Core players, recruiting expectations and scheduling: Answering reader questions on UNLV sports

It’s been an eventful week for UNLV athletics, as Runnin’ Rebels basketball entered the stretch run and the football team opened spring practice. With that as the backdrop, let’s field some reader questions:

@a_dub1028

Talk about UNLV’s crop of underclassmen (Hardy, Ntambwe, Hamilton, etc.) and their progression (or regression) throughout the year. Are you confident they’ll be able to step up and lead UNLV to a MW title and NCAA tourney run next year?

@MikeGrimala

This has been a development season for UNLV basketball. I think it’s fair to say Marvin Menzies has his core in place now — these are the guys he is going to sink or swim with, and the 2018-19 campaign has been about priming those players to make a run at the NCAA tournament in 2020.

I would identify the foundation players as sophomore Amauri Hardy, sophomore Mbacke Diong, freshman Joel Ntambwe and freshman Bryce Hamilton. (Freshman Trey Woodbury could also play his way into that group, but a preseason injury has put him behind the curve for now.) Of the nucleus players, I’d say Hardy and Ntambwe have outperformed expectations this year, while Diong’s development has been on track. Hamilton hasn’t produced like a plug-and-play 4-star recruit, but he has shown obvious talent.

Projecting that lineup against the rest of the Mountain West is tricky, but it looks like a top-4 roster in 2019-20. Hardy’s jump shot was the biggest question mark about his game, and he’s been good from 3-point range this season (36.1 percent); he should enter next year as a potential All-Mountain West candidate. Ntambwe has suffered through some defensive struggles, but he has a knack for scoring and has shot the ball exceptionally well all year (40.8 3FG%). Hamilton hasn’t earned consistent minutes, but his all-around offensive arsenal is probably the best on the team; it wouldn’t surprise me if he is the Rebels’ leading scorer next year. Diong is a plus defender in the paint and has taken a step forward as a finisher.

Next season will be Menzies’s fourth as head coach (or Year 3 if you toss out his ill-fated first campaign), and at UNLV that means it’s time to make the NCAA tournament. We’ll see if this group is ready.

@VegasRebelDrew

If you’re a UNLV fan, why should you be positive about Menzies returning? Recruiting has been a miss this year; no big names next year either. Doesn’t seem to get his players to play above their talent level. McCoy was one bright spot but that led to 8th place finish.

@MikeGrimala

I understand the frustration. UNLV hasn’t been making headlines on the recruiting trail and that’s disappointing to fans, especially considering Menzies’ strong record as a recruiter before coming to UNLV. But I wouldn’t say the 2018 class has been a miss. Hamilton and Woodbury were the top prospects and they haven’t played significant roles, but Ntambwe has been much better than expected (12.0 points, 5.4 rebounds per game) and looks like a top-tier Mountain West player in the making.

The issue now is the 2019 class. Incoming freshmen Ethan Anderson and Josh Pierre-Louis have enjoyed tremendous success as high school seniors this season, but the fact is neither is ranked in the top 250 nationally, and that has Rebels fans wondering.

I can’t blame fans if their excitement level for the new recruits isn’t boiling over. What I would say is, look at the way Ntambwe broke out this season. He was an unranked recruit, and nevertheless he turned out to be the biggest difference-maker among the newbies. Give Anderson and Pierre-Louis the same chance as first-year players, even if they don’t have five stars next to their names.

@DavidGrisar

When will the football and basketball non-conference schedules feature teams of any substance?

@MikeGrimala

UNLV football is stepping up its schedule in 2019, as the Rebels will play a home game against Arkansas State and road games at Northwestern and Vanderbilt. All three of those teams played in bowl games last year, but none of those games will be unwinnable for the Rebels. To me, that’s a better strategy than putting Ohio State or Michigan or USC on the schedule, as UNLV has done in past years under Sanchez.

The basketball schedule remains to be seen. Menzies has to schedule strongly enough to give the Rebels a shot at an NCAA tournament at-large berth, and he knows that. As of now, return games at Cincinnati and BYU are the marquee matchups, and I’d expect UNLV to add at least three or four more dates against power-conference opponents.

@jd3_in_lv

Talk about what you think UNLV Ath priorities are & where they should rank; football facilities, coaching changes, Hockey to D1, P5 conf & the like.

@MikeGrimala

This is an interesting question. All the issues are inter-related, so it’s hard to separate and rank them as priorities, but I’ll give it a shot.

Get to a power conference

This is strictly a financial consideration. Power 5 is the big leagues, and the money faucet makes it an entirely different world than the one UNLV currently occupies. If the administration sees any reasonable path to joining a P5 in the next 10 years, that has to be the top priority.

Get the facilities right

This goes for football more than basketball. In order to play in a P5, you have to get the football program to the point where it’s generating big revenue. The current football facility and stadium would be among the worst in any power conference. With the upgrades in place for the 2020 season, UNLV will be on better footing. The idea is that Tony Sanchez can now recruit better players to the sparkling new Fertitta Football Complex, which will help the team win more, which will result in more fans buying tickets in the new stadium. Once all that happens, maybe UNLV will be more attractive to a Power 5 conference that is looking to expand. It’s a long shot, but worth pursuing.

Get the coaches right

Desiree Reed-Francois did not hire either of her two flagship coaches. She’s taking the wait-and-see approach with Sanchez and giving him one more year to make a bowl game. I have a feeling Menzies will be in a similar situation next season. If they both win, they’ll remain in place and have the opportunity to see their long-term plans through to the finish.

Get people in the Mack

This is tied to coaching in the sense that basketball needs to win and sell tickets. A huge percentage of the budget comes from ticket revenues, and every time there are 8,000 unsold tickets for a game, it’s money UNLV can never recoup. If Menzies comes back with a killer team in 2019-20 and the fans come streaming back through the turnstiles, everything is fine. If the people stay away, Reed-Francois will have to prioritize filling the seats by any means necessary.

Get hockey to Division I

The time to strike is now. If and when the Golden Knights have a bad season and this whole hockey-in-Vegas thing is exposed as a fad, it will put UNLV hockey in a tenuous position. I don’t think this is near the top of Reed-Francois’s to-do list.

Get a new logo

This should be last on the priority list, in perpetuity.