Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

Has UNLV basketball found its next hometown hero in Stephen Zimmerman?

Big man passed on the big programs to help turn around his hometown team

Stephen Zimmerman McDonald's All-American

AP Photo

Stephen Zimmerman competes in a dunk contest during the McDonald’s All-American Jam Fest on March 30 in Chicago.

Stephen Zimmerman could be Las Vegas’ next hometown sports hero. He already has taken the first step.

His desire to stay home and chase a childhood dream was at the heart of UNLV basketball’s latest recruiting victory, and it could be the key to a breakthrough season for the Rebels.

Zimmerman was wooed by college basketball’s elite programs, among them Kentucky, Kansas, UCLA and Arizona. Those schools have won a combined 23 national championships, including appearances in seven of the past 10 Final Fours. But the Bishop Gorman High School 7-foot center turned them down for the Rebels, who are coming off of a seventh-place finish in the Mountain West that nearly cost coach Dave Rice his job.

What the power programs couldn’t offer — what Rice sold from the start of Zimmerman’s recruitment four years ago until the evening of April 16, when #ZimmCity became one of Las Vegas’ top trending topics on Twitter — was a different level of adulation.

“If we go far, the city’s going to love me,” Zimmerman said. “They’re saying Las Vegas has been waiting for a winner.”

Zimmerman likely could win anywhere. A McDonald’s All-American and five-star recruit, he has exceptional passing skills and footwork honed in summers spent playing with and against the best players in the country.

But only in Las Vegas, where Zimmerman became Gorman’s winningest player under coach Grant Rice, Dave’s younger brother, could each win feel like something more.

That’s what former Rebels guard Anthony Marshall undersstood, too.

“I really knew in my heart that I wanted to stay home and represent Las Vegas,” Marshall said.

UNLV languished for years after Jerry Tarkanian was forced out as coach, and as the Rebels struggled, local players looked elsewhere to continue their careers. The rebuild was in its second decade when Marshall sat in a classroom at Mojave High and watched the Rebels reach the Sweet 16 with Gorman grad Marcus Lawrence coming off the bench.

A breakout AAU season vaulted Marshall into the top 70 of national rankings, and he drew interest from the likes of UCLA and Arizona, but he picked UNLV with dreams of future Las Vegas high school students watching his own NCAA Tournament exploits.

“I wanted to show kids that you can stay home,” Marshall said. “There was a stigma going around that you’d get in trouble, either hanging in the wrong crowds or gambling or whatever, but I wanted to prove if you put in the work and focus, you don’t have to go away. We can be in the national spotlight here.”

Marshall never achieved the postseason success he desired — UNLV lost in the round of 64 each of his four seasons — but Rice’s recruiting prowess and wins against North Carolina in 2011 and Arizona last season have garnered national attention. And Marshall, nicknamed “the Mayor,” found the local love and support he desired during and after his UNLV career.

“That’s the thing about Las Vegas,” Marshall said. “They take care of their people.”

Both Marshall and Zimmerman were born elsewhere — Marshall in Louisiana and Zimmerman in Tennessee — but they were raised here, in the city they call home. Marshall was a good local get for then-coach Lon Kruger. Zimmerman is a better one for Rice.

Zimmerman averaged 14.4 points and 10.1 rebounds per game during his senior season at Gorman to help the Gaels capture a fourth consecutive state championship. He added 4.2 assists and 2.4 blocks.

The Rebels have populated their roster with several players from Henderson’s Findlay Prep, but Rice’s previous lone local high school commit was Gorman’s Demetris Morant, who transferred after two uneventful seasons. Zimmerman watched dozens of games at the Thomas & Mack Center over the years from seats a chest pass away from UNLV’s bench. Undeterred by the Rebels’ struggles, he chose to move from the stands to the court for a chance to be remembered among the top Las Vegans to play for UNLV.

“The first reason we were so interested in recruiting him is that he’s a fantastic player, a team guy and a winner,” Rice said. “But to be able to keep him at home is something that’s special for us.”

UNLV was the first school to offer a scholarship to Zimmerman, and members of the staff were a consistent presence at his games. The recruitment really ramped up a year ago, though, when Ryan Miller joined the staff after a successful run at New Mexico. Miller, whose brother Mike plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers, helped bring future NBA players Tony Snell, Cameron Bairstow and Alex Kirk to Albuquerque, and when Miller arrived in Las Vegas, he was put in charge of UNLV’s efforts to keep Zimmerman in the desert.

Miller’s NBA connections could be a benefit down the road, Zimmerman said, but he was just as impressed with the familial atmosphere Miller presented while selling UNLV.

Of course, Zimmerman may be part of that family for just a season or two. Having been ranked in the top 10 of his class for almost all of the past four years, Zimmerman hopes to become a lottery pick in the NBA Draft sooner rather than later.

“If I can go the first year, I know my coaches and my teammates will support me,” he said. “While I’m here, I’m in 100 percent.”

Zimmerman’s role for the upcoming season grew even more April 22, when sophomore Christian Wood declared himself eligible for the draft. As the main piece of what figures to be Rice’s third top-10 recruiting class in the past four years, Zimmerman’s quest to fulfill the legacy he and the Rebels envisioned starts immediately.

The easy part of becoming a hometown hero is over. That ended with Zimmerman’s commitment. Now the real work begins, because a hero has to win.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 702-948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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