Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9104170683
SECTION: THE METRO TOURNAMENT PAGE: 2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Scott Blanchard / Sportswriter
DATELINE: HATTIESBURG, MISS. LENGTH: Long
"I'm the type of person that doesn't really worry about how much attention [I get] or how many people know you when you walk around and stuff like that," said Weatherspoon, Southern Mississippi's bulky forward who was voted the Metro Conference's player of the year for the second straight year. "As long as I'm satisfied with being myself, being a good player, as long as we're winning and everything, I'm pretty happy."
Color Weatherspoon sanguine. He's the Metro's top rebounder, a body-crunching scorer and the focus of opponent's defenses. And Southern Miss is recording its best-ever season, having cracked the Top 10 for the first time in school history en route to winning the Metro's regular-season title.
Now, Weatherspoon and mates have arrived in Roanoke for the Metro Conference tournament, looking to paint a spot of red on their black and gold uniforms.
"I compare it to like a Louisville," Weatherspoon said of the Golden Eagles' season. "Normally, they're a team always ranked in the top 20, they always have a good team, then nine out of 10 times they go in and win the conference championship. I feel out team is making a move sort of like Louisville. Where we used to be where Louisville is [last], it seems like it's reversed."
In large part, that's because of Weatherspoon, although for most of his career he has been the measuring stick of a true basketball fan. If you knew about Weatherspoon - who was the trendy pick last year as the nation's best unknown player - then, by golly, you knew basketball. If you didn't know about him, then you probably thought a hoya was a bulldog.
However, Southern Miss coach M.K. Turk doesn't, and didn't, consider Weatherspoon a surprise.
"We recruited him hard; he was a known quality," Turk said, referring to Weatherspoon's high school days in Crawford, Miss. "We were convinced he was going to be an outstanding college player, No one thought he would be quite the product he is."
After averaging 14.7 points and 10.7 rebounds as a freshman and being selected the Metro's freshman of the year, he touched off a national ripple in 1989-90. In a three-game stretch early that year, his rebounding totals were 13, 15 and 17. Later he had 24 points and 16 rebounds against Virginia Tech, 22 points and 11 rebounds against Louisville and 19 points and 16 rebounds against the Cardinals in the Metro tournament final in Biloxi, Miss.
Over the summer, he made the U.S. Goodwill Games team. So by the beginning of his junior year, his cover was blown.
"He is no longer in the overlooked category," Turk said.
Indeed, it's chic in college basketball circles to proclaim Weatherspoon the next Charles Barkley because Weatherspoon's body resembles Barkley's and their style of play - unrelentingly physical - is similar. Give it a rest, Weatherspoon said.
"I'm still young, and he's definitely an NBA superstar, so I just can't say I'm Charles Barkley," Weatherspoon said.
Nor will the 6-foor-7, 230-pound junior say if he will enter the NBA draft after this season. He and Turk say they will discuss Weatherspoon's readiness for the pros after this season.
NBA head scout Marty Blake said he doesn't comment on undergraduates, but he had some indirect advice for Westherspoon.
"My answer to undergraduates is: [Derrick] Coleman stayed, [Patrick] Ewing stayed, [Steve] Smith stayed, [Stacey] Augmon stayed, Larry Johnson stayed," Blake said. "They all stayed. The seniors aren't ready. The league is too good.
Weatherspoon can wish away the spotlight, but if Southern Mississippi ascends to national prominence with him, all the better, he says. He and Darrin Chancellor are in their third year playing together, and Daron Jenkins, Russell Johnson and Ron Rembert have been at Southern Miss for two years.
"The first year, we had a young team and we had a bright outlook," Weatherspoon said. "We knew we had a chance to be good. It was something to look forward to.
"We had a very good season last year with sophomores and juniors, and now we're seniors and juniors. So we're putting it together."
Weatherspoon said he hopes the Roanoke Civic Center spectators witness another first in Southern Miss basketball: a Metro tournament title.
"If we keep winning, I don't see another choice but to keep moving up," Weatherspoon said. "People are going to have to really start looking out and saying, `Who are those guys?' "
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by CNB