The mystery guest in Omaha is No. 8 seed Nevada-Las Vegas, which faces top-seed Kansas on Saturday in a Midwest regional second-round game.
The Rebels lost four starters from a team that advanced to the round of 16 last spring.
Then, in the fall, they were stripped of three more players, each dismissed for disciplinary reasons.
UNLV has no true center, no true point guard, two former walk-ons in the starting lineup and a leader who goes by the name of Wink.
But Wink Adams is the Rebels’ top scorer (16.6 points per game) and the Rebels are the nation’s best in three-point field-goal percentage defense (30.7 percent).
“There were a ton of questions about this team, about who was going to step forward, who was going to play what role,” coach Lon Kruger said, when asked to explain UNLV’s success.
“Yet this group, from Day 1, just lined up like they expected good things to happen. They worked awfully hard … and the confidence grew with each week of good play and good results. They’ve consistently made progress.”
Keep an eye on
The Jayhawks made 12 of 25 three-point attempts in their opening-round win over Portland State, which shows how much the three is a part of the Kansas offense. Now KU bumps up against a team that defends it better than anyone.
“They pressure it out,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “You don’t get as many good looks because of the way they close out . . .
“Not too many great three-point shooting teams are (taking) shots off the bounce and they make you put the ball down to go make plays. That’s a big difference.”
Briefly noted
The Jayhawks are a familiar opponent to Kruger, who got to know them up close during his days as the head coach at Kansas State (1986-90) . . . The two former walk-ons who are starting for him are 6-foot-5 Curtis Terry and 6-6 Rene Rougeau. Terry is the team’s second-leading scorer and Rougeau its leading rebounder.
Kansas State, Wisconsin’s Saturday opponent, is not a usual suspect in terms of traditional basketball schools.
Yet it’s list of former head coaches is quite formidable. Among their leaders were Jack Gardner, who’s in the Hall of Fame; Tex Winter, the former Bulls assistant and the creator of the triangle offense; the late Cotton Fitzsimmons, who went on to work 21 years in the NBA; the late Jack Hartman, who was also Hall of Famer Walt Frazier’s coach at Southern Illinois in the 1960s; Kruger, current Creighton coach Dana Altman and current West Virginia head man Bob Huggins.
