Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 6, 1991 TAG: 9103060082
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD and JACK BOGACZYK SPORTSWRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Cardinals arrived in Roanoke on Tuesday night, trying to ride a recent hot streak - they've won four of their past five games - to a Metro basketball tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"Nobody expects a last-place team to go to the NCAAs, so what pressure is there?" said Crum, whose 12-15 team plays top-seeded, 22nd-ranked Southern Mississippi (21-6) in the tournament opener 1:05 p.m. Thursday at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Crum, during a Monday conference call featuring the league's eight coaches, was asked if just bearing the Louisville name would bring pressure on the Cardinals. The program has made 12 NCAA Tournament appearances in the past 14 years and has the fifth-most NCAA Tournament victories (38) in history.
"That pressure has been dissipated over a 15-game losing season," Crum said.
Southern Miss, meanwhile, has lost three of its past four games, including an 82-65 drubbing at Tulane in the season finale. The Golden Eagles, the Metro's regular-season champions, shot a season-low 34 percent from the field in that game.
"The game at Tulane was our worst of the season," Southern Miss coach M.K. Turk said. "But it will serve as an attention-getter for our players."
Southern Miss is regarded as a sure bet for an at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament if it doesn't win the Metro.
Crum said he knows that Louisville has no chance at postseason play if it doesn't win three games in Roanoke, but he doesn't expect to encounter a slumping Southern Miss team.
"The tournament will be invigorating to them," he said. "It's normal to have a little letdown at the end of the season if you have it wrapped up."
If Louisville wins, it could set up the 67th - and possibly last - meeting between the Metro's traditional top two programs, the Cardinals and Memphis State. Memphis State is leaving the league for the Great Midwest after this season, and the animosity created by that move has left the continuation of the teams' series in doubt.
Memphis State (15-13) plays surging Tulane (15-12) in the second afternoon game Thursday at about 3:30 p.m.
\ Virginia Tech coach Frankie Allen wanted to practice at the Roanoke Civic Center on Tuesday, but if the Hokies had, then they couldn't have practiced today. According to Metro tournament rules, each school gets one hour of practice at the site in the days before the tournament.
The Hokies practiced at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg on Tuesday, and Allen changed their open practice today at the civic center from 8:30 p.m. to 12:30 p.m. That means Tech will begin the eight hours of workouts that are open to the public.
\ The sale of single-session tickets for the 1991 Metro Conference Tournament began Tuesday, and fans flocked to the Roanoke Civic Center box office and tied up phone lines.
Civic center ticket manager Vern Steed said more than 900 single-session tickets were sold Tuesday, primarily for Wednesday night's session, which includes Virginia Tech's first-round game against Cincinnati, and for the championship game.
"If we're as strong [today] as we were this first day, we may sell out Session 2 [Thursday night]," Steed said.
Single-session tickets for the two Thursday sessions and Friday's semifinal session are $24. A championship game ticket for Saturday night is $15. Tournament ticket books also remain on sale for $87, all at the civic center.
Tournament ticket sales had been slow until Tuesday. About 5,800 of the civic center's 9,834 seats for the event have been sold to tournament-book holders.
\ Only two Metro Conference basketball games have been played at the Roanoke Civic Center. Virginia Tech won both.
The Hokies joined the league in 1978-79, and their first Metro game was played Dec. 20, 1978. Tech won 90-71 over St. Louis before a crowd of 4,077 in the first round of the Roanoke Times & World-News Holiday Classic.
Tech edged Tulane 69-68 on Feb. 2, 1980, in the last Metro game played in Roanoke. The Saturday afternoon game attracted only 2,871 spectators.
Then-Tech coach Charlie Moir, referring to the quiet atmosphere, said that day, "It was like a damn opera out there."
\ METRO HOOP-LA: Either Louisville or Memphis State has won the past 11 Metro tournaments, and both are in the lower half of the seedings for the first time in tournament history. . . . Last-seeded Louisville has never lost a first-round Metro tournament game and has failed to make the final only five times in 15 previous tournaments. Memphis State's only first-round loss in 15 tournaments came in 1981.
Virginia Tech's surprising 1979 Metro tournament champion is the only team that has had a losing regular-season conference record and won the tournament. Tech was seeded fourth in '79, also the lowest seed to win in tournament history. . . . Virginia Tech hasn't won a first-round Metro game since 1984, when the Hokies advanced to the title game before losing to Keith Lee-led Memphis State.
A South Carolina victory in Roanoke would be a rarity. The Gamecocks have won only 14 of 61 road or neutral site games in their Metro history.
Sixteen NBA teams have ordered Metro tournament tickets for scouting purposes: New Jersey, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Boston, Milwaukee, Washington, Indiana, Orlando, New York, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Chicago, Detroit, Golden State and the Los Angeles Clippers.
With one steal Thursday against Tulane, Memphis State's All-Metro guard Elliot Perry would pass former Virginia Tech All-America Dell Curry as the league's career thefts leader. Each has 295.
John Rivers' 9.0 rebounding average for Virginia Tech is a team high since Wayne Robinson finished 1978-79 at 9.1.
by CNB