Bayno deals with ‘zillion things’ after hiatus

Steve Carp

Friday, May 30, 1997 | 11:44 a.m.

The messages were stacked high. The newspaper clippings were piling up. There was a lot of catching up to do, meetings to attend and business to take care of.

But that's what happens when you take a couple of weeks off. So while UNLV coach Bill Bayno was tanned and res ted from his Caribbean getaway to St. Maarten, reality hit him like a no-look pass.

"That's the hardest part of coming back," Bayno said Thursday between phone calls. "You've got a zillion things to deal with."

At the top of the list was the news that center Keon Clark's left knee has been acting up again and the 6-foot-11 center will not be attending this weekend's USA Basketball tryouts in Colorado Springs for the 22-and-under World University Games.

Then there was the news of the Preseason NIT. The committee, whose members were treated like royalty in Las Vegas during the NIT in March, repaid the Rebels by pairing them with an Eastern Michigan team which has four starters returning from a 22-10 season and has four starters returning.

And if UNLV is fortunate enough to beat EMU Nov. 19 at the Thomas & Mack Center, the Rebels likely will get a trip on short notice to play at Kansas two nights later for the right to go to the semifinals at Madison Square Garden.

It could be a repeat of the Arkansas NIT trip where the team played a late game, went immediately to the airport, traveled all night, slept all day, prepared that evening for the game and played the following night.

The formula didn't work in Fayetteville as the Rebels lost 86-73.

Of course, there's still the matter of trying to finalize the nonleague portion of the schedule, check on players' summer jobs and summer school plans and never-ending recruiting.

Bayno said Clark's knee problems are not serious. But after aggravating the knee last week, trainer Jerry Koloskie suggested Clark back off for a few days and rest.

Clark, who sprained his knee in last season's opener against Cal State Northridge and missed three weeks, didn't want to risk aggravating the knee in what figures to be three intense days of workouts.

"I feel for Keon," Bayno said. "I think he had a good chance to make one of the teams. And at the very least, it would've been a good experience for him. There were a lot of big guys there and he would've had a chance to work against them, which is something he needs.

"But the big thing is that Keon rests and rehabs his knee so that he's ready to go when practice starts (in October)."

No breaks

Bayno was a little surprised to see how the NIT bracketed his team. The committee had indicated UNLV would get at least one home game. The Eastern Michigan game will be televised nationally on ESPN.

But a win over EMU means a trip to Allen Fieldhouse and a prime-time battle with the Jayhawks, again on ESPN. It's not the kind of homecoming Bayno, a graduate assistant at Kansas in 1986-87, expected.

"Sure, we'd like to have gotten an easier draw," Bayno said. "But I think just being in the tournament is a positive.

"We're still a growing program. We don't get the respect a Kansas or a Cincinnati gets. But I'm more concerned about Eastern Michigan. That's going to be a tough, tough game for us."

Bayno said the nonleague schedule could be wrapped up shortly. The much-talked about game in Providence against Rhode Island Dec. 13 is apparently a go and it now appears the home-and-home series with Hawaii, UNLV's crossover opponent in the WAC, will be dropped.

Instead, UNLV is working on an early January date to play Tulane at New Orleans. The Rebels owe the Green Wave a game and if it gets done, it would be a homecoming for incoming freshman guard Greedy Daniels and assistant coach Glynn Cyprien.

"If we can find a suitable date, we'll do it," Bayno said.

Bayno had little choice but to hit the ground running Thursday. He was meeting with players while sorting through the myriad phone messages that have accumulated during his two-week hiatus.

Today, he'll be schmoozing with corporate types at the Thomas & Mack Center's annual golf outing at Primm Valley. Monday, he's back on the links at Desert Pines for his annual golf tournament with football coach Jeff Horton. His basketball camp starts in a couple of weeks.

Then there's recruiting. He'll be hitting the road shortly trying to fill a couple of needs.

"We'll be looking for a big man and a wing who can score," Bayno said, alluding to the need to replace Clark and Tyrone Nesby, both of whom are entering their senior year.

"It won't be as bad as the last couple of years where we had to recruit a lot of bodies. But we have some needs to fill."