COLLEGE BASKETBALL : You Didn’t Expect Tarkanian to Leave Quietly, Did You?

They smile at you as if they were best friends.

There, on a miniature billboard inside a terminal at Las Vegas’ McCarron Airport, is a publicity shot featuring President George Bush and photo-op-for-a-moment, former UNLV point guard Greg Anthony.

Taken shortly after the Rebels won the 1989-90 NCAA championship, the picture is the centerpiece of an ad campaign extolling the virtues of a university short on positive images. A beaming Bush, his buddy Anthony close by, is seen wagging a single forefinger for all to see. And at the time, Bush and Anthony were right: UNLV was No. 1.

But no more. You wonder what Bush would do nowadays if asked to pose with Anthony’s 1990-91 UNLV team, the one reportedly being investigated for alleged point shaving. You marvel at the constant controversy involving the Rebel basketball program. You consider Coach Jerry Tarkanian’s status--lame duck or sitting duck?

It never seems to stop. From the constant charges of impropriety, to the infighting, to the inquiries from the NCAA, to the NCAA penalties, to the shadows on the fringe, to the rumors, to the facts--whatever they might be. . . . UNLV has become a war zone of sorts.

In a three-day period last week, the following events took place:

--The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the existence of a federal inquiry into alleged point shaving.

--Tarkanian declared the story “complete bull” and fingered UNLV legal counsel Brad Booke as the unnamed source.

--Booke, who engineered a successful plea bargain with the NCAA that allowed UNLV to play in last year’s tournament, denied Tarkanian’s charges. Of course, Booke is the same guy who instructed employees to install a video camera into a gym air-conditioning duct for the purpose of monitoring illegal basketball practices.

--During UNLV’s game against San Jose State, a fan burst onto the court waving a “Fire Maxson” sign, in reference to UNLV President Robert Maxson, who is considered a foe of Tarkanian’s. The fan was tackled and wrestled off the court by security guards, but not before he was applauded by the Thomas & Mack Center audience.

--A soon-to-be-released book, “Shark Attack,” recently obtained by a local television station, quoted Maxson as saying that he approved a guardianship arrangement involving troubled recruit Lloyd Daniels and a UNLV assistant coach (Daniels’ recruitment later sparked an NCAA investigation).

--Fifteenth-ranked UNLV beat San Jose State, 83-39. Tarkanian used the postgame news conference to blast Booke once more.

“You don’t have to be an FBI agent or Dick Tracy to know where it came from,” Tarkanian said of the information leak. “I’ve taken a lot of . . . through the years, but this is the worst.

“Around the country they’re going to be talking: ‘Did (UNLV) throw a game?’ Gawd, almighty.”

--Lem Banker, a Las Vegas gambling figure, told reporters that he was contacted by the FBI about the chances of a fix in last season’s Duke-UNLV semifinal game. Banker told the agents there was no fix.

--Tarkanian continued to be rumored as a leading candidate for the soon-to-be-vacant San Diego State job. (An addendum: A prominent Division I-A coach recently was speaking with the mother of a prized high school recruit. The mother volunteered that her son had whittled his choices to three schools, including San Diego State. The coach, surprised by the San Diego State entry, politely asked what the Aztec attraction might be. The mother then replied, according to this respected coach, that her son liked the UNLV coaches and that they had indicated to the recruit that they were headed to San Diego State to take over the program.)

All of this in three days. And then came reports that All-American forward Larry Johnson last year had the use of a $32,000 sports car that was the property of an automobile dealership with ties to the UNLV program.

UNLV--Part II: Tarkanian is right about one thing. Despite the vehement denials, the question is being asked nationwide: Did UNLV throw a game? More specifically, did it throw The Game--UNLV vs. Duke?

According to the Review-Journal story, the investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and the Organized Crime Strike Force centers on several key elements, including:

--Convicted sports fixer Richard Perry’s possible access to UNLV players before, during or after games.

--Guard Anderson Hunt’s employment at a restaurant frequented by Perry.

--Forward Stacey Augmon’s whereabouts after the loss to Duke. Was he in Atlantic City, N.J., with Perry?

--Where did Augmon get $2,000 for a down payment on an automobile while at UNLV?

The implications are clear. Hunt and Augmon--and who knows who else?--could have been on the take. After all, didn’t Augmon suffer through one of the worst performances of his season against Duke that night in Indianapolis? In 39 minutes he made only three of 10 shots and missed his only free throw. He also led the Rebels in turnovers with four.

And wasn’t Hunt the one to put up the last shot against the Blue Devils, the one that could have won it for the UNLV? Also, wasn’t Hunt, along with UNLV teammates Moses Scurry and David Butler, photographed in 1989 playing basketball with Perry and later drinking beer in Perry’s hot tub?

