Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411040077
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ANDREA KUHN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Hampden-Sydney, picked to finish as high as third nationally in preseason NCAA Division III basketball polls, was given a vote of confidence Thursday.
The Tigers were the preseason choice to finish first in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in voting by the league's coaches, who gathered at the Salem Civic Center for their annual media day. The Roanoke College men's team was picked to finish second, while the Maroons' women were the ODAC favorite.
Hampden-Sydney's men lost twice to Roanoke during the 1993-94 regular season, but exacted revenge by ousting the Maroons in the second round of the NCAA Division III tournament 95-80 in Salem. The Tigers advanced to the tournament's round of 16 before falling to St.Thomas (Minn.).
Coach Tony Shaver hopes his Tigers, ranked third by DII News and eighth by The Sporting News, will be able to regain the chemistry that carried them so far last season.
``Being ranked first can do one of two things,'' Shaver said. ``First, it could make them complacent. Or, it could make them hungry. Fortunately, so far they have that hungry feel.''
Tee Jennings, a graduate of William Fleming High School, returns to the backcourt for Hampden-Sydney. He will be joined by freshman Marcus Cardwell, a former standout at North Cross, and Shawn McMahon of Salem.
Page Moir, Roanoke's coach, said he was optimistic despite losing six seniors, including two-time Division III All-American Hilliary Scott, from a team that went 26-2.
``It's different because the talent level hasn't gone down, but the experience has,'' Moir said. ``But given the choice between inexperienced talent and experienced mediocrity, I'll take the talent any day.''
Emory & Henry was picked to finish fourth in the ODAC, followed by Bridgewater, Randolph-Macon, Guilford, Lynchburg, Virginia Wesleyan, Washington and Lee and Eastern Mennonite.
In the women's poll, Randolph-Macon was the second pick behind Roanoke, the reigning ODAC regular-season and tournament champion. Virginia Wesleyan was third, followed by Bridgewater, Guilford, Emory & Henry, Lynchburg, Eastern Mennonite, Hollins, W&L and Randolph-Macon Woman's College.
LOCAL UPDATE: Former Patrick Henry High School player Jonas Callis showed up on Joe Davis' roster at Lynchburg College.
But Davis said Callis had recently informed him that he would not be joining the Hornets this season.
``[Callis] said he just didn't want to play basketball anymore,'' said Davis, who also has coached at Glenvar, Salem and Cave Spring high schools, as well as Ferrum and Radford. ``I was certainly disappointed, because I thought he could make the difference for us moving into the top of the league.''
Callis played on scholarship at VMI for the 1991-92 season, then left the team early in the 1992-93 season. He enrolled and played the rest of the year for Virginia Western Community College.
Davis said Callis is enrolled at Lynchburg.
by CNB