HBO Sports has started production on Runnin’ Rebels Of UNLV, a documentary on head coach Jerry Tarkanian and his UNLV men’s basketball teams.
Based on the HBO release, this might be one of their best documentaries yet:
Runnin’ Rebels Of UNLV examines the larger-than-life personalities of future NBA stars such as Larry Johnson, Greg Anthony and Stacey Augmon, as well as the eccentricities of their head coach, who was a lightning rod for controversy. Jerry Tarkanian put UNLV – once dismissed as “Tumbleweed Tech” – on the map in his first full season as head coach, leading the team to a 20-6 record in 1973. Implementing an up-tempo offense and preaching defensive intensity, he guided the Rebels to the Final Four four times and won the 1990 NCAA Championship with a 30-point drubbing of the Duke Blue Devils.
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Runnin’ Rebels Of UNLV will air in 2011, on the eve of the March Madness tournament.
“The Runnin’ Rebels’ impact on college basketball is indisputable,” said HBO Sports president Ross Greenburg. “Their accomplishments on the court made them royalty in Las Vegas, and their glamorous approach made them media stars nationally, but their coach’s enduring battle with the NCAA eventually triggered the end of the dynasty. We are going to chronicle their story, providing an in-depth portrait of the main characters who lit up the desert.”