Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992 TAG: 9203110055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When the Cavaliers won their last three regular-season games and Wake dropped its last two, UVa sneaked ahead of the Deacons into a fourth-place tie in the ACC standings.
"Instead of being in a relatively secure position for postseason play, we're precarious at best," said Odom, whose Deacons (17-10 overall, 7-9 in the ACC) meet North Carolina at 9 p.m. Friday in the first round of the ACC Tournament at Charlotte (N.C.) Coliseum.
Odom fears that Wake may be in competition with Virginia (15-12, 8-8). The Cavaliers meet Georgia Tech at noon Friday.
"No team in the ACC with a .500 record has ever not made the [NCAA] tournament," Odom said. "We know that's true, but it's not etched in stone.
"They [the Cavaliers] fall under the umbrella of the .500 [conference record], but we've got two more wins against Division I opposition. However, they've played better at the end of the year.
"What bothers me is that the NCAA might say, `To heck with those teams; we'll leave them both out.' "
Odom was a UVa assistant for eight years before going to Wake Forest, so he doesn't feel comfortable wishing ill will on the Cavaliers.
"I think a lot could depend on the tournament, if one or another of us wins and the other loses," he said. "Of course, if we both lose, that could be the source of some serious consideration."
Virginia coach Jeff Jones said the Cavaliers will try to force the tempo against Georgia Tech, which has beaten UVa five straight times, including a 52-49 decision three weeks ago in Charlottesville.
"I think, for us, it needs to be a pretty good pace," Jones said. "We don't want to get them in a halfcourt game. When they came to Charlottesville, it was very clear they wanted to take their time."
There were only 57 possessions in that game, easily the fewest in a UVa game this season.
Georgia Tech's starting front line, which includes 7-foot-1 Matt Geiger and 6-11 Malcolm Mackey, is the tallest in the ACC.
One of the reasons Virginia is being considered for an at-large NCAA Tournament bid is its schedule, ranked among the toughest in Division I, but the Cavaliers have decided to go the other direction with their schedule for 1992-93.
Some of the non-ACC teams that will come to University Hall are Delaware State, Charleston Southern and Winthrop. Other non-conference home games will be with Stanford, Alabama, Old Dominion and Radford.
It is likely UVa will be favored in all 10 of its non-conference games, only two of which are on an opponent's home floor - Pennsylvania and William and Mary.
Virginia center Ted Jeffries continues to make steady progress as a rebounder. Jeffries has gone from 3.9 rebounds per game as a freshman to 5.5 as a sophomore and now to 7.1. Jeffries broke into the ACC's top rebounders for the season this week.
"He's the kind of guy people will complain about for 3 1/2 years," said one season-ticket holder. "Then, when it's time for him to graduate, everybody will say, `Damn, too bad he doesn't have another year.' "
Since playing 25 and 27 minutes in back-to-back games against Virginia Tech and Florida State, backup point guard Doug Smith has played 58 minutes in the past seven games and scored only four points.
Smith's inactivity has coincided with the emergence of freshman point guard Cory Alexander, who has scored in double figures the past seven games, with a 39-19 assists-turnover margin. Moreover, Alexander has made 43 of 54 free-throw attempts (79.6 percent) over the past 15 games.
UVa freshman Junior Burrough has the worst assists-turnover figures, 5-47, among the ACC's regular players. "You should be able to get 10 assists from the ball rolling off your hands," said senior Bryant Stith, one of several UVa players who enjoys kidding Burrough.
\ NOTES: Virginia's 76-74 victory at Maryland on Saturday was its third in the past four games, and fourth in the past six, at Cole Field House. . . . Georgia Tech is the only team UVa has not beaten in Jeff Jones' two years as head coach. A victory would give Virginia its first four-game winning streak of the season. . . . Since scoring 49 points in the last Georgia Tech game, Virginia has picked up its points production with each game (67, 69, 74, 76). . . . Backup guard Cornel Parker, upset over a lack of playing time early in the season, has played between 19 and 24 minutes in each of the past six games. Parker has not talked to the media since leaving the team for six days in early January. . . . Mark Atkins, a 6-5 scorer from Gary, Ind., and Kankakee (Ill.) Community College, has become the latest object of UVa's recruiting attention.
by CNB