Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 29, 1992 TAG: 9203290081
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE LENGTH: Medium
At least that appears to be the case with pairings for the National Invitation Tournament.
Virginia basketball coach Jeff Jones learned which team the Cavaliers would be playing when assistant athletic director Craig Littlepage called him Saturday morning.
"He hadn't heard anything from the NIT committee," Jones said, "but he said a couple of radio stations in town had reported we were playing Florida."
Shortly thereafter, Jones received a call from his mother, who lives in Connecticut.
"She subscribes to one of the New York papers," Jones said. "She said it was in there this morning, so somebody up there definitely knew."
The Cavaliers (18-13) will play Florida (19-12) at 7 p.m. Monday at Madison Square Garden. The second game will pit Notre Dame (17-14) and Utah (23-10) at 9:15 p.m.
"The only negative was that [Friday] night was a wasted evening," Jones said. "We would have locked [assistant Tom] Perrin in a room [to analyze the Gators] and not let him out till Sunday."
Florida, which lost three of its last four games in the regular season, has played two of its three NIT games on the road, including a 74-67 victory over Purdue on Wednesday night in Indianapolis.
Brian Hogan, a back-up senior guard from Kokomo, Ind., celebrated his homecoming by scoring a career-high 18 points for Florida. Hogan entered the game with a 4.1 scoring average.
Stacey Poole, a 6-foot-6 junior, leads the Gators with 18.2 points per game and 7.3 rebounds. Florida's only other double-figure scorer is 6-3 sophomore Craig Brown at 10.2.
Jones described the Gators as deliberate - "I would say they're more deliberate than we are," he said - and well-coached. Florida limits its opponents to 43.1 percent shooting.
"We watched the Purdue game, not knowing that we would be playing Florida, but there weren't too many teams left for us to play," Jones said.
Virginia advanced with a 76-71 victory Friday night over New Mexico before a sellout crowd of 11,092 at the Richmond Coliseum. The Cavaliers hit 24 of 26 free throws, including their first 21.
"It's nothing we've done differently," said Jones, whose team has made 83.7 percent of its free throws in the tournament. "We've been solid, if not great, for most of the year from the line."
The players, disappointed two weeks ago when they did not receive a bid to the NCAA Tournament, seem eager to visit New York and play in Madison Square Garden for the first time.
There will be two games, win or lose, with the activities to include an NBA game between the New York Knicks and Chicago Bulls on the off-day Tuesday.
"I told one person," Stith said, "and, by the time I got to the pregame meal, everybody knew. Michael Jordan is my favorite player, so, of course, that was one more incentive to make [the NIT] final four."
by CNB