LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Mountain West basketball teams are flocking to Resorts World Las Vegas this week for the conference's media days. The women's teams will take center stage on Wednesday, and the men's teams will speak on Thursday.
Coming off three consecutive Mountain West championships, the Lady Rebels were ranked #1 in the conference's preseason poll, receiving 21 of 30 votes. Three Lady Rebels made the All-Mountain West team, including senior guard Kiara Jackson, senior forward Alyssa Brown, and sophomore guard Amarachi Kimpson.
The Lady Rebels have cracked the AP Top 25 in each of the last two seasons. After beating San Diego St. in the Mountain West championship game last year, UNLV went on to fall to Creighton in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
Channel 13 sports reporter Nick Walters attended media day to learn about the Lady Rebels' lofty goals and how they plan to replace star center, Desi-Rae Young.
While the team pursues a fourth straight conference championship, the Lady Rebels may not be satisfied with just another Mountain West title. Without an NCAA Tournament win to the program's name since 1991, the Lady Rebels hope to finally go on a run in The Big Dance.
"The chip on our shoulder is to get to that NCAA Tournament and to win the game," head coach Lindy La Rocque said. "And then see how far we can roll with it."
"We talk all the time, saying 'we want to go on a run in March and make it past the first round,' Jackson said.
"We know we have a target on our back," Brown said. "That motivates us more than anything to continue to push back expectations and standards."
Head coach Lindy La Rocque and UNLV staff have set up a more challenging non-conference schedule this season, hopefully preparing the team for NCAA Tournament competition.
"We've got a different approach and different mindset going into this non-conference season," La Rocque said. "We were 10-1 last year. I don't expect to be 10-1 in non-conference again. Our schedule is going to be much tougher. It may not be dependent on our record, but how we grow between each game is, I think, what I'm most looking forward to."
The Lady Rebels begin exhibition play on October 29 and tip off their regular season on November 4 at home against ULM.
