Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 15, 1995 TAG: 9502160019
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The NCAA Football Rules committee's decision to approve an overtime, tie-breaking system for bowl games may be taken a step further. It seems a majority of American Football Coaches Association members at Division I-A schools feel the system already used at levels below I-A should be utilized during the regular season, too.
With teams required to have six I-A victories to go to a bowl, many coaches feel a tie is a double whammy. While that's true, if the top level of the sport is going to play OT, then other rules must be altered to shorten the games. Many TV games run longer than 31/2 hours now. It's time college football did something about its incessant clock-stopping.
Will the new Salem ballpark be ready for the Avalanche's home opener April 14? It's not likely. The latest speculation is for a mid-May completion date, which means the baseball club will have to play about its first 20 of 70 home games at Municipal Field or another site. If the Avalanche moves those early games out of the Roanoke Valley, how can season-ticket purchasers be expected to follow?
Virginia's 1995 football schedule was significantly toughened when the Cavaliers agreed to play Michigan in the Pigskin Classic. UVa plays six of the top 24 teams in the final '94 coaches poll, visiting Michigan, Texas, North Carolina and N.C. State and facing Virginia Tech and Florida State at home.
Virginia Tech's bid for all-sports membership in the Big East Conference was derailed by Seton Hall, Villanova, Providence, St.John's and Georgetown - all Catholic schools. Then, Notre Dame was given a Big East spot the Hokies would have liked.
Now, it appears divisional rivals in the Atlantic 10 Conference will be Xavier, Dayton, Duquesne, LaSalle and St.Bonaventure - yes, all Catholic schools. Perhaps the Hokies should hire Fr. Guido Sarducci as a spiritual adviser.
When the Colonial Athletic Association was wooing Virginia Tech and Virginia Commonwealth, CAA commissioner Tom Yeager asked Jim Sukup, creator of the Ratings Percentage Index, to run a sample with the Hokies and Rams added to the eight-team league. The computer spit out that the presence of both Metro Conference schools would have boosted the Colonial's RPI from No.21 to No.13.
When the All-Old Dominion Athletic Conference basketball team is announced as the league tournament begins this weekend, the name of Hampden-Sydney guard Tee Jennings of Roanoke won't be found. However, the former William Fleming High School star gets this vote as the league's impact player. No other ODAC player disrupts an opponent's offense like the 5-foot-5 senior.
The tall, dark-haired mystery young man in street clothes at the end of Roanoke College's bench these days is former Blacksburg High School star John Maher, who averaged 18.7 points for the Indians' Group AA final eight team in 1991-92. He's a 6-foot-6 transfer from Johns Hopkins who will be a junior for the Maroons next season, when coach Page Moir will be trying to replace Bryant Lee and Joe Schrantz inside.
The Big South Conference has its best RPI ever, right behind the CAA at No.22 among conferences. Unfortunately for the league that includes Radford and Liberty, the Big South has no automatic NCAA Tournament bid this year, and league-leader UNC Greensboro's RPI of No.114 is about 70 slots too low to get one of the 35 at-large bids.
The NCAA Tournament record for conference entrants in one year - seven by the Big Ten in 1990 and Big East in '91 - won't be matched this year. Any conference that gets six spots in the field of 64 will be fortunate.
Looking for a Surgeon General? How about Dr. J.?
by CNB