File Photo/Nevada Sagebrush.

Nevada Men’s Basketball is about to start their most anticipated season in school history as the Wolf Pack are projected to be a top 10 team and aspire for a national championship. The atmosphere around the school’s basketball program is something never seen before at Nevada. In the short time since the arrival of Eric Musselman in 2015, the Wolf Pack have gone from a laughing stock in the conference to the face of it.

Musselman gets credit for turning the program around and rightly so, but there has been someone next to him for his entirety at Nevada — Lindsey Drew. Drew has been the starting point guard for Nevada since his freshman year and run the offense unselfishly, leading the Mountain West in assists during the 2016-17 season. Drew is also one of the best defenders as he was part of the Mountain West All-Defense Team last season, despite missing the last month and a half with a torn achilles suffered in a game against Boise State on Feb. 14.

Drew has been rehabilitating, trying to get healthy before the start of the season next month. This year may be Nevada’s best chance to win a national championship. Finishing something he helped start seems to be the focus for Drew, but he does have the option to redshirt this year and take his time to get healthy.

If Drew sits, the Wolf Pack loses one of it’s best defenders and someone who can run Musselman’s offense, and let Cody Martin take a backseat or even rest on the bench. Sitting a year would mean Drew would be the leader of a Wolf Pack team will lose both Martin twins, Jordan Caroline, Tre’Shawn Thurman and possibly others.

If Drew plays, his minutes and everybody else’s minutes would be cut into, but Drew could lead a second unit. There is the possibility that Drew is not back to 100 percent and hurts himself or himself through the eyes of pro scouts.  

Nevada is a national title contender with or without Drew this season but the question is — what is Lindsey Drew’s role?  There is still time for Drew to decide — Nov. 6, is Nevada’s opener against BYU — and either way it looks as if Nevada gets the best of Drew in this situation of uncertainty.

Darion Strugs can be reached at dstrugs@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @dstrugs.