Columnist Tim Graham: Dick Vitale heads to Vegas

Tim Graham

Tuesday, Feb. 10, 1998 | 11:33 a.m.

TIM GRAHAM is a Las Vegas SUN sportswriter. His media column appears Wednesdays. He can be reached on the Internet at tim@lasvegassun.com

It sounds like he couldn't care less, bay-bee!

When Dick Vitale took a look at his broadcast assignments for ESPN's 1997-98 college basketball schedule, a few got him more revved up than the rest.

One of those few is Monday's 9 p.m. matchup between New Mexico and UNLV at the Thomas & Mack Center. But as time wore on, the game lost its luster.

Two weeks ago, the excitable analyst told the Asbury Park (N.J.) Press he considered UNLV one of the three most disappointing teams in the country this season. Fresno State and Xavier were the others.

Vitale had a chance to elaborate Tuesday afternoon. He took time from his game preparations for Tuesday night's Indiana at Purdue telecast to speak about the woes of the Rebels and their third-year head coach, Bill Bayno.

"Based on the expectations prior to the season, with the signings of (prep phenom Lamar) Odom and (Greedy) Daniels and the core of players that were already there in Tyrone Nesby, Kevin Simmons and Keon Clark, there was no college fan more jubilant than a Vegas fan," a ho-hum Vitale said.

"I was there that at the Magic Johnson Roundball Classic (in Auburn Hills, Mich., last April) when Odom announced UNLV, and Billy Bayno was on Cloud 9. But from that moment on it's been a struggle all year."

Since then the Rebels have dealt with Odom's departure following a Sport Illustrated story that linked UNLV assistant Greg Vetrone with Odom's disputed entrance exam score, the preseason suspensions of Simmons and Clark and then Clark's subsequent suspension, which was handed down Monday.

"There were people talking about UNLV being in the top 15 in America," Vitale said. "Before they lost Odom and all those players I would have thought they would have been in my 'Dazzling Dozen.'

"The excitement was there."

Vitale, 58, expressed further disappointment over not being able to watch Clark play. That gave the ESPN guru yet another reason to not get overly pumped about Monday night.

But Vitale, who coached the University of Detroit (1973-77) and the Detroit Pistons (1978-79), cautions Rebels fans to be give Bayno some time.

"When it looks so dark for a moment, you just have to be patient," Vitale said.

"The WAC is one of the most underrated conferences in the country, and it's very difficult to win away from home. It just keeps getting tougher and tougher and tougher."

UNLV is 12-10 overall and 3-5 in the WAC. It is fighting to keep its conference tournament hopes alive.

"Right now you just have to try to salvage what you can for the year, get experience for your younger kids, try to make some things happen, especially at home," Vitale said.

"But Billy's not a quitter. He's a battler. He's a workaholic. But with the expectations it's hard not to be disappointed."

Static

KTNV Channel 13 sports director Ron Futrell is the host of "Ron Futrell's Sports," a one-hour call-in show seen Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on KTV Channel 63 and Prime Cable Channel 42. The show formerly was known as "Jerry O's Sports Show" and was hosted by ex-KVBC Channel 3 sports director Jerry Olenyn, who reportedly is leaving Las Vegas to pursue work in Little Rock, Ark. ... fX is shifting its weekly Major League Baseball coverage to Saturday nights this year. Fox's cable network will televise 26 games, starting April 4. ... ESPN2, which long has considered Las Vegas one of its top markets, recently announced its audience has grown 215 percent since 1995. The network currently reaches 55 million homes.