Coaches to spend 24 days scouting prospects

Steve Addy

Friday, July 7, 2000 | 10:23 a.m.

Though most of the Rebels' new basketball recruits have yet to arrive in Las Vegas, the push is already beginning in earnest for UNLV's next class.

Starting Sunday, coach Bill Bayno will spend the rest of July flying around the U.S. and Europe to track as many as 30 prospects and dig up some hidden gems.

Though Bayno will be in town July 15-19 for the adidas Big Time Tournament, a 312-team event on the calendar of virtually every major college coach, he and assistant coaches Glynn Cyprien and Dave Rice will spend a lot of time on planes during the 24-day evaluation period (July 8-31).

Bayno will miss Saturday's opening day for the wedding of former Rebel Warren Rosegreen, but he will hurry to the adidas ABCD Camp in Teaneck, N.J. on Sunday and the Nike All-American Camp in Indianapolis on Monday.

After that, he and his staff will visit camps in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Florida and California, and any others they can squeeze in. Bayno will also go to Croatia for a 20-and-under showcase.

Coaches are permitted only a casual "hello" with recruits at summer camps, but the groundwork laid by Bayno this month will be vital in comprising the makeup of UNLV's 2001 class. More than ever, top recruits sign in the early period (November), so summer evaluation is often a coach's last chance to see a player against strong competition.

But because of the volume of players, recruiting requires planning. A willy-nilly approach will only result in wasted time.

"Because there are so many camps, we have always tried to home in on a select group of kids," Bayno said Thursday. "You can get lost in a sea of work if you go after too many kids. Knowing who to recruit is important, but knowing who not to recruit might be more important. We are not going to get McDonald's All-Americans, so we don't invest a lot of time in going after them.

"We've narrowed our list to between 20 and 30 players, and this month we'll cut it down again. We'll watch them play and get a feel for who would fit into our program."

Among players UNLV is monitoring: 6-foot-7 forward Jamal Brown (Maine Central Institute), 6-10 center Jeff Howard (Garden City CC in Kansas), 6-3 shooting guard Jermaine Harper (St. George, Va.), 6-9 forward Hiram Fuller (Modesto CC), 6-8 forward Doug Thomas (Inglewood, Calif.), 7-0 Chris Charles (Crispus Attucks Prep in York, Pa.), 6-4 shooting guard Dwayne Mitchell (New Orleans) and 6-2 shooting guard Ernest Turner (Sommerdale, N.J.).

Though Bayno and his assistants will keep closest tabs on the players they have been targeting, they will also be careful not to close their eyes to unknowns.

After all, it was at last year's Big Time Tournament that they found Dalron Johnson playing for the LA Rockfish. He had not been heavily recruited by Division I schools, but became Mountain West co-freshman of the year last season, averaging 11.1 points and 6.9 rebounds in 31 games.

"Recruiting can be funny. It's an imperfect science," Bayno acknowledged. "Sometimes you can spend a year and a half recruiting a kid, then a player you find at the last minute often turns out to be the better player.

"We will be watching a ton of games this month and we'll try to stumble on to a sleeper. There are fewer of them these days, because of the Internet (recruiting watchdogs), but you can still find them. Our program can't afford to overlook those kids."