Columnist Tim Graham: No joke -- women's hoops is cool

Tim Graham's column appears Thursday. His media notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4078.

I have a tendency to make people laugh.

The chuckles usually come at my own expense, but every once in a long while I can generate a joke or two on purpose.

I certainly was the cause of laughter in the sports department Wednesday. All I had to do was tell my colleagues the topic of today's column.

It's about women's basketball ... I think I like it.

The realization first hit me two weeks ago. I was seated courtside at the Thomas & Mack Center, cursing my boss for assigning me to cover UNLV's game against New Orleans.

But shortly after tip-off, I found myself watching as intently as any men's game I had recently seen. The matchup itself wasn't all that swell -- the Lady Rebels dominated throughout -- but the style of play was worth respect.

These women play hustling, fundamental basketball. When, save for a couple Ivy League schools, was the last time you saw that at or above the college level?

I found myself asking that same question. That's why I've been waiting ever since that New Orleans game for UNLV to play again at home. It finally does at 7:35 tonight in its first Western Athletic Conference home game against Southern Methodist at Lied Gymnasium.

This is a quality team. Unlike the past three seasons, when they won four games in each, the 1998-99 Lady Rebels are fun to watch.

First-year head coach Regina Miller innocently found herself under fire as soon as she was hired. She had a 60-100 record in six seasons at Western Illinois. It was rumored -- and not too quietly -- the only reason UNLV athletic director Charlie Cavagnaro hired her was to appease the Black Coaches Association, which allegedly was going to let loose with a report Cavagnaro had uttered racist slurs about his own student-athletes.

But Miller quieted her critics as soon as it became apparent she knew how to run a program. She has instilled an aggressive mentality in her players and tries to squeeze every last bit of effort out of them.

She refuses to accept fatigue as an excuse and has been known to call timeouts with a big lead late in a game to give her younger players on the floor that much more time to learn something.

And Miller's recruiting skills were immediately recognized when she landed Linda Froehlich from Germany.

Froehlich, with a picture-perfect jump shot and physical inside game, is the best freshman in the country. The 6-foot-2 guard/forward leads the WAC and is sixth in the nation in scoring at 23.1 points per game. She is second in rebounding and steals at 9.6 and 3.0, respectively.

The team will be even more impressive next season, when point guard Kinesha Davis becomes eligible. Davis transferred to UNLV from Western Illinois to continue playing for Miller. Last season, Davis led the team and was third in the nation among freshmen in scoring with 19.4 points a game. She also averaged 7.9 rebounds.

If you have seen women's basketball and don't like it, fine.

But most fans have yet to give this sport an honest chance. If you're one of those people, go out to the Lied and see a game. Maybe you'll like it.

And if you do, people might laugh at you. But so what?

You'll get used to it.

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