Rebels begin limited workouts

Even while dealing with half a deck of cards last season, UNLV basketball coach Lon Kruger never complained about playing short-handed.

At times, he had trouble gathering 10 players for practice. But now, those times are behind him.

Practice for the 2008-09 season does not officially open until Oct. 17, yet NCAA rules allowed Kruger to start limited team workouts this week. The Rebels worked out Monday and Wednesday at Cox Pavilion, and 17 players were on the floor.

"It's important to have guys who want to work hard, and these guys do," Kruger said.

Wink Adams, Joe Darger, Rene Rougeau and Mareceo Rutledge are the returning seniors from last season's 27-8 team that reached the NCAA Tournament's second round.

For a change, UNLV is seeing some preseason hype. The Rebels are ranked No. 22 by CBSSportsline.com and No. 24 by Athlon Sports.

"The rankings don't mean a whole lot, but still if you have them, you like being mentioned," Kruger said. "It's good conversation stuff in September and October.

"But you've got to line up every day and work as if you're ranked 100, and I think this group will do that."

Adams, Darger and Rougeau are expected to be three of the top players in the Mountain West Conference.

"With the four seniors, we've got a lot of leadership, and we've got a lot of talented players," Darger said. "It's nice to be recognized. At the same time, you can't take that for granted, and we've got to keep improving and hopefully keep moving up."

This month's workouts -- the NCAA permits teams eight hours per week, including six hours of strength and conditioning work and two hours of on-court basketball -- will help the seniors get acquainted with UNLV's influx of newcomers.

"When you have really good senior leadership -- and Wink, Joe, Rene and Mo have been around a long time -- I think they'll command good chemistry," Kruger said.

Sophomore point guard Tre'Von Willis, a transfer from Memphis, and 7-foot freshman Beas Hamga are considered newcomers, but both practiced last season while redshirting.

Immediate help is expected from freshmen Oscar Bellfield, Brice Massamba and DeShawn Mitchell, and junior college transfer Darris Santee.

Sophomore Kendall Wallace and junior Scott Hoffman return in the backcourt, and senior Rob Ketchum is a returning walk-on. Junior forward Matt Shaw is redshirting after knee surgery.

Competition in practice will be boosted by Kentucky transfer Derrick Jasper and UCLA transfer Chace Stanback, both of whom must redshirt. Jasper is rehabilitating a knee injury.

Arizona State transfer Steve Jones, a senior guard, also is practicing while redshirting as a walk-on.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907.