Great article from Vegas on UNLV basketball

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SoapyCy

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Oct 10, 2012
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If Findlay prep is ever investigated nothing will come from it other than Naz Long being ruled ineligible for ISU.

Naz Long isn't even mentioned on the "Alumni" section of their website (which shows many pictures of RV so we know it's been updated)
 

Wesley

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Apr 12, 2006
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UNLV is just selling Vegas to one-and-dones. "Hey, come spend your only year of college before you enter the draft here and we'll make sure you get what ever dirty pleasure that Vegas can offer that you want. Not only will we turn the other cheek, but we'll make sure you get it." Only thing that makes sense to me besides blatant NCAA violations. My only question is how does a kid spin the UNLV commitment into "this is what my FAMILY decided was best"?? That kinda reeks of payments.

UNLV = Findlay Plus
 

CySmurf

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Jul 14, 2011
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Hate to see a kid eff up his potential up like I think Vaughn is doing. He could have been so much more NBA ready with Fred's help...sure it would have been hard...the Big 12 is a tough league. But if you're so damn special to begin with, that should have been embraced by Vaughn. Instead he takes a less hard route...less competition...he may even look good against it...but at the end of the day the NBA doesn't give a Tinkers damn about your Mountain West stats...can you play ball with the big boys is what they'll want. And unless he's the real deal...UNLV was a bad choice. IMO.
 

HandSanitizer

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Apr 19, 2006
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I think everyone has moved on, but it just eats at me how the NCAA lets this go on.

I am pretty sure a normal HS doesn't take a guy who was arrested for for pistol whipping someone. Just saying.

Lets get a 3-4 year guy that wants to be here.
 

IsUaClone2

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May 12, 2006
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Is it possible that UNLV is selling a new "Fab 5" concept? If so, it could come to the same result as the Fab 5 in that they might do reasonable well but the results may subsequently be negated due to recruitment violations.


I have wondered if the strings attached to Vaughn's equipment included running the ball through him. He might also have chafed at Hoiberg's suggestion to learn to share the ball. UNLV would have no such suggestion; in fact they would say just the opposite. I also do think that Vaughn, Kaffey, Findley Prep, and UNLV connections are not serendipitous. I don't know that anything was done blatantly illegally but.........
 

cyclones12321

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Feb 21, 2009
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"I like the style of offense, getting up and down the floor and scoring"

UNLV ranks in the lower half of all NCAA teams in offense. Was Vaughn mistaking UNLV for Kansas or Iowa state? Best sentence of that article haha

a part of me hopes UNLV only wins 12-13 games next season

This and Vaughn's transfers to isu or Vaughn is a bust
 

Clonefan94

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Oct 18, 2006
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Agreed. Keep in mind, he chose UNLV not just over Iowa State, but also over UNC, KU and Kentucky. I'm not sure how many recruits on the planet would make a choice like that if they were only basing the decision on basketball-related criteria. Let it go.

This is what makes me wonder if he wasn't using ISU as a ruse. "If I am being courted by KU, UK, UNC, and then decide to go to UNLV, people will think something is up. Let me put another mid pack BBall school on my top list, so that when I choose UNLV, they can think I didn't want the Blu-Blood school atmosphere."

I'll admit it seems shady, but at the same time, had he chose ISU, I'm sure most of the nation who follows college basketball loosely, would wonder why the hell he chose ISU. Yeah, we have Fred, things are looking up for ISU BBall, but honestly, it would look very strange.

I really don't follow this stuff too closely. Knowing what I know now though, about his school, his handler, etc. I'm somewhat OK that the "How did ISU get this guy?" attention won't be on us. There are a lot of shady things about this kid's path to college. And we all know if anything, anything at all wasn't squeaky clean, the NCAA would be more than happy to come in and punish ISU.
 

Spam

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May 21, 2008
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This is what makes me wonder if he wasn't using ISU as a ruse. "If I am being courted by KU, UK, UNC, and then decide to go to UNLV, people will think something is up. Let me put another mid pack BBall school on my top list, so that when I choose UNLV, they can think I didn't want the Blu-Blood school atmosphere."

