Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, January 21, 1994                   TAG: 9401210203
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

HOKIES ARE SHOOTING FOR SUCCESS B8 B1 BOGACZYK BOGACZYK

What the Hokies did wasn't always very funny, but they still got more than their share of rim shots.

There are many ways a basketball team can improve as impressively as Tech has in coach Bill Foster's third season, but the maturing Hokies have found one obvious route to success.

Going to the hoop has been a real trip for the Hokies.

After 102 seasons of James Naismith's indoor game, still the only way to score is to put the ball in the basket. In reaching the midway point of the season Thursday night with a 67-55 victory over South Florida, the Hokies continued what has driven them to a 12-2 record.

In Foster's first two seasons, Tech often played defense with the same static cling that hugs his pants to his socks when he rises from the bench. The Hokies were painful to watch at the other end of the floor.

That's changed. The Hokies find it easier to score because they're attacking the basket more often. It's a difference that, for simplicity's sake, is depicted in the games of last year's senior scoring leader, Thomas Elliott, and his rookie replacement at the big-forward spot this season, Ace Custis.

While Elliott too often played soft and his teammates seemed satisfied to stand outside and launch jumpers - bullish Shawn Smith was an exception - this Tech team uses the lane for something other than a place to line up for free throws.

Custis, averaging more than nine rebounds, displayed with 12 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first half what can happen when you head for the hoop. He was starting to lose control of the ball, but because he was attacking the basket, he could flip the ball off the board for a hoop.

Because the movement of the four-man is so crucial in Foster's offense, the kind of play Custis delivered has more than put the Hokies into position to score. It's put them in position to win. After shooting only 40.6 percent in last year's second straight 10-18 season - the second-worst mark for the Hokies since the late '50s - these Tech shooters are at 47 percent.

Why are the Hokies shooting better?

"We're taking better shots," said senior guard Jay Purcell, whose own former herky-jerky release has been sanded smooth by off-season work.

Because the Hokies are going inside for easier - and more - baskets, their confidence and ability to get open on the perimeter has been enhanced.

The Hokies still play good defense, and South Florida was the ninth opponent in 14 games to convert less than 41 percent. They aren't deep, either. Foster basically plays seven men. Although his team obviously is improved in two other areas, Foster wants improved half-court offense and rebounding - but what coach doesn't?

Tech has its best start since 14-2 in 1985-86, the last time it played in the NCAA Tournament. This team isn't likely to get that far, but with five more wins, a first NIT bid in a decade is likely.

There are other reasons for the superb start. While Tech's two losses are to ranked Louisville and Xavier, the schedule - while improved over last year - has been very kind.

Through Wednesday night's games, Tech's 10 non-conference victims had combined for only a 44-85 record (.341) against Division I opposition. Of that, West Virginia is 11-2. The other nine are .284, and Tech's schedule - according to the RPI computer used by the NCAA, ranks in the bottom third among 301 Division I teams.

That said, the balance in the Metro Conference behind Louisville has the league ranked fifth in the RPI, behind the Big Ten, ACC, Atlantic 10 and Big Eight.

That parity could hurt the league when the NCAA's 34 at-large teams are selected because several teams already have reached the five- or six-loss level, including Tulane, which has the Metro's easiest schedule.

It isn't out of the question that the Hokies could go .500 in the Metro. They've only accomplished that once since '86. And in this time of parity in college hoops, Foster's shooting program is only another Custis or Smith from having an NCAA future.