Columnist Dean Juipe: Apologists for Rebels add ammo

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4084.

Fact: The UNLV men's basketball team has underachieved this season.

Fact: There won't be an invitation to the NCAA Tournament unless the Rebels win or at least make the Western Athletic Conference tournament's title game.

Fact: The probability of reaching the WAC championship game has decreased substantially with the loss this week of injured center Kaspars Kambala for the season.

Opinion: Apologists for the team -- and it appears there are many -- now have just what they need when the time comes to explain why the Rebels were in the NCAA tourney a year ago but probably won't be in it this year despite a more experienced and deeper roster.

Thanks to this Kas-tastrophe, those who are blind to UNLV's shortcomings now have something of a built-in excuse if the season stays on course and ends less than triumphantly. They can and will fall back on all kinds of "what might have beens" and won't even have to address the issue of why this team opened the season in Sports Illustrated's top 25 and then regressed.

With Kambala out, the Rebels will have to either dig down deep to circumvent the effects of his loss or coast along on the brink of a complete collapse and hope for an NIT bid. This fork in the road arrives with four games remaining in the regular-season schedule, including home games Saturday with Southern Methodist and Monday with Texas Christian.

But, as has been the case for some time, none of these remaining regular-season games really means anything in terms of postseason opportunities. The Rebels could lose them all and the only immediate consequence would be a lower seed -- and perhaps an extra game -- in the WAC tournament.

As it is, it's unlikely they have the qualifications to receive an at-large bid to the Big Dance and romping through the WAC tourney -- as they did a year ago to salvage that season and delight the local populace -- is their only hope of being called back for an encore.

It won't be easy with Kambala out. While his production wavered between big nights and lousy ones, he's a sturdy guy with some experience who can have a formidable presence in the middle. His replacement, Issiah Epps, has no offensive skills and any further options -- like going small with three guards or utilizing Donovan Stewart as a third forward with increased minutes -- will look like the desperate moves they are.

On the bright side, UNLV was without its best player down the stretch last season and Keon Clark was barely missed at all.

In addition, and especially encouraging for those committed to maintaining an optimistic point of view, the WAC tournament is once again at the Thomas & Mack Center and every team in the league (other than Utah) has looked susceptible on the road. It defies a logical explanation, but this year more than ever the WAC teams are schizoid when it comes to hitting an open shot on an unfamiliar floor.

The home-and-away disparity in basketball has existed since James Naismith's neighborhood team played its first game across town, yet it has reached an extreme this season in this league. The Rebels have to hope the trend continues.

In the event it doesn't, the apologists will primp their already prepared speeches and a season that seems fairly disappointing today will be rationalized as inevitable after Kambala was lost.

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