tournaments, and established itself as a regional power. Though the schools were separated by just , John Wooden of UCLA refused to schedule a regular season game with them. At the peak of Wooden's dynasty, the schools met in the 1971 West Regional final. Long Beach led at the half by 12, but UCLA prevailed 57–55 en route to their fifth straight national championship. Wary of continuing in UCLA's shadow, Tarkanian accepted an offer to coach at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in 1973. University of Nevada, Las Vegas (1973–1992) Prior to his arrival, UNLV was dubbed "Tumbleweed Tech" by locals, and their basketball program had no winning track record and minimal fan support. However, he achieved much success there, coaching the Runnin' Rebels from 1973 to 1992. In fact, it was Tarkanian's idea to call the team the "Runnin' Rebels." His teams were known for run-and-gun offense, stifling defense, and going on long runs that turned close games into blowouts. They hit their peak after joining the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (now the Big West Conference) in 1982, winning or sharing 10 straight regular-season titles and winning seven tournament titles. He took his UNLV teams to four Final Fours. In the first, in 1977 (only seven years after the program joined Division I), the Rebels lost to North Carolina in the semifinals. The Rebels averaged 109 points per game that season in an era before the shot clock or the three-point shot. However, North Carolina controlled the tempo with coach Dean Smith's famous four corners offense, and the Rebels lost 84–83. Ten years later, UNLV was defeated by eventual national champion Indiana. Finally, in the 1990 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament Tarkanian led UNLV to the championship, prevailing 103–73 against Duke, the largest margin of victory for a championship game in tournament history. That season, the team was heavily monitored by the NCAA, which visited their campus 11 times, and suspended 10 players at various times. The 1990–91 team appeared poised to repeat as champions after running their record to 34–0 while winning by an average margin of 27.3 points. However, a rematch against Duke in the national semifinals saw the Blue Devils prevail 79–77 after the Rebels' Anderson Hunt missed a 22-foot shot at the buzzer. Tarkanian had been under more or less constant scrutiny from the NCAA for most of his career, but managed to