wanted them to not have to sit out if they backed out.

I just don't think if UNLV was going to have a 1 season post-season ban that those players would have backed out if Tark was still going to be here.  Back then even really good freshmen didn't expect to get to start their freshman year anyway.

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17 hours ago, Rebels2k3 said:

I just thought it would be a fun topic to discuss, especially if you are into history.

We need to have @RebelRobert chime in on this thread. 

bsu_retro_bsu_logo_helmet.b_1.jpg

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2 hours ago, Poster17 said:

OP, don't do this to yourself.  Move on man.   Enjoy what we had, and hope we can get back there someday even though that possibility gets smaller and smaller every year. 

I'm a historian by training, so this stuff comes naturally to me.

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18 hours ago, Rebels2k3 said:

Webber said he was a big fan of UNLV and Tarkanian in high school. Why do you think he wouldn't have come if things played out differently?

Forgot about Dedan. I agree with you there.

I remember at the 92 Final Four Webber had great things to say about UNLV and Jerry while speaking poorly about Duke.  While the comments were nice, we had a good laugh.  The only schools Webber seriously considered were Michigan and Duke.  Michigan State and UNC were involved but it was known for some time those two were his primary choices.  

Chris, at least when he was younger, was always concerned he wasn’t respected enough in the inner city because he went to a private school, grew up fairly modest.  UNLV was very popular at that time, particularly in the inner city. I think he thought throwing UNLV’s name around would help him with them.

The only two members of the Fab Five UNLV actively recruited were Jalen Rose and Ray Jackson.  Jimmy King did list UNLV among his top couple of schools but it never really went beyond that. 

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