Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 8, 1992 TAG: 9203080099
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: ASHEVILLE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
"I knew fans were expecting me to be the type of player Mister Jennings was," Niblett said Saturday. "I knew, though, that the coaches weren't expecting me to be the type of player Mister Jennings was."
East Tennessee goes for its fourth straight Southern Conference tournament title tonight at the Asheville Civic Center against Tennessee-Chattanooga. The Buccaneers (22-6) will play in the NCAA Tournament or NIT to end a season in which the 160-pound Niblett has been dogged by the shadow of a legend.
When Niblett arrived at Johnson City, Tenn., from Martinsville, Va., by way of Hagerstown (Md.) Junior College last year, Jennings was the Buccaneers' career scoring leader and had finished his four ETSU years as a consensus second-team All-American.
Niblett was 2 inches taller than Jennings' 5 feet 7, but there's no way anybody thought he could play as big - until he scored 33 points as the Bucs won at Tennessee in the second game of the season.
The expectations for Niblett sprouted, but coach Alan LeForce and his staff kept reminding their new point man that he only had to blend in with four returning starters.
They said that after earlier telling him he wasn't the point guard they wanted. Instead, they chose another Virginian, Matoaca star Chris White, on April 11 to succeed Culpeper's Jennings.
On April 28, White died after leading a Richmond team to the Virginia AAU championship 24 hours earlier. ETSU assistant coach Grafton Young, a former aide at VMI and Washington and Lee, called Niblett back.
"They were up front with me, nothing but honest, and that's the most important thing," said Niblett, 20. "Coach Young said they chose Chris White because he'd have four years and I'd have only two coming from junior college."
As a Laurel Park High graduate, Niblett didn't have the SAT scores to be eligible as a freshman under Proposition 48. He still had a couple of standing Division I offers, but he chose junior-college ball after playing on Roanoke Hawks' AAU teams with Curtis Blair and George Lynch, who were headed for college basketball success.
"I wanted to go to East Tennessee and, when they told me they weren't going to sign me, it hurt," Niblett said. "I had a couple of other offers, from Northeastern and Western Carolina, and Connecticut had just called for the first time.
"Then these people [at ETSU] called back. They said they understood the position I was in, and I understood the position they were in. This was the style of basketball I wanted to play, in the kind of program I wanted. I thought I could fit in at East Tennessee."
In Saturday's 77-69 semifinal win over Appalachian State, Niblett displayed the consistency that has branded the second half of his junior season. He scored 10 points, had three assists and committed only two turnovers - right at his season averages.
"Jason has been the player we wanted, the player we needed," Young said. "We asked him to come in and not step to the forefront, but to blend in with four great athletes.
"The last seven or eight games, we've told him, `We need you to lead more, be more vocal.' He's handled everything else, and now he's comfortable. He became more demonstrative right away."
If East Tennessee wins another Southern crown tonight, it will be the first school to win more than three SC titles in succession since Jerry West-led West Virginia bunched six from 1955-60. Niblett's growth in his role has kept ETSU's program at a pinnacle.
"I'd just wanted to come in and try to help these guys do what they've been doing here the last three years," Niblett said. "All of this is new for me."
by CNB