Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991 TAG: 9104110023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Corrigan, a 1952 Duke alumnus, was convinced he would bring the Blue Devils bad luck. He also skipped the men's semifinals to attend the women's Final Four in New Orleans.
Corrigan's niece, Debbie Ryan, coaches the UVa women's team, which lost to Tennessee 70-67 in the championship game.
"I'm very superstitious," Corrigan said. "After Debbie lost, that clinched it. If Debbie had won, I would have gone to the men's [final]."
"I've been with Carolina twice in the regionals when it's been beaten and, of course, I've been to the Final Four [where Duke was 0-for-8 before this year]. They seem to be able to play fine without me."
Corrigan left the arena shortly before tip-off, watched the first half from a pizza restaurant, returned to his hotel, then headed back to the arena when Duke took a 14-point lead with five minutes left.
Corrigan stopped outside the doors when he heard Kansas had cut the deficit to five. He re-entered the arena when the game ended.
"In general, I'm a jinx," Corrigan said. "I felt so bad for Debbie. I've never been to a [women's] Final Four before and I've told her if they make it back, they'll have to do it without me."
Pete Pavia, the official who called a controversial technical foul on North Carolina coach Dean Smith with 35 seconds remaining in the Tar Heels' NCAA semifinal loss to Kansas, has offered his version to a Rochester, N.Y., newspaper.
"Smith should see a psychiatrist," said Pavia, who is retiring from active officiating, reportedly to become supervisor of officials for the Atlantic 10 Conference. "He's not allowed out of the coaching box, much less all the way to the scorer's table. I let him do it twice. I let him walk all the way down there. And then, the third time, I said, `I can't take any of this stuff.' "
Cordell Llewellyn, a 6-foot-3 Canadian who played basketball this year at Maine Central Institute, is the most prominent of three spring signees for Wake Forest. The Deacons landed 6-6 Travis Banks, a football-basketball star from Clinton, N.C., and 6-7 David Rasmussen from East Lansing, Mich., by way of Ricks (Idaho) Junior College.
Virginia Intermont College in Bristol has signed first-team All-Timesland basketball selection Thompson Lester, who averaged 19 points for Blacksburg High School, and All-Region IV choice David Keith of Marion. Both are 6-1 guards. Virginia Intermont, a fourth-year NAIA program, competes in the Tennessee-Virginia Athletic Conference.
Roanoke products Russell Turner and David Kagey were voted second- and third-team All-American in Division III, respectively, by Basketball Times. Turner, a junior at Hampden-Sydney, played at Patrick Henry High. Kagey, a senior at Randolph-Macon, played at Cave Spring.
All-America wide receiver Herman Moore, who passed up his final season of football eligibility at Virginia to apply for the NFL draft, visited Denver on Tuesday to meet with Broncos officials.
"Everybody's in love with him," Moore's agent, Brad Blank, said. "I'd like to think he'll go in the first round, most likely between the 10th and the 15th pick, but Denver has the No. 4 pick and I can't imagine they project him as a second-rounder."
Tom Mickle, the ACC's assistant commissioner, said response has been favorable to a proposal that would bring a bid to either the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl or Cotton Bowl to the ACC and Big East football champions.
According to the plan, Notre Dame would join the ACC and Big East in furnishing the opposition for the Big Eight champion in the Orange Bowl, the Southeastern Conference champion in the Sugar Bowl and the Southwest Conference champion in the Cotton Bowl.
The matchups would follow the rankings; in other words, the highest-ranked team from among the Notre Dame, the ACC and the Big East would play the highest-ranked team from the other three conferences, unless there would be a duplication of a regular-season matchup.
Mike Smith, a 6-6, 270-pound freshman from Covington, has been moved from defense to offense at Virginia Tech, where he will back up senior Eugene Chung at offensive guard. Walk-on Chris Day, who played quarterback at Lee County, has shown promise after moving to inside linebacker.
After setting a school record with its 16th straight victory and running its record to 26-4, Longwood lost 4-1 to Lynchburg on Wednesday. The Lancers are coached by Hardy native and former Staunton River High player and coach Buddy Bolding.
VMI's baseball team carries a 1-25-1 record, with the only victory a 12-4 decision over West Chester (Pa.) State. The Keydets had a 10.32 earned run average going into Wednesday's 9-8 loss to Radford, but they will have a hard time topping the 13.50 ERA posted by the 1981 team, which finished 3-37.
Tommy Zban, batting .519 after his first 27 at-bats for Virginia Tech's baseball team, has moved into the starting lineup in right field. Zban, a redshirt sophomore, has been a reserve quarterback for Tech's football team and did not play college baseball until this year.
Radford has taken the lead in the race for the Commissioner's Cup, the all-sports championship in the Big South Conference, after the winter season. Radford never has won the Cup, won by Winthrop in 1986-87 and Coastal Carolina the past three years.
by CNB