Thursday, June 10, 1999 | 10:42 a.m.
Reform is coming to college basketball. And at UNLV, it is more than welcome.
The NCAA is contemplating major changes for men's basketball and some of the proposals it will receive later this month from a 27-member special panel are somewhat radical -- including changing the start of the season to after Christmas, making junior college and international players sit out a year and tying scholarship limits to graduation rates.
According to UNLV athletic director Charles Cavagnaro, the likelihood of those things happening are remote. But Cavagnaro is convinced that a return to incoming freshmen being ineligible to play is certain to be adopted when the panel's recommendations are discussed June 23 in Chicago.
"I think the chances of freshman eligibility happening are very good," he said Wednesday. "I think college basketball needs fundamental change and this would be a step in the right direction."
Rebels coach Bill Bayno also endorses the idea of freshmen sitting out a year, provided the same doesn't apply to JC kids and players from foreign countries.
"I can live with the freshmen (ineligibility)," he said. "But not for the JC kids or the international kids. To do all three, you're wiping out all incoming kids."
Cavagnaro believes a player who graduates from junior college has demonstrated an ability to compete in the classroom and should not be penalized.
"The key is getting the player out of that limelight he's been in since eighth grade," Cavagnaro said. "They're going nonstop and that's a big part of the problem. With the JC kid, you've effectively taken him out of the limelight and allowed him to refocus on his academics.
"You show me a kid with a piece of paper from a JC and that satisfies me."
But Cavagnaro is convinced the incoming freshmen need to put on the brakes and catch a break from the spotlight.
"What you're doing by making freshmen ineligible is you're putting up a big stop sign and telling that kid, 'Hey, slow down, calm down,' " Cavagnaro said. "These kids have been in a hurry going somewhere since seventh, eighth grade, playing ball nonstop, thinking that's the fastest way to get to the NBA and they see anything standing in the way between them and the NBA as an impediment.
"We need a period of time to where we say, 'Hey, let's cool it.' This could be a terrific first step."
Bayno and Cavagnaro agree switching the season to a later start doesn't impact the game in a positive way.
"You're still going to have the same length of the season," Bayno said. "What difference would that make?"
As for the scholarship limits tied to the graduation rates, Cavagnaro said until a fair and equitable formula is derived at to determine who gets credit for transfers that graduate, it'll be hard to fairly gauge who is doing a good job in getting their players graduated.
"They've been wrestling with that for years," he said. "What do you do about a kid who starts at your place, plays two years, then goes somewhere else and eventually gets his diploma? You got the kid going but you don't get credit for his graduating. Is that fair?"
Bayno said: "You should get credit for any kid you have an effect on."
Cavagnaro said what will be proposed in Chicago later this month is part of a two-pronged reform attack. Issues such as summer recruiting, agents and stipends beyond the current scholarship will be addressed at a later date.
"Those issues are very important," he said. "But this is coming in two waves. We in college athletics clearly realize that basketball needs help. It needs to be fixed."
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