The UNLV Runnin' Rebels Have "Played A Very Strong Non-Conference Schedule"

The UNLV Runnin' Rebels men's basketball season is about to really take off. Their Mountain West Conference schedule kicks off in just nine days. While UNLV is just 4 - 5 on the year, they have faced a strong non-conference schedule. Granted, their loss to UT Martin is a tough one to overlook, but they have also had some great wins over the Memphis Tigers and Stanford Cardinal. It's also hard to punish them for losing to Maryland, Alabama, and Rutgers at the Players Era Festival. Nevertheless, their record has them down in the Mountain West power rankings. Joey Loose of Busting Brackets currently has them at No. 9 in their power rankings. This is what they had to say about both UNLV and their first Mountain West opponents, the Fresno State Bulldogs.

Busting Brackets On Their No. 9 Ranked UNLV Runnin' Rebels

"The record may sicken you, but UNLV has actually played a very strong nonconference schedule to this point. Now clearly that doesn’t excuse a horrible loss at home to UT Martin to open the season, but since then the Runnin’ Rebels have upset wins at Memphis and Stanford that’ll look great on the resume later in the year. They had a tough time with three losses at the Players Era Festival, but UNLV is certainly battle-tested and in much better shape than some of these other MWC teams with alarming records."

Busting Brackets On Their No. 10 Ranked Fresno State Bulldogs

"The Bulldogs began their season with seven straight games at home and despite a couple nice wins had a head scratching loss against USC Upstate nestled in there. Since then they’ve also dropped a tough home game to Cal State Bakersfield and just aren’t the consistent team that some were expecting. The outside shooting just isn’t there, evident most recently in a loss at Arkansas, and it’s very unlikely that Fresno State will work their way up into the top or middle tier in this conference."

This is a bit low for the Rebels, but we understand the ranking. While we believe wins over Memphis and Stanford outweigh losses to UT Martin and Montana, if they want to climb the power rankings, they need to win the games. It is up to head coach Josh Pastner to get them playing more consistently and to have them ready to roll when they start Mountain West play on December 20 at home against the Bulldogs.

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