Pac-12 Basketball: What would a conference challenge look like?

Washington Huskies vs UNLV Running Rebels

This is a matchup of two programs who seem to have hit rock bottom. UNLV’s head coach Marvin Menzies has a total rebuild on his hands and hopes to find some gems to make the Running Rebels relevant again. Local top 15 prospect Brandon McCoy will look to make a big impact in his probable one and done season.

Lorenzo Romar was relieved of his duties after several underachieving years with NBA level talent on the roster. Former Syracuse assistant Mike Hopkins will take over and commit to a rebuilding effort on his own. Something to look at will be the defensive scheme Hopkins will deploy, coming from the Boeheim coaching tree.

With Noah Dickerson returning, the Huskies will have a player to build around. The question with this team will be were they just badly coached or they’re not good players. As talented of athletes they were, the defense was beyond awful.

This one is the big unknown because of all the new pieces involved. Neither team is expected to do much this year, but a win could help the process going forward. Washington has the better team, but McCoy is the best player on the court. With no one to guard him on the Huskies, the Rebels win this one.

Prediction: UNLV