Load up the cooler, boys; we’re off to OKC

Two years ago I watched these four Kansas State fans, apparently upset with the beer prices in the swanky lobby bar at the downtown Omaha Hilton, wheel their giant cooler inside, plop it down on the marble floor next to where a Marvin Hamlisch wannabe was tinkling the ivories and reach inside for a handful of cold ones. I was torn between astonishment and admiration, because I hate paying $8 for a bottle of beer, too.

Security was summoned. Those K-State fans were told if they wanted to drink beer out of a cooler in a hotel lobby, they'd have to take it across the Missouri River to the Motel 6 in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Anyway, I wonder if those guys will be at the Renaissance Oklahoma City on Thursday night. Because most everything else about UNLV's draw in this year's NCAA Tournament is remarkably similar to the last time they were in it.

■ No. 8 seed in the Midwest Regional? Check.

■ First-round matchup against an opponent most of their fans are taking lightly? Check.

■ Potential second-round matchup against top-seeded Kansas riding on the outcome? Check.

■ Game location in a Midwestern city where sidewalks are rolled up early? Check.

■ Four guys from Kansas State drinking beer out of a cooler in the lobby of the official tournament hotel? We'll see. But it's definitely a possibility as K-State will be in Oklahoma City, too.

All that's missing are some guys from Wisconsin named Krabbenhoft, Bruesewitz and Gavinski. The Badgers and their frontcourt comprising the usual offensive tackles and nose guards were shipped to Jacksonville this year. They were in Omaha with the Rebels in 2008. They were in Chicago with them the year before that.

Does familiarity breed contempt? Maybe for the local media. When it was announced the Rebels would be playing Northern Iowa in Oklahoma City, you might have heard a few boos amid the cheers. That was a local press corps hoping they would be sent to New Orleans.

When UNLV coach Lon Kruger stepped outside after Sunday's selection show, he definitely saw his shadow. Before the Rebels leave Oklahoma, he'll see a bunch of his old friends and relatives. Again. This is his Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Kruger grew up in Silver Lake, Kan. He played and coached at Kansas State. He tormented Kansas as a player and a coach.

Did I mention Florida is going to be there, too? Kruger also coached the Gators. In 1994 he coached them all the way to the Final Four. You coach a team to the Final Four, you're gonna make more friends for life.

If somebody at NCAA headquarters wants to provide the meeting place for another Kruger family reunion, he's not going to complain too much. The Ford Center in downtown Oklahoma City has a seating capacity of 18,203. It's a little more accommodating than the Silver Lake VFW or the Elks lodge.

"It's an opportunity to go back into the Midwest and renew some acquaintances and relive some memories," Kruger said after the Rebels' short workout Monday afternoon. "It's not just me, because a lot of our coaches are from that area."

The same held true in 2008 when the Rebels beat Kent State in the first round and lost to eventual national champion Kansas in the second.

"Anywhere we play is an opportunity and a great reward for a good year that the players have had," Kruger said. "But New Orleans would have been fine. We wouldn't have minded that, either. There are preferred places but we weren't going to turn any of them down."

Not even Buffalo?

"We would have gone to Buffalo," Kruger said with a chuckle. "Maybe not preferred, but we wouldn't have forfeited."

Perhaps playing a solid mid-major team with an offense predicated on paint drying and then moving on to a second-round game against the best team in the land -- if the Rebels manage to win the first one -- is not what most would consider an ideal draw.

But it sure beats playing Bob Huggins in the Newfoundland Regional, which is probably where the NCAA would've sent the Rebels if Tark was still their coach.

Las Vegas Review-Journal columnist Ron Kantowski can be reached at rkantowski@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0352.