Columnist Dean Juipe: NCAA gives Rebel golfers a free pass

Dean Juipe

Wednesday, May 16, 2001 | 10:35 a.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

If it weren't for its reputation, the UNLV golf team would be in Las Vegas this week and its season would be over.

Instead, the Rebels are in Corvallis, Ore., preparing for an NCAA West Regional that runs Thursday through Saturday at the Trysting Tree Golf Club.

UNLV is in the tournament not for what it achieved this season, but for what it has accomplished in the past. Quite frankly, it was given a spot in the regional not because it has a legitimate shot at winning the national championship, but because it has sent a team to the NCAA finals an amazing 12 consecutive years.

It's a case where the past is impacting the present.

Based on how the Rebels' 2000-01 schedule played out, they should be home licking their wounds and looking ahead to a little redemption next season. But the NCAA is not above granting special favors to special programs in any and all sports, and it selected UNLV for a spot in the regionals in spite of a lack of evidence that this year's team is playoff worthy.

After all, the Rebels finished 23 strokes behind front-running BYU and a disappointing fifth (of eight teams) in their most recent event, the Mountain West Conference tournament.

A similar lack of success has followed them throughout the bulk of the season, although, to their credit, a recent computerized evaluation ranked them No. 23 in the country.

No. 23 is good elsewhere; at UNLV, it's an "off year" and it comes amid rumors that the Rebels were not always in perfect harmony with one another.

Of course there's a reason for the decline, and his name is Adam Scott.

Back in 1998 Scott came to UNLV as a highly touted recruit from Australia with a bag full of pro potential. But he lasted only one season in college and now, instead of being a junior with the Rebels, he's playing professionally at the international level and working his way toward the PGA Tour.

Head coach Dwaine Knight -- who has never had an unkind word written or said about him -- was unable to replace Scott and the repercussions are being felt today.

Instead of taking a talented and veteran team into the postseason, as would have been the case had Scott stuck around, Knight has only one senior (Scott Lander) making the trip to Corvallis. His other four players include a junior (Clark Corbett), a sophomore (Calvin Kupeyan) and two freshmen (James Oh and Travis Whisman).

It is not a lineup that is apt to throw a scare into the nation's top teams, although the Rebels need only to finish in the top 10 to advance to the NCAA Championships that open May 29 at Durham, N.C.

Knight has been at UNLV for 14 years and unless this year's team pulls itself together and makes it to Durham, it will be the first time since the '88 team that he inherited that the Rebels didn't reach the finals. That's a tremendously successful record.

Included in that great run was a national championship just three years ago.

If this season -- which could yet be salvaged -- is UNLV's bump in the road, it'll hardly dent the carriage. It's more a measure of our lofty expectations that the Rebels are even subjected to critical review.