Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 10, 1991 TAG: 9103100094
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Long
Wolff did not rejoin the Cavaliers until Thursday night, the day Christine O'Brien, wife of Boston College coach Jim O'Brien, was buried.
Wolff considers O'Brien his closest friend in coaching, and the O'Briens were the godparents to Wolff's 6-year-old daughter.
O'Brien joined the basketball staff at Connecticut when Wolff was a senior on the Huskies' team. Wolff later served on O'Brien's staff at St. Bonaventure.
O'Brien's wife, who was 41, had a history of heart trouble and was fitted for a pacemaker last year, but it was felt she was improving. She died Sunday after taking a walk with her husband.
Wolff and his wife, who was Chris O'Brien's best friend, stayed with O'Brien and his two daughters, ages 14 and 16.
Wolff said he and O'Brien listened to Boston College's first-round game against Villanova in the Big East Tournament, won by the Wildcats 74-73 when the Eagles missed five one-and-ones in the final 2:10.
"He's got to take care of a lot of things, like who's going to be there when they get home from school and what happens when he goes recruiting," Wolff said. "It's going to be very hard."
\ Virginia's prime recruiting target, guard Cory Alexander from Waynesboro and Oak Hill Academy, said he now has a favorite in his college basketball plans, but he is not ready to declare it publicly.
Alexander, a first-team Parade All-American, said he plans to announce his decision April 20-21 after he plays in the McDonald's All-America Game in Springfield, Mass., and the Dapper Dan Classic in Pittsburgh.
The best guess is that Alexander is leaning slightly toward Virginia, with Arizona the only other serious threat for his services. Alexander visited those two schools, along with Michigan, in the fall.
"Michigan is pretty much third," Alexander said. "They haven't put in the time that the other schools have."
Alexander said he has eliminated Tennessee, and, if he visits a fourth school, it will be James Madison, but that would be mostly as a courtesy.
Alexander could sign with JMU "if something happens to the other three schools," he said, "but I don't see that happening. Right now, it doesn't look like I'll take any more visits."
\ North Carolina coach Dean Smith, who likes to conserve his timeouts, said he has not called two timeouts in the first half of a game since 1968.
Smith called a timeout Friday night with 10:43 remaining in the first half and Clemson leading the Tar Heels 22-12. North Carolina trailed by 12 before coming back to win 67-59.
\ If Wake Forest had held on to beat Virginia on Friday night, it would have set up the first all-North Carolina semifinal in the ACC Tournament. A headline in the Charlotte Observer referred to the Cavaliers as "party poopers" after they came back to beat the Deacons 70-66.
\ The oddsmakers obviously had little regard for the conference standings when they made sixth-seeded Virginia a two-point favorite over No. 3 Wake Forest and No. 5 Georgia Tech a one-point choice over No. 4 N.C. State.
\ Kenny Anderson, the preseason choice for player of the year in the ACC, was not selected player of the week a single time out of nine chances.
Wake Forest freshman Rodney Rogers was voted rookie of the week five times, and the only other players to be recognized as much as twice were his teammate, Randolph Childress, and Duke's Grant Hill.
\ Jon Barry, son of NBA Hall of Famer Rick Barry, has scored in double figures in 27 of 28 games and ranks second in the ACC in made 3-pointers with 74.
While Jon Barry has been a worthy successor to Brian Oliver at big guard, the Yellow Jackets' other junior-college recruit, Brian Hill, has struggled at small forward.
Hill has scored in double figures five times, only once in the last 13 games, and has gone 3-for-12 from the free-throw line over the last five weeks.
\ Jon Barry on the Yellow Jackets' NCAA chances: "We'll wait till Sunday and hopefully we'll get lucky and get a bid. I'm getting scared. Every time I look up, somebody else has got 20 wins."
\ Clemson senior Dale Davis finished the season as the first ACC player since the Tigers' Wayne "Tree" Rollins in 1977 to average 12 rebounds per game in a season.
Davis, the leading career rebounder among Division I players active this season, was the first ACC player since Virginia's Ralph Sampson (1979-83) to average double figures in points and rebounds for four straight years.
\ Clemson, which became the first team in ACC history to drop from first place to last in one season, could have six or seven new players next season.
The Tigers signed only two players during the November period, but coach Cliff Ellis is expected to hit the junior-college ranks hard in an effort to rebuild his team.
The return of Wayne Buckingham, who chose to sit out the 1990-91 season, should help. Buckingham played in 1989-90, but it later was determined he should have been ineligible.
Buckingham was one of three ACC players who were redshirted this season, joining Darryl Barnes (injury) at Georgia Tech and Kenny Blakeney (academics) at Duke.
\ Perhaps the best-kept secret in the ACC is the age of official Lenny Wirtz, who called the NCAA championship game in 1961. Wirtz, once the commissioner of the Ladies' Professional Golf Association, could tie Hank Nichols' record by officiating his ninth ACC final today. Look for Wirtz, Dick Paparo and Gerry Donaghy to call the game.
\ Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski declined to answer a question Saturday from Roanoke (Va.) Times & World-News Executive Sports Editor Bill Brill, who arrived at the ACC Tournament after covering the Metro Conference Tournament in Roanoke for two days.
"Don't we have a rule that you can't ask questions unless you've been here all week?" Krzyzewski asked, tongue-in-cheek. "Brill, are you one of us or are you a Metro guy?"
by CNB