Running with Rebels: Kambala to attend UNLV

By Mark Stewart
of the Journal Sentinel staff

April 10, 1997

Kaspars Kambala is headed for the land of sun, casinos and big-time college basketball.

The 6-foot-9 forward / center from Homestead High School has signed a letter of intent to play at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Kambala said he would send the letter to the school today.

Kambala chose UNLV over Cincinnati and UCLA.

"They're excited about him. They think he can help right away," said Curtis Weathers, who works with Kambala in Stay in the Game, an organization that provides athletic and academic support to area athletes. "He gives them a physical presence because they don't have anyone like him their program."

Kambala will play on Stay in the Game's Amateur Athletic Union team this spring and summer.

Kambala, who is from Latvia, enrolled at Homestead at the start of the 1995-'96 school year, but decided to sit out his junior season because as a foreign exchange student he was allowed just one year of competition under Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association rules.

This past season, he averaged 19.5 points per game to lead Homestead to a 13-7 record. He was named second-team all-state on the Journal Sentinel / Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association team.

Last summer, Kambala traveled to Las Vegas for an AAU tournament. When he went back for an official visit last week, he came away with an impression different from the city's glitzy image.

"People think it's just casinos and hotels, but when I went down for a visit I saw it's not just that," he said. "It's not just a city for entertainment. It's a city where you can live, and live pretty good."

It's also a city where you can see some pretty good basketball. UNLV went 22-10 last season, including 11-5 in the Pacific Division of the Western Athletic Conference, and advanced into the third round of the National Invitation Tournament.

Last fall, Kambala said he was leaning toward UCLA until it fired coach Jim Harrick. Kambala liked Harrick's replacement, Steve Lavin, but not enough to turn away UNLV.

Weathers said Kambala also liked UCLA for its tradition and Cincinnati for coach Bob Huggins' no-nonsense approach, as well as his work with big men.

What sold Kambala on the Runnin' Rebels was his rapport with second-year coach Billy Bayno and what he saw as family-like atmosphere among the players.

"I really liked the team," Kambala said. "It was really close, not like other teams that go into separate groups."

It took a while for Kambala to get used to attention colleges give an athlete when they're trying to woo him into their program. Now that it's over, he's going to miss it.

"I guess all the recruiting was getting long with the phone calls and letters, but now that I'm used to it I will feel like something is missing," Kambala said.

"You would come home and look on the table and see messages, and now you come home and you sit down and watch TV."