NCAA ready to hear Rebels’ appeal

Steve Addy

Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2001 | 10:40 a.m.

LARAMIE, Wyo. -- UNLV isn't accustomed to receiving favors from the NCAA, but the Rebels aren't giving up on winning their appeal of this year's postseason ban.

Fully aware that the NCAA has never overturned a postseason ban for the reasons UNLV will cite, the university will still try to present a compelling case before the Infractions Appeals Committee on Wednesday in Chicago.

"Actually, I feel pretty good about our chances," coach Max Good said.

His players are more hopeful than confident.

"I'm a senior and I want to go out with a bang," Sylvester Dotson said. "I am hoping they'll overturn it. I feel like we deserve that chance."

"I'm hoping and praying (the NCAA) will do the right thing," senior Trevor Diggs said.

The NCAA levied the postseason ban Dec. 12 with other major sanctions against the Rebels, including four years probation. University president Carol Harter, saying the ban was unfair to players who had nothing to do with the sanctions, immediately vowed to appeal.

That process will come to a head in Chicago, where Harter, AD Charlie Cavagnaro, lawyer Michael Glazier and others will address the four-person Appeals Committee. Jack Friedenthal, chair of the Infractions Committee that levied the sanctions, will help determine the NCAA's ruling.

That isn't a good sign for the Rebels, because Friedenthal took an especially harsh tone when the sanctions were levied. He said UNLV did not deserve any leniency just because it released ex-recruit Lamar Odom from his letter of intent before violations occurred in 1997.

However, that's one of the main points Glazier will cite on UNLV's behalf. The university maintains that the Rebels did not receive a "competitive advantage" from recruiting Odom, and that the NCAA didn't find UNLV guilty of the damning "lack of institutional control."

No decision will be handed down Wednesday, but it is expected within two weeks. Because UNLV is banned from the Mountain West tournament March 8-10 in Las Vegas, the NCAA will rule as soon as possible for the benefit of the various parties.

Though the players are hopeful and the university feels they deserve a spirited defense, departmental insiders are not optimistic about UNLV's chances. The NCAA has overturned only one postseason ban (Louisville, 1998), but that was because of a procedural error in the school's infractions case.

There's also a general feeling that the NCAA has already shown UNLV all the mercy it intends to.

The NCAA could have handed the Rebels the so-called death penalty because they were regarded as "repeat violators." The NCAA also allowed junior forward Chris Richardson to start serving an indefinite suspension Nov. 17, instead of making him wait until all of the sanctions came down.

Now the Rebels hope the NCAA will do them just one more favor.