Robert Smith to take over Gondo’s announcing spot

There has always been a pretty good debate among Runnin’ Rebel basketball fans about who was the greatest point guard in school history, Greg Anthony, who quarterbacked UNLV to the 1990 national championship, or Robert Smith, who helped lead the Rebels to their first Final Four in 1977?

Now we’ll also get to decide which one is the better announcer.

UNLV announced today that Smith has been named as the school’s new basketball radio analyst replacing his former “Hardway Eight” teammate, the late Glen “Gondo” Gondrezick, who served in the position for 17 years before passing away in April from heart failure. He’ll join Jon Sandler, who returns for his sixth season as the lead play-by-play voice for the Runnin’ Rebels, on the broadcast team.

Smith, who was inducted into the Southern Nevada Hall of Fame in June and has recently been coaching at the Andre Agassi Boys and Girls Club, still is the school’s career leader in free throw percentage (87.8 percent) and also holds the mark (92.5 percent) for a single-season.

“Robert was a terrific player for the Runnin’ Rebels,” UNLV head coach Lon Kruger said in a school release. “He has a passion for his school and it is great to have him on board in an official capacity as part of our broadcast team.”

Anthony is currently the lead studio college basketball analyst for CBS after a brilliant start to his broadcasting career as an NBA analyst for ESPN, so Smith has a very high standard to meet if he wants to go down as school’s top broadcaster.

“It is great to be coming back to be a part of the team,” Smith said. “It is very exciting for me as a former student-athlete to be involved with UNLV. I always felt a part of the program, but now I will get to work that much closer with the team and I am thrilled to be part of the university again. I am looking forward to getting started.”