Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992 TAG: 9202060096
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TECH'S FOSTER PLAYS CATCH-UP IN RECRUITING
Bill Foster, who entered his first year at Virginia Tech without the benefit of a scholarship freshman, is making up for lost time with this year's recruiting class.Foster signed four basketball players during the fall and is thinking of adding three in the spring.
"We definitely want to bring in a point guard," Foster said. "Then, we're looking for the best perimeter player we can find because we don't shoot the 3-pointer well. For the third grant, we'd just want the best player we could find."
Foster isn't as concerned about the low post because of the progress of Jimmy Carruth, a 6-foot-10 sophomore.
"Carruth has improved as much in six months as any player I've ever been around," Foster said. "He's real intelligent and has good court IQ.
"He was a no-factor in August and, with the loss of [John] Rivers and [Erik] Wilson, I didn't think we had anybody inside. Not now.
"He's had a lot of problems with his legs since he's gotten here, but we've got him in water aerobics now and that seems to be helping him."
Tech has six returning scholarship players, so Foster could give eight scholarships and meet the 14-scholarship limit that will be in effect for the 1992-93 season.
"I'd like to have the scholarships balanced out and not have all the kids in two classes," Foster said, "but I've learned this year that you don't want to get caught short. The situation with [Rod] Wheeler changed everything."
Wheeler, who was expected to be Tech's starting point guard, was one of three players with remaining eligibility who were not available this year. Foster has not committed a scholarship to Wheeler, suspended for a violation of team policy, or two players who are academically ineligible, Dirk Williams and J.J. Burton.
Although many of the nation's top prospects sign in November, Foster said he has no question that players remain unsigned who can help the Hokies.
"The thing that can kill you is the new recruiting rules," said Foster, noting that no more than two coaches, counting assistants, can be on the road at the same time.
"I'm sitting here in the office waiting for [assistant] Bobby Hussey to get back in town so I can drive to Fork Union. What a burden it is when you're trying to catch up like we are."
\ Gene Corrigan, commissioner of the ACC, is recuperating at Wesley Long Hospital in Greensboro, N.C., after a four-hour operation Monday for cancer of the prostate. Corrigan, former athletic director at Washington and Lee and at Virginia, is not expected to have to undergo radiation treatments.
\ After the weekend basketball action, the home team had a 20-15 record in ACC conference play, which is the lowest percentage in four years. Florida State and Duke were a combined 7-1 in conference road games before Wednesday night.
| Maryland has added a transfer in James Spears, who began the basketball season at Temple but left school at the end of the first semester because his parents were ill. Spears, a sophomore from Hollywood, Md., was averaging 5.5 points for the Owls.
| Linnea Smith, wife of North Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith, underwent three hours of hip surgery after she was assaulted and robbed Jan. 21 after attending a meeting of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro Public School Foundation.
| Elizabeth Foxx, the mother of Ferrum basketball star Everett Foxx, sang the national anthem Saturday night at Swartz Gymnasium after her son was recognized as the leading scorer in Panthers history. Also present was Greg Smith, whose record of 1,719 points Foxx had broken earlier in the week at Methodist.
\ VMI's Lewis Preston, a junior from Boones Mill, is first in the Southern Conference in blocked shots, second in field-goal percentage and third in rebounds. Preston, who arrived at VMI as a walk-on, holds the VMI record for blocked shots in a career (132) and ranks fifth on the all-time Southern Conference list.
| One-time Cave Spring basketball star Lisa Allison, a junior at Campbell University, scored 23 points in back-to-back games and averaged 11.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in her first 10 games since returning from reconstructive knee surgery. Allison, injured in January 1991, did not return until the sixth game this season.