Ex-Durango star Sadat will transfer to UNLV

Steve Carp

Monday, May 18, 1998 | 10:59 a.m.

Ra'oof Sadat is ready to come home.

The former Durango High star has decided to leave the University of San Francisco after two frustrating seasons and return to Las Vegas.

Indications are Sadat, the Nevada State Player of the Year in 1996, may be willing to walk-on at UNLV and pay his own way to play for Bill Bayno.

"It was just a rough experience for me," Sadat said Sunday from his dormitory room at USF. "It's nothing personal. I always thought I could play but I never really got a chance. It was all about opportunity."

Classes at USF end this week and Sadat is expected back in Las Vegas Thursday.

Several schools are said to be interested in Sadat, including Washington State, Oregon State, Vanderbilt and Southern Utah. However, it appears the 6-foot-9, 215-pound forward will eschew a scholarship to stay home and walk on at UNLV.

Sadat would have to sit out the 1998-99 season. He would have two years' eligibility remaining and it's possible UNLV would offer him a scholarship for those final two years.

Bayno acknowledged the scenario of Sadat walking on is likely, but could not comment further because of NCAA rules. By transferring from USF, Sadat, technically, is a recruitable student-athlete and the usual rules apply when it comes to talking about prospective recruits.

But Durango coach Al La Rocque confirmed that Sadat is indeed headed home and over to Maryland Parkway.

"Kids here always want to be Rebels," La Rocque said of his former star who averaged just under 20 points and 11 rebounds his senior year with the Trailblazers. "I think UNLV was always his first pick. That was Bayno's first year and we talked about Ra'oof at length. But they needed impact players and at the time, Ra'oof wasn't an impact-type player.

"He told me he wants to be closer to home. He has that Runnin' Rebel fever."

Sadat's mother, Roxane Clark-Murphy, said Sunday she was thrilled about her youngest child returning home.

"I'm excited and ecstatic," she said. "Ra'oof wanted to go to UNLV ever since he was a little kid and when I talked to Coach Bayno the other day, I felt comfortable about Ra'oof going to UNLV."

Sadat redshirted his freshman year after suffering a knee injury and undergoing surgery. He saw action in 29 of USF's 30 games this season, averaging 4.6 points and 2.5 rebounds and leading the Dons with 24 blocked shots.

His career best came in the finals of the West Coast Conference tournament championship game when he scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead USF past Gonzaga, 80-67. The win gave the Dons a spot in the NCAA Tournament where they lost to Utah in the first round.

However, Sadat wasn't happy. He struggled dealing with the disciplinary ways of USF coach Phil Mathews, even though he knew coming in that Mathews would be a tough guy to play for.

"It was a frustrating year," he said. "There were times in practice where I would outplay the seniors but I never really got a chance."

Sadat made up his mind right after the NCAA Tournament that he was transferring.

"I work hard. I play hard," he said. "I give people respect and all I ever asked was that I be shown the same respect."

Mathews was unavailable for comment Sunday.

La Rocque said he knew how frustrated Sadat was and he tried to encourage him to hang in there.

"We talked regularly about it," La Rocque said of his conversations with Sadat regarding Mathews. "I've always encouraged him to stick it out. But this season, it reached the point of no return. He got tired of it and wanted a change."

Clark-Murphy said: "I would get calls at 2 in the morning and he'd tell me how he was being berated and cussed at. He'd say to me, 'Am I this bad?'

"Ra'oof is not a whiner. But I made six trips up there (to the Bay Area) because I was so concerned with what was going on. I think he (Mathews) took away Ra'oof's sense of what he was."

And even though he could get a scholarship elsewhere right away, he has his heart on wearing a UNLV uniform in two years.

"It would be awesome," he said of the possibility of being a Rebel. "I can't even describe what it would be like.

"I remember when I was 10 years old and living in Chicago and seeing Mark Wade and (Jarvis) Basnight play and I didn't even know where UNLV was. Then the next year, I moved to Las Vegas and Stacey Augmon was my favorite player.

"So to come back and play at UNLV, that would be great. There's still some things to be worked out, but even if I didn't play a lot, that would be OK. I'd be happy just to be part of the team. I just want to get back home and get a chance."