Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

UNLV Basketball:

Rebels’ exhibition opponent, Florida National, in unique situation

UNLV Basketball Team Players Scrimmage

L.E. Baskow

UNLV basketball team players huddle during a timeout at a scrimmage on Saturday, November 1, 2014.

The Rebel Room

Time for UNLV Football to Move On?

Following UNLV's home loss to lowly New Mexico, Las Vegas Sun reporters Ray Brewer, Case Keefer and Taylor Bern discuss whether coach Bobby Hauck should stick around past this season.

There are enough new names and faces to learn that many of the UNLV contingent who fill up the Thomas & Mack Center at 7 tonight for the Rebels’ lone exhibition game probably won’t give much thought to the opponent. UNLV has eight newcomers, its sophomores are suddenly considered veterans and none of the eligible scholarship players on the roster were here two years ago.

In that regard tonight’s opponent, Florida National, can relate. Two years ago none of its current team was on the roster because two years ago the Conquistadors didn’t exist.

“We’re what you would consider a nontraditional program,” said Florida National coach Scott Schmidt.

Doubling as Florida National’s athletic director, Schmidt is his own boss, though the only coaches for him to oversee are the ones on his staff. Men’s basketball is, for now, the lone sport at Florida National, which is located in Hialeah in Miami-Dade County.

The private institution started in 1988 as a place to get two-year degrees but in 2012 it became accredited with four-year degree programs and changed its name from Florida National College to Florida National University. That’s where Schmidt stepped in.

A Mitchell, S.D., native, Schmidt’s roots with UNLV assistant Ryan Miller and his basketball-playing family, including current Cleveland Cavalier Mike Miller, run deep.

“Our dads played rec-league basketball together,” Schmidt said. “I grew up probably a bigger fan of Ryan Miller than I was of Mike Miller.”

Schmidt would go on to be Mike Miller’s personal assistant early in his Miami Heat career and Schmidt was helping with the Mike Miller Foundation when he heard about the opportunity to start a new program. His proposal convinced administrators that Schmidt was the guy for the job, so he went about recruiting kids to a program they had, understandably, never heard of before.

“Year one was a learning experience,” Schmidt said. “When you come in and you have no ground to build off of, everyone’s looking to be that man.”

The majority of the roster, which receives partial scholarships, is from Florida, with one player coming from New York and another, Yves Goedschalk, hailing from Suriname, South America. No one is listed at taller than 6-foot-7.

The university’s total enrollment is about 2,500 and it has multiple campuses, though none contain a gym. The Conquistadors practice and play their home games in the City of Hialeah Parks Department-controlled Bucky Dent Gymnasium. It can hold about 750 people, or maybe 1,000 “if we really packed them in like sardines,” Schmidt said.

The Conquistadors have already played a couple of games there this season, winning both. They compete in the United States Collegiate Athletic Association but there aren’t many of those teams in their area, so the schedule also contains games against teams from multiples levels of the NCAA and NAIA, plus some independents.

After tonight it’s right back to Florida for a home game against Warner University on Friday night, but thanks to Schmidt’s connection to Miller the Conquistadors have this moment. They’re not likely to match Dixie State’s exhibition victory from last season but the Rebels would still be wise to put this one away early.

Even more than most exhibitions, there’s nothing for the program starting its second season to lose.

“For these players,” Schmidt said, “it’s an unbelievable opportunity,”

Rebels’ starting lineup

UNLV coach Dave Rice said his probable starters for tonight would be seniors Cody Doolin and Jelan Kendrick, sophomore Christian Wood and freshmen Rashad Vaughn and Goodluck Okonoboh. Rice added that it might be a different look when the Rebels come out of the locker room for the second half.

Also, UNLV is playing only one exhibition game because on Saturday the Rebels will travel to UCLA for a closed scrimmage against the Bruins. Coaches aren’t allowed to discuss closed scrimmages, but the NCAA allows programs to play either two exhibitions or one exhibition and a scrimmage. This is the second time Rice has scrimmaged against UCLA (2012-13).

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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