Leadership No. 1 need for Rebels basketball

Believe it. On the campuses of Sacramento State and Hartford and Loyola Marymount and on and on today, they are dreaming of an NCAA Tournament bid. They are wondering where their team will be placed when brackets are announced in March.

At Kentucky, I assume they also are wondering about brackets while interviewing for one or six more NCAA compliance positions.

Either way, they all are pretty jacked up.

Everyone views themselves improved a few weeks before Halloween, for many a temporary relief before the suffering commences.

But how people perceive your team and the amount of skill and potential it owns can be as different as the temperaments of Lon Kruger and Bob Knight.

Sometimes, the distinction isn’t as obvious.

It just takes awhile to discover the truth.

“I’m not really sure what this team is going to become,” Kruger said of his sixth UNLV squad. “I believe this group is a little more athletic, more rangier than we have been. The skill level is pretty good. How well we shoot it from range, I’m not sure. I’m not sure how many pure shooters we have, but we could be better in the mid-range game.

“There are always high expectations. Ours is to play extremely hard and unselfish and as well as we possibly can. There are external expectations from fans and media. But internally, all we can do is work as hard as possible.”

The Rebels on Friday night gave a gathering of several thousand at the Thomas & Mack Center a first look at the team picked to finish third in the Mountain West Conference and yet one with enough promising eligible transfers to make you believe those rated ahead of UNLV — Brigham Young and San Diego State — won’t have an uncomplicated path to a championship.

To contend, though, the Rebels must be properly led.

It didn’t happen well enough for UNLV on the court last season. It’s true the Rebels never were as good as a preseason forecast that named them the conference’s best team. They weren’t close to it, just as they were much better than most thought the previous two seasons, when NCAA berths arrived on Selection Sunday.

But one thing last season proved is that seniors don’t always equal certain leadership, most evident during a 9-7 conference record and fifth-place finish.

As much as Wink Adams, Rene Rougeau and Joe Darger did for the program over their careers, none was able to grab the Rebels by their collective throats and stop what was inconsistent play from January on.

Tre’Von Willis seemed to try, but it’s no secret the Memphis transfer and now junior guard at times clashed with his upperclassman teammates when attempting to assume control. Willis won’t have to worry about such things this season. At least to start.

We have heard much about Derrick Jasper. He is a junior transfer from Kentucky, a 6-foot-6-inch point guard who used last season to acclimate himself to how the UNLV program works and what Kruger expects from those who are part of it.

No one can say for sure how Jasper will lead, other than he will.

“Leadership usually happens pretty naturally,” Kruger said. “Players know who is comfortable in that position. We as coaches can pick captains, but it’s better when guys just emerge, whether it’s an older guy or someone new to the program.

“Derrick has been a leader on every team he has ever played on. He accepts the role, and by the reaction of our other players, they are going to look to him for direction on and off the court.”

So here we go, the sixth year of Kruger’s tenure. They shot off the fireworks Friday. They stood and cheered. The band played, and cheerleaders did stunts, and dancers danced. The greatest Rebel of them all — Larry Johnson — addressed the gathering before drills and a scrimmage took place.

There is the expected excitement, the predictable expectations.

Where reality exists is anyone’s guess.

But it’s just the second week of October.

Anything seems possible, from Las Vegas to Sacramento to Lexington.

Las Vegas Review-Journal sports columnist Ed Graney can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He also can be heard weeknights from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. on “The Sports Scribes” on KDWN-AM (720) and www.kdwn.com.