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UNLV Receives Inquiry on Daniels : NCAA: Probe also expected to cover school’s academic tutoring practices.

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

The University of Nevada Las Vegas has received a letter of official inquiry from the NCAA listing about two dozen allegations of rules violations in the school’s basketball program and is expected to release portions of the document today.

The allegations are the result of a preliminary inquiry initiated by the NCAA in October of 1987.

Much of the inquiry has focused on UNLV’s recruitment of Lloyd Daniels, a high school dropout from New York who became the legal ward of a UNLV assistant basketball coach in 1986.

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But the inquiry has also covered other aspects of the basketball program, including its academic tutoring practices.

The NCAA has charged UNLV with rules violations in 20 to 30 areas, according to a source who asked not to be identified.

School officials received the letter Tuesday but declined to disclose its contents until the 50-page document had been reviewed by Don Klasic, general counsel for the University of Nevada system in Reno.

After Klasic studied the letter Wednesday, a representative of his office, Sally Zola, announced that the document would be released with names deleted today in Reno.

A Las Vegas television station, KVBC-TV, has reported that the charges include a lack of institutional control stemming from the school’s handling of Daniels’ recruitment.

UNLV will have 60 days to prepare a response. The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions will hear the case, determine the validity of the charges and assess penalties, if necessary.

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Brad Booke, assistant general counsel and athletic compliance officer for UNLV, said the school would investigate the charges and cooperate with the NCAA.

“This university is tired of being under the gray cloud and being the ugly stepchild of college sports,” he said.

UNLV received the letter three weeks after the infractions committee modified a ruling that had banned the Rebels from defending their national championship as a final penalty stemming from the infractions case that caused UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian to take the NCAA to court in 1977.

After a hearing in June, the committee ruled that UNLV would be ineligible for postseason competition in 1991. But, after UNLV officials argued their case a second time in October, the committee gave the school a choice of two alternative penalties, each of which allowed the Rebels to defend their title.

UNLV President Robert Maxson announced that the school would accept one of the alternative sanctions--a ban on live television appearances and postseason competition for the 1991-92 season.

The Times reported in July that the letter of official inquiry from the Daniels case was nearly finished and that some of the allegations would, under NCAA guidelines, be considered major.

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However, the NCAA agreed to a request from UNLV officials to delay sending the letter to the school until the 1977 case had been settled.

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