Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 20, 1992 TAG: 9202200027
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RAY COX
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
TOURNAMENT OFFERS WINNERS AND LOSERS A SECOND CHANCE
One of the many beauties of basketball is that tournament time offers the meek as well as the mighty a second chance.When the high school district tournaments roll around next week, nobody needs more of a fresh start than Radford.
As far as the Bobcats are concerned, 1991-92 was as rough as it gets.
A rough year and a rookie head coach. Talk about trial by fire; Bobcats boss Brenda King has had trial by blowtorch.
Good thing she's hard-headed. She wouldn't have made it this far.
The horrors began before the first tipoff and they've continued apace. The team had already started practicing when it was discovered that Willie Delaney wasn't going to be playing.
Delaney's absence was of his own choosing. King chose not to go totally berserk when faced with trying to figure out what to do without a player who was expected to be a primary offensive contributor.
As the season went on, Chris Hairston, who had never played for Radford before, developed into the team's best player. He led all Bobcats in scoring and rebounding. That was until he was whistled to the sidelines for the rest of the season because his academic performance wasn't up to standard.
A team that had been struggling began accelerating into the abyss.
But King kept her composure.
Then, when even Stephen King couldn't write a more horrific screenplay, it got worse.
Last week, within a span of three days, the Bobcats lost three post players. Jim Richardson got into a disciplinary jam that will cost him the rest of the basketball season.
Paul Nester and Michael Krupey simply put the team in a jam. They quit.
They had their reasons.
King took it hard. Some of the other players probably did, too.
The sad part about all this is that Radford could have had a real nice team. With Delaney, Hairston, and Preston Snell in the lineup, the Bobcats would have been most formidable.
Snell, it will be recalled, was a sharpshooter on last year's team who fell into academic difficulties and is now lighting it up at Fork Union Military Academy.
Delaney, Snell, and Hairston are all juniors, too.
Nevertheless, the Bobcats have pulled together once again for the stretch run. King is starting what amounts to a five-guard lineup, but veterans Duane Pierson and Wayne Lineburg are competitors, Kris Smith can score, and newcomers Garrett Jones and Cory James are coming on.
Jones and James both are transfers from Christiansburg. Jones has shown some flash as a scorer and James as a defender.
Radford, winners of three games going into Friday's game, is of course the longest of shots in the New River District tournament next week. As for that, King said what you'd expect.
"Don't count us out yet."
Another perspective on the impending postseason comes from Grayson County coach Rick Cormany.
Grayson County entered the week in a dead heat with Floyd County with the Mountain Empire District regular season championship at stake. Grayson County had tough games at Narrows Tuesday and with visiting Fort Chiswell Friday.
"This could cause some stress if a man were susceptible to that sort of thing," Cormany.
Cormany is susceptible.
It started last week when the Blue Devils had to go to Galax.
"That was as nervous as I've felt in coaching," said Cormany, who has been a coach in college as well as high school, for girls as well as boys. "You know the way you felt back in school when you were anticipating making a major presentation in front of that class? That's the way I felt before the Galax game.
"All day long, I was thinking, `Man, I wish that game would hurry up and come.' "
The game came. The Blue Devils won 59-51. The relief was only temporary, though.
"Man, this is taking years off my life," Cormany said.
Time to pick the tournaments.
Easy picks, first.
Roanoke Valley District: Patrick Henry 55, William Fleming 51 in the title game. PH has the best team and it's tournament tough. Fleming coach Burrall Paye always gets the best out of his guys at this time of year, particularly when the Patriots are the foe.
In the New River final, Blacksburg beats Carroll County 70-59. The Indians get double-figure scoring from three players including tournament MVP Jon Maher.
The Mountain Empire will be a nail-gnawer. It always is. I'll take Grayson County over Floyd County, 64-63 on a last second shot by Devin Floyd.
Ray Cox covers New River Valley sports for the Roanoke Times & World-News