Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 17, 1990 TAG: 9003202724
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk and Scott Blanchard
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Yellow Jackets coach Bobby Cremins said Friday that he and Scott, the Atlantic Coast Conference player of the year, will discuss the 6-foot-8 forward's pro prospects after Tech's season is over.
Cremins and Scott had talked about the possibility of Scott turning pro earlier this school year and agreed that nothing short of an outstanding season would be cause for further discussion. Scott averaged 27.2 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and sank 113 3-point field goals through the ACC Tournament.
That said plenty.
"We're going to definitely look into where Dennis Scott will possibly be drafted," Cremins said at a news conference. "Contingent on that information, Dennis will or will not take a serious look into it. If it's a serious look, then he will make the final decision. I will drop out of the picture at that moment."
Scott brushed off talk of his pro potential.
"I'm not even worried about it right now," he said Friday while trying to focus on today's NCAA Tournament second-round game against Louisiana State. "I'm worried about tomorrow at seven o'clock."
Cremins said rumors that Tech's phenomenal freshman guard, Kenny Anderson, would consider turning pro after this year were "ludicrous." But a year from now?
"Starting next year, possibly, we'll do like a Dennis Scott game plan [with Anderson]," Cremins said.
CAA talks expansion...
Don't be surprised if the Colonial Athletic Association is a 10-team conference within two seasons.
CAA Commissioner Tom Yeager, at the NCAA East Region's first-round site in Atlanta, said his league is no different than others looking at expansion or realignment in the wake of Penn State's move to the Big Ten.
When Virginia Commonwealth, Old Dominion, Davidson and North Carolina-Charlotte were mentioned to Yeager, he said, "We really like those [Norfolk, Va., and Charlotte, N.C.] markets."
Yeager said the CAA isn't likely to add both VCU and ODU, which might be looking for another affiliation if their Sun Belt Conference goes under. With Richmond, James Madison, George Mason and William and Mary, half the CAA members are Virginia schools.
There is talk that Western Kentucky may be leaving the Sun Belt to return to the Ohio Valley Conference, and South Alabama could be headed from the Sun Belt to the American South Conference.
Yeager said he doesn't see any of the eight current Colonial members leaving, although "I hear rumors about Navy all of the time," he said.
Another factor in conference shifting will be an NCAA report expected in April on Division I restructuring, a study that could push some of the 292 Division I schools back to Division II.
"There's nothing formal I'm aware of," said Yeager, who watched CAA Tournament champion Richmond lose 81-46 to Duke in the East Region opener Friday. "If something's going to happen, I'd imagine it would come up at our spring meetings [in early May in Wilmington, N.C.]."
The CAA has signed a new three-year television contract with Home Team Sports. The CAA will double its regular-season games on HTS to 14 every year plus the conference tournament. The lure of the large Hampton Roads and Charlotte markets is tied to increased TV exposure for the CAA.
"Expansion is something we'd consider only if it made us stronger," Yeager said. "If it were something to take us to the next step, you have to look at it.
"The major leagues have such a stranglehold on television, and ESPN is quickly becoming a fourth national network. The conferences that survive will be those in which there's the most interest."
Yeager, in his fifth year as CAA commissioner, said his concern is "where we'll be in five years, and what do we need to do to get better. What happens when it's 1995 and Lefty [Driesell, James Madison's coach] is retired and Dick Tarrant [Richmond's coach] is retired? We have to plan ahead."
Yeager said any expansion of the CAA would take "yes" votes from seven of eight league members.
It appears the ODU and UNC-Charlotte are the leading candidates if the CAA is to expand.
...and so does SEC
Virginia Tech, which has been meeting with other schools in the East in an attempt to form a new conference, reportedly is among the schools to be considered by the Southeastern Conference should it decide to expand.
However, SEC Commissioner Roy Kramer said in Knoxville, Tenn., that the league hasn't reached the point of considering specific schools.
"We've had informal discussions [about expansion]," said Kramer, adding that the talks included "basically just conference schools."
"There is no `hit list' or whatever you want to call it," he said. "Nobody's even addressed that. We've really just talked about it in a generic way."
Kramer said he has not contacted Virginia Tech regarding the possibility of SEC expansion.
Bimbo just says no
Virginia Tech's Bimbo Coles is featured on an NCAA antidrug spot that is being shown during NCAA Tournament games.
Selection committee defended
NCAA Basketball Committee chairman Jim Delany says he isn't thrilled about the outspokenness of Southern Illinois coach Rich Herrin about the Salukis' absence from the 64-team field.
After Southern Illinois was snubbed by the NCAA selectors despite a 26-7 record and the Missouri Valley Conference's regular-season championship, Herrin told ESPN that Delany's committee lacked "honesty and integrity."
At Atlanta's Omni watching the East Region first round, Delany, who also is the Big Ten Conference commissioner, called Herrin's remarks "very inappropriate."
"The committee does what it does in good faith," Delany said. "We can never please anybody."
Southern Illinois was ranked 47th in the final USA Today-Sagarin computer poll, which is close to the computer rankings used by the NCAA in selecting and seeding the field.
Four teams with NCAA at-large bids are ranked below Southern Illinois - Colorado State, California, Brigham Young and Southern Mississippi. However, the Salukis' strength-of-schedule number was below all of those schools' figures.
by CNB