UNLV2001 Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:02 PM, Qwelish said: Playing in a watered down conference may be a good thing for UNLV. I know noone likes to hear that, but it's a golden opportunity to get to the dance and build off of that. Especially with suds, aggies, zags going to water themselves down. Letting gcu or some other also-ran school dominate the conference with UNLV as the headliner, could set mbb back a good deal. But there is no excuse for that. The coach has to be able to dominate this new conference. Especially recruiting wise. I'm not certain with Kevin either way. But my leaning is toward doubt. My thinking is better competition brings the program up - UNLV dominating a low end conference worked back in the 1980's - Not sure it worked today with more TV & NIL Now NIL might solve a lot of problems, but times have changed ----- the old thinking that UNLV transcends conference are about extinguished as a good % of the population now never saw UNLV win a national title 35 years ago.......it's ancient history, like Wyoming fans in 1980 talking up their 1945 National title which was 35 years prior Plus better conference opponents wouldn't hurt attendance 1 Quote
Bigd Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:02 PM, Qwelish said: Playing in a watered down conference may be a good thing for UNLV. I know noone likes to hear that, but it's a golden opportunity to get to the dance and build off of that. Especially with suds, aggies, zags going to water themselves down. Letting gcu or some other also-ran school dominate the conference with UNLV as the headliner, could set mbb back a good deal. But there is no excuse for that. The coach has to be able to dominate this new conference. Especially recruiting wise. I'm not certain with Kevin either way. But my leaning is toward doubt. This is how I feel for Nevada as well, a rebuilt MW could be good for both school's football and basketball programs. Wins are important, and fans care less about who those wins are against. Although, I don't think that GCU will be an also-ran for long. They have a great coach and a lot of money. I think they will blossom with their move to the MW, and hopefully help us become at a least a 2 bid league regularly. For that to happen we need UNLV, UNM, GCU, and Nevada all to build up their programs. 3 Quote
Bigd Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:06 PM, Qwelish said: Well... they are... soooo. Adding UTEP plus Wyoming. The new MW will have 3 basketball national titles, compared to zero for the Pac. 2 1 Quote
UNLV2001 Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:50 PM, Bigd said: Although, I don't think that GCU will be an also-ran for long. They have a great coach and a lot of money. I think they will blossom with their move to the MW, and hopefully help us become at a least a 2 bid league regularly. For that to happen we need UNLV, UNM, GCU, and Nevada all to build up their programs. This is the flip side of being in a weaker conference - It could allow for more post season appearances by programs, but it could also be a one bid league so if you aren't top dog you get left out like a lot of small conferences Anything anymore at the G-Runt level is a crap shoot with NIL $$ and every season transfers, the days of building via HS recruiting are gone.......it's who can assemble the best roster every year and also coach them to wins 1 1 Quote
Qwelish Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:47 PM, UNLV2001 said: My thinking is better competition brings the program up - UNLV dominating a low end conference worked back in the 1980's - Not sure it worked today with more TV & NIL Now NIL might solve a lot of problems, but times have changed ----- the old thinking that UNLV transcends conference are about extinguished as a good % of the population now never saw UNLV win a national title 35 years ago.......it's ancient history, like Wyoming fans in 1980 talking up their 1945 National title which was 35 years prior Plus better conference opponents wouldn't hurt attendance It's exactly what Gonzaga did, and UNLV before it. The field rose to Gonzaga. It was terrible before. Same with UNLV. Getting to the dance every year is something to sell in recruiting. They don't care how. 1 Quote
Qwelish Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:54 PM, UNLV2001 said: This is the flip side of being in a weaker conference - It could allow for more post season appearances by programs, but it could also be a one bid league so if you aren't top dog you get left out like a lot of small conferences Anything anymore at the G-Runt level is a crap shoot with NIL $$ and every season transfers, the days of building via HS recruiting are gone.......it's who can assemble the best roster every year and also coach them to wins It's possible to have a team put together an at large resume, while another team wins the tournament. But I get what you mean. 1 Quote
Qwelish Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:54 PM, UNLV2001 said: This is the flip side of being in a weaker conference - It could allow for more post season appearances by programs, but it could also be a one bid league so if you aren't top dog you get left out like a lot of small conferences Anything anymore at the G-Runt level is a crap shoot with NIL $$ and every season transfers, the days of building via HS recruiting are gone.......it's who can assemble the best roster every year and also coach them to wins Its am extension of the aau style circuit now. But with massive dollars attached, openly. HS is still important, but even the best schools are using the portal. It makes recruiting that much more improvement. A good staff in the recruiting dept is key. Quote
renoskier Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 11:52 AM, MissionTrails said: KK should start referring to his MW opponents as "Natty-less Peasants".* amirite? *Wyoming excepted *and soon to be UTEP Quote
MissionTrails Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 12:51 PM, Bigd said: Adding UTEP plus Wyoming. The new MW will have 3 basketball national titles, compared to zero for the Pac. I think you mean the Southwestern Conference (TexasWestern/UTEP), Big West (UNLV), and the Mountain States Conference (Wyoming) who own those titles. 🙂 1 Quote
