Runnin' with the Rebels.

Byline: Adam Jude The Register-Guard

Suddenly, another team that will play the Ducks - UNLV - is the darling of the national media.

With no George Mason to talk about this season, and with Winthrop eliminated by Oregon on Sunday, now ESPN, Sports Illustrated and USA Today, among others, are hyping UNLV as the feel-good story of the NCAA Tournament.

Dubbed "Sin-derella," the seventh-seeded Runnin' Rebels knocked off No. 2-seed Wisconsin, 74-68, Sunday in the men's basketball tournament's biggest upset thus far, extending their best season since the Jerry Tarkanian era.

File video of Larry Johnson, Stacey Augmon and UNLV's 1990 national championship team is being played more than a $2 blackjack table, and we're predicting a national towel-biting frenzy after images of Tarkanian's unusual habit are shown this week ad nauseam. It's enough to make you gag.

Everyone seems to want a piece of coach Lon Kruger, who was interviewed on national TV and radio Monday in preparation for UNLV's Midwest Regional semifinal game Friday against third-seeded Oregon in St. Louis.

The oddsmakers say otherwise - USA Today's Danny Sheridan is giving Oregon a 2 1/2 -point edge- but 19th-ranked UNLV (30-6) is becoming the sentimental favorite.

In honor of the Rebels' first Sweet 16 appearance in 16 years, we bring you the 16 reasons to bet on Vegas. (Please forward refund requests to company management).

16A return to relevance: Kruger, in his third season as the UNLV coach, has resurrected a program that went through nine coaches in 13 seasons. Until Friday, the Rebels hadn't won an NCAA Tournament game since 1991.

"I'm really, really happy for our guys and fans and everyone involved," Kruger said. "The expressions on the players' faces are so gratifying."

UNLV is the fourth school Kruger has led to the NCAA Tournament and his third to advance to the Sweet 16. He led Florida to the Final Four in 1994, and coached the NBA's Atlanta Hawks from 2000-03.

15The Kruger connection: Kevin Kruger, the coach's son and former Arizona State starter, was 1-for-15 from the field in two tournament games - until he hit three consecutive three-pointers plus three more free throws in a four-minute stretch to help the Rebels erase a five-point second-half deficit against Wisconsin.

He finished with 16 points, six rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers.

"I just had a little faith," he told reporters afterward.

14Something to prove: Is there anyone who doesn't feel disrespected at this point? Doubt it. Like Oregon, UNLV used the "Billy-Packer-said-we're-not-as-good-as-we-think-we-are" mantra as motivation in its upset of Wisconsin.

When talking about the Rebels, Packer referred to the Mountain West Conference as "the Big Mountain," according to Las Vegas Sun columnist Ron Kantowski, who wrote that UNLV surprised many by not folding "against big, bad Wisconsin from the monolithic Big 10, a conference that Billy Packer has never misidentified on TV."

13A Rebel-lious bunch: The underdog tag is nothing new for the Rebels, who were projected to finish sixth in the Mountain West in the preseason media poll.

UNLV placed second in the regular season before edging Brigham Young to win the conference tournament title and an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament.

"We weren't expected to do anything in our own conference and (now) we're one of the last 16 to be playing," reserve guard Curtis Terry said. "It's a great feeling."

12The last glass slipper: At No. 7, UNLV is the lowest seed still alive in the tournament. (It's the first time since 1995 that a double-digit seed has not advanced to the Sweet 16.) Many prognosticators have changed their tune, favoring the Rebels against the Ducks.

Four of six ESPN.com "experts" polled picked UNLV in the upset.

"Anybody who watched the (second-round) game knows this was no fluke. The Rebels were that good, that well-coached and that underestimated," wrote Gene Wojciechowski of ESPN.com.

Packer is MIA.

11He wasn't lying: Even before the season, Kevin Kruger had a good feeling about the Rebels.

"I said we're going to make noise in the NCAA Tournament, and that's what we've done so far," he said. "Nobody really believed it when I said it. Nobody can call me a liar now."

10Three-for-all: Oregon may have found a worthy challenger in a three-point shooting contest. UNLV hit half of its three-point attempts - 10-of-20 - against the Badgers, including 4-of-7 in the second half.

Overall, UNLV is 280-for-769 (.364) on three-point attempts this season. Oregon is 329-for-852 (.386).

9Small-ball equals: The Rebels, much like the Ducks, play a three-guard lineup, with 6-foot-8 Gaston Essengue the tallest starter.

Four of the starters are seniors - Kruger, Essengue, Wendell White and Michael Umeh - with sophomore guard Wink Adams the only underclassman.

8The dude's name is Wink: How cool is that? It isn't all good for Wink, though. Adams suffered a badly bruised tailbone in the second half against Wisconsin, and he told The Associated Press on Monday that he's only "60, 65 percent right now." If healthy, he will likely get the defensive assignment on Oregon's Aaron Brooks.

"I just take pride in containing guards and just kind of slowing them down," he said. "You got to be almost close to 100 percent against Aaron Brooks. Hopefully I'll be there."

7You're so money, Mikey: Umeh, a senior guard, returned to form this season after missing much of last year with a knee injury. He had 19 points in the first-round win over Georgia Tech, and added seven points and seven rebounds against Wisconsin.

"We definitely weren't intimidated at all," Umeh told reporters after Sunday's win. "Everybody on this team is hungry."

Umeh has served as the team's emotional leader this season, both on and off the court. His three three-pointers in the opening minutes Friday set the tone in a 67-37 first-round win over Georgia Tech.

"I knew Mike was going to come out fired up," Adams said. "The way he came out, he boosted the whole team."

6No Bull: White, a 6-6 forward, had 22 points on 8-for-12 shooting on Sunday while also helping in the defense of Wisconsin star Alando Tucker.

"He's the `Bull' for a reason," Kevin Kruger told USA Today. "He's a mismatch at (power forward) in a good way. If they want to go big, he's too quick for their big men. If they want to go small, then he goes to the post.

"Unless they have a power guard as good as Wendell, which 99 percent of teams don't, then they have to do something different than they've done all year long."

Despite bruising his ribs late in Friday's game against Georgia Tech, White scored the go-ahead basket with 1:11 left.

After taking Vicodin to calm the pain on Saturday, White wore a protective guard around his midsection Sunday.

5A return to glory: White chose to attend UNLV, in part, because of his favorite player growing up was Larry Johnson, who led the Rebels to the 1990 national title.

White has drawn some comparisons to Johnson - they're both 6-6 and both led the team in scoring - and he's hoping, like Johnson, to reach the Final Four.

"We've brought a little bit of that (glory) back," White said. "We're trying to bring a lot of that back."

4Trivia: Did you know UNLV is, by percentage, the third-winningest Division I team in NCAA history? Really. It's true. You can use that at the water cooler.

With a winning percentage of .712 - a record of 1,010-409 in 49 years - the Rebels trail only Kentucky (.762) and North Carolina (.733).

3Deep trouble: Six reserves emerged Sunday from the UNLV bench, including Terry, who had two key baskets in the final two minutes - a three-pointer that extended the Rebels' lead to 69-61 and a floater in the lane with 33 seconds that made it 72-67.

2No handouts: The Rebels rank seventh in the nation in fewest turnovers, averaging just 11.2 per game. They had only nine against Wisconsin.

1Streaking: A nine-game winning streak has Vegas - and the nation - buzzing, and the Rebels' locker room is growing with optimism.

"We just don't give up," Adams said. "We play until there are all zeros across the clock. Every game we have to go out and improve ourselves."

Added Essengue, the senior post: "We're going to show people we can be called one of the best teams in the country."