UNLV’s Reggie Smith unlikely to make UNLV debut against Illinois

By Taylor Bern

Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011 | 8:57 p.m.

Reggie Smith’s perfect homecoming will likely be held up by paperwork.

Smith, a sophomore transfer from Marquette, thought that his first game for UNLV would be in his hometown of Chicago against Illinois. However, as that game nears, there are still several steps that have to be taken in order for him to play, and the Rebels may not have time to make them all happen.

The NCAA bylaws require a player to wait until after the completion of the school’s semester before competing. UNLV’s fall semester doesn’t technically end until Saturday, which means that the Rebels have to request a special waiver from the NCAA in order for Smith to be eligible on Saturday instead of Sunday.

In order for that to happen, first all of his grades — Smith is in five classes — have to be posted. Only after that is completed can UNLV attach those to the waiver form and send it electronically or via fax to the NCAA. As of 8:45 p.m. Thursday, his grades had still not been posted.

Even if they were, though, the decision is out of UNLV’s hands at that point. Smith has passed all of his classes with the required grades, but there’s no way of knowing how long it would take for the NCAA to review the documents and make a ruling.

The team's flight for Chicago on Friday is at about noon.

There’s still a slim chance that the pieces could fall into place for the guard, but it appears his debut will be at home Monday against Louisiana-Monroe.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.