Boston College Athletics
Photo by: Eddie Shabomardenly
March 23, 2024 | Men's Basketball, #ForBoston Files
BC's second round matchup against UNLV is a reminder of how the programs shaped college basketball.
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- The National Invitation Tournament's first round occupies an interesting cross-section within the college basketball postseason structure. Its top seeds are often favorites who were forced to play at home by an omission from the NCAA Tournament, and the forced disappointment makes them ripe for an upset against a team that's happier to play for the NIT's consolation prize. The quick and short turnarounds associated with playing the first days after Selection Sunday force those teams to play at home with the burden of finding the necessary juice to return to the court, all while a team that's ecstatic to play in the NIT preps for the postseason battle.
Such was the case last Tuesday when Providence hosted Boston College in the 113th meeting of one of New England's most historic basketball rivalries. Just two days before tip-off, the Friars thought their trip to the Big East Tournament semifinals was enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but the Big East's overall disappointment cast a pall on a team that needed to prepare for a hungry opponent by finding its own postseason energy. Slotted into the No. 3 seed in a bracket opposite Seton Hall didn't help, and BC, an intriguing defensive option from the start of the NIT, mercilessly eliminated the wounded Friars with a five-point victory in Rhode Island.
Upsets like that result popped up around the entire NIT, and three of the four brackets entered the weekend with at least one unseeded team advancing to the Second Round. One No. 1 seed was lost when Villanova was eliminated by VCU, and in BC's bracket, the only seed to advance was top-slotted Seton Hall, which needed overtime to squeak past Saint Joseph's.
Teams like LSU, Providence and Princeton all lost after missing out on the NCAA Tournament, and BC's elimination of the Friars occurred opposite the Ivy League regular season champion's loss at home to UNLV. With the results, the wide-open nature of the postseason tournament became increasingly apparent, and the road to Hinkle Fieldhouse's semifinal round now includes an unprecedented matchup between a resurgent power conference school and the original college basketball renegade.
"We had just come out of a quick turnaround," said BC head coach Earl Grant. "We had the ACC Tournament, where we played three games, back-to-back-to-back, so [readying for UNLV] is not really a quick turnaround for us. We have at least a day or two to get prepared and to come up with the best plan while figuring out what the opponent is going to try and execute."
UNLV's campus owns its own little space of the college basketball universe to a degree that's not seen anywhere else. It's not far enough west to classify alongside the disintegrating powerhouses that once built the Pac-12 into a basketball powerhouse, but it's also not far enough east to play on the same television schedule as the Missouri Valley Conference, the Horizon, or the Big 12. Nevada is still a state located inside the prime territory held by leagues like the Big West and the West Coast Conference, but the Rebels' football program resulted in them leaving the Big West for the Western Athletic Conference before it splintered and formed the Mountain West Conference.
Las Vegas itself was too small to compare to Dallas-Fort Worth or the bigger media markets in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the city always held interesting value because of its tourism and entertainment sectors. It was situated in the middle of the desert and wasn't the typical urban or metropolitan area, but it was also big enough to force uneasy conversations about if or when professional sports would land - and survive - on the Vegas scene.
No possible landing spot carried factors that were simultaneously classified at either extreme end of the spectrum, but the lack of a professional franchise opened the door for Jerry Tarkanian's Runnin' Rebels to create a tradition where it didn't exist. As American society emerged from the turbulent 1970s, "Tark The Shark" turned "Tumbleweed Tech" into a national powerhouse by leaning into the renegade program playing in the renegade city located in the Wild West.
"My dad understood that because people around the country talked so bad about Las Vegas, the people here would back something positive that they could call their own," said Danny Tarkanian, Jerry's son, in an article written by Dan Wetzel for Yahoo Sports in February.Â
Tarkanian's accomplishments in the 1980s and early 1990s revolutionized the team's reputation and paved the road for the city's induction into the professional ranks. UNLV's 1990s national championship blowout win over Duke remains the largest margin of victory in an NCAA title game, and the 1991 Runnin' Rebels are arguably the greatest test that didn't win the championship. The Thomas and Mack Center was the city's equivalent to a professional arena before T-Mobile Arena opened on the Las Vegas Strip, and it still serves as the home to the NBA Summer League as the Stanley Cup made its way to the strip with the relocated Raiders NFL franchise. The Oakland A's are set to move into a newly-built stadium in 2028 but are intending to move to the Las Vegas Aviators' ballpark sometime before its completion.
