University Of Nevada At Las Vegas

The Supreme Court, in a key ruling supporting the enforcement powers of the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., ruled Monday that the organization may force Nevada Las Vegas to suspend its highly successful basketball coach, Jerry Tarkanian, for recruiting violations and other irregularities. On a 5-4 vote, the high court said that the NCAA does not have to follow the same constitutional guidelines that cover government agencies in investigating violations of regulations.

The Stardust hotel, imploded last week, is a pile of rubble but "Titanic, the Exhibition," is back "by popular demand" at the Tropicana. Miami Dolphins linebacker Joey Porter may also be sinking fast after allegedly punching a Cincinnati Bengal over blackjack at the Palms. Danny Gans is playing the Mirage; David Hasselhoff is starring down the Strip in "The Producers." And, perhaps the biggest news, Nevada Las Vegas basketball has reunited and is taking its act to St. Louis.

At the stroke of midnight, Halloween was officially over, but the basketball season for the University of Nevada at Las Vegas had only begun. Students dressed as vampires, as werewolves and as Larry Johnson's grandmother were here to start the party. And so was the new coach, Rollie Massimino, looking very Vegas indeed. They love their basketball here, really love it, and thousands have come to express their continued support.

One of college football's most successful coaches looked in the mirror this week and watched his lips form the dreaded words: It's time to go. It was not 77-year-old Joe Paterno, whose Penn State team has lost 28 games since the 2000 season. It was not 74-year-old Bobby Bowden, whose Florida State squads have not gotten better with (the coach's) age.

THE BIG YEAR IS HERE! --Cover of UNLV basketball yearbook, published in October Duke didn't have the Vegas idea what was happening out there. This one was the Gunfight at the Coach K corral. This one was the ambush by the guns from Glitter Gulch. This one was for every card shark, saloon gal, rustler, hustler and homesteader who has ever set foot inside the sandy city limits of Las Vegas, Nev.

The Jerry Tarkanian farewell tour is under way and the trail so far has been a lonely one. No cars. No bouquets. No engraved rocking chairs. Not even an embossed set of matching towels, folded twice and dipped in water. Thursday night at Titan Gym, there was a plaque. And a handshake from Cal State Fullerton Athletic Director Bill Shumard, an old friend from their days together at Long Beach. And a brief standing ovation.

Two Nevada Las Vegas players received suspensions from Big West Commissioner Jim Haney Friday night for their roles in the brawl that occurred at the end of the Rebels' victory over Utah State Thursday at Las Vegas. Reserve center Chris Jeter, who instigated the melee, was suspended for three games, starting with UNLV's nationally televised game against North Carolina State today. Jeter also must sit out UNLV's game against San Jose State Monday and the March 1 game at Utah State.

For many, recruiting Pauline Jordan was simply too much trouble. Geannine, her identical twin sister, was always in the way. The two were inseparable, and to get one you had to take the other. "I didn't want to experience playing against Geannine," Pauline says. Still, interest in Pauline Jordan, a star at Pasadena Muir High, was intense enough in 1987 that many of the nation's top women's basketball programs, according to the twins, were willing to take a package deal.

Lloyd Daniels, one of the most controversial basketball players ever to enroll at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, has never played a game for the Runnin' Rebels and probably never will. Arrested in a North Las Vegas drug bust last February, Daniels, 19, has entered a three-month drug rehabilitation program and has said he hopes to play professional basketball next year.

They smile at you as if they were best friends. There, on a miniature billboard inside a terminal at Las Vegas' McCarron Airport, is a publicity shot featuring President George Bush and photo-op-for-a-moment, former UNLV point guard Greg Anthony. Taken shortly after the Rebels won the 1989-90 NCAA championship, the picture is the centerpiece of an ad campaign extolling the virtues of a university short on positive images.

Nevada Las Vegas hired Lon Kruger, a veteran college and pro coach, to lead the Runnin' Rebels basketball program back to national prominence. Kruger accepted a five-year contract Monday, UNLV Athletic Director Mike Hamrick said. The Nevada Board of Regents must approve the hiring at its Thursday meeting. Kruger, fired last season by the Atlanta Hawks, most recently was an assistant coach for the New York Knicks. "Every [criterion] we set out for has been met," Hamrick said.

He's a solitary figure, and that's just the way he likes it, sitting alone in the uppermost row of seats behind first base at Earl E. Wilson Stadium. His view is unobstructed, the teasing lights of the Strip glimmering in the distance while his pride and joy takes his place on the field, until the waves of autograph seekers begin to crash his solitude between innings. "Are you Fernando's dad?" a youngster asks.

Dalron Johnson contemplated a transfer. Marcus Banks said he had been released from his letter of intent and was exploring his options. It was March 2001. The coaching search that Nevada Las Vegas was conducting in the wake of Bill Bayno's in-season firing seemed fruitless, especially after UNLV officials had been spurned by Rick Pitino and could not secure an interview with a very interested Ben Howland.

Football Coach John Robinson of Nevada Las Vegas said Monday that he would address an awkward situation that occurred Saturday, when assistant head coach John Jackson left the Rebels' game early to get to a boxing card in which he was promoting a fighter. Jackson, who earns $119,600 annually for overseeing UNLV's running game, left Sam Boyd Stadium with about three minutes left in regulation and the Rebels leading Wyoming by eight points.

If John Robinson's Nevada Las Vegas football team defeats Oregon State on Saturday, it will be the 200th victory in his professional/college career. It's not going to happen, of course, so I stopped by his office Wednesday to tell him so. I see no reason to treat him any differently than Pete Carroll and Bob Toledo.

Bobby Braswell spent Monday answering his e-mail, not questions about his coaching future. "You're lucky I answered the phone," said Braswell, the Cal State Northridge basketball coach. Braswell in recent weeks has been besieged by inquiries, professional and personal, after leading Northridge to its first NCAA tournament appearance.

It didn't matter that Lamar Odom took the money and ran. It didn't matter that Odom never played a minute at Nevada Las Vegas. What did matter to the NCAA was that dating to 1996, UNLV broke rules in recruiting Odom. So the NCAA on Tuesday hit UNLV with four years of probation, including a ban from postseason play this season. And sixth-year coach Bill Bayno paid for the indiscretions, and other NCAA violations, with his job.

Two former El Dorado High School baseball standouts have signed professional contracts, El Dorado Coach Steve Gullotti said Monday. Jay Hassel, a right-handed pitcher, signed with the Chicago Cubs. He is on his way to the Cubs' Class-A team in Huntington, Va. Hassel played at San Diego State this spring and at Rancho Santiago for two seasons before that. Kevin Schula, a catcher who played at Oklahoma this spring, signed with the Atlanta Braves.

Plans to introduce Rick Pitino as the new Nevada Las Vegas men's basketball coach this week were scrapped after Pitino surprisingly pulled his name from consideration late Sunday night. A former booster who was close to the "unofficial" negotiations said UNLV President Carol Harter and Athletic Director Charles Cavagnaro bungled the deal. "We had the wrong people negotiating for us and representing us in this situation," said the booster, who wished to remain anonymous.

The Nevada Las Vegas basketball program would join the nation's elite within two years if Rick Pitino becomes the team's coach, said Jerry Tarkanian, the school's former coach, said. "He'd be a great, great choice," said Tarkanian, who coaches Fresno State. "They'd be right up there with the best of them in two years." Pitino resigned Monday as president and coach of the Boston Celtics.