UNLV stormed back in the fourth quarter to beat UNR in Reno and finish off an 18-0 season in the Mountain West. On November 29, 1990, Jerry Tarkanianwho was already in Canada for the teams opening gamereceived a phone call from UNLV President Robert Maxon. Three lottery picks and a Hall of Fame coach. "I was pleased we hung in there as long as we did," Heathcote said afterward. UNLV coach Jerry Tarkanian: This win is for the kids, but mostly its for the state of Nevada. A total of 63 games were played. The Rebels earned their second consecutive West region No. 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. Like us on Facebook. He was one of the strongest players in the post with a 36 + vertical, a post-up game, face-up game, ball handling and 3-point range. With NCAA sanctions banning UNLV from postseason play, Tarkanian announced in June 1991 that he would resign after the upcoming season. Those teams entered the tournament with double digit loses. View Full Bio, Marty If this two-time all American honors and 1991 Wooden Award winner isnt in your list of top 20 college players of all time, chances are you need to get some old film and watch pure dominance at work. Royce Any of them could have left early for the NBA, but they returned to try for title No. 1991 UNLV Roll Call: The Starters. Former KU player Milt Newton called the NCAA's decision on UNLV "gutless and spineless.". They played championship-caliber ball. Title. Former Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton had by this time become a vocal fan of the No. UAB did the best it could. It would easy for people to say Im not seeing the big picture when talking about this team. 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. Mutual respected rivals (L to R) Tark & Wooden. This year also saw the final appearance of the Pontiac Silverdome and two former Final Four venues, in Cole Field House and Freedom Hall. Larry Varnado Jr. Head Strength & Conditioning Coach for Men's Basketball and Volleyball. Fresno State enters having made 76.2 percent of its free throws (298-391), which currently would eclipse the school record for single-season free throw percentage (74.2 percent, 484-652, 1991-92). Johnson rang up 35 points and was termed "a man among boys" by MSU head coach Jud Heathcote. That remains the largest margin of victory in any tournament finalan amazing achievement by UNLVs fantastic title team. Ranking the top 25 players in the 2021 Final Four, Anonymous coaches scout the men's Final Four teams, ESPN Insider college basketball contributor, First began covering college hoops in 2004, Has written for Basketball Prospectus and the Wall Street Journal. The 1991 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament involved 64 schools playing in single-elimination play to determine the national champion of men's NCAA Division I college basketball.It began on March 14, 1991, and ended with the championship game on April 1 in Indianapolis, Indiana.A total of 63 games were played. I should know; I was there, ball-boying my way as close the Rebels as possible. Have you ever felt as if youre in a washing machine on a super speed setting? Duke, meanwhile, won the first of five National Championships (1991, 1992, 2001, 2010, 2015) two nights later. The official 1990-91 Men's Basketball Roster for the Duke University Record: 34-1 (18-0, 1st in Big West MBB ) Rank: 1st in the Final AP Poll. When asked over email to name the most significant change from the 1990 team, Hurley simply replied: "Grant Hill. Yes, I know that. Neither team looked the least bit scared. Let it burn into your cranium. ", Yet the risk of a mental hangover persisted. Duke led 79-77 with 12.7 seconds left in the game. "I was a fan of theirs," Grant Hill says. All subsequent tournament games played in Atlanta are now played at either the Georgia Dome (since demolished) or Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But what was pegged a mismatch became one of the most compelling games in NCAA history, with the fallout ushering in a new era in college basketball. As it happened, that loyalty would be rewarded by the least likely entity of all, the NCAA itself. Center, has hosted games since. There was expected to be great turnover on the UNLV basketball roster after a disappointing 12-15 season. 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. And Rancho High product Anthony, the point guard, was the glue that held it all together. Thats like saying the 1983 North Carolina State Wolfpacks victory over Phi Slamma Jamma meant they were better. 2 under their Hall of Fame coach. Stacey Augmon, who had set off an impromptu autograph mob scene on the campus of UBC the night before, opened the game with a thunderous dunk. 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. One of the few figures associated with that UNLV team who's willing to revisit the subject of 1991 in 2021 is Jerry Koloskie, who then served as athletic trainer for the Rebels before later becoming the school's senior associate athletic director. In advance of the rematch on the Aggies' home floor, Utah State took out a full-page ad in the Logan Herald Journal. It wasn't. The 1991 Final Four birthed the Duke dynasty, giving Mike Krzyzewski the first of his five championships. THIS WAS THE the first Final Four called by Jim Nantz for CBS, and his future broadcast partner, Grant Hill, was a freshman for the Blue Devils. The largest margin of victory ever. It almost worked. The 1991 Runnin Rebels are the greatest college basketball team of all time. UNLV would eventually reach the national semifinal 30 years ago this weekend having won 45 straight games over a period of 13 months. 