Lou Kelly eligible to play at UNLV

Steve Carp

Thursday, Sept. 16, 1999 | 10:28 a.m.

Someone else besides John Robinson is smiling around UNLV today.

After months of waiting and hoping, basketball coach Bill Bayno learned that Lou Kelly, his top recruit, will be eligible to play for the Rebels this year.

The 6-foot-5 swingman who was projected as the starting small forward received official word that he passed his final two summer school classes at Los Angeles City College and has met the necessary requirements for graduation.

Without his associate's degree, Kelly would not have been eligible. He has already been accepted into UNLV and is expected to make his debut Dec. 15 when the Rebels host Austin Peay at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Kelly still has some bureaucratic paperwork to take care of before he's totally in the clear. He must get his transcripts from San Bernardino Valley College and bring them to L.A. City before that school can issue him his degree. He then must get the necessary paperwork to UNLV so he can enroll at the end of the fall semester.

Technically, Kelly is still a recruitable student-athlete since his letter of intent with UNLV expired when he failed to enroll for the fall semester. However, he can re-sign with the Rebels Nov. 10, the first day of the early signing period, and will have two-plus seasons of eligibility.

Kelly was unavailable for comment. And until he signs a new letter of intent, Bayno is prohibited from commenting about Kelly. However, he said the team will hold the fort until Kelly arrives in December.

"I'm not worried about it," he said. "I'm excited about the guys we already have in the program and it'll all work itself out."

Junior Donovan Stewart will likely get the first crack at the starting small forward spot. But don't discount freshman Dalron Johnson's chances. The former Verbum Dei High star has looked exceptionally good in the initial individual workouts and those who have watched him scrimmage say he is more than holding his own against his more experienced teammates.

Still, the Rebels are looking forward to having Kelly and his scoring ability on the floor. He averaged 26.5 points a game at San Bernardino Valley last season. The left-handed sophomore was brought in to fill the void left by Shawn Marion's departure to the NBA after Marion averaged 19 a game last year.

Bayno's hope was this could have been taken care of weeks ago. However, the grades for Kelly's summer classes weren't officially posted until this week and he missed the deadline to enroll at UNLV for the fall semester.

In between, there were rumors that had Kelly staying put at LA City and playing for Mike Miller's Cubs, or that he was going to go to a different Division I school. However, Kelly's intentions apparently always were to play for UNLV and he'll get that chance come mid-December.