Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994 TAG: 9402170108
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Duke senior Grant Hill, bidding to make first-team All-ACC for the first time, appears to be the front-runner for player of the year. However, Wake Forest coach Dave Odom makes a strong case for Deacons junior Randolph Childress.
Guards Travis Best of Georgia Tech and Bob Sura of Florida State are likely to get some consideration, although their teams' second-division standing will work against them. Maryland freshman Joe Smith, who played as well as anybody during the first half of the season, has faded in recent games.
The dark-horse candidate is Childress, leader of a Wake Forest team (16-7 overall, 6-5 in the ACC) that was picked for eighth in the conference, but has upset Duke twice. Childress hit the winning shot in the first Duke game and had 28 Sunday against the Blue Devils.
"I don't care what caliber of player you're talking about," Odom said. "From a big-game standpoint, from a standpoint of toughness and leadership and chemistry, nobody has done more. He deserves some very serious consideration."
Phelps is considered one of the ACC's foremost defensive players, although not everybody agrees on that point. They argue that Phelps can attack the ball because he generally has a pair of 7-footers - Montross and Kevin Salvadori - to back him up.
Phelps has developed into a respectable offensive player if not a double-figure scorer, but Carolina's campaign is most remarkable because the Tar Heels have chosen not to push Montross, who has failed to score in double figures in his past three games.
\ ELSEWHERE IN THE ACC: Georgia Tech sophomore Drew Barry suffered a broken bone in one of his feet during Saturday's game at North Carolina, but is listed as game-to-game. Although Best generally is considered the Yellow Jackets' point guard, Barry leads the conference in assists.
Martice Moore, going through a sophomore slump at Georgia Tech, may transfer at the end of the season. However, the Yellow Jackets could be adding another Oak Hill Academy alumnus in Ben Davis, now at Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College. Davis was an all-rookie selection in the the Big Eight Conference at Kansas before transferring to Florida, where he never played.
The crowds at Georgia Tech have taken on a celebrity look during recent games with Kevin Costner, Spike Lee, REM lead singer Michael Stipe and World Series hero Joe Carter in attendance.
Wayne Buckingham, a part-time starter for Clemson, is engaged to Tigers women's star Jessica Barr. Buckingham, a 6-9 senior who has been plagued by injury and eligibility problems, was averaging 2.7 points after 20 games. Barr, who is 6-2, leads the ACC with a 20.2-point average.
\ FAREWELL TOUR: Clemson coach Cliff Ellis, who is stepping down after 10 years at the school, said he hadn't received any gifts - "Just a lot of thank yous and how-do-you-dos" - before he was presented with a rocking chair and portrait Saturday at Virginia.
"That's just the class of Virginia," he said. "I don't have anything to gain or lose now by saying this is a class state, class organization, class media." One of the conference's sports information directors later asked if Ellis had said "class" media or "crass" media.
Incidentally, there has been talk that Ellis and his staff already have another Division I job, possibly at Auburn, close to Ellis' previous stop at South Alabama. Speculation on Ellis' successor at Clemson has centered on Marquette's Kevin O'Neill, Old Dominion's Oliver Purnell, Western Kentucky's Ralph Willard and Providence's Rick Barnes.
\ AROUND THE STATE: Kendrick Warren, who visits Virginia Tech tonight with Virginia Commonwealth, has been invited to the College Basketball Slam Dunk Championship at Winthrop College in Rock Hill, S.C. Warren has 193 dunks in his career, 49 this season.
Washington and Lee basketball player Tyler DuVall, hospitalized since Feb. 2 with spinal meningitis, was scheduled to be released Wednesday from University of Virginia Hospital. DuVall said he planned to return home to Bethesda, Md., before deciding whether to go back to school.
Dion Foxx, an All-Yankee Conference football player, has joined James Madison's basketball team. Foxx, a 6-3, 255-pound senior, was unable to play during the weekend because he was attending the NFL scouting combine.
\ FOOTBALL RECRUITING: Bill Stewart, VMI's new football coach, plans to announce the Keydets' signees after a recruiting weekend starting Friday. Stewart was on his way to Lexington by car Wednesday from Colorado, where he was an assistant at Air Force.
The Keydets have seven known signees, including E.C. Glass defensive end Mike Rogers and Brookville offensive lineman J.P. Mahaffey, both from Lynchburg and both rated among the state's second 25 prospects by the Roanoke Times & World-News. Another signee, Tabb High School kicker Mike Harris, hit nine of 12 field-goal attempts, including a 51-yarder.
\ WHOOPS: Running back Anthony Downs signed with Clemson after being offered No. 4, previously retired in honor of quarterback Steve Fuller. The only problem was school officials never bothered to tell Fuller, who was slightly taken aback by the news.
\ LOCAL UPDATE: Rick Thompson, a Radford University alumnus from Buena Vista, has been named associate athletic director for external affairs at Tennessee-Chattanooga. Thompson held a similar position at West Texas State.
Bill Brill, the Roanoke Times & World-News' former executive sports editor, has been working with the Black Coaches' Association as a researcher. Georgetown coach John Thompson was among those seeking the input of Brill, now working as a free-lance writer and living in Durham, N.C., when the BCA was considering a boycott.
by CNB