I'll admit it seems shady, but at the same time, had he chose ISU, I'm sure most of the nation who follows college basketball loosely, would wonder why the hell he chose ISU. Yeah, we have Fred, things are looking up for ISU BBall, but honestly, it would look very strange.

I really don't follow this stuff too closely. Knowing what I know now though, about his school, his handler, etc. I'm somewhat OK that the "How did ISU get this guy?" attention won't be on us. There are a lot of shady things about this kid's path to college. And we all know if anything, anything at all wasn't squeaky clean, the NCAA would be more than happy to come in and punish ISU.

If he went to ISU, only Minnesota fans would think the whole thing looked strange.

But when he goes to UNLV- and you consider UNLV booster Cliff Findlay - funds prep school - RV goes to Findlay's prep school, former assistant coach of Findlay prep school is now UNLV assistant coach, RV's mentor from Minnesota is now assistant coach at Findlay Prep. In terms of shadiness, nothing beats that. Nothing illegal, though. Just shady. I'm surprised I actually convinced myself that ISU had a shot.
 

Cyclones01

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May 23, 2008
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This is what makes me wonder if he wasn't using ISU as a ruse. "If I am being courted by KU, UK, UNC, and then decide to go to UNLV, people will think something is up. Let me put another mid pack BBall school on my top list, so that when I choose UNLV, they can think I didn't want the Blu-Blood school atmosphere."

I'll admit it seems shady, but at the same time, had he chose ISU, I'm sure most of the nation who follows college basketball loosely, would wonder why the hell he chose ISU. Yeah, we have Fred, things are looking up for ISU BBall, but honestly, it would look very strange.

I really don't follow this stuff too closely. Knowing what I know now though, about his school, his handler, etc. I'm somewhat OK that the "How did ISU get this guy?" attention won't be on us. There are a lot of shady things about this kid's path to college. And we all know if anything, anything at all wasn't squeaky clean, the NCAA would be more than happy to come in and punish ISU.

I disagree. We've been recruiting him for a long time and he grew up fairly close by. It's not really that shady. It's not so much THAT he ended up picking UNLV, it's the circumstances that led to him picking UNLV, combined with the other recruits they have coming in when they have had very little success as recently as this year.
 

CoKane

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Oct 26, 2013
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This is what makes me wonder if he wasn't using ISU as a ruse. "If I am being courted by KU, UK, UNC, and then decide to go to UNLV, people will think something is up. Let me put another mid pack BBall school on my top list, so that when I choose UNLV, they can think I didn't want the Blu-Blood school atmosphere."

I'll admit it seems shady, but at the same time, had he chose ISU, I'm sure most of the nation who follows college basketball loosely, would wonder why the hell he chose ISU. Yeah, we have Fred, things are looking up for ISU BBall, but honestly, it would look very strange.

I really don't follow this stuff too closely. Knowing what I know now though, about his school, his handler, etc. I'm somewhat OK that the "How did ISU get this guy?" attention won't be on us. There are a lot of shady things about this kid's path to college. And we all know if anything, anything at all wasn't squeaky clean, the NCAA would be more than happy to come in and punish ISU.

At least we could explain why he would want to come here. We live close by and had been recruiting him since 9th grade, and we have Fred. I haven't found anything from a UNLV fan on why he committed there other then because they are " The Western Duke" or something stupid like that. To me that means they don't exactly know either.
 

CYKOFAN

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Mar 27, 2006
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Hate to see a kid eff up his potential up like I think Vaughn is doing. He could have been so much more NBA ready with Fred's help...sure it would have been hard...the Big 12 is a tough league. But if you're so damn special to begin with, that should have been embraced by Vaughn. Instead he takes a less hard route...less competition...he may even look good against it...but at the end of the day the NBA doesn't give a Tinkers damn about your Mountain West stats...can you play ball with the big boys is what they'll want. And unless he's the real deal...UNLV was a bad choice. IMO.

