Columnist Tim Graham: Schedule easy like Sunday morning

Tim Graham's column appears Thursday. His media notebook appears Wednesday. Reach him at [email protected] or 259-4078.

I need to apologize to Bill Bayno.

Two weeks ago in this space, I was much too rough on the coach when I wrote his basketball program will lose more games than it will win next season.

I was way out of line to insult Bayno's coaching ability like that.

UNLV officially released its 1999-2000 hoops schedule Wednesday, and Bayno would have to routinely pull a Norman Dale and send four players out on the floor to finish the season below the break-even mark.

The menu, especially the nonconference portion, is easy like Sunday morning.

But don't mention that to Bayno.

"I'm sick and tired of having to defend our schedule," Bayno said.

Well, there's one way to fix that, coach: Toughen it up. Otherwise, maybe you should toughen up because this won't be the last time your schedule gets knocked for being weak.

Bayno is quick to point out UNLV will play Cincinnati, Princeton and either North Carolina or College of Charleston on the road and Oklahoma State at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Granted, those make four quality opponents. However, Charleston, an NCAA tournament qualifier last season, lost its top seven players.

But what about the rest of the home schedule?

Rebel fans don't want to see Mississippi Valley State, Fairfield, Austin Peay, Cal Poly or Eastern Kentucky, much less High Point or Florida Atlantic, two schools that didn't even have Division I teams last year.

Aside from OSU, the only home nonconference games of remote interest are Georgetown, a program surviving on name only these days, and lowly rival Nevada-Reno.

The Mountain West docket isn't much more intriguing. Utah and New Mexico were the only two to rate higher than UNLV in last season's Ratings Percentage Index.

The Rebels' preseason exhibitions against Global Sports and the California All-Stars will be tougher than some of their games that actually count.

"We're UNLV," Bayno said. "We'll always play a challenging schedule."

The only way this schedule is challenging is if Bayno puts a poor product on the court that plays on par with some of these dipwad opponents.

It appears the only programs not good enough to make Bayno's cut were Tinky Winky University, a handful of squads that competed in the recent Las Vegas Corporate Challenge 3-on-3 tournament and any celebrity team which featured Dana Plato, Mark Tuinei and/or Steve Chiasson.

But there are reasons for UNLV's feeble schedule. Not good ones, but there are reasons.

The program is coming off a season in which it finished only three games above .500. It is losing five players, including top scorer and rebounder Shawn Marion. And with the Mountain West not receiving an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, the only way UNLV is likely to get in is with a gaudy record.

The Rebels certainly should win far more games than they lose next season.

If they don't, then it's Bayno who owes the apology.

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