Now that recruiting for the 2012 class is over and that the early entrants for the NBA Draft is complete the odds for who will cut down the nets in 2013 have been released by Bovada, and UNLV comes in at 40/1 to win the title.

Here are the early odds:

Indiana 7/1
Louisville 8/1
Kentucky 10/1
Duke 15/1
Florida 15/1
North Carolina 15/1
UCLA 15/1
Kansas 18/1
Michigan 20/1
North Carolina State 20/1
Ohio State 20/1
Syracuse 20/1
Michigan State 22/1
Arizona 25/1
Baylor 25/1
Memphis 25/1
Creighton 30/1
St. John's 30/1
Missouri 35/1
Texas 35/1
Florida State 40/1
Georgetown 40/1
Pittsburgh 40/1
Stanford 40/1
UNLV 40/1

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When rapper/reality star (he has a tv show so I guess that counts) appeared in the student section of this past Saturday's game against San Diego State it seemed like a stunt. Well that is not exactly the case as Flav was invited to attend UNLV games and enjoyed it that he became a regular.

His appearance in the student section was his first but, he is not just jumping on the bandwagon because UNLV is good. Flav even attended the open house of the new Mendenhall Center.

Now with a well-known figure for UNLV, I am hoping that they make a deep NCAA tournament run so that there can be more shots of Flava Flav in the crowd for UNLV games. The way UNLV has been playing it seems like a sure thing.

Here is Flav running some suicides in the new Mendenhall Center:

While the game between UNLV and San Diego State was amazing there was a lot of other stuff going on that merit attention in this game, but before we get to that stuff lets talk about the game itself. UNLV nearly blew an 18-point lead and let San Diego State back in this game and UNLV went on a scoring drought late in the second half.

San Diego State crawled their way back into the game and took a 63-62 lead on a Chase Tapley three-pointer, and then on the following possession UNLV missed their own three-pointer. UNLV's Mike Moser stole the ball from Xavier Thomas and set up a layup for Anthony Marshall to put them back up by one point. Then Marshall stole the ball from San Diego State which eventually lead to Justin Hawkins making one of two free throws to give UNLV a 63-65 lead.

The defensive play for UNLV was the steal at the end of the game by Hawkins with 10 seconds left which did not allow San Diego State to have a chance to tie or win the game.

UNLV was lead once again by Moser who had a team-high 19 points, nine rebounds, six steals and four blocks.

HIghlights and photos from the game are after the jump:

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The UNLV Runnin' Rebels basketball program is starting to match their national ranking with their facilities on campus with the brand new Mendenhall Center. This facility is for the basketball team only and it is open at any time for them to lift weights, shoot and their are computers where the players can do homework as well.

Former coach Lon Kruger was around during the process of this and said this will help out UNLV quite a bit:

"When recruits come to campus, that facility is maybe as important as the playing arena itself, because players spend so much time there," Kruger said from his office at Oklahoma. "Anytime players are on campus and not in class, they’ll spend their time there. They’ve got computers, courts available to shoot at any time, weight room; hugely important from a day-to-day standpoint but also very important in the recruiting process."

This new building is on par with the top teams in the country and with it being a recruiting tool perhaps UNLV could land the 2012 No. 1 recruit Shabazz Muhammad and other top prospect in the upcoming years.

The building is adjacent to the Thomas & Mack Center and is a place where players will be spending a lot of time. The building officially opens today and there will be a public open house on Jan. 28 with an open house from 1 - 3 p.m. (PT).

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UNLV just landed former McDonald's All-American Khem Birch who decided to transfer from Pitt to UNLV. The 6-foot-9 forward choose UNLV over Florida:

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UNLV has been a good place for transfers to succeed with Michael Moser being the most recent example for success. UNLV was mentioned as a possible landing spot for Pitt freshman Khem Birch, but now Birch is down to picking UNLV or the Florida Gators and will make his decision on Monday.

Birch took visits to Florida and watched their game against UAB and he also took a visti to New Mexico State before making his way to view an UNLV practice on Sunday morning. Originally Birch was to make his selection Sunday night, but now it is expected to come today.

Birch is a former McDonald's All-American from the 2011 class and if Birch does go to UNLV it could help them land local recruit Shabaaz Muhammad who is the No. 1 recruit in the 2012 class.

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Former high school McDonald's All-American and current Pittsburgh Panthers freshman Khem Birch has announced that he is leaving the school to pursue a better opportunity for his basketball career:

"I'm leaving," Birch told CBSSports.com on Friday night. "I'm headed to Toronto now. I enjoyed my time at Pittsburgh, I love Coach (Jamie) Dixon, had no problems with the staff and the players. It just wasn't the right fit for me."

Birch has played in 15 games averaging 4.4 points and five rebounds in 10 games this season. The former five-star Birch said that Pitt is not a good fit and that he wants a school that will prepare himfor the NBA ($):

"He's looking for development, a school that will develop him like a big man," Sparks said. "Khem's mentality is that he wants to play the sport and if he makes the (NBA) he wants to be good. Khem wants to learn as much as he can. He wants a school that's going to run him up and down the court. He doesn't want to play center, he wants to be a four."

Birch is from Massachusetts and is looking to get away from the East coast by looking at the Florida Gators, New Mexico St. Aggies, Gonzaga Bulldogs, Oregon St. Beavers and the UNLV Runnin' Rebels. He is looking to take visits starting this week, but has not set up specific dates. If he is looking to go to the NBA Oregon State and New Mexico State are odd choices; does he realize that Reggie Theus is no longer the head coach at New Mexico State?

UNLV and Gonzaga also are not NBA factories, so his choices are not really adding up to what his ultimate goal is. His high school coach gets the feeling that he is being advised by the wrong people, and he believes it will not end well for Khem.

I don't know too much about his situation, but deciding to transfer 10 games in his freshman year is not a good sign. However, if he has the talent -- by all indications from his high school career he does -- a team will take a chance on him.

So much for UNLV being an elite team, at least not at this time. On Sunday night, UNLV was easily handled by Wichita State 89-70, and before people complain UNLV getting routed by a Missouri Valley team remember that the MVC is a comparable league to the Mountain West. Also, Wichita State is a pretty good team, their only loses on the year came to a ranked Alabama team and Temple who is projected to finish second in the A-10 this year; also consider that Wichita State is a tough out at home and is 4-0 this year at Charles Koch Arena. This was also a game that Wichita State had to win since it was their last chance to earn a marquee non-conference win.

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