Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 30, 1991 TAG: 9103300246
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS LENGTH: Long
They are Roanoke's Final Four connection - the first-ever.
Lynch is the 6-foot-7 sophomore forward for North Carolina, the youngest starter for the Tar Heels.
Described by coach Dean Smith as a "stable starter," Lynch will realize a dream today when the Tar Heels take the floor in the Hoosier Dome for the NCAA Tournament semifinals.
On the other bench, concerned with how well the former Patrick Henry star performs, will be Robinson, an assistant coach at Kansas.
Few people have taken a more circuitous route to the Final Four than Robinson, a 1976 graduate of William Fleming.
Unlike Lynch, who had a high profile scholastic career, Robinson was far more your typical Roanoke basketball player.
He played under Charlie Van Lear at Fleming.
Robinson said: "Coach Van Lear always went to the Final Four, and he'd talk about it when he got back. It was a dream of mine."
But a highly unlikely one.
Robinson went to Ferrum Junior College, playing a year for Joe Davis, then his sophomore season for Grant Hudson.
Davis, now at Cave Spring High, had gone to Radford, and he recruited Robinson. He had a nice, unadorned college career.
The next year he was at Lincoln University in Oxford, Pa., as the volunteer assistant "and the dorm director - an enlightening experience," Robinson said Friday. It was to be typical of his coaching assignments since.
He got a job at Albemarle High in Charlottesville, Va., where he taught physical education in elementary school, and then it was back to Radford, where he served as the second assistant for Davis.
The other assistant with the Highlanders was Don Carter, whose friend, Mike Dement, had just gotten the head job at Cornell. Dement called Carter "looking for some names," and Robinson wound up in the Ivy League.
They don't give athletic scholarships in the halls of Ivy, and, Robinson said, "If you can survive there [as a coach], you can survive anywhere. The limitations in recruiting, persuading young men to come, you learn to use your resources. It's a lifetime investment."
But, "basketball is basketball," Robinson said. "We won the Ivy. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything."
Robinson had to do far more than just coach and recruit, and that academic experience benefited him when he got to Kansas, one of the storied names in college basketball.
He wound up with the Jayhawks because of his friendship with Jerry Green, who had just left North Carolina-Asheville to join the staff of first-year coach Roy Williams. "I had spoken with Roy, but very little," Robinson said.
Now, oddly, Green is considered the leading candidate for the coaching vacancy at Virginia Tech, while Robinson's name has been connected with the opening at Radford. Neither coach will even discuss those possibilities until after Kansas has finished its season.
Robinson, 33, is the coordinator of the on- and off-campus recruiting at Kansas, and he monitors the academic progress of the players.
"I don't know if it was because I was from Cornell," he said. "Roy just told me that was part of my job."
Robinson has a variety of responsibilities. "I'm the faculty adviser. I work with the kids on class attendance, organizing study hall, monitoring study hall," he said.
And he serves as the go-between with parents, corresponding with them, keeping then informed of their sons' progress - on and off the floor.
Robinson said he wanted to talk to Lynch, who was unaware there was another Roanoke native in the tournament.
For Lynch, playing in the Final Four was "one of the small-time, reachable goals. It's a payoff for all the hard work."
It's also a confirmation of sorts that Lynch and his relatives have made the right decisions in his career.
After leading Patrick Henry to a state championship in his junior year, Lynch departed suddenly for Flint Hill Prep and its controversial coach, Stu Vetter.
There, Lynch played on one of the nation's best scholastic teams, with Aaron Bain and Randolph Childress, now of Villanova and Wake Forest, respectively.
Lynch, who said, "I'm probably the most unselfish player," nevertheless was the team MVP.
He was pursued by many but wanted to play in the ACC. "I didn't want to go to a smaller school like VCU or Virginia Tech," he said.
It came down to North Carolina and Virginia. "A lot of people wanted to see me stay in Virginia," he said. "I'm the one who made the decision. I can't say I made the wrong decision."
Asked what attracted him to Chapel Hill, Lynch said: "The list of people who graduated was my first priority, and winning was second. And you don't hear of North Carolina people getting in a lot of trouble."
Meanwhile, Lynch had noted that Virginia center Olden Polynice was involved in the theft of a stereo headset, a violation of the school's honor code, and point guard John Johnson was kicked off the team because he tested positive in a drug test.
Lynch said he was very aware of that, "and there were stories that Coach [Terry] Holland was leaving."
So Lynch, like others before him, left the state to play for Dean Smith.
As a freshman, he became a starter by the end of the season and averaged 8.6 points and 5.4 rebounds.
This year, at 12.4 he is the third leading scorer on a team that is 29-5 and won the ACC Tournament, and he tops all rebounders with a 7.4 average.
But Lynch is a frustrated guard, or, at the least, convinced he is a perimeter player.
He expected that chance to come this year, and, surprise, he is the best 3-point shooter in the Final Four, having made seven of 10 attempts.
"I can play inside," he said, "but I want to play the perimeter. I'd like to play on the wing. That's my best chance to [continue playing] on the next level."
For the two guys from Roanoke, the Final Four is fulfilling. But their careers in basketball actually are just beginning to blossom.
by CNB