Keefe Ready to Transfer to Nevada Las Vegas

Brian Keefe, the former UC Irvine guard who transferred to Boston College last spring, is on the move again. Keefe says he is enrolling at Nevada Las Vegas and hopes to be eligible for all but one or two games of the 1997-98 season.

“The [scholarship] paperwork is in the works right now,” Keefe said from his parents’ home in Winchester, Mass., “and the people at Vegas are working on clearing it with the NCAA. It’s not all sorted out yet, but I should only miss the first couple of games at most.”

Keefe, the Anteaters’ top scorer as a sophomore, left for Boston College when teammate Kevin Simmons, the Anteaters’ No. 2 scorer, transferred to UNLV. Keefe said he decided to leave Boston College after Coach Jim O’Brien, upset with the school’s decision to refuse admission to his top two recruits, told him recently that he was considering quitting.

O’Brien didn’t return a phone message.

Boston College officials denied admission to center Elton Tyler and guard Jonathan DePina--both of whom met NCAA standards--saying the two did not meet the school’s academic criteria.

“Coach O’Brien told me to start looking at other schools because he didn’t think he would be there next year,” Keefe said. “I think he’s leaning toward staying now, but that won’t change my decision. With the gambling scandal in the football program and all the pressure on the administration, I don’t think things are very stable there. The place is falling apart a little.

“I wanted to go where I knew the people and I’m really looking forward to being reunited with Kevin and [Greg] Vetrone [a former UCI assistant who is now an assistant at UNLV]. Plus, I think it’s a better situation for me from a basketball standpoint.”

UNLV’s top two guards--leading scorer Jermaine “Sunshine” Smith and Damian Smith--are both seniors.

Keefe, who averaged 16.4 points a game for Irvine last season, was a second-team All-Big West selection. He was named to the conference’s all-freshman team in 1994-95.