Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 20, 1994 TAG: 9404200048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Keefe Matthews had some pretty good scouting reports on Virginia Tech. His mother and uncle researched Tech's academics, and Matthews considered the academics and Tech's basketball team.
"They've got a good team, they're young, they won 18 games and had the whole team coming back for the next two years," Matthews said Tuesday.
Not quite the whole team; Tech does lose three seniors who saw significant playing time. But Matthews, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward from Jacksonville (Texas) Junior College, brightened the Hokies' 1994-95 basketball prospects by signing a letter of intent to join the team next season.
He joins point guard Myron Guillory from Lake Charles, La., as Tech's newcomers. Matthews, a native of Mount Ranier, Md., graduated from Northwestern High School in Hyattsville, Md., where he was a classmate of Eric Bias, youngest brother of the late Len Bias. Matthews averaged 19 points and 11.2 rebounds last year for Jacksonville.
His first three games as a Hokie will be in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Tech coach Bill Foster said Tuesday that Tech is among the eight-team field for the San Juan Shootout on Thanksgiving weekend. The other teams are Illinois, Nebraska, College of Charleston, Northeast Louisiana, Montana State, New Hampshire and the American University of Puerto Rico.
Tech won't miss any classes, Foster said, and gets three games that don't count against the NCAA limit. Coaching friend Kelvin Sampson's Washington State team won the Shootout last year, Foster said, then went 17-10 the rest of the way to finish with 20 wins and an NCAA at-large bid.
"That tournament put him in," said Foster, whose Hokies were excluded from the National Invitation Tournament despite an 18-10 record. "It gives us three more bullets to shoot."
Foster says Matthews, whom he described as a "high priority" for Tech, adds some ammunition.
"He's got good shot-blocking ability, he's a good rebounder, got good inside moves," Foster said. "He looks like he can broaden his game a little bit."
Matthews played power forward and center at Jacksonville but said he'd like to try either forward position at Tech, which loses 6-10 center Jimmy Carruth and 6-7 forward Corey Jackson. Matthews said he is comfortable off the dribble or banging inside.
"The game's going more toward complete players," Foster said. "He's not just stuck in one part of the floor. I look for him to be a major contributor."
Matthews said he visited Tech and Virginia Commonwealth, canceled scheduled trips to UNC Charlotte and West Virginia and never got around to scheduling a visit to Clemson.
Many Tech fans worried that the Hokies' exclusion from Big East Conference expansion would hurt their recruiting season.
"I wasn't too worried about that," Matthews said. "The Metro Conference is still a good conference. [Tech] was one of the best schools I could go to."
Matthews is Foster's first junior college recruit since Foster arrived at Tech before the 1991-92 season. He is Tech's first junior college signee since former coach Frankie Allen signed 7-footer Erik Wilson before the 1990-91 season.
by CNB