Dalron Johnson making an immediate impact

Victoria Sun

Tuesday, Oct. 19, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

College basketball coaches often say that the best thing about freshmen is that the next year they become sophomores, meaning they will be more productive their second year in school.

But for the UNLV men's basketball team, the best thing about freshman Dalron Johnson is that he should be able to contribute right away.

During an hour of practice on Monday evening at UNLV's North gym, the players did some 5-on-5 drills emphasizing the up-tempo pace head coach Bill Bayno wants the team to thrive on this year.

During that stretch, the 6-foot-9 Johnson showed a bit of his range. He banked a couple of soft shots off the glass, used his long arms to steal the ball, fought for rebounds and went up for a swift left-handed dunk over a few of his teammates.

After practice, the lanky freshman, who is listed at 205 pounds, stayed around to practice his outside jumper.

The only question now is where he'll be used.

This early in the season, Bayno has been shuffling lineups like a deck of cards and will continue to do so until he finds the right combination.

"Right now we are mixing things up," Bayno said of practice. "I think we've used 10 different lineups so far.

"We have a lot of possibilities. At one point we might have Kas (junior forward/center Kaspars Kambala) and Ike (senior center Issiah Epps) out on the floor. Another time we might use three guards."

Bayno did have an idea where Johnson will play.

At Verbum Dei High School in Los Angeles, the same high school that produced former Utah point guard Andre Miller (the ninth pick of this year's NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers), Johnson averaged 18.9 points, 12.6 rebounds and 3.5 blocks his senior year.

Bayno will most likely play him at the power forward position.

"Dalron is a three-man (small forward) at the four (power forward position)," Bayno said. "Our four and three are the same, but we are going to try to utilize his three abilities against a four defender.

"There's a difference putting him at the three. Now he's going to be going against a 6-5, smaller, quicker guy so we want him at the four so he can match up against bigger guys."

It would be nice, all agree, if Johnson added some bulk.

* REBEL RECRUIT: Caron Butler, a 6-foot-7 forward out of Maine Central Institute, will visit UNLV this weekend. Butler is considered one of the top 10 high school seniors in the country. MCI is where UNLV associate head coach Max Good was head coach for 10 years.