Menzies faces new reality in Las Vegas UNLV Runnin’ Rebels
His Runnin’ Rebels, no longer the toast of the town, look to bounce back
There is no McDonald’s AllAmerican on this year’s UNLV Runnin’ Rebels basketball team.
There is no sure-fire NBA-caliber prospect on the roster.
Between the excitement of the NHL’s Golden Knights, the impending arrival of the NFL’s Raiders and the continued steady supply of UFC events, the days of UNLV being the top billing for most sports fans in Las Vegas, Nev., are likely over.
Third-year head coach Marvin Menzies has yet to find any semblance of the type of success he had as New Mexico State University’s head coach for nine seasons, and five NCAA Tournament appearances, between 2007 and 2016.
And maybe all that’s OK for a Rebels squad picked in the preseason Mountain West Conference media poll to finish 6th in the 11-team league. Handling unrealistic preseason expectations, after all, hasn’t proven to be something the program has shown it knows how to do.
It is more than a decade now since UNLV won a Mountain West Tournament title, and the Rebels remain one of only two original MWC members (with Colorado State) that has never won an outright regular-season championship.
“There have been lots of people that have been looking for consistency with UNLV basketball — looking for a team that not only competes with the upper echelon, but stays there and does that year in, year out,” Menzies said, pointing out that high roster turnover and a lack of older players with experience has become the norm in the program. “The only way to get old and stay old is to have a depth chart that matches up with that. That’s why we kind of reconfigured what we were doing a little bit, and I feel like we’ve got that in place now.”
UNLV’s roster has seven players back who played on last year’s team, including two seniors and a junior. But there are also eight newcomers and plenty of inexperience.
“We have (10) freshmen and sophomores, so it would be hard to put (UNLV) in the upper echelon being as unproven as they are,” Menzies said. “However, I do think there’s an anchor in our program in Noah (Robotham) and Shakur (Juiston) and Kris (Clyburn) that’s pretty strong. They have to have a good year for us to have a good year.”
Juiston is a potential all-league player who, like Colorado State’s Nico Carvacho, can be an elite college rebounder. He averaged a double-double last season at 14.6 points and 10.0 rebounds per game.
Seeing how he adjusts to being the primary option in the post will tell a lot about the Rebels. Last season, freshman Brandon McCoy, who turned pro but went undrafted in the offseason, was the focal point of all opposing scouting reports.
Now Juiston is on a mission to prove he can carry the offensive load alone and that he should have been a preseason all-league selection.
“If I made it, it wouldn’t have made no difference on how I attack the season,” Juiston said, before making it clear he believes he should have been picked. “Personally, I applaud the ones that made it. They put in great work. They got the accolades that they deserve. Now, it’s just my time to prove to myself and prove that everyone was wrong.”
2017-18: 20-13 (8-10 Mountain West, t7th)
2018-19 preseason poll: 6th Head coach: Marvin Menzies (229145, 12th season overall; 31-32, third season at UNLV) *Starters/letterwinners returning: 2/7
vs. UNM: Jan. 8 the Pit; Jan. 22 Las Vegas, Nev. *started at least 50 percent of 201718 games
Editor’s note: This is the sixth in an 11-part series previewing UNM men’s basketball opponents for the coming season. The series is running in reverse of the preseason Mountain West media poll and concludes with a nonconference schedule preview.