And what about Johnson? How was it that the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft could manage only 13 points against Duke?

Tarkanian’s responses were passionate and predictable.

He said Perry had “never” been in the UNLV locker room. He said Hunt worked as a host at a restaurant Perry visited often, but insisted the connection was coincidental, not conspiratorial. He said Augmon was never in Atlantic City, but instead drove to Cincinnati with former UNLV football player Ickey Woods and then flew to Los Angeles.

As for the $2,000 down payment on the car, Tarkanian said it came from a stipend Augmon earned while playing for the 1988 U.S. Olympic team. Augmon later told the Las Vegas Sun that the money came from a cousin.

Tarkanian wasn’t finished.

“To try to find something dirty about this is nauseating,” he said.

UNLV--Part III: For what it’s worth, we watched UNLV play six games in person and another half dozen games on television last season. If the Rebels were shaving points, we never noticed. Then again, who was looking for it?

You might not like Tarkanian. You might not trust him, either. After all, his past is dotted with NCAA probation and, by the looks of things, the Rebels are headed there again, thanks to the Daniels mess.

But say this for Tarkanian: His teams have always played with a certain fanaticism, especially the 1990-91 UNLV squad that somehow lost to Duke. To suggest that it might have shaved points seems out of place, even far-fetched.

Remember who guarded Augmon much of that semifinal game? Grant Hill. The same Hill who is now earning rave reviews as one of the best players in the country.

Remember what Hunt scored that night? Try 29 points. It was the same number of points he scored against Duke in the 1990 NCAA championship game, which was won by UNLV.

Remember who and what Johnson faced? An inspired Christian Laettner. A defense keyed to stop Johnson. Laettner finished with 28 points.

To ignore these things is to belittle UNLV’s effort and cheapen what Duke accomplished, which, the way we look at it, was an upset--nothing more--for the ages.

UNLV--The End: Tarkanian is counting the days until his final game at UNLV, a March 3 contest against Utah State. It probably will be the only sellout of the season at Thomas & Mack.

He will leave as the winningest coach (by percentage) in NCAA basketball history. He will leave knowing that this year’s team, had it been eligible, could have done well in next month’s NCAA tournament.

But he will leave, this much is sure. All things considered, he must leave. It is the best thing for Tarkanian and the best thing for UNLV, a school that needs no more headlines.

“I bet you in one month’s time, you won’t hear anything more about it,” Tarkanian said of the investigation.

For UNLV’s and college basketball’s sake, let him be right. Just this once.

Our favorite league, the woeful Southwest Conference, is on its way to some sort of record.

Despite having four teams--Texas, Texas Christian, Rice and Houston--with 15 or more victories, not one SWC entry can be found in the Associated Press top 25 poll. In fact, there hasn’t been an SWC team in the poll all season--and rightfully so.

Texas Christian is a perfect example of an SWC team with a misleading and bloated victory total. An 18-6 record looks nice on paper, but the Horned Frogs couldn’t even beat St. Louis (then 5-15) last week. Not surprisingly, TCU’s power rating, which is used by the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee, dropped from 36th to 51st.

One other TCU note: Since Moe Iba became the Horned Frogs’ coach in 1987, 20 players have left the program early. This year, because of defections (five of them) and injuries, TCU has only nine players who dress for games, including a former student manager and a walk-on.

Colorado won’t win the Big Eight Conference, but it can rest easy with this knowledge: Coach Joe Harrington’s team has one of the nation’s better freshmen in guard Donnie Boyce, and the Buffaloes play on the worst-looking home court since Naismith waxed his mustache. . . . For the first time in 14 years, Cincinnati is in the AP top 25. . . . J.R. Rider’s stay at UNLV apparently will be a short one. Word is that Rider, as gifted as almost any swingman in the country, is having serious academic difficulties and probably won’t return for the 1992-93 season. . . . Duke’s Grant Hill is really struggling at point guard. If Duke wins many more games, Coach Mike Krzyzewski might ask injured Bobby Hurley to break another bone in his foot. Well, not really. The Blue Devils have won four consecutive games--three on the road--since Hurley was hurt Feb. 5 at North Carolina. Hurley could return by Feb. 26 against Virginia, but the more likely date is March 4 against Clemson.

Top 10 As selected by staff writer Gene Wojciechowski

No. Team Record 1. Duke 20-1 2. UCLA 20-1 3. Kansas 19-3 4. Arizona. 19-3 5. North Carolina 18-4 6. Missouri 18-4 7. Indiana 19-4 8. Michigan State 17-5 9. Oklahoma State 21-4 10. Arkansas 19-6

Waiting list: USC (17-4), Tulane (19-3), Syracuse (16-6), Michigan (16-6), UNLV (23-2)