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Big winners in Vegas
Posted: Thursday February 10, 2000 01:43 AM
By Phil Miller, Special to CNNSI.com It took about 48 hours to reverse a season's worth of conventional wisdom in the Mountain West Conference. First, UNLV upset first-place Utah in Las Vegas, 72-66, moving the Runnin' Rebels to within one game of the runaway Utes. Two days later, the Utes learned that their leading scorer, senior forward Hanno Mottola, would miss at least one game -- and perhaps the rest of the season -- with wrist and elbow injuries. Utah's coronation has been abruptly postponed. "We're no lock at all," acknowledged Utes coach Rick Majerus. "There's a long way to go." UNLV added several landmines to that journey by winning what had been billed as the school's biggest game since Jerry Tarkanian left. The Rebels, winless against ranked opponents, believed their entire season hinged on the matchup with the No. 20 Utes. They played like it. The league's best center, Kaspars Kambala, and its best point guard, Mark Dickel, had terrific games even though the Utes were focused on stopping them. Kambala, who made UNLV coach Bill Bayno promise to shave his head if the Rebels won, scored 20 points despite constant double-teaming and had 11 rebounds, while Dickel scored 18 points, including seven in the final three minutes, plus six assists and four steals. Dickel's contribution was especially amazing, considering how he felt late in the second half. He suffered a mild concussion by hitting the floor after being fouled, and threw up into a trash can behind the UNLV bench. Well, he was aiming for the trash can, anyway. "He puked all over me," Bayno said. "If he plays like that, he can puke on me anytime." The Utes probably felt like puking after their 25-game regular-season conference winning streak was snapped, especially because they had plenty of chances to catch the Rebels. But Mottola, who shot 5 for 16 for the game, was blocked by backup center Issiah Epps with 1:12 to go. "That block was huge," said Bayno, whose team won despite going without a field goal over the final 6:56. "Defense won this game for us." The season-high crowd helped too. Many of the 16,629 fans charged the court as the game ended, thrilled that the 5-2 Rebels are within striking distance of the 6-1 Utes, especially since Utah still has road games remaining at Colorado State, Wyoming and New Mexico, plus a rematch with UNLV on Feb. 21. Even worse for the Utes: They may face that tough schedule without Mottola, who sprained his left elbow and suffered what he thought was a bruised thumb Jan. 29 at Air Force, but played the next two games anyway. He made only 7 of 25 shots, however, and the pain got progressively worse. Utah's training staff determined that Mottola's thumb ligaments had been torn. "I was proud of Hanno," said Majerus. "He was playing through some severe pain." The 6-foot-9 Mottola will miss Thursday's home game with San Diego State while resting the injuries. It's also possible he might need surgery, which would probably end his career at Utah, though school officials were downplaying that possibility. Without Mottola, those road games get even tougher, though at least Utah knows how to adjust. The 23-year-old Finland native missed the season's first eight games after arthroscopic knee surgery. Sophomore Phil Cullen, who averages 5.1 points in 16 minutes, will likely start in Mottola's place, though senior Alex Jensen could move to power forward and 6-4 sophomore Jeff Johnsen take his spot. Bayno, by the way, still had hair three days after UNLV's victory. Doesn't he know what happens to gamblers who fail to pay off in Las Vegas? After some initial worries about handling a razor himself, Kambala decided to let Bayno keep his hair. "We don't want it to be a distraction for games this week," said the UNLV center. "We'll probably let him slide."
If it's Monday, this must be ...Some teams have four-game road trips. Some play three times in six days, then once in 12 days. And then there are those 10 p.m. tipoffs.Nobody, it seems, is happy with this year's Mountain West basketball schedule, which all but abandoned the longtime practice of travel partners. The league's standard Thursday-Saturday format is altered beyond logic by the contractual need to provide ESPN a Big Monday late-night matchup. With that in mind, Mountain West commissioner Craig Thompson has drawn up a hypothetical schedule with nothing but Saturday and Monday games. "It works really well," said Thompson, who has not yet shared the sample with league members. "It addresses all the gaps we have in this year's schedule, and makes things more symmetrical." The Mountain West is in the first year of a seven-year television contract, so those Big Monday games are here to stay, Thompson said. But that's not the only reason to consider the change. A symmetrical schedule would reduce road trips and help cut travel costs, the commissioner said. And fewer conferences play on Mondays than on Thursdays, so the league might earn some much-needed national attention. Plus, the pool of available referees is much deeper on Mondays. But there are some obvious drawbacks as well, particularly in Provo. School policy prohibits Brigham Young's athletes from competing or practicing on Sundays, so the Cougars would have less time to prepare for Monday games. And the school is also unwilling to schedule Monday evening home games because of a Mormon practice of spending that time with families. In past years, Monday games in the Marriott Center have tipped off at 5 p.m., before predictably tiny crowds. Still, BYU Coach Steve Cleveland is surprisingly open to the idea. For one thing, "We'd like to be involved in a few of those" Big Monday games, he said. "Not practicing on Sundays wouldn't be ideal, but maybe we could cope, if that's what the league decides." At least, Cleveland said, it would be better than this year's schedule, which, because of Utah's regular Monday appearances, always forces BYU to play well-rested opponents. Other MWC coaches, like CSU's Ritchie McKay and Wyoming's Steve McClain, seem interested in the idea. But Utah's Rick Majerus, despite his 4-0 record on Mondays this season, said he is adamantly opposed. Monday games, he said, rob student-athletes of Sundays, their only day completely free of classes and practices. "That speaks to this conference not having a genuine regard for academics," Majerus said. "If you play on Monday, we would practice on Sunday. An athlete is never afforded a day when he can sit back and maybe go to a movie or get his laundry done or do schoolwork or just be a normal student." Thompson said the conference members discussed a similar proposal last summer and decided not to make a change. He believes the issue will be raised again after this season.
Worth notingVisiting teams may have won seven of the first eight league games, but since then, home courts have been just as intimidating as Mountain West coaches suspected. Home teams are 15-5 since the first week. ... Rebels transfer Lou Kelly will wear a cast on his broken right foot at least another week. He still holds long-shot hopes of returning this season. ... San Diego State forward Myron Epps certainly caught BYU's attention by scoring a career-high 32 points at Wyoming. When the Cougars visited San Diego a week later, they blanketed Epps with double-teams, and held the sophomore scorer to only three points. ... Air Force scoring leader Jarvis Croff had a similarly difficult outing against Wyoming, scoring only five points on 0-for-8 shooting. But the steadily improving Falcons proved they could win without him; reserve guard Lawrence Yazzi scored 22 points in AFA's 82-79 overtime win.Phil Miller covers the Mountain West for the Salt Lake City Tribune. Check back every Wednesday for his latest CNNSI.com Insider.
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