Columnist Steve Addy: Sanctions have hardly hurt Rebels

Steve Addy

Wednesday, May 15, 2002 | 9:47 a.m.

Steve Addy covers college basketball for the Las Vegas Sun. Reach him at addy@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4087.

There has been no press release and no victory parade along Maryland Parkway, but it's looking more like UNLV actually beat the NCAA in last year's men's basketball probation case.

Oh, you haven't heard?

The official record shows that the NCAA issued the Rebels a severe spanking -- probation through 2004, a one-year postseason ban, two fewer scholarships for two seasons -- but these sanctions have had scant tangible impact. Instead of doing time, the Rebels only got Scared Straight.

Aside from the $250,000 UNLV spent to defend itself, and the 2001 players' understandable distress at being locked out of the postseason, the Rebels have already overcome the NCAA's wrath.

A fortunate confluence of events -- some of UNLV's making, some not -- have made it possible.

Of the actions under UNLV's control, hiring Charlie Spoonhour was the wisest of all. Aside from his coaching ability, which we witnessed last season, he brought a spotless reputation. Getting slapped with probation is never good for a school's public face, especially a repeat customer like UNLV, but Spoonhour's hiring quickly eased the PR damage.

The most ironic part of the Rebels' recovery is the NCAA's purely unintentional role in neutralizing its most severe sanctions -- the loss of two scholarships last season and two more this coming season. Just in time for UNLV, the NCAA spent the last two seasons revising scholarship rules in men's basketball, and those changes took the sting out of the Rebels' scholarship penalties.

We won't bore you with the NCAA rule book, but the bottom line is that UNLV would've had only 11 scholarship players last season no matter what -- either because of the sanctions (do the math: 13-2=11) or a rule change limiting teams to five new scholarships in any year. The Rebels gave five, lifting them to 11.

Suddenly in October, the NCAA altered the rule again after coaches protested, letting teams hand out nine new scholarships in a two-year period. That gives UNLV a fourth new one for the coming season, as long as someone transfers. Little-used sophomore guard Lafonte Johnson, who pondered leaving almost since his arrival, has already provided the needed vacancy.

In addition, the NCAA is wiping clean every school's scholarship slate for 2003, so the Rebels will have five new scholarships to award in Spoonhour's third season. That should get them up to 12.

So, you see, the sanctions haven't hurt yet and are unlikely to bite the Rebels later. They'll remain on probation through December 2004, but that's just a word. The specific sanctions are the thing, and UNLV has beaten them.

Of course, none of this means anything if the Rebels step out of line again. They've been put on notice, and not just during the probation. The NCAA wants no more UNLV shenanigans, now or ever. If the Rebels invite termites into the program one more time, the NCAA will break the land-speed record getting out here to pull the plug.

But at the moment, if the Rebels aren't having the last laugh, it's certainly the penultimate laugh. And who ever thought Much Ado About Odom would turn out so harmlessly?