None of that happens without UNLV, but it's also been 10 years since the Runnin' Rebels last appeared in the national tournament. Like BC, hard times prevented the team from remaining a national powerhouse, and head coach Kevin Kruger took over the job after T.J. Otzelberger left Vegas for the Iowa State team that just advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in Boston. Neither coach succeeded in getting the Rebels back to the tournament, just as Marvin Menzies failed to retrieve the tournament years from Dave Rice's first three seasons.
This year's NIT berth is the first postseason berth of any kind since the fifth-seeded UNLV team lost to California in the first round of the 2013 East Regional, and the first round win over Princeton was the first postseason victory of any kind since a No. 8 seed in the 2008 bracket defeated ninth-seeded Kent State before losing to Kansas in the second round. The program of Reggie Theus, Stacey Augmon, Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, David Butler, and so many others who wore the red and white has long faded into the history books, but the NIT is important for the program's quest to restore its previous greatness.
The win over Princeton, after all, wasn't an accident, not after the frontcourt combination of Rob Whaley, Jr. and Keylan Boone combined for 39 points against the 25 points by Shane Nowell and Justin Webster. Boone added 11 boards for a double-double that tacked onto the fifth-year player's team-leading numbers, most of which give pause to anyone who is looking for the potential matchup against Quinten Post and Devin McGlockton.
"Couldn't be happier for them and prouder of them," said Kruger in the Las Vegas Sun after the team's win over the Tigers. "Guys competed and fought…The longer we can do this, the more fun it's going to be."
Fun is exactly what the NIT is all about, and both BC and UNLV enjoyed their first round wins over their respective opponents. They've never faced each other on the basketball court, but it's almost fitting that the Northeast team without any respect from its Tobacco Road peers draws a postseason matchup against the desert titans looking to restore tradition to the once-proud program. In the grand scheme of basketball, especially with this year's overall conversation about the Mountain West Conference's performance against the Big East or ACC, it's more featured attraction than side show, and it's what this tournament is meant to produce.
Boston College and UNLV tip-off from the Thomas and Mack Center at 9:30 ET. Television coverage can be seen on ESPNU with streaming coverage available through the Worldwide Leader's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
Such was the case last Tuesday when Providence hosted Boston College in the 113th meeting of one of New England's most historic basketball rivalries. Just two days before tip-off, the Friars thought their trip to the Big East Tournament semifinals was enough to qualify for the NCAA Tournament, but the Big East's overall disappointment cast a pall on a team that needed to prepare for a hungry opponent by finding its own postseason energy. Slotted into the No. 3 seed in a bracket opposite Seton Hall didn't help, and BC, an intriguing defensive option from the start of the NIT, mercilessly eliminated the wounded Friars with a five-point victory in Rhode Island.
Upsets like that result popped up around the entire NIT, and three of the four brackets entered the weekend with at least one unseeded team advancing to the Second Round. One No. 1 seed was lost when Villanova was eliminated by VCU, and in BC's bracket, the only seed to advance was top-slotted Seton Hall, which needed overtime to squeak past Saint Joseph's.
Teams like LSU, Providence and Princeton all lost after missing out on the NCAA Tournament, and BC's elimination of the Friars occurred opposite the Ivy League regular season champion's loss at home to UNLV. With the results, the wide-open nature of the postseason tournament became increasingly apparent, and the road to Hinkle Fieldhouse's semifinal round now includes an unprecedented matchup between a resurgent power conference school and the original college basketball renegade.
"We had just come out of a quick turnaround," said BC head coach Earl Grant. "We had the ACC Tournament, where we played three games, back-to-back-to-back, so [readying for UNLV] is not really a quick turnaround for us. We have at least a day or two to get prepared and to come up with the best plan while figuring out what the opponent is going to try and execute."
