Ron Kantowski knows UNLV has to take chances on five-school guys big schools pass on

Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007 | 6:53 a.m.

By now, it can be assumed that Emmanuel Adeife, the former 6-foot-10-inch UNLV big man with limited offensive skills and the wing span of a pterodactyl, is seeking a sixth school that will have him.

Therein lies the problem. Every now and then, guys who attend five schools don't pan out. And every now and then, mid-major schools, such as UNLV, have to take a chance on them. Especially if they fancy trading baskets with blue bloods such as Duke and UCLA and Arizona and Indiana and anybody else who can lock up a one-school kid simply by making a phone call, or, in Indiana's case, a bunch of them.

But why, oh why, did it have to be The Big Guy? I hear ya, Rebels fans.

On Friday, Adeife decided to take an early shower after not working up a sweat (go figure) while seeing only limited playing time - at least in his estimation - against Montana State in the season opener. That might have been OK, had Rebels coach Lon Kruger not been addressing the rest of the team at the time. So Kruger told Adeife not to let the soap-on-a-rope hit him in the rear end on his way out. Or something like that.

Right there and then it was clear this particular five-school guy was not going to pan out. So Kruger cut him loose. You've got to admire him for sticking to principles. Especially considering that a frontcourt of Mary Lou Retton, Laffit Pincay Jr. and Mickey from "Seinfeld" could outrebound the Rebels, now that Adeife is seeking another, greener pasture.

There's always that risk with five-school guys. Maybe they can't play defense. Maybe the NCAA won't accept their basket-weaving credits from junior college. Maybe they've got a legal problem. Or an attitude that needs adjusting. Maybe it's all of the above, as with Lloyd Daniels.

Remember Lloyd Daniels? He's the guy who attended four high schools in three states and a junior college in Texas - and didn't graduate from any of them. He didn't pan out at UNLV, either. In fact, he was the guy who got Jerry Tarkanian's program put on NCAA probation.

Remember Lamar Odom? He's the guy who got Bill Bayno's program put on NCAA double secret probation. Like Daniels, he never scored a single basket for UNLV. Like Daniels, he's also a five-school guy: Rhode Island, UNLV, Christ the King and Redemption Christian Academy in New York and St. Thomas Aquinas in Connecticut. What, no Oak Hill Academy?

You don't have to remember Beas Hamga, because he's still here, practicing with the Rebels. Chances are he would be playing for the Rebels, had he not attended five American high schools after departing his native Cameroon. Hamga's school credits were scattered across the three-second lane like bread crumbs, and when the NCAA picked them up, there simply weren't enough. So he's another big guy who can block a shot and snare a rebound who won't be suiting up this season.

Adeife's five schools were a smorgasbord of four-year colleges (UNLV and Houston), a two-year college (Polk Community College in Florida) and high schools (Dillard and Miramar in Florida). He had an attitude problem at Polk and said he didn't "fit into the system" at Houston. That could be a euphemism for "attitude problem." Or "My game needs work." Or "I'm going to play for Bob Huggins," who, come to think of it, is working on becoming a five-school guy himself.

Five-school guys should come with an asterisk. Or an expiration date. Nobody could have guessed Adeife's was going to be Nov. 9, 2007, which explains why the suddenly pint-sized Rebels couldn't defend those two Dixie Cups with the bad haircuts in the low post Tuesday night.

That's just the way it is for college basketball programs that bust brackets instead of top them. Sometimes you have to take a chance on a five-school guy. Sometimes he pans out.

Sometimes he doesn't.

Then you tell him not to let the soap-in-the-rope hit him in the rear end on his way out.

And start pressing like your hair's on fire.

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