Lou Kelly will get up-close look at UNLV in exhibition

Future UNLV men's basketball player Lou Kelly could be in Puerto Rico right now.

Or Venezuela. Or the Dominican Republic, playing winter baseball as a minor leaguer for the Montreal Expos.

The southpaw was a pitcher for an AAU traveling baseball team and caught the eye of several major league teams, including the Expos, during tryouts at Victor Valley College and Mt. San Antonio College last summer.

Kelly says his fastball tops out at 89 mph and that the Expos wanted to start him at their Double-A affiliate in Harrisburg, Pa.

There's a reason why he's here in Las Vegas instead.

"I told them (the Expos) I love basketball too much too play baseball," Kelly said on Sunday. "I might try to play baseball while I'm here if it doesn't conflict with basketball."

Kelly, one of two recruits who have signed with the Rebels, will be at tonight's exhibition game between UNLV and the California West All-Stars that tips off at 7:35 at the Thomas & Mack Center.

He and Omari Pearson of Crispus Attucks Charter School in York, Pa., each signed a letter of intent last Wednesday, the first day of the early signing period.

On Saturday night, Kelly arrived for a visit to his future home and watched the team practice on Sunday.

"It seemed like everybody was in good shape," he said of his new team. "Everybody was friendly.

"There were not too many egos on the team."

Kelly, a 6-foot-5 swingman from San Bernadino (Calif.) Valley College, will be eligible to play on Dec. 18 when the Rebels host Oklahoma State in the Las Vegas Shootout. But it will be up to head coach Bill Bayno to decide if he'll be ready to play that night.

"I'm gonna push coach real hard to let me play in that game," Kelly said.

After all, he has been waiting a while to get his chance to play Division I hoops.

In the fall of 1997, Kelly was enrolled at Fresno City College, but decided to transfer to SBVC the following school year.

So during the summer of 1998, he took summer school classes at SBVC like they were going out of style, then signed up for even more courses in the fall -- just so he could graduate in one year to be eligible to play for the Rebels.

In the spring, it was more books and more homework for Kelly. He wrapped up his correspondence at SBVC, and to be sure he would be finished on time, he took some more classes at Los Angeles City College this summer.

"I think it was worth it because I didn't want to play at the junior college level any more because it was kind of a waste of time," Kelly said. "It wasn't like Division I competition.

"It was hard (taking so many classes) during the season and after I just wanted to rest, but I couldn't. I knew if I wanted to get here faster I'd have to do it."

* BUTLER BOUND FOR UNLV? Two of the three players Bayno wants have already made commitments to attend UNLV. The third, Caron Butler out of Maine Central Institute, is still questionable. Butler, who has been dodging phone calls from the media, has wavered between UNLV and defending NCAA champion Connecticut for months. Supposedly, his mother has signed the letter, giving him the OK to be a Rebel in the fall, and the basketball office should be receiving it on Tuesday. Bayno and his assistants are prohibited by NCAA rules from commenting on the matter.

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