Gathers and Kimble Are Set for Loyola

Freshmen basketball players Hank Gathers and Bo Kimble, who were released from their scholarships at USC last week, plan to announce today that they will enroll at Loyola Marymount.

They met with the admissions director at the university Thursday to work out the final details of the transfer, a source told The Times.

According to NCAA rules, the two players will have three years of eligibility remaining but cannot play next season.

Kimble and Gathers, both from Dobbins Tech High School in Philadelphia, received their releases from USC after the Trojans’ new coach, George Raveling, recommended to Athletic Director Mike McGee in an April 28 letter that the players’ scholarships not be renewed for the 1986-87 academic year.

Raveling made the same recommendation concerning the team’s leading scorer last season, freshman Tom Lewis. Lewis, who has also received a release from USC, has not chosen another school. Although it is believed tha he is leaning toward UC Irvine, he will visit the University of Kentucky this weekend.

Raveling, who replaced Stan Morrison as head coach in March, had given the three players a deadline of April 25 to decide whether they wanted to remain at USC. When they did not give him a definitive answer by that date, he took action.

A week later, after hearing Kimble and Gathers say during a television interview that they would like to meet with Raveling, the coach arranged a meeting with the two players. Raveling has refused to comment on the meeting, but the two players said in an interview with the Santa Monica Evening Outlook that the coach gave them an opportunity to remain at USC.

One source close to the situation said the players told Raveling during Monday’s meeting in his office that they were 85% sure they would transfer.

Thursday, one day after finishing their final exams at USC, they were making arrangements to enroll at Loyola Marymount.

Gathers, a 6-7 forward, started for USC last season and was named to the Pacific 10’s all freshman team. Kimble, a 6-4 guard, was one of the team’s top reserves.

Times staff writers John Lynch and Alan Drooz contributed to this story.