UNLV's campus owns its own little space of the college basketball universe to a degree that's not seen anywhere else. It's not far enough west to classify alongside the disintegrating powerhouses that once built the Pac-12 into a basketball powerhouse, but it's also not far enough east to play on the same television schedule as the Missouri Valley Conference, the Horizon, or the Big 12. Nevada is still a state located inside the prime territory held by leagues like the Big West and the West Coast Conference, but the Rebels' football program resulted in them leaving the Big West for the Western Athletic Conference before it splintered and formed the Mountain West Conference.
Las Vegas itself was too small to compare to Dallas-Fort Worth or the bigger media markets in Los Angeles and San Francisco, but the city always held interesting value because of its tourism and entertainment sectors. It was situated in the middle of the desert and wasn't the typical urban or metropolitan area, but it was also big enough to force uneasy conversations about if or when professional sports would land - and survive - on the Vegas scene.
No possible landing spot carried factors that were simultaneously classified at either extreme end of the spectrum, but the lack of a professional franchise opened the door for Jerry Tarkanian's Runnin' Rebels to create a tradition where it didn't exist. As American society emerged from the turbulent 1970s, "Tark The Shark" turned "Tumbleweed Tech" into a national powerhouse by leaning into the renegade program playing in the renegade city located in the Wild West.
"My dad understood that because people around the country talked so bad about Las Vegas, the people here would back something positive that they could call their own," said Danny Tarkanian, Jerry's son, in an article written by Dan Wetzel for Yahoo Sports in February.Â
Tarkanian's accomplishments in the 1980s and early 1990s revolutionized the team's reputation and paved the road for the city's induction into the professional ranks. UNLV's 1990s national championship blowout win over Duke remains the largest margin of victory in an NCAA title game, and the 1991 Runnin' Rebels are arguably the greatest test that didn't win the championship. The Thomas and Mack Center was the city's equivalent to a professional arena before T-Mobile Arena opened on the Las Vegas Strip, and it still serves as the home to the NBA Summer League as the Stanley Cup made its way to the strip with the relocated Raiders NFL franchise. The Oakland A's are set to move into a newly-built stadium in 2028 but are intending to move to the Las Vegas Aviators' ballpark sometime before its completion.
None of that happens without UNLV, but it's also been 10 years since the Runnin' Rebels last appeared in the national tournament. Like BC, hard times prevented the team from remaining a national powerhouse, and head coach Kevin Kruger took over the job after T.J. Otzelberger left Vegas for the Iowa State team that just advanced to the Sweet Sixteen in Boston. Neither coach succeeded in getting the Rebels back to the tournament, just as Marvin Menzies failed to retrieve the tournament years from Dave Rice's first three seasons.
This year's NIT berth is the first postseason berth of any kind since the fifth-seeded UNLV team lost to California in the first round of the 2013 East Regional, and the first round win over Princeton was the first postseason victory of any kind since a No. 8 seed in the 2008 bracket defeated ninth-seeded Kent State before losing to Kansas in the second round. The program of Reggie Theus, Stacey Augmon, Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt, David Butler, and so many others who wore the red and white has long faded into the history books, but the NIT is important for the program's quest to restore its previous greatness.
The win over Princeton, after all, wasn't an accident, not after the frontcourt combination of Rob Whaley, Jr. and Keylan Boone combined for 39 points against the 25 points by Shane Nowell and Justin Webster. Boone added 11 boards for a double-double that tacked onto the fifth-year player's team-leading numbers, most of which give pause to anyone who is looking for the potential matchup against Quinten Post and Devin McGlockton.
"Couldn't be happier for them and prouder of them," said Kruger in the Las Vegas Sun after the team's win over the Tigers. "Guys competed and fought…The longer we can do this, the more fun it's going to be."
Fun is exactly what the NIT is all about, and both BC and UNLV enjoyed their first round wins over their respective opponents. They've never faced each other on the basketball court, but it's almost fitting that the Northeast team without any respect from its Tobacco Road peers draws a postseason matchup against the desert titans looking to restore tradition to the once-proud program. In the grand scheme of basketball, especially with this year's overall conversation about the Mountain West Conference's performance against the Big East or ACC, it's more featured attraction than side show, and it's what this tournament is meant to produce.
Boston College and UNLV tip-off from the Thomas and Mack Center at 9:30 ET. Television coverage can be seen on ESPNU with streaming coverage available through the Worldwide Leader's family of Internet and mobile device apps.
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