Lon, winding road: Kruger's formula even works in Vegas

OMAHA, Neb. -- Jerry Tarkanian was shouting over the phone Friday, above the din at the Mandalay Bay sports book.

Hey, where else would you expect one of the all-time coaching rogues to be but Vegas during the first weekend of the tournament?

Kruger's success comes from scrappers like walk-on -- and second-leading scorer -- Curtis Terry. (Getty Images)

"Lon's done a hell of a job," Tark said of UNLV's current coach, Lon Kruger. "Besides doing a great job of coaching, he's done a great job of uniting the community. He's brought people back to the program."

That says enough about how far UNLV has come in four seasons under Kruger. The veteran, wayfaring coach (six head coaching jobs since 1982) has brought stability to the place where the NCAA manual went to die.

More important, Kruger brought credibility. That's something Tark, as the glad-handing senior citizen legend, will never be able to do. Since he left, it's taken 17 years and five coaches for UNLV basketball to begin sniffing the vapors of past greatness.

Kruger, in his fourth season, has won two consecutive Mountain West tournament championships. There are consecutive NCAA berths for the first time since 1991 -- a Sweet 16 last season and a first-round win over Kent State on Thursday. A second-round game against top seed Kansas awaits on Saturday in the Midwest Region.

But how? Five seniors, four of them starters, are gone from last season's 30-7 team. A walk-on, Rene Rougeau, starts. Former walk-on Curtis Terry is the second-leading scorer. No starter is taller than 6-foot-8. They have to play Kruger's signature defensive style given those matchup obstacles.

Kruger himself had sextuple bypass surgery last summer. One for each of the seniors he lost, you might say, plus the bonus.

"Fortunate to catch it when we did," said Kruger, 55.

Watch them play and these Rebels are anything but Runnin'. They play like their coach when he was a pasty, skinny guard at Silver Lake (Kan.) High School and later Kansas State. One of the first reincarnations of Kruger on the court was a human knee burn named Steve Henson, a former Kansas State guard, now a UNLV assistant.

"There are people that have been following the Rebels for a long time," said Henson, who led Kruger's 1988 K-State team in the Elite Eight. "They're proud of the old Rebels and proud of what we're doing now."

Part of which is holding 20 of the last 25 opponents to 65 points or less. When it was mentioned that Kruger is winning with defense, Tark bristled.

"Do you know anything about basketball?" Tarkanian said. "We were the best defensive team in America, it wasn't even close. Ask any coach that, don't ask any sportswriters."

Still, this is not your Grandmama's UNLV. Actually, part of it is, if you consider the old made-for-TV Converse shoe character disguised herself as Larry Johnson on Thursday at Qwest Center.

That's the same Larry Johnson, maybe the greatest player in UNLV history, who had basically disowned the program since he left in 1991. L.J. returned to Vegas to watch the Rebels only three times since then. Once when his jersey was retired (he left at halftime) and twice during the past regular season.

Then he popped up in the heartland, maybe the ultimate sign of respect for his old program.

"We had a falling out with the program," Johnson told the Las Vegas Sun recently. "But you know what? Times heal all wounds."

Fans might like Tark, but they love UNLV basketball more when it's winning. And it is winning at a weird, astounding and efficient rate. No one except the coaches and players expected the Rebels to be here in the second round.

A six-foot guard, Wink Adams, is the leading scorer. Curtis, half-brother of NBA star Jason, leads in assists. Rougeau, from Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., called asking to walk on four years ago. His biggest reward has been a starting spot this season as a junior. In only two of his eight semesters has he been on scholarship (spring '05, spring '06).

Terry calls his teammate the best walk-on in the world. He might be right. Name another walk-on who starts in the NCAA tournament, and are as OK with it as is Rougeau.

"There are guys on campus who wish they could play for this team," Rougeau said. "A friend back home played high school ball. I'm just trying to make those guys proud, the guys that don't have a chance to play."

But where are the flapping gums? The attitude? The cheating? Tark was chased away by the NCAA. No matter who you blame -- the association, Tark -- the damage had been done.

It has been sort of like a mini-death penalty because the previous coaches tried and largely failed.

"When Charlie Spoonhour came (2001-04), things changed. Everybody liked Spoonhour," Tarkanian said. "He tried to do the same things that Lon's doing. He brought the program back up and Lon came in and took it to another level."

There has been that hint of the old Vegas. Seven-foot impact recruit Beas Hamga had to redshirt because of academic reasons. Emmanuel Adeife was kicked off for complaining about playing time. Transfer Lamar Roberson left on his own at midseason. Sophomore guard Marcus Lawrence was booted after getting a DUI in February.

Just as there were two UNLVs, there are really two Vegases. One that is The Strip and all the high rollers. That's the one Tark and his players could fit in comfortably. The other is surrounding area which could be Des Moines if it weren't for the gambling. Kruger has tapped into both demographics. The high rollers want UNLV to be good as a point of civic pride. So do the suburbanites.

"The people that live there, there's a small-town feel to it because there are people that have been associated with Runnin' Rebel basketball," assistant Greg Grensing said. "That's been the one constant.

"It's like your neighbors, instead of being insurance salesmen, they're dealers at the Aladdin."

Kruger was most of all a healer who brought both the fans and community together. On any given night, the one-time Final Four coach (Florida, 1994) can be seen at a random high school game tucked up in the corner either scouting or watching -- or both.

Fans can look up and see an unobtrusive leader who just became the second coach in history to lead four different programs to multiple NCAA bids.

"It's very important for us to have interaction," Terry said. "We're trying to rebuild the program and do things that they did in the late '80s and early '90s, to get UNLV back to the national stage. Getting back to the tournament doesn't hurt."

With all those jobs over all those years anywhere Kruger goes there's likely to be a connection. He preceded current Kansas coach Bill Self at Illinois.

"I don't know if you could follow a better coach," Self said. "You're walking into a situation where the community loved you, where the players were taught well and had discipline in the program. He was totally unselfish."

When Kansas State was upsetting USC on Thursday, some small part of Kruger had to be happy. The former Wildcat was the last K-State coach to win an NCAA tournament game. That was 20 years ago.

Many expect UNLV's season to end Saturday the way K-State's did back in 1988 -- with a loss to Kansas.

"I know the talent that we have," forward Joe Darger said. "He's a very, very classy guy. Everybody respects him. He does his best to keep it as clean as possible."

See, Tark, it can be done. Winning with honor. What a concept.