Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080159
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
"We don't plan on making any formal announcement right now," conference commissioner Ralph McFillen said. "It's a matter of finalizing. We want to have that done and have it done right, make sure everyone feels comfortable with that before we proceed."
McFillen said the Metro still is working through the "terms and conditions" of adding the two Sun Belt Conference teams. He said he had hoped to have the details final to make an announcement this week.
He said the new target date for an announcement is sometime before the Final Four in April.
At least one of the paperwork hang-ups involves the $500,000 letter of credit each member school has agreed to put up. Any school leaving the league within a five-year period would forfeit the money. Tech athletic director Dave Braine, however, said Virginia state law prohibits a state university from putting up a letter of credit; thus, he said, Tech's lawyers are trying to figure out a way for Tech to make the commitment.
"It's not a major problem at all," said Braine, who said his suggestion was to follow the new Big East football conference's lead and simply have each school sign a "penalty clause" stating how much the school must pay the league if it leaves.
Athletic directors Judy Rose of UNC Charlotte and Paul Griffin of South Florida could not be reached for comment Thursday. But the schools' entry into the Metro is in little doubt. UNCC and South Florida reportedly were excluded from league meetings during the Sun Belt Conference Tournament earlier this week.
"All we're waiting for is a handshake and a slap on the back," a UNCC administrative source said.
\ The Charlotte Hornets will not play an NBA exhibition game in Cassell Coliseum this fall as planned, Hornets vice president of basketball operations Allan Bristow said Thursday.
Bristow and Hornets owner George Shinn flew to Roanoke on Thursday aboard Shinn's private plane for a look at the Southern Miss-Louisville game at the Metro Conference basketball tournament at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Bristow said the Hornets wanted to play the exhibition game, but it was scheduled for Oct. 11 - one day before Tech's football team plays Florida State at Orlando, Fla.
That scheduling conflict scrubbed the proposed game, Bristow said, and he said Charlotte already has scheduled all of its exhibitions for this fall. But Bristow said he plans to call Tech associate athletic director Danny Monk within a few days to try to schedule an NBA exhibition either in Blacksburg or Roanoke before the 1992-93 season.
"We get good crowds in Norfolk, in South Carolina," said Bristow, a former Hokies star whose Hornets feature former Tech standout Dell Curry. "We're not just isolated [in North Carolina]."
\ Virginia Commonwealth athletic director Dick Sander attended the tournament Thursday, and said he isn't sure how much interest the Metro Conference will have in adding VCU if the Metro expands to eight teams after adding UNCC and South Florida.
VCU is reported to be lobbying the Metro for consideration.
"I don't think they're really looking at that very seriously now," Sander said when asked if the Metro would consider VCU for its seventh or eighth team.
The Sun Belt will be down to five schools once UNCC, South Florida and Old Dominion (headed for the Colonial Athletic Association) leave and Arkansas-Little Rock joins after this school year.
Sander has a couple of survival options: Merge with the New Orleans-based American South or scramble to find at least one more school that would enable the league to keep its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
"That's real preliminary," Sander said. "We need to evaluate where we are and search for conference affiliation somewhere else, or at least seriously consider that."
\ Thursday afternoon's first session had a paid attendance of 6,245, including no-shows. Civic center ticket manager Vern Steed said an exact count of the in-house crowd was unavailable because the arena doesn't have a turnstile at each door.
Civic center officials estimated the Louisville-Southern Mississippi and Memphis State-Tulane crowd at 4,500.
Louisville's opening-round upset had barely ended when the civic center box office began receiving long-distance calls from Louisville fans, who said they were going to drive to Roanoke for tonight's semifinal renewal of the Metro's best rivalry - the Cardinals and Memphis State.
Tournament officials said they realized the best thing that could happen in the first session was to have Louisville and Memphis State win - keeping two large contingents of fans staying in Roanoke Valley hotels and spending their money in area restaurants and the '91 Metro Festival Tent outside the arena.
Some information for this story was provided by Jack Bogaczyk and Bill Brill.
by CNB