Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 19, 1994 TAG: 9402190106
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
By then, Jackson will know a lot about his athletic career, too.
A 6-foot-8 sophomore from Peterstown, W.Va., Jackson chose college basketball over football - he was recruited by several Division I-A schools as a tight end - because he thought it would take too long for him to contribute in football.
A year-and-a-half into Jackson's college basketball career, Tech still doesn't know what to expect from the guy who figures to start at center next season.
Coach Bill Foster is determined to find out.
"Travis is getting better," Foster said Feb. 10, after the Hokies' first meeting with Virginia Commonwealth. "We're making ourselves play Travis more. The only way to [help him improve] is to give him some minutes and let him make some mistakes."
One Metro Conference coach, seeing Jackson for the first time last season, labeled him the Hokies' best shooter. But Foster wants defense and rebounding, and Jackson said he has made a "100 percent turnaround" in those areas.
And Jackson at least knows what he's going to get from Foster: a look early in Tech's remaining games, likely including today's Metro matchup with South Florida (1 p.m., WSLS) in Tampa.
"A lot of times last year, I wouldn't even get in the game in the first half," said Jackson, who averaged more than six first-half minutes in the three games before the VCU game Thursday, when he got one minute.
"When you go in in the first half, it's more because they need you," he said. "You get in there late in the games, it's like sometimes you feel like they might be doing it because they owe you."
Jackson has played 37 minutes in Tech's past four games, and has eight points and 12 rebounds to show for that time.
Senior Jimmy Carruth and sometime-scoring machine Shawn Smith are more frequently used at center. But Jackson has shown Foster a willingness to get physical inside - something the coach wants.
A talk with Foster last week helped, Jackson said.
"He told me what I was doing in practice and in games when I got in there wasn't going unnoticed," Jackson said. "[He said] they were going to try to get me minutes, and they have."
Jackson is used to player-coach conversations. His father, Don, coached him on Peterstown High School's football team. Jackson hasn't completely let go of his football days; he still wears the ring commemorating Peterstown's 1991 Class A state championship.
But Jackson is sure his chance to play significantly in college has come more quickly in basketball than it would have in football.
Sometimes, though, he still wonders. Jackson didn't play at Louisville on Jan. 13, and Foster said afterward he just couldn't find a good spot to use Jackson. He played three minutes Thursday against VCU.
"I would be surprised if I didn't get in any of the [remaining] games," Jackson said before the Hokies faced the Rams. "There might be a time I don't fit in the game plan. That's just a part of it. I feel like the way I've been playing, I'll get a shot. It might not be big minutes . . . All you can ask is a chance. If you get in there and blow it, you can't be mad about it."
\ JIM JACKSON OUT: Forward Jim Jackson, Tech's second-leading scorer, did not make the trip to Tampa for today's game. Jackson is in Montgomery Regional Hospital in Blacksburg awaiting a magnetic resonance imaging test today that will determine whether he has a disk problem in his back. Tech's team doctor, Duane Lagan, said Friday that Jackson has been playing with back pain for some time, but that it worsened this week.
Jackson averages 12.1 points per game and had a team-high 18 earlier this season against South Florida.
It will be the second game Jackson has missed in his Tech career; he has started the other 49 in which he has played. Senior Corey Jackson, who has averaged 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds off the bench in the past four games, will start for the first time since Jan. 9, 1993, at Tulane - a span of 42 games.
\ TECH(NICHALS): Against VCU, Jay Purcell became the first example of Foster's intolerance for technical fouls. Purcell, who has averaged almost 36 minutes per game in his career, was benched for the last 6 minutes, 49 seconds of the first half and the first 6 1/2 minutes of the second half, punishment for a technical he received for arguing with an official in the first half. Purcell played a total of 19 minutes, the fewest since the last regular-season game of his freshman season.
Tech players have seven technicals this season. Freshman Ace Custis has three, Purcell two and Jim Jackson and Corey Jackson (hanging on the rim) one each. Foster has one, and the Tech bench - either an assistant coach or a player - has one.
"I'm tired of T's," Foster said after the VCU game. "We've had entirely too many. They've just got to gain more composure than that."
\ TOUGH TIMES: Marquette followed its victory in Blacksburg on Tuesday with a 10-point loss at home to Notre Dame, after which Warriors coach Kevin O'Neill complained about having to play the Fighting Irish two days after the game at Tech.
Marquette spokeswoman Kathleen Hohl said the Warriors agreed to play Notre Dame on Feb. 17 in part because Marquette had been told Notre Dame would be playing at Fordham on the Feb. 15 - the same day Marquette played at Tech. Hohl said when Notre Dame's official schedule was released, the Fordham game had been moved to Jan. 2 in South Bend, Ind. - giving Notre Dame a five-day break before visiting No. 22 Marquette.
by CNB