Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 11, 1994 TAG: 9403110087
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BRIAN DeVIDO STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Most students were on spring break, but those who either came back to school early or stayed in Blacksburg had similar feelings about the events that had transpired Wednesday in New York.
Virginia Tech officials and fans had believed the Big East Conference would expand to 14 schools, including the Hokies, for all sports. If the Big East did not expand, Tech expected to join its fellow members of the Big East Football Conference in a new eight-team all-sports conference.
Neither happened. The Big East accepted West Virginia and Rutgers for all sports, leaving Tech and fellow Big East football member Temple out in the cold.
"I feel kind of offended," said Bryan Williams, a Tech senior. "I thought we were getting in, and I know the coaches thought we were."
Shane Ramsawh, also a Tech senior, was in Portsmouth on Wednesday night, talking on the phone with a friend from Northern Virginia when he was told about his school's status.
"I couldn't believe it," he said. "I'd seen ESPN say the [Big East] football-playing schools would all get in. This was our chance to get exposure. Now, Tech basketball is never going to be anything."
Greg Hussey, a senior at Tech and the son of Hokies assistant basketball coach Bobby Hussey, learned of his school's fate Wednesday night while watching the news with his mother. He said his father had told potential recruits that Tech soon would be playing basketball in the Big East.
"Everybody thought it was a done deal," Greg Hussey said. "I don't know what they [the coaches] say to the recruits now. Basically, they [the recruits] have been lied to."
Hussey said he felt like many Tech students - hurt and disappointed.
"I guess a good word for it is `betrayed,' " he said. "To take Rutgers and West Virginia and to leave 25,000 students out in the cold like that when we've had our best attendance in four years [actually five] . . . "
Some students had theories on why Tech was snubbed.
"I think it was a plot between the schools involved," Kent Schneider said. "They used us and Temple as a basketball name to draw other schools, then they dropped us once they got them. It was kind of like betrayal.
"I'm a junior, and I have only a couple of years left here. I think we should be playing schools like Georgetown and Connecticut, but what can I say? We got gypped."
Said Tech senior Will Hansen: "It's just money. That's what it's all about. I was kind of shocked. I just can't see Rutgers bringing in more money than us basketball-wise. We ought to look somewhere else now. We're not that marketable, but we're getting better."
Some students didn't even know of the Hokies' status.
"No! No!" said Tech senior Jeff Cooper, who found out while getting ready to play pickup basketball at Tech's War Memorial Gym. "Are you serious? That's depressing. I'd expected we'd get in. I thought it would be a great opportunity for us to get exposure."
One student, running back to the gym after taking a sip of water, was brutally frank in his opinion of the Hokes' basketball future.
"That takes away us getting better in basketball," he said. "All the big-time basketball players want to play in the big leagues. Right now, Tech's just not doing it."
by CNB