You're probably right and if Vaughn is thinking he's a one and done guy, I'm sure he's thinking he will put up bigger numbers at UNLV and in the Mountain West, so with the UNLV pick he's really putting his NBA career above all else imo. That's why I'm not that upset about losing him. Fred builds teams, and he may have had a problem getting Vaughn to buy into that. Blum's article was an eye opener too regarding one and done guys, and how they seldom have a big impact on good teams. And I'm sure Vaughn is a great player, but not an elite guy like a Durant, Griffin, etc. There's no guarantee an 18 year old Vaughn in his first college year will be much better than a 21 year old Nader or 20 year old Thomas with a year under his belt. The prestige of the big name recruit would have been great, but if Fred adds another good transfer, we may be better off than having a kid that is out there trying to put up big numbers for the NBA.
 

Dryburn

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Apr 3, 2006
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It will be interesting to see what happens with that UNLV team at the end of this season, and next season. No doubt there are players on that team now that are being recruited over, so some of them may transfer. If they don't....it will be interesting to see how Rice puts that all together next year. Of course, that could have happened at other schools too, including here at ISU.

UNLV has 14 on the roster now, 2 of them are seniors. It is believed that junior Roscoe Smith will declare for the draft, and is probably a low first-round to high 2nd round pick.
 

mj4cy

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Mar 28, 2006
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Agreed.....for some weird reason, I am not as upset that he chose UNLV. Comes off as a "me first" move. Give me guys like Niang, Morris, Ejim, ect who hours after getting destroyed by WV, own the losses on twitter and vow as a team to become stronger.
 

cyclonefreak

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Apr 26, 2013
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I love our team. Give me more guys like them.
I don't think we want to touch a questionable recruiting tactic like the Kaffey situation with a ten foot pole.
At first I was upset that he picked UNLV but now I am skeptical about the whole situation. I think we dodged a bullet on this deal!
 

HFCS

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Aug 13, 2010
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At least we could explain why he would want to come here. We live close by and had been recruiting him since 9th grade, and we have Fred. I haven't found anything from a UNLV fan on why he committed there other then because they are " The Western Duke" or something stupid like that. To me that means they don't exactly know either.

UCLA, USC, Arizona, and Arizona State all have the weather, the girls, much better exposure and recently much better basketball. I can't fathom how a kid would pick UNLV over any of them. Unless UNLV made it clear you don't have to go to class and the Pac 12 schools expect kids to be in school (well obviously also cash).

A one and done kid who would pick a mid-major program that's shown no signs of taking the next step when it signs top talent probably isn't as big of a loss as we're making it. Looking at his frame and skills you'd be happy if he produced the #s Clyburn did, which is fantastic for a freshman, but not irreplaceable.
 
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Wesley

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Apr 12, 2006
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You're probably right and if Vaughn is thinking he's a one and done guy, I'm sure he's thinking he will put up bigger numbers at UNLV and in the Mountain West, so with the UNLV pick he's really putting his NBA career above all else imo. That's why I'm not that upset about losing him. Fred builds teams, and he may have had a problem getting Vaughn to buy into that. Blum's article was an eye opener too regarding one and done guys, and how they seldom have a big impact on good teams. And I'm sure Vaughn is a great player, but not an elite guy like a Durant, Griffin, etc. There's no guarantee an 18 year old Vaughn in his first college year will be much better than a 21 year old Nader or 20 year old Thomas with a year under his belt. The prestige of the big name recruit would have been great, but if Fred adds another good transfer, we may be better off than having a kid that is out there trying to put up big numbers for the NBA.
He will not put up bigger numbers in the MWC unless he scores half their points , has all their assists, and a fourth of their rebounds. If he wanted big scoring numbers, he should have called Creighton.
 

CycloneVet

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Jul 17, 2011
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Honestly UNLV was the best place for him to go and KU would have been the worst if he wasn't coming to ISU. We will likely never have to play head to head against him, we won't have to watch constant coverage of him like we would have if he would have gone to KU and/or UK or UNC. Out of sight/ out of mind for me.