Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 25, 1994 TAG: 9402250261
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Spectators behind the bench are close enough to touch coaches or players. And, as Louisville coach Denny Crum put it, they scream personal insults using "all the four-letter words in the dictionary."
Crum went as far as to have South Florida's fans videotaped two weeks ago. He intended to send the tape to the school president.
Last Saturday, Virginia Tech discovered South Florida had taken steps to reduce the haranguing by blocking off two rows of seats directly behind the visitors bench.
"It's still the same kind of talk, but it's far enough away where you couldn't feel their breath on your neck," Tech coach Bill Foster said.
Crum said a South Florida employee had been assigned to watch the section and that the language had been toned down. He hasn't watched his videotape yet.
"I don't object to them yelling and screaming," Crum said. "Class fans will support their team. The year before, the language they used was absolutely brutal, and it was all personal."
The South Florida fans can't be much worse than Tech's profane student section, but those Hokies rooters are across the floor from the team benches, shouting over the media's shoulders, not in the ears of coaches and players.
Tech's Jimmy Carruth said after Saturday's Tech victory that the South Florida fans only fired him up. Foster said that even with the moves South Florida has made it's a difficult place to visit - even with only about 3,400 spectators at the game.
"Probably, because what they say is of such a personal nature," Foster said.
Foster was piqued enough that when the buzzer sounded Saturday, he turned to the section - apparently populated mostly by students - and said, "You have to stay here. We get to go home."
With time to kill after the game and before the flight home, Foster said, some Tech players went to a mall - where they met and apparently got along with some of the students who earlier had been berating them.
"They asked for autographs. They told [our players] it wasn't personal, they did that every game," Foster said.
\ MARSHALL JOB: Tech assistant Bobby Hussey, a former head coach at Davidson, might look into the head coach's job at Marshall University when Tech's season is done. He said recently his Tech duties have kept him from investigating the position that will become available when current Marshall coach Dwight Freeman steps down at the end of the year.
"I do think it's a good situation," Hussey said. "First and foremost, you should always do the job you're supposed to do. [But] I remember it very well from the times we had to battle with them at Davidson. It's something I would be interested in, but beyond that. . . "
Marshall athletic director Lee Moon would not comment on prospective candidates.
\ POSTSEASON CHATTER: Ask a coach at this time of year how many teams he thinks his league will send to the NCAA Tournament and you're likely to hear the rosiest possible scenario.
UNC Charlotte's Jeff Mullins, whose team plays at Tech at 3 p.m. Saturday, bucked the lobbying trend during the league's conference call Monday.
The Metro finds itself in an odd situation - fourth in the Ratings Percentage Index for conferences but facing the possibility of only sending one team to the NCAA Tournament, assuming Louisville wins the league championship. No Metro team other than Louisville has as many or more than Tech's 15 victories.
"If you don't have 17 or 18 wins, we may only have one [in the NCAA]," Mullins said.
Foster said he thinks 17 victories should put Tech in postseason play. A 17-win season probably would mean the National Invitation Tournament for Tech, which would be the Hokies' first playoff trip since the 1985-86 season. That year, Tech lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to then-defending national champion Villanova.
\ ETC: Foster said sophomore Jim Jackson, trying to overcome pain from a herniated disk, is unlikely to play against UNC Charlotte. But Foster said he's "optimistic" Jackson will play again this season . . . Tech center Jimmy Carruth leads the Metro in blocked shots with 2.8 per game. UNCC's Jermain Parker is second at 2.7 . . . Tech's Jay Purcell is fourth in the Metro in 3-point field-goal percentage (.398), and Damon Watlington is seventh (.395). . . . Jim Jackson is fourth in free-throw percentage (.802) . . . Ace Custis is fourth in rebounding (9.1) . . . Tech is the league's leader in scoring defense, allowing 66.4 points per game and is second in defensive field-goal percentage at .402. UNCC is first at .398.
by CNB