Columnist Ron Kantowski: LSU example should worry Rebels

Tuesday, March 28, 2000 | 10:21 a.m.

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

The consensus among most in the media and other observers of the NCAA's hush-hush investigation of the UNLV men's basketball team was that the Rebels were going to get off with a slap on the wrist.

But based on one sentence in Sun basketball writer Steve Addy's report from the NCAA West Regional in Albuquerque last weekend, one might surmise that relatively harmless slap could be upgraded into a few swats with a switch.

Here's why.

When Louisiana State was put on three years' basketball probation a couple of years ago, its most grievous offense was unwittingly allowing a booster (a doctor) to pay recruit Lester Earl $5,000. For that offense (and other minor ones), it was limited to four new scholarships over a two-year period. Most would agree that's a pretty big hit, especially to a senior-laden team.

The most serious charge against UNLV is that it unwittingly allowed a booster (a dentist) to pay recruit Lamar Odom $5,600.

So if the penalty for Free Parking hasn't changed between now and then, you might surmise that the Rebels are going to take a bigger hit than anticipated.

The Rebels' somewhat feeble defense will be that Odom was given the "financial aid" after he agreed to leave UNLV. That would mean that the culprit, Dr. David Chapman, is either A) the dumbest guy alive, or B) was hoping that Odom would set him up with a lifetime supply of Water Piks after the player achieved NBA fame and fortune.

But as Addy also pointed out, even the loss of multiple scholarships should not be considered a death sentence. Look at LSU.

Given what the Tigers accomplished this year, if Kas Kambala needs to borrow $10 for a pizza, I know where he can get it.

* NEVER TOO OLD: Former UNLV athletic director Jim Weaver continues to shock and amaze.

Weaver, who made more enemies than friends during his stint as UNLV athletic director, certainly has wound up on his feet in the same post at Virginia Tech.

In just the past season at Blacksburg, Weaver has finagled Tech into the prestigious Big East Conference (in all sports), moved into a new home adjacent to Blacksburg Country Club (perhaps not Augusta National put probably still pretty swanky), walked the sidelines as Tech played Florida State for the national football championship, and on the personal side, has taken a new bride and gotten her pregnant.

Weaver's new wife, Traci, is expecting the couple's first child. Weaver, 57, has a daughter and a 15-year-old grandson from his first marriage plus three stepsons from his second one.

That would mean that by the time Weaver's new addition is old enough to enroll at Tech, Old Man Weaver -- and I mean that literally -- will be 75.

* DONOVAN'S GREATEST HITS: Florida's Billy Donovan is college basketball's new Sunshine Superman, which only shows that the line between feast and famine is getting thinner all the time.

In Donovan's case, it can be measured by a split-second. That was the margin by which Mike Miller's desperation leaping leaner beat the buzzer and lightly regarded Butler in the first round of the NCAA Tournament, in case you have forgotten (along with Dick Vitale).

In fact, had that Butler kid not bricked two free throws on the other end of the floor, precluding the Bulldogs from clinching a game they led about 99 percent of the time, it could be argued that Donovan's team would be considered one of the big flops of this year's tourney.

And maybe then Steve Lavin wouldn't be wearing Donovan's hairdo.

* GOOD RIDDANCE: With the exception of a Phillips 66 men's room on the Oklahoma Turnpike, I can't recall frequenting a building more deplorable than the Seattle Kingdome, which mercifully was put out of its misery on Sunday after a relatively minute life span of 24 years.

The one and only time I was there was in 1991, when UNLV beat Utah and Seton Hall in the NCAA West Regional. They had the press area set up in the bowels of the place, on what essentially was a loading dock. It was inside (just barely) but so cold that Sly Stallone showed up to punch out a side of beef. There was a rumor that the diabolical Mr. Freeze and his henchmen were holed up in the visitors locker room.

Inside the arena, it wasn't much better. You could actually feel a cold breeze whipping through the place. The Hall's Andrew Gaze had to adjust his jump shot to account for the wind.

No wonder Griffey wanted out of there so bad.

* AROUND THE HORN: Tennis beauty Anna Kournikova caused a disturbance on a recent flight but unfortunately for any young men (and even a couple of old codgers) seated in first class, it wasn't for taking off her top. The winsome Kournikova, who predicted last week that within five years women tennis professionals would be playing topless, apparently refused to return her dog to its locked and upright position in the overhead compartment or wherever such carry-on baggage is supposed to be stowed. ... In announcing Magic Johnson's minority partnership of a new Class A baseball team in Dayton, Ohio, a news report stated that the majority owners of the club, Mandalay Sports Inc., were building an entertainment and sports empire that included various minor league baseball clubs and a hockey franchise in Las Vegas. Had Magic been dilligent about his research, he would have discovered the hockey team no longer exists. ... Who says building a new sports stadium is risky? All the San Francisco Giants have to do to br eak even on their mortgage for the new Pac Bell Park is average 30,000 paying customers for the next 20 years.