After practice Monday at the Thomas & Mack Center, UNLV junior guard Wink Adams said he intends to return to school next fall for his senior season.
Fourth-year Rebels coach Lon Kruger doesn’t plan on altering his address, either.
“Nothing different from what we’ve done every year,” Kruger said. “We’re not interested in anything but coaching our squad on Thursday.”
UNLV opens the NCAA tournament Thursday, at about noon in Omaha, Neb., against Kent State.
This being the madness of March, speculation often percolates about coaching vacancies and undergraduates who might leave early for professional contracts.
Each of those, in relation to UNLV, seemed to be quelled Monday.
Adams, sick with a bad flu bug, did not take part in an hour-long practice. He sat in a sidecourt chair wearing a long white sweater and he coughed into a red towel around his neck.
His mother, Reandre, held his hand in his bed Sunday night until he fell asleep. She said she’s praying for a quick recovery, and she talked about how much it will mean to her to see Wink graduate after next season.
“I told him I want him to get that diploma,” said Reandre Adams, who attended the practice.
When asked about his intentions, Wink Adams laughed.
“Oh, yeah,” he said, “I’ll be back.”
Adams leads the Rebels with 16.6 points a game, and he's also the team's best free-throw shooter, at 84.1 percent. With Curtis Terry and Joe Darger, he's the third part of UNLV's dangerous 3-point shooters.
Kruger had been mentioned in relation to several openings over the past two springs.
After the Rebels’ run to the Sweet 16 a year ago, athletic director Mike Hamrick signed Kruger to a new five-year, $5.17-million contract.
Kruger, 55, gets a $325,000 completion bonus if he’s still the UNLV coach on the last business day of March 2012, and the contract has a $500,000 buyout clause.
Kruger earned $25,000 for UNLV earning a berth in the NCAAs this year and he gets an additional $25,000 per victory in the tournament.
“I haven’t got any interest in doing anything except coaching on Thursday,” Kruger said. “I’ve never been interested in anywhere else other than the job I’ve had. That hasn’t changed at all.”
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