Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 4, 1994 TAG: 9403040083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
Don Burgess, the beaming, graceful man about the court; and Tyrone Travis, the frowning, powerful pillar of the post. The 6-foot-7 seniors have made an odd pair of leaders for the Radford Highlanders.
Odd but productive.
"Don's one of the captains and Tyrone isn't, but on their own, they've banded together as leaders," said Ron Bradley, Radford's coach. "The chemistry has been good."
Now that both are seniors, their time parading around in public dressed in baggy shorts is drawing nigh. They yearn for more as the Big South Conference tournament opens today at the North Charleston (S.C.) Coliseum.
"I do not want to be on vacation during spring break," Travis said.
If Travis' vacation plans are disrupted, that could only be by a trip to the NCAA Tournament, and there is only one way the Highlanders (19-7) will get an invitation: by winning the conference tournament for the first time.
"Everybody goes in 0-0," Burgess said. "Anybody can be upset."
Radford, the third seed, plays a quarterfinal at 8 p.m. today against sixth-seeded Maryland-Baltimore County. The Highlanders won both regular-season meetings, 78-70 at home and 91-81 on the Retrievers' floor.
In other games today, top-seeded Towson State faces No. 8 North Carolina-Asheville at noon; No. 4 Liberty plays No. 5 Charleston Southern at 2 p.m.; and No. 2 Campbell clashes with No. 7 Winthrop at 6 p.m.
The Radford-UMBC winner plays the Campbell-Winthrop survivor in the 8 p.m. game of Saturday's semifinal doubleheader. The Towson-Asheville winner and the Liberty-Charleston Southern victor meet at 6 p.m.
The championship game, will be shown live on ESPN at 5 p.m. Monday.
Burgess is among Radford's all-time top 10 in five major statistical categories - scoring, rebounding, assists, steals and blocked shots - and Travis is ranked in four of the five. Burgess is second with 1,417 points in his career; Travis is fifth with 1,263. Travis is first by a long shot in rejections (210) and third in rebounds (701).
Burgess has glided through his career in four years, playing every position on the floor.
"You can coach some kids forever and not be able to teach them to see the things on the floor that Don sees," Bradley said. "He just knows how to move without the ball, to get himself open, to get other people open."
Just about anything on a basketball floor that needs to be done, Burgess can do. Travis is of a different sort, definitely a center/power forward type, but equally effective.
"I told Tyrone before the season that I expected him to be a dominant player in this league," Bradley said. "I think he has been."
As good as they have been, their future in basketball remains cloudy at best after Radford. Travis has considered the possibility of playing in Europe, as has Burgess.
"I'd love to play some more," Burgess said.
Added Travis: "Now that I've lost all this weight, I found out I have my legs back."
The weight. That was just one more chapter in what has been the five-year Tyrone Travis soap opera at Radford. Travis showed up for preseason workouts in the fall at 265 pounds. Bradley almost had a coronary.
But the coach's brutal preseason camp took the pounds right off.
"Coach ought to turn that preseason program into a weight-loss clinic," Burgess said. "Tyrone could be in the before-and-after picture."
Said Travis: "Yeah, I'm not only the president, but I'm also a client."
Travis also had the coach reaching for blood-pressure medication before the 1991-92 season, when he showed up with a flabby academic dossier. Although eligible to play, he was as close to borderline as borderline could be and ended up sitting out the year.
"Sitting out that one year did a lot for me," Travis said. "But it was hard. At first I was sitting on the bench, but I couldn't handle that because I wanted to go in there so bad. Then I was sitting in the stands and hearing people saying, `Wonder whatever happened to that Travis guy?' And I'm sitting right there."
In what could be one of the biggest upsets in Radford sports history, Travis has made a shocking turnaround and has finished his undergraduate degree in criminal justice and is taking additional classes in his minors, sociology and psychology. He hopes to go into intelligence after a start in police work.
Burgess plans on a career in hotel-restaurant management. He thinks it fits right in with his personality.
"I'm just a friendly guy," he said.
by CNB