Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

REBELS BASKETBALL:

Katin Reinhardt commits to UNLV, making major statement for Dave Rice and staff

6-foot-4 guard chose Rebels over Texas, Baylor and several others, becomes UNLV’s second commit for 2012

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Sam Morris

Belmont Shore’s Katin Reinhardt takes a shot Friday, July 22, 2011 during the Las Vegas Fab 48 tournament at Bishop Gorman. He made four of five field goal attempts in the victory over Juice All-Stars.

Updated Thursday, Aug. 11, 2011 | 1 p.m.

Katin Reinhardt Highlights

UNLV's second commitment for the 2012 recruiting class came early Thursday morning, and this one will likely make a strong national statement in terms of what Dave Rice and his staff are capable of on the recruiting trail.

Katin Reinhardt, a sweet-shooting 6-foot-4 combo guard from Mater Dei (Calif.) High gave a verbal commitment to UNLV, making him the staff's second get in the 2012 class alongside Baltimore point guard Daquan Cook. They now have three scholarship spots still left to fill.

Reinhardt de-committed from USC back in May, and almost immediately, his recruitment became a hot topic.

Rice was one of the first to get in touch with him once he was back on the market, and an unofficial visit to UNLV last week ultimately sold Reinhardt.

"When I left UNLV, I felt like it was the right place for me, and I just sat on it, waited a few days," said Reinhardt, who squeezed the visit in last Thursday while in town to see his grandparents. "My decision, I told coach Rice, was going to be either to be a Rebel or make the decision to go visit the other schools. The more I thought about it, I couldn't pass up the opportunity."

Rivals.com ranks Reinhardt as the No. 8 shooting guard and No. 43 overall prospect in the 2012 class. He's the highest ranked recruit to commit to UNLV since Lon Kruger landed Anthony Marshall, who was ranked 66th overall in 2009. Kruger and his staff had recruited Reinhardt some, too, before he originally committed to Southern Cal.

He chose UNLV over several potential suitors from every corner of the country, including Texas, Baylor, North Carolina State, Gonzaga and Syracuse. Following his showing at the Fab 48 in Las Vegas in late July, he also picked up scholarship offers from Big East powers West Virginia and St. John's.

Reinhardt was set to take unofficial visits to both Texas and Baylor while seeing family in the Lone Star State next week, but instead, his recruitment is now over.

"I actually was watching some stuff on the (former coach Jerry) Tarkanian days, and after seeing that, I want to actually help get it back to where UNLV is contending with the likes of North Carolina and Duke," he said. "I think we'll have a chance to do that with the team we'll have."

Reinhardt added that he hopes he can help build the buzz around the program to the point where there are 18,000 season ticket holders at the Thomas & Mack Center, up from the current number of roughly 11,000.

It wasn't simply the style of play Rice will employ that attracted Reinhardt, but rather the way Rice sold him on how he could fit into it.

The name Jimmer Fredette was dropped, and that made a huge impact.

While Rice was at BYU as an associate head coach and its offensive coordinator of sorts, Fredette was his prized pupil. The 6-foot-2 dynamo went from a raw recruit to being the National Player of the Year and a lottery pick in the NBA draft four years later.

Rice and the staff envision Reinhardt as a point guard that can hurt opponents in a variety of ways, much like Fredette did. On top of his consistent outside jumper, Reinhardt is athletic and quick, has outstanding ball-handling abilities and slick court vision.

"That was a big part of making the decision, having that freedom (within the offense) and trust with all of those coaches — How much they must trust me, that means a lot," he said. "I want to be a big impact player as a freshman, and I think I can be that at UNLV. Just seeing where Jimmer got with coach Rice, and now seeing where I can get with the hard work I'll put in, just being in the gym and playing within that system and with those players, I think it can help me get to the NBA. That's my goal, and with hard work, it's a possibility."

Reinhardt will officially sign with UNLV in November, and said he'll likely take his official visit to campus around that time, once the Rebels' season is underway so that he can take in a game or two at the Mack.

Now, the staff's attention will turn to finding three more 2012 prospects to round out what already looks like a strong class..

Reinhardt is close with Bishop Gorman twin towers Rosco Allen and Ben Carter, who took an unofficial visit to UNLV together last Friday. Allen had also visited with the staff two days earlier for more than an hour.

Carter's recruitment is still wide open, while Allen appears to have narrowed his choices down to UNLV and Stanford. He'll take an official visit to Stanford over the final weekend in August, then likely decide soon after. Multiple sources have told the Sun in the last week that Allen is considered to be leaning heavily towards UNLV.

Other senior prospects UNLV is still pursuing include Gorman's Shabazz Muhammad — the unanimous top overall prospect in the 2012 class — his teammate Demetris Morant, Reinhardt's Mater Dei teammate Xavier Johnson, Consortium Prep (Mich.) big man Matt Willms, Westwind Prep (Ariz.) wing Demarquise Johnson and the Findlay Prep duo of Winston Shepard and Anthony Bennett.

For all UNLV recruiting updates as they happen, stay tuned to lasvegassun.com/rebels.

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