1990-1991 UNLV Runnin . Johnson joined an already loaded squad. Ast, Mike We definitely werent backing down from anyone. Ray Brewer, a proud local, has been part of Greenspun Media Group since the mid-1990s. Everything came together perfectly. They put on a show, soaring down the court in transition, and harassing opponents on defense. By the time he graduated in 1995, he had . Wooden teams were dominant with NBA greats Bill Walton and Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). Twenty-five years later the question is still asked: How did Duke pull it off? Not an arena it was a bleachers and lines all over the floor gymnasium. Not #1. 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. Georgia Tech, with Kenny Anderson and Dennis Scott, gave UNLV a game in the Final Four, but UNLV pulled out a 90-81 victory. Director of Basketball Operations. Hunt had a sweet shooting stroke, solid perimeter defense and above average athleticism to finish above the rim. And as I look around the college basketball landscape, I see failure and defeats everywhere. What happened: You can count on hand how many times an NCAA final has seen such dominance created by defense. ", "We're the greatest team to have not won a national championship. Odds & lines subject to change. Coleman, Cameron The SPORTS REFERENCE and STATHEAD trademarks are owned exclusively by Sports Reference LLC. Tarkanian's program was indeed under scrutiny, and speculation had already begun on where his star players would go if UNLV were placed on probation by the NCAA. We all loved him." UNLV 77, Duke 79, Kentucky 103, Duke 104, Notre Dame 91, UConn 89, Texas A&M 63, Stanford 62. Lang, Greg The guy had the power of a post player with the shooting touch of a perimeter man. "We were basically outplayed," he said, "but I still think we're part of history. Johnson, Cheickna 1991-92. . Johnson brought the ball up for UNLV on their final possession, and, for a moment, it appeared he would attempt a potential game-winning three-pointer. Despite its image as a team that relied mainly on Johnson in the paint, UNLV was significantly more perimeter-oriented than Division I as a whole in 1990-91. Director of Basketball Operations. Christin Hinton. On that night 30 years ago, Anthony was asked after the game to put into words what had just taken place. Fresno State is now 5-4 against UNLV in Hutson's five seasons. Why, you might ask? It was, as Im now old enough to say, different times. For the game, Fullerton nearly doubled its average attendance. Laettner, Grant People can try to deny this, but UNLV was like the Yankees in baseball, the Notre Dame of college football and the Mike Tyson of boxing. The timing of the NCAA's ruling left Johnson and Augmon in a difficult spot because by then the 1990 NBA draft had already taken place. UNLVs roster included three of the eventual top 12 picks in the 1991 NBA Draft: Larry Johnson (first overall), Stacey Augmon (9th) and Greg Anthony (12th). That is the fourth-longest consecutive-game win streak in NCAA Division 1 basketball history, and the longest win streak since the longest one ever (by UCLA) ended in 1974. Men's 2021 Final Four: Will anyone disrupt the Gonzaga-Baylor collision course? Or write about sports? Huh? If Anthony didnt get into foul trouble against Duke, wed almost certainly be talking about UNLVs back-to-back championships today. Games played in Detroit since have either been at The Palace of Auburn Hills, Ford Field or, starting in 2018, Little Caesars Arena. Quick Links. #1 UNLV Runnin' Rebels travelled to the Barnhill Arena in Fayetteville, AR to take on the #2 Arkansas Razorbacks. All rights reserved. And the big fourAnderson, Augmon, Hunt, and Johnsonwere all coming back. With 99 Duke they werent even ranked as the number one team in the country. Get the 1991 NCAA tournament bracket, scores and more here. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. "We had something to prove. Quinn Buckner, for one, had already stated his belief that UNLV was actually superior to his own team. Because many people forget or simply ignore the plain truth - LJ kicked everyones ass on the court. No team has won 40 games or more in a row in the 30 years since. There is no additional information to display. [2] This was the first National Championship game for Williams as a head coach. For a guarantee of $75,000, UNLV played its season opener at B.C. The largest crowd in the history of Barnhill Arena showed up to do their Woo Pig Sooieing worst. Koloskie wholeheartedly believes the game's outcome turned on Anthony fouling out. Buckley, Christian 1 seeds in the NCAA Tournament. The Blue Devils opened the game against UNLV by making their first five shots and taking a 15-8 lead. Re-read that line a couple times. Be sure to subscribe to SB Nation's YouTube channel for highlight videos, features, analysis and more. While both Cole Field House and Freedom Hall have both been replaced, only Freedom Hall's replacement, the KFC Yum! Chris Jeter: Toughest player on the team. On March 2, 1996, with a 101-63 victory over Vanderbilt in Rupp Arena on Senior Day, UK became the first team in 40 . Point guard Greg Anthony skillfully ran the offense often pounding the ball to Johnson, the college Player of the Year, or finding Anderson Hunt behind the three-point arc. Whats up? The Duke and UNLV programs went on wildly divergent paths following the game. UNLV hasnt been back to the Final Four, reached the Sweet 16 just once in the ensuing three decades and hasnt even played in the tournament since 2013. We present them here for purely educational purposes. 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 . UNLV coach Kevin Kruger is 3-0 against the Wolf Pack, but the Rebels are regrouping after a 91-66 loss to Utah State on Wednesday. "I've never watched the game in 30 years," he says. Larry Johnson, a 67 monster of a power forward, with a terrorizing combination of skill and on-the-court fury, picked UNLV as his landing spot for the 89-90 season after a stint at Odessa College. 