Column: Kruger a Feel-Good Story at UNLV

UNLV coach Lon Kruger, right, talks to his son and UNLV guard Kevin Kruger during the second half of a Mountain West Conference men's basketball tournament game against Utah at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas in this March 8, 2007 file photo. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File) (Jae C. Hong - AP)

LAS VEGAS -- UNLV has had more than its share of issues with the NCAA over the years, so it wasn't surprising there was some grumbling about town when a team hotter than the clubs on the glittering Las Vegas Strip managed only a No. 7 seed in the Midwest Regional.

The Runnin' Rebels deserved better, but their diplomatic coach and his equally diplomatic point guard weren't going to cry about it in public. Not when their team still has a chance to do what no UNLV team has done in 16 years: win a game in the NCAA tournament.

Not when there's still precious time left in a magical season for both a father and his son.

"Just having him around every day has been a blessing," coach Lon Kruger said.

Him, for those who haven't seen this year's version of the school Tark made famous, is Kevin Kruger, a coach's son if there ever was one. An extension of his father on the court, he's a big reason UNLV is 28-6 this year, the Mountain West tournament champ, and winner of nine of its last 10 games.

It's a feel-good story in a town where not all stories end so well. A son with one year of college ball left uses it to play for his father for the first time in his career, and together the two help resurrect a once-vaunted program.

If that's not good enough, it could get even better. UNLV may be a dark horse in the mind of the NCAA selection committee, but it has the kind of team that could cause problems in the tournament. These Rebels don't run like those in Jerry Tarkanian's day, but they play equally good pressure defense and are adept at taking other teams out of their game plans.

None of it would have happened, though, if not for an inadvertent gift from, of all people, the NCAA. The same guys who stalked Tarkanian to see if he was buying a recruit a soft drink gave the Krugers an unexpected opportunity to spend the season bonding _ and winning.

"It's been a fun ride," Kevin Kruger said. "Being around my family and these guys has just been wonderful."

The younger Kruger was getting ready last summer to return to Arizona State, where he was an All-Pac-10 honorable mention the year before, when a friend told him about another player who had taken advantage of a new NCAA rule to transfer to another school.

The rule is no longer in place, lasting less than a year before being overturned a few months ago. It allowed an athlete who had already graduated with a year's eligibility left to use that eligibility at a different school.

"My first thought was I wanted to play for my dad," Kruger said. "I called him up and asked him if he had heard about it, and he explained it to me."