O’Bannon’s Vegas Trip Scrutinized : NCAA: Inquiry centers on who paid the recruit’s air fare and also alleges violations involving Bay Area prep star Jason Kidd.

The NCAA investigation into Nevada Las Vegas’ recruitment of Ed O’Bannon centers on how the basketball player obtained a plane ticket to travel to Las Vegas for an unofficial visit to the UNLV campus, according to sources familiar with the case.

UNLV received a supplemental letter of official inquiry from the NCAA last Friday charging the school with rules violations in the recruitment of O’Bannon, a former Lakewood Artesia High School star who went to UCLA last year after making an oral commitment to attend UNLV.

The letter also charges UNLV with violations in its dealings with Jason Kidd, a highly recruited point guard who was a junior last season at St. Joseph High in Alameda, Calif.

The NCAA has given UNLV an Aug. 1 deadline to respond to the letter, according to Donald Klasic, general counsel for the University of Nevada System.

UNLV recently provided the NCAA with a response to a letter of official inquiry outlining allegations in 29 areas, many dealing with the recruitment of former New York high school star Lloyd Daniels in 1986 and ’87.

The case is expected to be heard by the NCAA Committee on Infractions late this summer.

UNLV declined Tuesday to make the supplemental letter public.

The decision, based on Klasic’s recommendation, reverses the position the school took six months ago when it received the original letter of inquiry. That document was released with names blacked out.

UNLV Coach Jerry Tarkanian has called the charges contained in the supplemental letter “unbelievably minor” but has declined to elaborate.

According to sources familiar with the case, who asked not to be identified, the supplemental letter raises questions about how O’Bannon obtained an airline ticket to travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to make an unofficial visit to UNLV last year.

NCAA rules prohibit a school’s coaches or representatives from providing a recruit with transportation to make such visits.

One of the top recruits in the country in 1990, O’Bannon made an oral commitment to attend UNLV but decided to go to UCLA when the Committee on Infractions ruled that the Rebels would be ineligible to participate in postseason competition in 1991. The ban, stemming from the 1977 infractions case that caused Tarkanian to take the NCAA to court, was later put off by the committee until 1992.

According to the sources, O’Bannon and his father, Ed Sr., have told the NCAA that they do not know who paid for the plane ticket, which was arranged by a Las Vegas travel agency.

Artesia Coach Wayne Merino has refused to be interviewed by the NCAA, the sources said, but has told UNLV officials that an Artesia assistant coach paid for the ticket. However, no Artesia assistant would acknowledge paying for the ticket when questioned about the matter by the NCAA, the sources said.

Efforts by The Times to contact Merino were unsuccessful.

O’Bannon, who sat out last season at UCLA because of a knee injury, has acknowledged that he has been interviewed by NCAA enforcement representatives but has declined to comment further.

The supplemental inquiry, according to the sources, also describes a series of alleged improper contacts between Kidd and UNLV representatives after the Rebels’ game at San Jose State last January.

According to the sources, the NCAA alleges that former UNLV point guard Mark Wade accompanied Kidd and one of Kidd’s St. Joseph teammates to the Rebels’ hotel, where they attended a postgame party.

Under NCAA rules, representatives of a school’s athletic interests can have nothing more than incidental contact with recruits.

The 6-foot-4 Kidd averaged 25 points, 12 rebounds and seven assists in leading St. Joseph to a 31-3 record and the State Division I championship last season.

One of the top prospects in the nation, he reportedly is considering Arizona, Arizona State, Kansas, Kentucky and Ohio State.

In April, Kidd told the San Francisco Examiner that he eliminated UNLV from consideration because of the possibility of the Rebels being placed on probation by the NCAA.