Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 19, 1994 TAG: 9406190140
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
On the doorstep of Virginia Tech basketball, this quirky little daydream goes, someone appears holding a suitcase and a pair of high-tops.
"In the middle of the summer, it'll be some guy from Siberia who's eight feet tall, a Rhodes Scholar and wants to be an engineer," said Bill Foster, Tech's coach. "And we don't have a scholarship."
Well, that's the worst of it. Tech has awarded the NCAA maximum of 13 scholarships for 1994-95 (and 1995-96, because the Hokies have no seniors). So Tech has no free-ride slot in which to insert the Siberian Stilt or any other windfall from the basketball gods - the remote prospect of which can kidnap a coach's mind and usually results in at least one you-never-know-what-can-happen scholarship being left open.
On the other hand, nobody in the roundball corner of the Jamerson Athletic Center is whining, despite Foster's general desire not to hit the scholarship limit. Mainly because transfer David Jackson shot well in practices, the staff was relatively certain it would award him a scholarship, which it did. The biggest decision was whether or not to sign Hargrave Military Academy's 6-foot-6 Shawn Browne, who would effectively become the 13th scholarship player.
Pros: Browne would be Tech's only true small forward. He improved dramatically during his prep-school season. He's athletic. A solid kid. Can help the team as a freshman. And there's no one better among Tech's recruits in the current junior class after all, three coaches saw him and liked him. Could three coaches be wrong?
Cons: Coaches have recruited busts before. Are there any flights from Siberia landing at Roanoke Regional Airport?
Conclusion: The future is now. Sign Browne.
Tech assistant Chris Ferguson used that phrase - the future is now - when asked why Tech took Browne. The Hokies were 18-10 last year and don't want their improvement chart to dip. Ferguson said the team's '94-95 needs were triple-obvious: a point guard (fall signee Myron Guillory replaces Jay Purcell); a post player (junior-college transfer Keefe Matthews replaces Jimmy Carruth); and a small forward.
Early on, Ferguson was Browne's biggest booster in staff meetings at which everybody had a say - sometimes a vigorous say - on whether to use the 13th scholarship. In the end, the staff was united on bringing Browne aboard. Foster, in fact, said if Browne hadn't signed with Tech, the Hokies wouldn't have used grant No. 13.
"We had to cover our bases," Ferguson said. "The question is . . . can you get a guy as good as he is next year, at his position, athletic talent and age? Probably not. So we took him."
So there's nobody in the 1995-96 freshman class. At least right now there isn't.
"I've never been into a year where we were full like we are this year," said Foster, whose fourth Tech season will be his 28th as a head coach. "I've talked to some guys who have been [and they say] it always works out. By spring, you'll have one open.
"I don't know if all 13 kids are going to feel good about their basketball future [next year]. That's just being candid and objective. There are too many factors involved."
Assuming Browne qualifies academically as expected, Tech appears set at 13 at least for next season, however. Reserve forward Dwayne Archbold, who had investigated transferring, is staying put. Coaches say the returners are academically sound.
Foster said Tech's current recruiting will focus on players expected to be available next spring. To sign someone then, however, Tech would need more than one scholarship to open, because George Mason transfer Troy Manns has dibs on the first open grant after the coming season.
Having met the baker's dozen scholarship limit, the Hokies at once have enough and not enough players. When the scholarship limit was 15, a staff could take a gamble on one or two signees. Not anymore.
Depth suffers too, coaches say. Incur a major injury and an academic loss - not unusual happenings - and you're down to 11 scholarship players, just enough for a good intra-squad scrimmage.
"It's amazing what a comfort level two more gives you," Foster said.
In Tech's case, however, it's Browne providing the extra pillows. It's not only that Ferguson had the same feeling about Browne that he did about guard Damon Watlington, a late '92 signee who blossomed as a sophomore scorer off the bench last season. It's not only that Browne got good references from people whose opinion Foster trusts, such as Fork Union's Fletcher Arritt.
Foster said swingman Jim Jackson is progressing but still hasn't been cleared to play after back surgery in February.
"What if he has to sit out, and we didn't get Shawn Browne?" Foster said. "Now all of a sudden you're really scrambling."
And, if Tech's future is now, forced procrastination hardly would suffice.
by CNB