Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003082079
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BILOXI, MISS. LENGTH: Long
The former didn't happen last year, but Tech's NCAA probation has ended. The latter hasn't been the case most of this year, but three straight victories have intoxicated the Hokies with glee.
After a year's absence from the Metro Conference Tournament because of NCAA sanctions, Tech plays second-seeded Southern Mississippi (9-5 in Metro, 18-10 overall) in tonight's last first-round game, which will begin about 10:15 p.m. at the Mississippi Gulf Coast Coliseum.
In the other first-round games, top-seeded and 18th-ranked Louisville (12-2, 23-7) faces last-place Tulane (1-13, 4-23) at 2 p.m. Fourth-seeded Memphis State (8-6, 17-10) plays fifth-seeded South Carolina (6-8, 14-13) at 4 p.m., and third-seeded Cincinnati (9-5, 18-12) meets sixth-seeded Florida State (6-8, 16-14) at 8 p.m.
Although the Hokies' record is a droopy 13-17, Tech finished the regular season with three straight conference wins to finish 5-9 in the Metro. That streak has given Allen optimism that has been missing during a season in which Tech has had losing streaks of six and four games.
"The last three or four days, we've just been doing a lot of things quite well," Allen said of Tech's practices.
Until Wednesday evening, the Hokies had practiced without leading scorer Bimbo Coles, whose sprained left foot and ankle have made him a question mark for tonight's game. Wednesday, Coles was wearing an electronic device that stimulates nerve endings in his foot to relieve pain. He said he will be wearing a plastic foot splint, an ankle brace and lots of tape if he plays today.
After Coles limped through a short shooting session Wednesday evening, team doctor Duane Lagan was more pessimistic about the chance of Coles playing.
"I doubt he'll do much," Lagan said.
Still, that sober prospect doesn't water down Allen's giddiness.
"We're just on a high right now," Allen said.
Coles is just as optimistic.
"We honestly think we can win this tourney if we go out and play hard. But we've got to play well, too," he said.
That they're playing at all is a boost to the Hokies, whose season ended last year with an upset win over Memphis State on the last day of the regular season. NCAA sanctions prohibited Tech from playing in the tournament.
"Last year, that last game against Memphis State, we let it all go," said Coles, who said the Hokies' thoughts have been on the tournament since the season began going downhill. "It was kind of different [this year] knowing we had a chance even if we didn't do good in the [regular season]."
Allen and Coles say the Hokies are peaking. But even if they are, it seems unlikely they can topple Southern Miss, which beat the Hokies by two points in Hattiesburg and by 17 in Blacksburg, Va., this year.
The Golden Eagles, the host team for the Metro's first neutral-site tournament, can show off the Metro's player of the year, forward Clarence Weatherspoon, who averages 18.3 points and 11.1 rebounds. Shooting guard Darrin Chancellor, averaging 17.7 points per game, and junior-college transfers - Russell Johnson, a guard who averages 11.9 points, and 6-11 center Daron Jenkins (13.9 ppg, 8.4 rebounds per game) - are also big reasons for Southern Mississippi's success.
Southern Miss, which finished 10-17 overall last year and 2-10 in the conference - tied with Tech for last place - was picked by many to finish sixth in the league this season.
"I think we overachieved and accomplished far more than most anybody thought," said M.K. Turk, the Southern Miss coach. "We had more and better people. It's not a coaching thing; it's a player thing."
Allen has quit shuffling players in and out of Tech's starting lineup. He has gone with the same starting five - Coles, J.J. Burton, John Rivers, Dirk Williams and David Herbster - in six of the past seven games. Center Ibraheem Oladotun and guard Rod Wheeler have provided solid play off the bench during Tech's streak.
Allen said Tech's 62-59 loss to Cincinnati on Jan. 20 in Blacksburg started the tailspin, and the Hokies didn't snap out of it until after a loss on Feb. 22 at South Carolina - the team's 10th in 11 games. In the next game, Coles scored 37 points and Tech beat Florida State in Tallahassee, Fla.
"I saw the kids maybe relaxing a little bit more and realizing it's not a life-and-death situation," Allen said.
However, Allen is taking the tournament seriously. He said he will go as far as calling timeouts early in the game if Tech falls behind so the Golden Eagles - who shot 51.7 percent from the field in the regular season - don't run away from the Hokies. Allen likely is worried about the crowd, too, which figures to be pro-Southern Miss.
"It should be a homecourt advantage for us," Turk said. "We're 60 miles from home, we'll have a lot of fans [and] we didn't have the travel all the other teams did."
Southern Miss is 1-7 in Metro tournaments, the worst record among the league's eight teams. Tech is trying to win a first-round tournament game for the first time since 1984.
Southern Miss' Weatherspoon is wary.
"They're really a dangerous team to be playing in the first round," said Weatherspoon, who looks and plays like a young Charles Barkley. "It's scary playing against them."
by CNB