Two Decades Later, a Familiar Look at UNLV - New York Times

 The scene was eerily familiar: a Nevada-Las Vegas basketball practice, and here was Stacey Augmon, posting up and playing defense, and there was Dave Rice, watching.

Two decades ago, Augmon was a mainstay of one of the most explosive teams in college basketball, U.N.L.V.’s 1990 national champion team; Rice was a little-used reserve. On game day Rice sat between assistants on the Rebels’ bench and watched. His playing time was limited to a few minutes at the end of blowouts.

Today Rice is  U.N.L.V.’s first-year coach; Augmon is in his first year as an assistant. Their joint mission is to continue restoring Runnin’ Rebels basketball to its past glory.

Without the baggage.

With Jerry Tarkanian as the coach, the Rebels became the most polarizing team in college basketball and the hottest ticket in Las Vegas.  U.N.L.V. won the 1990 national title with a core of juniors: Augmon, Larry Johnson and Greg Anthony. U.N.L.V. was undefeated the following season before losing to Duke in the Final Four.

This season U.N.L.V. is 18-3. An 80-63 thrashing of New Mexico on Saturday night sent a message that the fast-paced, full-court-pressure style that distinguished the Rebels’ championship teams is on the way back.

“I’ve always felt fortunate as a player and a coach to be  part of college athletics and to be able to feel like I can make a difference  with young people,” Rice said last week. “To be able to do that at my alma mater is a very special feeling.”

Tarkanian’s U.N.L.V. teams represented the best and the worst of big-time college basketball. At its best, U.N.L.V. was a collection of talented players who used ferocious pressure defense to create transition offense. With Augmon, Johnson, Anthony and Anderson Hunt, U.N.L.V. adopted a selfless approach that culminated with a record-setting 30-point victory over Duke in the 1990 championship game.

At its worst, U.N.L.V. â€" more specifically, Tarkanian â€" became embroiled in a war with the N.C.A.A. in which reputations of players, and Tarkanian, became collateral damage.

U.N.L.V. under Tarkanian became known as a program that offered second and third chances to talented players. Most panned out, but there were enough high-profile mishaps to cast aspersions on Tarkanian’s motives.

“There were some disappointments, but the majority of guys who came here really capitalized on the opportunity,” Augmon said. “Not just in basketball but in life. I hope we continue to be a place where guys can get a second chance.”

Rice  spent 11 years as a U.N.L.V. assistant but was not retained when Lon Kruger was hired in 2004. He spent one season at Utah State, then six at Brigham Young, where he coached Jimmer Fredette in a high-scoring offense that was antithetic to the pressure defensive style he would use at U.N.L.V.

After Tarkanian’s forced retirement in 1992, U.N.L.V. faltered under a succession of coaches. Kruger, employing a slow-down style, led U.N.L.V. to the NCAA tournament in four of his last five seasons.

When Kruger left for Oklahoma after last season, Rice, a former Rhodes Scholar candidate, was a unanimous choice as his replacement. His priority was to let former U.N.L.V. players know they were welcome back. The best way to do that was to get a former Rebel on the staff.

     “In my mind Stacey Augmon is Mr. Rebel,” Rice said. “You take a look at what he achieved on the court and as a teammate. Everyone knew he was a great player, but he was so committed to winning. He was so committed to team, and that was one of the things that kind of got lost in the fact that he was such a great player.

“He did all of the intangibles: he guarded the other team’s best player, made all the big plays, made the extra play, he just made everything O.K. To me, he was the perfect guy, if we could get him.”

One problem: Augmon wanted nothing to do with U.N.L.V. because of the way Tarkanian had been treated.