B_Lootz Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 1:47 PM, UNLV2001 said: Plus better conference opponents wouldn't hurt attendance We aren’t getting much of a turnout at home even with USU/CSU/FSU/BSU/SDSU coming to the T&M as members of the MW. That won’t change simply because we’re all now in the PAC. No, the key to fixing our attendance issues is winning and getting to the dance. Do that and they’ll begin to fill the place. 4 Quote
UNLV2001 Posted January 29 Author Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 2:30 PM, B_Lootz said: We aren’t getting much of a turnout at home even with USU/CSU/FSU/BSU/SDSU coming to the T&M as members of the MW. That won’t change simply because we’re all now in the PAC. No, the key to fixing our attendance issues is winning and getting to the dance. Do that and they’ll begin to fill the place. That's obvious - the mediocrity of the last decade has hurt as mush as anything 1 Quote
Bigd Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 2:28 PM, MissionTrails said: I think you mean the Southwestern Conference (TexasWestern/UTEP), Big West (UNLV), and the Mountain States Conference (Wyoming) who own those titles. 🙂 Haha nah bro, the championships belong to the schools not the league they were in at the time. I should have phrased the future MW members have won three national championships compared to 0 for future Pac 12 members. You natty-less peasants 😆 1 Quote
VincentVegaBond2 Posted January 29 Posted January 29 I'm in the mind where I'd prefer the more challenging conference (PAC), I think it'd do much better for our attendance to not have half our games vs. Complete cupcake teams and there'd be little excitement throughout the conference season other than UNM, UNR, and possibly GCU. OTOH, definitely think Harper and Co have the big picture in mind and I don't think it's worth it to join a non- power conference (the new PAC) for the exorbitant exit fee. I trust what they are doing at this point. 3 Quote
Bigd Posted January 29 Posted January 29 On 1/29/2025 at 3:33 PM, VincentVegaBond2 said: I'm in the mind where I'd prefer the more challenging conference (PAC), I think it'd do much better for our attendance to not have half our games vs. Complete cupcake teams and there'd be little excitement throughout the conference season other than UNM, UNR, and possibly GCU. OTOH, definitely think Harper and Co have the big picture in mind and I don't think it's worth it to join a non- power conference (the new PAC) for the exorbitant exit fee. I trust what they are doing at this point. I see your point, but programs can change in a hurry, particularly in the modern era. While the Pac 12 schools have been better in basketball as of late, I'd argue that outside of Gonzaga (huge I know), the MW programs are historically equal or better. UTEP, UNLV, Nevada, Wyoming, New Mexico, Hawaii, GCU can all be tournament teams or bad depending on their coach. No different than USU, CSU, BSU, SDSU, WSU, OSU, etc. It's not like the Pac 12 is the ACC. 1 Quote
MissionTrails Posted January 30 Posted January 30 On 1/29/2025 at 3:32 PM, Bigd said: Haha nah bro, the championships belong to the schools not the league they were in at the time. I should have phrased the future MW members have won three national championships compared to 0 for future Pac 12 members. You natty-less peasants 😆 Right on, and a big congrats to all of your grandpas! Quote
Bigd Posted January 30 Posted January 30 On 1/29/2025 at 4:42 PM, MissionTrails said: Right on, and a big congrats to all of your grandpas! Much appreciated, I'd say we're about overdue since we won on in the 40s, 60s, and 90s. Continuing at that 20-30 year pace, this is the decade 😛 2 Quote
Just_Chris Posted January 30 Posted January 30 On 1/27/2025 at 8:43 AM, VincentVegaBond2 said: I'd say the UNLV program is currently one of the most underachieving in the entire country and has been for awhile. We are not in a major conference with big TV income. However all the other advantages you mentioned should give us a HUGE advantage over most other schools in the western US. Even fans of our MW rivals openly admit it. It's really a disgrace what the program has turned into and should not be acceptable. Yup... we are on this list with Georgetown, Rutgers, LSU, Seton Hall and until this year St John's I know Indiana has had a few decent teams but they're basically a bigger conference version of us. Have never really found anything sustainable since Bobby Knight Quote
Just_Chris Posted January 30 Posted January 30 On 1/29/2025 at 2:52 PM, UNLV2001 said: That's obvious - the mediocrity of the last decade has hurt as mush as anything The mediocrity and competition for dollars, I don't even think VGK are a battle for those dollars but HSK, Aces, Aviators moving to Summerlin, now UNLV football, whatever the indoor football team is and the lacrosse teams are all fighting for family dollars of people on limited budgets. While I don't think the average fan is going to go to 7 lacrosse games but if they can only go to 1 or 2 games they might go to that just to check it out instead of UNLV vs Omaha. Quote
VincentVegaBond2 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 On 1/29/2025 at 7:21 PM, Just_Chris said: The mediocrity and competition for dollars, I don't even think VGK are a battle for those dollars but HSK, Aces, Aviators moving to Summerlin, now UNLV football, whatever the indoor football team is and the lacrosse teams are all fighting for family dollars of people on limited budgets. While I don't think the average fan is going to go to 7 lacrosse games but if they can only go to 1 or 2 games they might go to that just to check it out instead of UNLV vs Omaha. They've also got the LV Lights soccer team and Vegas Thrill volleyball. Those plus what you mentioned above arguably more entertaining to a casual fan than a long mediocre UNLV squad taking on UC Riverside. Quote
VincentVegaBond2 Posted January 30 Posted January 30 At 11-10 now, Junior is giving 20-21 TJ Otzelberger a run for his money. 1 Quote
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