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. But Augmon (31 points), Hunt (26) and Johnson (25) were too much. We have tools and resources that can help you use sports data. Basketball; Basketball Recruiting; Football; Football Recruiting; Baseball; Women's BB; Tweets; Shop; Tickets; More; 1991-92 UNC Basketball Roster. Hampshire, Marvin Either Tarkanian could serve a personal suspension from coaching during the 1991 tournament and watch his team from afar before facing a postseason ban for both himself and the Rebels in 1992, or UNLV could play in the 1991 postseason in exchange for a ban on all live TV appearances and on any postseason play for the 1991-92 season. UNLV chose the second alternative, and other programs that were or recently had been placed on probation by the NCAA were outraged. Nine players from this past year's team have entered the transfer portal. Koubek, Brian Can we imagine a recent Duke or Kansas or Kentucky team finishing off a regular season in such a humble circumstances? The team blitzed through the regular season. Yet the Rebels were untouchable, outscoring opponents by nearly 30 points on average. Henry, Will While they knew they werent thugs or convicts they played with swagger and gave menacing stares after destroying the rim. Augmon was an award-winning defender and an elite finisher near the rim. Don't miss the big stories. 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. It snapped UNLVs 45-game win streak dating to the previous season, including its championship game whipping of these Blue Devils. Hunt totaled 29 points for the game and was named Most Outstanding Player at the Final Four. Why Wooden changed his verbage is unknown, but Im sure some of it had to do with Jerry Tarkanian. There is no additional information to display: Justin Webster called the Rebels 91-66 loss Wednesday to Utah State the worst game hes ever played in during his basketball career. On March 2, 1991, before a crowd of 24,310 at Rupp Arena, Kentucky defeats Auburn, 114-93, to claim the best record in the Southeastern Conference and end its two-year probation. Krzyzewski had said goodbye to Phil Henderson and Alaa Abdelnaby from the previous year's team, but he still had Christian Laettner, Thomas Hill, Bobby Hurley, Billy McCaffrey and Brian Davis. UNLV point guard Greg Anthony: The only thing that surprised me was that we didnt play as hard as we normally do. UNLV shredded Duke with an 18-0 second-half run to leave no doubt as to which was the countrys finest team. Johnson then tied the game after hitting one of three free throws -- Thomas Hill was called for a lane violation. Defensively, Ackles was intimidating, often blocking shots out of position and using his length to grab rebounds. A 30-point blowout doesnt usually have much pride or excuses associated with it. Larry Johnson: There may be no greater injustice in college basketball history than Larry Johnson. How about Canada? Not an undefeated squad to be found. Baker, Trey For the first time, CBS Sports showed all 63 tournament games. We had three of the top college players of all time, but we didn't know that then.". Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. "In hindsight, I think it's less of a surprise that we won that game than when it happened. The Rebels eked out a two-point win against surprising No. 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. On Nov. 29, 1990, the Committee on Infractions announced that, after hearing UNLV's appeal, it was giving the program two options. But the take away: UNLV won, 112-105. The protagonist/antagonist characters are so striking you would have to be blind not to see. Jones and Stanford host Oregon. Hartman, Tim If you doubled Larry Johnson in the post or tried to collapse the driving lanes of Augmon or Anthony, you paid the price. For those who think the argument ends with the fact they didnt win. "We knew we had a target on our back in every game and had to play our best.". "We just never got there," Koloskie says now of the Duke game. As 7,963 Canadians looked on (in a stadium that could seat 60,000), the Rebels rolled. Coach: Jerry Tarkanian. Sara Doty. This tournament featured three play-in games before the tournament field was announced, featuring the champions of the six conferences with the lowest computer ratings the previous season. Regardless though, the real possibility of the Rebels putting out on the floor one of the greatest teams of all time in the 1991 regular season, and then not having the chance to go to the tournament loomed. 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. Wins over Utah and Seton Hall at the Kingdome in Seattle carried the Rebels to the national semifinals in Indianapolis and a rematch with Duke. Player Pos HT WT Birth City 1 the entire season and had just one game decided inside double digits, a 112-105 road win at Arkansasa squad that went on to claim one of the other three No. Although UNLV is becoming one now. ", The Rebels negated coach Nolan Richardson's vaunted "40 minutes of hell" full-court press by repeatedly firing outlet passes to a streaking Anderson Hunt for still another fast-break dunk. Larry Stacey Augmon had 31 points, Anderson Hunt. "Beating that UNLV team was a pivotal moment in Duke basketball history," Grant Hill says. After a timeout, he calmly swished both free throws. But lets cut through all the PC rules and regulations when it comes to picking the best team of all time and just come out honest and swinging. 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?) Why? The 1991 Rebels were the bad guys and they loved every minute of their role. With its combination of perimeter shooting and interior mastery, UNLV appeared to be a complete and possibly even invulnerable team. Williams, Jordan Things got interesting with 2:27 to go when Day and Johnson got tangled up under the basket. 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. 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