New venue
After more than a decade of playing the state high school basketball tournament every other season at the Orleans Arena, this year’s event will be contested at a new venue, the Cox Pavilion on the UNLV campus. Before the tournament was staged at the Orleans starting in 2005, UNR’s Lawlor Events Center was its home every year.
Preseason All-City
The Las Vegas Sun’s Super Seven preseason boys’ and girls’ all-city teams will be published online at lasvegassun.com on Dec. 6. The exclusive group is led by blue-chip college recruits Troy Brown Jr. of Centennial and Chuck O’Bannon Jr. of Bishop Gorman.
As soon as Noah Hartsock and his BYU basketball teammates walked onto the floor at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, they were greeted by a chorus of boos from Rebel faithful. In the mid-2000s, the rivalry with BYU in Mountain West Conference play partially defined the UNLV program — the games were competitive, there were heated exchanges among players and plenty of postgame message board trash talk among supporters.
“I remember being yelled at and cursed at so many times,” Hartsock said. “But that’s what made those nights so awesome. Those fans made it fun.”
Never in his wildest imagination on those game nights did Hartsock figure basketball would lead him back to Las Vegas. Hartsock, 29, is the first-year head coach at Centennial High School, landing one of Southern Nevada’s marquee preps jobs just a few years into his coaching career.
The Bulldogs, led by University of Oregon signee and five-star recruiting prospect Troy Brown Jr., are among the favorites to compete for the state championship. Hartsock was an assistant with Centennial last season, when it led perennial power Bishop Gorman deep into the fourth quarter before losing at the buzzer. The new season started Nov. 28.
After Hartsock’s BYU career ended in 2012, the forward played professionally for a few seasons in Spain. He returned to BYU as a graduate assistant coach, getting a more intimate schooling in coach Dave Rose’s up-tempo offense. BYU typically is one of the nation’s highest-scoring teams.
Were it not for Rose, Hartsock may not be in Las Vegas. He applied to handful of schools throughout the region looking for his first job, and had few solid responses until Chancellor Davis at Canyon Springs High contacted him. Davis played for Rose at Dixie State, then a junior college, before coming to UNLV. He figured anyone who studied under Rose would be a great fit. Hartsock got a job coaching physical education at Canyon Springs.
He moved near Centennial in northwest Las Vegas and showed up one day at the gym offering to be a volunteer coach. Todd Allen made him a varsity assistant.
“I didn’t know anything about the school,” Hartsock said. “I just wanted to stay in the game. I told him how much I loved the competition and would be willing to be a volunteer coach.”
When Allen suddenly moved this summer to the Chicago area, Hartsock jumped at the opportunity to be elevated to head coach. While he was young and lacked bench experience, his credentials as a player — he averaged 16.8 points, five rebounds, 1.6 blocks and 1.5 assists as a senior — couldn’t be disputed.
Hartsock’s BYU career included a Mountain West regular-season championship and Sweet 16 appearance. Yet, whenever someone brings up BYU, the conversation usually shifts to stories about sharp-shooter Jimmer Fredette. Fredette, whether it was his unusual first name, diminutive appearance at 6-foot-2, 195 pounds or the long-range shots he consistently drained to become the 2011 national player of the year, took the nation by storm.
Hartsock enjoyed being part of Jimmer-mania.
“It was unbelievable. I don’t think people will see that again,” Hartsock said. “Here’s this undersized, unathletic guard who can absolutely light it up and get by any defender. ... For us, he was always just Jimmer. Just a down-to-earth guy who was a friend, a buddy. He was just a nut on the court. A fierce competitor.”
Hartsock’s Centennial teams could resemble those of BYU. He initially won’t change much of Allen’s style but is stressing that players always push the ball up the court in transition.
“We don’t shoot the ball as well as (BYU) did,” Brown jokingly said. “But we are going to play at their pace. We get up and down the court a lot faster than we did last year. It helps us with the athletes we have.”
In addition to Brown, Centennial returns two other Division I recruits in Missouri State signee Darian Scott and point guard Isaiah Banks. It gives the Bulldogs one of the most experienced rosters in the state — a rarity for a first-time head coach. Plus, how many coaches in their 20s get to work with someone like Brown, who is projected to be picked in the NBA Draft in 2018?
But Hartsock isn’t overwhelmed. Players rave about how he treats them equally, refusing to give someone like Brown special treatment. It’s just how Rose coached Fredette, Hartsock said.
The state tournament will be at the Cox Pavilion, adjacent to the Thomas & Mack Center, in late February. That could bring Hartsock back to the UNLV campus for another memorable moment in his basketball journey.
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