UNLV's Uche Ofoegbu (2) drives past Duke's Chase Jeter (2) during the Rebels home matchup with the Blue Devils at T-Mobile Arena on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2016, in Las Vegas. (Benjamin Hager/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
The reunion of brands came 25 years later, a gathering of more than 19,000 witnesses in sparkling T-Mobile Arena, basketball programs in UNLV and Duke that once offered a few of the more memorable Final Four matchups in history.
That was then, and now is a lifetime from such significant games.
Forget the notion that reality is an illusion, because what transpired Saturday is very much an authentic example of where the Rebels are as a program in 2016.