Columnist Ron Kantowski: Departure of Gaines a loss for the Rebels

Thursday, April 1, 1999 | 10:18 a.m.

Ron Kantowski's notes column appears Tuesday and Thursday. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or 259-4088.

Wisconsin football coach Barry Alvarez more than once has said the key to the Badgers' recent football renaissance has been their ability to "build a fence" around the city of Chicago when it comes to recruiting.

Here in Las Vegas, where recruiting grounds aren't as fertile, all the UNLV men's basketball program would have to do is put up a storage shed for the few local prospects that could make a difference with the Rebels.

But that hasn't happened.

Arguably, the last Las Vegas prep player to leave his mark on the UNLV program was Freddie Banks in the late 1980s.

That said, the Rebels should have made a stronger sales pitch to Clark High's Kevin Gaines.

The Sun's prep player of the year looked fantastic in Sunday's Hoop Summit held in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four. He scored 20 points and snared seven rebounds to go with two assists and two steals, sparking the USA Junior Select team to a 107-95 victory over the World All-Stars.

If the 6-3 guard had signed with the Rebels, UNLV coach Bill Bayno probably would be wishing shooting guard Desmond Herod good riddance by now, instead of worrying about how he's going to replace him. Alas, Gaines will go to Michigan.

Gaines, who this year became only the second local player in 40 years to be named to the prestigious Parade All-American team, said he preferred to play away from Las Vegas. But he never had an option to stay home. By the time he received an overture from UNLV, he already was picking out an apartment in Ann Arbor.

Granted, you'd have trouble holding the court on a Saturday afternoon at Sunset Park with a team comprised only of Las Vegas players. But when the local high schools do produce an impact player such as Gaines, it would be nice for the Rebels to at least act like they're interested.

* FOREIGN SUBSTANCE: But if you think the paucity of local players on the UNLV men's basketball team is noteworthy, consider women's tennis. According to the media guide that went out this week (even though the season started Jan. 22), UNLV not only doesn't have a Las Vegan among its ranks, it features nary an American.

The seven players listed in the guide hail from Norway, Austria, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Slovenia and the Netherlands. Half of the men's roster consists of foreign talent, with Israel, Austria, Serbia, Ecuador and Serbia among the countries represented.

At least Larry Easley won't have to worry about any of his players being injured in a freak Fourth of July fireworks accident.

* THE SHORT LIST: Sports Business Journal's candidates for a new slogan to replace "March Madness" and the "Big Dance.":

* 2,520 Minutes of Hell (and a Few Overtimes)

* Let's Upset Arizona and Leave Georgia Tech Out!

* The Teams That Aren't on Probation and Didn't Lose Their Stud Underclassmen to the NBA

* Cinderella Gets Whacked (my personal favorite)

* Like the Bowl Championship Series, Only a Lot Better

* The Road to Some Really Big Dome

* AROUND THE HORN: It used to be when you saw a baseball uniform emblazoned with "Ed's Conoco" or "Chico's Bail Bonds" it was at an American Legion game or in the movies. But now that Major League Baseball is considering allowing its teams to put sponsor logos on the sleeves of player uniforms, it won't be long before NBA teams dump their tank tops for the T-shirt-type jerseys worn by the Evansville Purple Aces and start doing the same. ... It seemed like every time CBS analyst Billy Packer said something wouldn't happen in Monday's NCAA championship game, it did. When Duke's Elton Brand clutched a rebound and the UConn players tried to slap it away, Packer said it was useless. A split second later, Souleymane Wane had ripped the ball out of Brand's hands and put in the basket. A little later, before Packer had even finished saying that the official at the far end was not going to call a charging foul under any circumstances, he did. ... New New Mexico basketball coach Fran Fraschilla already has endeared himself with the Lobos' passionate fans, invoking the names of former UNM players such as Hunter Greene and Kelvin Scarborough during his first news conference. Only Pit regulars who paint their faces cherry and turquoise recall those guys. ... Our International Pastime begins another season Sunday as the Padres face the Rockies in Monterrey, Mexico.