When HBO does a documentary, mini-series or tv show it is typically something good. They are now taking on UNLV basketball -- thanks to daedalus17 for the info in a fan shot with the details -- from the 1970s through 1992 under the Jerry Tarkanian years which included a 1990 national title, NCAA allegations and NCAA penalties handed down.
The point shaving scandal was a big deal and it surrounding the 1989-1990 team which won the national title in a 30-point win over Duke. Big trouble came at UNLV when it was found out that Reble players were hanging out with Richie "The Fixer" Perry who was convicted of a point shaving scandal in 1984 with Boston College and served jail time. It was this photo with the accompanying story by the Las Vegas Review-Journal that blew open the story which talks about how players hung out at his house and gave the players money; this would be a good story to read before watching the documentary.
While the documentary will be a lot about the NCAA investigations it also talks about how Tark took the Rebels from nothing to a national power with possibly one of the best team in NCAA basketball history.
Another good piece to get acquainted with what the documentary will cover comes from an ESPN ran a story that was about the 20th anniversary of that 1990 UNLV title team, and of course talked about Tark's run-ins with the NCAA at Long Beach State and UNLV:
The NCAA and Tarkanian had a long, ugly history. His 1968 to 1973 tenure at Long Beach State produced 23 rules violations, and six days after he was hired at UNLV the NCAA opened an investigation of the school and its previous coach John Bayer. In 1977, five months after the school's first Final Four appearance, the NCAA ordered a two-year probation for UNLV and recommended Tarkanian be suspended for the duration of the probation. UNLV complied and suspended Tarkanian, after which he sued UNLV and received an injunction prohibiting his suspension. Tarkanian later added the NCAA to his original lawsuit and 11 years later the case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The recruitment of New Yorker Lloyd Daniels in 1986 triggered another NCAA investigation. In the nine months before the 1990 NCAA tournament, investigators visited UNLV 11 times. Ten different players from that team were suspended at one time or another, for a variety of academic and rules infractions, most often for unbilled telephone calls and hotel incidentals on road trips.
Here is a video from that same ESPN story.
The HBO documentary which is titled Runnin' Rebels of UNLV will air at 9:30 p.m. ET on March 12. Here are a bunch of videos from HBO about the documentary.