I’m a rebel, soul rebel. I’m a capturer, soul adventurer. Do you hear me? I’m a rebel, rebel in the morning. Soul rebel, rebel at midday time. -Bob Marley
Public Service Announcement: OK, here we go! UNLV! The Running Rebels! They’re awesome baby! Thatta way! They live their life like there’s no tomorrow. All they’ve got, they had to steal. Runnin’ with the Rebels! You gotta know, I loved the old UNLV squad. Tumbleweed Tech. Loved them. Two snaps in a circle. Thought they were the best college basketball team ever. Ever! You can Kareem me. You can Dollar Bill Walton me. You can David Thompson me. Heck you can even Antoine Walker, Bill Russell, James Worthy and Scott May me. I’m not budging.
The 1990 UNLV team just crushed the Duke Blue Devils in the Finals. Crushed them. Thumped them. Chumped them. Gasoline pumped them. 103-73. Holy Schnikies! The Rebels scored more points than any team in Championship game history. The Rebels set the record for margin of victory.
Duke was very young. Duke was very good. The drubbing that UNLV gave them only demonstrates just how dominating this team was. Anderson Hunt. Greg Anthony. Grandmama. Stacey Plastic Man Augmon. With a rebel yell, they cried more, more, more. In the midnight hour babe, more, more, more. They were even better in ninety-one. Even more fun. All they did was run. Run, run and gun. The Fantastic Four were back. Four times the action. Four times the adventure. Four times the fantastic. It’s clobbering time. Undefeated in the regular season. Steamrolling through everyone. Everyone. Thirty-four straight wins. Forty-five over two seasons. Leading the nation in scoring margin at plus-twenty-seven. Goodness! Scaring he nation with their guns and ammunition.
UNLV shot fifty-four percent from the field. They shot forty-two percent from beyond the arc. Four players averaged in double figures. Get the papers, get the papers. Larry Johnson averaged twenty-three. They were a juggernaut. Cain Marko style. Meet Duke in the Final Four. Down two. Grandmama. Wide open. Passes. Huh? Hunt misses the twenty-five foot jumper. Ballgame! Duke wins! Duke wins. They weren’t better. They play that game over ten times, UNLV wins that game ten times. I loved that team. I love this team.
From the mountains that surround you, to far across the sea, we’ll win with the Rebels of UNLV! Like my main man, Mr. White, always says: “Come on, who’s a tough guy? Who’s a tough guy? You’re a tough guy.” Another Mr. White, UNLV’s Mr. White’s a tough guy. Wendell White’s a tough guy. He’s a tough, tough, tough, tough, tough, tough guy. Halo round his head, too tough to die. Game against the Wyoming Cowboys. White takes the tough charge. Hits the tough deck. Hits the tough training room. Comes back with twelve tough stitches. Comes back with a tough un-bloodied jersey. Comes back and finishes with eighteen tough points. He also came back with a broken jaw. Was inserted back into the line-up four days later. Wired jaw and all. You saw the Georgia Tech game. The Rambling Wreck of Georgia Tech. You saw him ramble Georgia Tech’s Jeremis Smith. You saw him wreck Georgia Tech’s Ra’Sean Dickey. You saw him ramble and wreck and score the go-ahead basket with just over a minute to play. He bruised his ribs on that play. Played the Wisconsin game. Dropped a series of clutch shots in the Wisconsin game. Went eight for twelve, six for six from the line and led his team with twenty-two in the Wisconsin game. With bruised ribs. On his last leg just gettin’ by. Halo round his head, too tough to die.
Kevin Kruger’s too tough to die too. You thought he was dead. Admit it. Dead as a doornail. Playing in chainmail. Call me Ishmael. But he came back. Picked up his bones. Erased his name from off the tombstones. Alive and kicking, breathin’ the air. Call out my name punk, and I’ll be there. Everlast style. Kevin Kruger shook off his slump. His game and a half slump. His one for fifteen slump. Shook it off with three straight threes. Three, is the magic number. Now you may try to subtract it, but it just won’t go away. Three times one? What is it? One, two, three! And that’s a magic number. Three straight threes late in the second half. Tied it up with one bomb. Took the lead with another. When he was done with that nonsense, he was fouled on another Downtown Freddie Brown. Made all three free throws to seal the deal. Seal the deal for real. Seal the deal with sex appeal. Making Rebel fans everywhere squeal. Squealing UNLV all the way into the Sweet 16. Squealing for the first time in sixteen years. When I first met you baby, baby you was just sweet sixteen. Just left your home then, baby. The sweetest thing I’d ever seen.
The Rebels play sweet defense. Gritty defense. Relentless defense. Dare I say it? Tenacious defense. Team defense. Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit. Team, team, team. I love this team. I know nobody gives this squad much of a chance. Nobody. But know this: They match up much better against Oregon, a guard-dominated team like themselves, than they did against the bigger Yellow Jackets and Badgers. In the midnight hour babe, more, more, more!
Peace out homies. Six Two and Even!
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