RIP Tark

[49r]

Absolutely one of my all time favorite coaches passed today.

 

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12309855/hall-fame-coach-jerry-tarkanian-dies

 

Two hall of fame coaches gone in less than a week.  Sad.

[hhcmatt]

I once saw him resting on a retaining wall on the Vegas strip in the sun years back, wiping sweat from his head with one of those towels he loved to chew during a game.

[Norm Peterson]

I once saw him resting on a retaining wall on the Vegas strip in the sun years back, wiping sweat from his head with one of those towels he loved to chew during a game.

Please tell me you snapped a picture.

[Huskerpapa]

RIP Tark...I loved how you challenged the system.

[hhcmatt]

 

I once saw him resting on a retaining wall on the Vegas strip in the sun years back, wiping sweat from his head with one of those towels he loved to chew during a game.

Please tell me you snapped a picture.

 

 

This was over a decade ago for a bachelor party. I took zero photos.

[HuskerCager]

I know I could easily look it up, but did OU and UNLV ever play each other when Tubbs and Tark were there?  Would have been a heck of a game to watch.

[Noah121]

Interestingly, Tarkanian was the grandfather of Dannielle Diamant, who played basketball at Northwestern during my first four years there.  I didn't realize that she had that sort of basketball pedigree! 

[49r]

I know I could easily look it up, but did OU and UNLV ever play each other when Tubbs and Tark were there?  Would have been a heck of a game to watch.

 

Yes, they played a few games in the late 80's.  This was back when UNLV was near their peak and Oklahoma was setting records for consecutive home wins.  Both were very very good programs at the time.  The games were always close and exciting to watch.

 

http://statsheet.com/mcb/games/h2h/unlv_vs_oklahoma

[49r]

That game in '87 - I think - was an interesting one, Oklahoma won by one point - and in the first half a UNLV 3-pointer was ruled a 2 by the ref.  TV replays showed that it was clearly a 3, but this was in the days before refs reviewed everything.  Had that game taken place today, that would have been a 3 and UNLV may have won.  Which was important because I seem to recall OU was on like a 90 game home win streak and that would have been a massive upset for UNLV to walk out of Norman with a win.

[Bugeaters1]

 

 

I once saw him resting on a retaining wall on the Vegas strip in the sun years back, wiping sweat from his head with one of those towels he loved to chew during a game.

Please tell me you snapped a picture.

 

 

This was over a decade ago for a bachelor party. I took zero photos.

 

 

 

 

I once saw him resting on a retaining wall on the Vegas strip in the sun years back, wiping sweat from his head with one of those towels he loved to chew during a game.

Please tell me you snapped a picture.

 

 

This was over a decade ago for a bachelor party. I took zero photos.

 

You know Norm what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

[AuroranHusker]

That game in '87 - I think - was an interesting one, Oklahoma won by one point - and in the first half a UNLV 3-pointer was ruled a 2 by the ref.  TV replays showed that it was clearly a 3, but this was in the days before refs reviewed everything.  Had that game taken place today, that would have been a 3 and UNLV may have won.  Which was important because I seem to recall OU was on like a 90 game home win streak and that would have been a massive upset for UNLV to walk out of Norman with a win.

 

Very interesting.

 

 

Tark the Shark had the Runnin' Rebs on a remarkable run in '91. That team had Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony, Anderson Hunt & Stacey Augmon. They only got tripped up in the Final Four finale vs Duke 79-77, otherwise an undefeated UNLV til that one. One of my fav teams to follow with their aggressive O & D. The prior season was the 1990 championship team where the Rebels destroyed Duke 103-73, the largest margin for a men's hoops national title game in history to this day.

[49r]

From '82-'96, UNLV played in the Big West conference with the likes of:

 

Fresno State

San Jose State

Pacific

UC Santa Barbara

Long Beach State

CSU Fullerton

UC Irvine

Utah State

New Mexico State

 

Which, for a top 5 type program wasn't exactly murderer's row...usually New Mexico State/UNLV was the marquee matchup annually.  So, you'd see UNLV play a lot of really top notch non-conference games.  They were kind of the December favorite to watch.

 

A decent analogue today would be Gonzaga, but the WCC now is a much better conference than the old Big West was back then.

[AuroranHusker]

From '82-'96, UNLV played in the Big West conference with the likes of:

 

Fresno State

San Jose State

Pacific

UC Santa Barbara

Long Beach State

CSU Fullerton

UC Irvine

Utah State

New Mexico State

 

Which, for a top 5 type program wasn't exactly murderer's row...usually New Mexico State/UNLV was the marquee matchup annually.  So, you'd see UNLV play a lot of really top notch non-conference games.  They were kind of the December favorite to watch.

 

A decent analogue today would be Gonzaga, but the WCC now is a much better conference than the old Big West was back then.

 

 

Yep, UNLV was the Traveling Tarkanians for all the flights they took to get great games under their belt in the non-conference.