Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 23, 1994 TAG: 9411230084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RAY CO| STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Where once there were steely-eyed veterans, now there are rookies.
Where once there were guards galore, now there is a guarded situation.
Where once there was a freewheeling freshman, there is a sophomore who is in the cross hairs of every defender in the Big South Conference.
But Radford University does have depth this season, and for that reason coach Ron Bradley is ready for the roundball to be heaved aloft for the opener Saturday night against Catholic.
``We're pretty deep and balanced this year,'' said Bradley, who was among the finalists for the job at Old Dominion in the spring. ``We have faded at the end of the last three seasons and that may be because we play so hard on defense.''
The Highlanders won't be letting up on defense, not after setting a school record with 303 steals and holding opponents to 41.6 percent field-goal shooting last season. But anxiety about late-season fainting spells won't go away so easily.
After going 20-8, Radford again collapsed like a punctured souffle in the conference tournament and was dismissed in the semifinal round for the fifth consecutive year.
Whether Radford meets a happier fate this season will depend on how it does without team stalwarts Don Burgess and Tyrone Travis, whose eligibility ended after last season.
And it will have to do so without point guard Damian Ingram, who had 23 starts and a team-leading 99 assists last season. A senior, he chose to be redshirted this year because the conference has lost its automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The bid was forfeited this year when charter conference member Campbell defected to the Trans-America Athletic Conference.
Radford also will have to make do without Johnny Watkins, another guard who is redshirting. Watkins was the team's defensive stopper, the guy often called on to hector the enemy's best scorer. His successor has yet to be found.
``That's a big concern for us,'' Bradley said.
But Radford does have another point guard, sophomore Anthony Walker, who was voted the conference's rookie of the year after weighing in with 13.9 points, 3.5 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game and setting a Dedmon Center record with 39 points against George Mason.
``Coach [Bradley] has already told me that I'm going to have to step it up and play 38 to 40 minutes per game,'' Walker said. ``Right now, the biggest thing for me is conditioning. I'm going to have to be in better condition than I am now.''
Most times, according to conventional basketball wisdom, when a point guard leads a team in scoring, then that squad is in trouble. Walker sees his scoring as a means to an end.
``Once I really start scoring, then that's going to open it up for the guys inside, and when that happens, I feel like we're going to be pretty hard to stop,'' he said.
Walker is under no illusions that opponents are going to forget who he is, though.
``I take it as an honor that people may consider it a focus to stop me,'' he said. ``But if they feel like they can stop me and they're going to win, then they have a big surprise coming.''
But where will that surprise come from?
Perhaps it could be senior Chris Harvey, the 6-foot-5 forward who didn't score much last season, but led the team in interior defense and swan dives after loose balls.
Or maybe it's going to be Jason Lansdown, who always could score (double figures in nine of the first 16 games) and is said to be getting the hang of Bradley's full-court defensive schemes.
Help could come from 6-8 senior Antoine Dalton, who can contribute points, rebounds and blocks if he reins in an alarming tendency to foul. Aid could come in the form of 6-6 Eric Bowens, a gifted athlete but enigmatic court presence who was redshirted last season.
Then, there are the freshmen.
``All four of them are going to be very good players before they leave here,'' Bradley said.
Eric Parker, a 6-9 center from Decatur, Ga., and 6-8 Kevin Robinson from Richmond are considered to be potentially the best big men ever at Radford.
In the backcourt, there are a couple of tall first-year guards, 6-6 Corey Reed and 6-4 Chibi Johnson. Reed finished his high school career in Bremen, Ind., with 188 3-pointers; Johnson was the South Carolina Class A player of the year after averaging more than 18 points per game.
Elsewhere in the conference, North Carolina-Greensboro, with five starters back including point guard Scott Hartzell (13.2 ppg, 5.4 apg), was chosen in the preseason poll of coaches and sports information directors to win the league.
Also in the top three were Towson State, despite its redshirting of hotshot guard Scooter Alexander, and Liberty. The Flames have the league's best big man in 6-10 Peter Aluma and a huge postseason advantage because they will serve as hosts for the conference tournament at the Vines Center the next two years.
Also welcoming back five starters is Charleston Southern, which is moving leading scorer Eric Burks (18.5 ppg.) to point guard.
Maryland-Baltimore County hopes to avoid the injuries that derailed it last season. One reason for optimism is the league's biggest frontcourt in 7-2 Pascal Fleury, 6-7 Kevin Bellinger and 6-9 Vladimir Milosevic. North Carolina-Asheville coach Randy Wiel has brought in seven players to go with guard Josh Kohn, the school's all-time leader in 3-pointers with 145.
Coastal Carolina has a new coach in Michael Hopkins, who will pick up the pieces in the wake of NCAA violations committed under his predecessor, Russ Bergman. Coastal is barred from postseason play this season, but will entertain its fans with guard Keke Hicks, the league's leading scorer (22.4 ppg) a season ago.
Winthrop is a unanimous choice to finish last, but it won't be because of a backcourt that includes three-year starter Mike Fayed (Cave Spring High School) and LaShawn Coulter.
by CNB