Odom near the finish line

Steve Carp

Friday, June 6, 1997 | 5:47 a.m.

Lamar Odom's roller-coaster academic ride through high school has one more run before coming to a final stop.

The 6-foot-10 prep basketball All-American headed for UNLV finishes final exams at St. Thomas Aquinas in New Britain, Conn., today. But he'll need to take one summer class to fulfill his graduation requirements.

The elective class can be taken anywhere, as long as the curriculum complies with the state of Connecticut's.

"He has two finals left to take," said St. Thomas Aquinas principal Dave McCreesh. "If Lamar passes the finals, he'll participate in Tuesday's graduation. When someone is that close to graduating like Lamar is, we allow them to attend the commencement."

Odom took his English final Wednesday. If he passed, he'll have met the NCAA core requirements for eligibility. He already has a passing score on his standardized test (22 on the ACT).

Once he successfully completes his summer school course, he'll have enough passable units from his senior year at Christ The King, Redemption Christian Academy and St. Thomas Aquinas to graduate.

The NCAA Clearinghouse still must approve Odom for eligibility. Officials are awaiting his final transcripts from St. Thomas Aquinas.

McCreesh said it will be up to the clearinghouse to decide Odom's eligibility.

"I've been through his other transcripts but I don't make the final determination," he said. "We just send everything to the clearinghouse and they deal with it."

Odom, who selected the Rebels over Kentucky and Connecticut in early April, is expected to arrive in Las Vegas in July. There's a possibility he'll take the summer class at the Community College of Southern Nevada, which also would allow him to get settled locally sooner.

"That would be the ideal thing," said coach Bill Bayno. "But I haven't talked to Lamar yet about it. We're waiting to see how his finals go before we decide which way he should go (on summer school)."

As for UNLV's other freshman recruits, point guard Greedy Daniels already is in Las Vegas while Kaspars Kambala still has another week of classes at Homestead High in Wisconsin. The 6-9 Kambala plans to return to his native Latvia and represent his country in the European Junior Championships early next month. He should be in Las Vegas by late July.