thomas to unlv

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SoCalHoops Recruiting News

Jason Thomas Will Attempt Football
And Basketball At UNLV--(May 17, 1999)

It's old news that Jason Thomas (6'-5" Fr. SG/SF) from Compton Dominguez, who attended USC last year but didn't play while he sat out the year on a medical red-shirt, was granted a release from USC and signed with UNLV. But the "new" news (or is it once again the same old story, just at a new school) is that Jason will attempt to walk on to the basketball team next season if he's granted a residency exemption (a prerequisite to his eligibility next year) by the NCAA.

Today's Las Vegas Review-Journal carried a story on the subject, in which it was reported that Jason's father Charles Thomas told the paper, "He's been playing both sports since the fourth grade, so it's not like he's trying to do this. He's used to doing it. He told me he was going to go out for the basketball team (at UNLV) and see if he can make it."

Of course, Jason hasn't played any sport competitively in more than a year, and he hasn't played basketball competitively since his junior year of high school, notwithstanding a brief appearance at the MLK Classic two seasons ago and a couple of games thereafter. But from a consistent basis, he hasn't really done much of anything for more than two years now. Thomas was a two-time all-state selection in basketball at Dominguez, averaging 24 points and 12 rebounds as a sophomore and 23 points as a junior. A broken ankle kept him off the court as a senior.

UNLV football coach John Robinson, who originally recruited Jason when he was at USC, said that he doesn't disapprove of the concept, but thinks people should be cautious in their assessment of whether he'll really be able to accomplish both sports. Robinson told the Review-Journal, "If somebody starts pencilling his name in somewhere (on a basketball depth chart), that's crazy and just a disservice to the kid. On the other hand, he is a talent." The Review Journal also noted that UNLV basketball coach Bill Bayno had no comment on the subject.

The Review-Journal noted that if Thomas does elect to play basketball at UNLV, he will not count against the Rebels' NCAA-mandated 13 maximum scholarships, and that's a good thing because it seems that somebody is going to have to do some serious re-thinking anyway, because it looks like UNLV already has too many players signed for scholarships: According to the R-J, the team "returns five players next season (Mark Dickel, Issiah Epps, Kaspars Kambala, Donovan Stewart and Chris Richardson) and redshirts Ra'oof Sadat and Myron Piggie, and they've also signed nine players, not including Thomas (Dalron Johnson, Oscar Garcia, Trevor Diggs, Sylvester Dotson, Louis Kelly, Mike Garrett, Chris Popoola, Kenny Dye and Marcus Banks)." So by our count, that's 5+2+9=16, which is three over the limit, unless the school can split scholarships among players or convince a couple to not play or not return.

With this kind of overbooking policy, no wonder it's so hard to get a hotel room or plane flight these days in Vegas.