Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 12, 1992 TAG: 9201120022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Bob Teitlebaum
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
BLUE RIDGE TITLE UP FOR GRABS
The wild, wacky and now wonderful Blue Ridge District boys' basketball season opens Friday with two games.It's safe to say that any of the five teams in the Blue Ridge - Alleghany, Lord Botetourt, Northside, Salem and William Byrd - could finish first or last. That's how good, balanced and competitive the district seems to be this season.
It isn't likely the Blue Ridge has a team of state championship caliber, but it has two or three teams that can beat any Group AA team on any given night, and possibly all five could do that by tournament time.
Here are the facts, then the coaches will speak:
The Blue Ridge had a combined 26-12 mark against some tough outside competition going into Saturday night's Blacksburg-Salem and Lord Botetourt-Cave Spring games.
The Blue Ridge was 5-4 against Group AAA competition before Saturday night.
Before Saturday, Lord Botetourt had the worst record at 4-4. But how bad is that? Patrick Henry, the top-ranked Group AAA team, and R.E. Lee-Staunton, No. 1 in Group AA, each beat Botetourt twice.
Gone from the schedules of a year ago are games against Roanoke Catholic. Byrd and Botetourt made a living last winter against the poor Celtics and still were average teams at best.
"About the closest thing I can remember to this is when we had five teams and Roland Malone was coaching Byrd. Botetourt and Byrd were good then and so were we," Alleghany coach Jimmy Smith said. "I don't remember a league where everyone feels they have a pretty good team and could [still] end up last."
Lord Botetourt was the preseason choice by the Roanoke Times & World-News to win the Blue Ridge, but coach Don Meredith thinks anybody could win it. "Salem has four of five starters back and that [Tra] Wilson is out there [at point guard] for the first time," he said.
"Northside is playing really well with a strong defense and three-point shooters. Alleghany has come a long way and Byrd's capable with those inside people."
Northside coach Billy Pope is eager for the district games to start. His team, at 9-1, has the best record and is ready to defend its title.
"To people who haven't seen or know a lot of the teams, they look at you [when you talk about balance] and say this is how coaches talk. But it's the truth: Anyone could finish first or last," Pope said.
"The league is pretty good, isn't it," Salem's Len Mosser said. "This could be my best team since I've come here and it has entered my mind [that anyone could finish last]."
William Byrd coach Paul Barnard is in agreement with the others. "Like I said before [the season], everybody can be competitive. A couple of teams at the beginning were ahead of the other three teams, which you could put anywhere [in the race]. The way things are shaping up, you can put all five of them anywhere."
Or maybe it could be a five-way tie, with each team going 4-4. Impossible? Not with this group. It would be a heck of a playoff for the automatic berth in the Region III tournament.
"They'd have to play it off," Barnard said, "because the [Virginia High School League] bylaws say you can't have a coin flip for the automatic regional spot. And it might mean a bye in the region and the team getting the automatic bid would only have to win one game to get to the state."
The winner will be the team that strengthens a weakness. Here's a guess at what each club needs to solidify:
\ Alleghany: Experience for a young team that produces inconsistently.
\ Lord Botetourt: A better inside game to go along with Timesland's best set of shooting guards.
\ Northside: Has fewer needs than the other teams and can't do anything about its most critical problem, lack of height, unless there's a tremendous growth spurt in the next two weeks.
\ Salem: Like Alleghany, experience for a young team that started the season late (Jan. 3).
\ William Byrd: Guard play must continue to improve from last year to go with the league's best inside game.
\ Noting Timesland:
Injuries to two of James River's top three scorers - Solan Wooden and Jody Steger - against Glenvar last week turned out to be badly sprained ankles. Knights' coach John Shotwell had thought Wooden might have suffered a fracture. However, the two are not likely to be back for a couple of weeks.
A statistical oddity of that game was found in the two teams' field-goal shooting. James River, which was 16-of-50 from the field, went 8-of-25 in each half. Glenvar, which was 18-of-42, went 9-of-21 in each half.
Covington hopes to have 6-foot-1 sophomore guard Van Wallace later this month to strengthen what already appears to be a formidable Group A team. Wallace, who failed to pass five subjects under VHSL guidelines, has been ineligible since the first semester last year, when he led the Cougars with a 14.7 scoring average.
Covington is also getting a lot of mileage out of 6-1 junior Ramon Wallace, a transfer from Oakvale, W.Va. He is averaging 12.9 points.
Northside's Pope is recovering from a badly sprained ankle he suffered over the holidays while playing basketball with his brother Mike, who is a botanist in Alaska. The coach was on crutches until the Blacksburg game last week.
"I used them in practice up until the Blacksburg game [Jan. 4]. But there was no way I was going into that game on crutches," Pope said. "My ankle started feeling better once the adrenaline got going."
Preston Snell, who played at Radford last year until he left school after the first semester, is playing for the Fork Union Military Academy high-school team. In two games, Snell is averaging 27 points and has made seven of 19 shots from 3-point range.