Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 22, 1995 TAG: 9503220050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The advancement of four ACC teams to the NCAA regional semifinals is a great start, but it's nothing new, either.
The ACC has had 15 teams in the past 14 Final Fours and has placed four teams in eight of the past 12 Sweet 16s. Since 1989, each of the nine ACC teams has made at least one Sweet 16 appearance. In the NCAA Tournament in the 1990s, the ACC is 72-25.
Last week in the conference office in Greensboro, N.C., the ACC folks were bemoaning Georgia Tech's inexcusable absence from the NCAA bracket. This week, they're having fun at the expense of the Big Ten Conference's 1-6 NCAA performance.
How about Purdue's one-point victory over Wisconsin-Green Bay? Then, the league is further embarrassed by Bloomington's boorish bully in Boise, Bobby Knight. His media-room performance was the league's tournament highlight.
The last time the Big Ten didn't have a team in the regional semifinals was 1943. That was an eight-team field, and no Big Ten clubs were picked to compete. Yes, the NIT was a bigger deal than the NCAA then, but the Big Ten didn't have any NIT teams that year, either, when Washington & Jefferson beat Fordham in the final.
FINAL FIVE: Two who were there said that when Manhattan was placed into the NCAA field as the 35th and last at-large team, the final five teams ``on the board'' in the NCAA Basketball Committee's conference room were the Jaspers, Virginia Tech, George Washington, Texas Tech and Georgia Tech.
NIT PICKINGS: Virginia Tech, playing at home against New Mexico State (25-9) tonight for a ticket to New York, is 6-0 in NIT games at Cassell Coliseum. The Hokies (22-10), seeking to tie the school record for victories in a season, haven't played a team with 25 victories since Final Four-bound Louisville late in the 1982-83 season. The last team with more than 25 victories to face the Hokies was in March 1979, when Larry Bird-led Indiana State was 29-0 and beat Tech in the Sycamores' first NCAA game.
NO. 2 TWICE: So, why was Kansas a No.1 seed in the Midwest Region after losing in a Big Eight Conference tournament semifinal? Maybe it's because Virginia's Midwest Region semifinal opponent ranked second in the Ratings Percentage Index on NCAA Selection Sunday, behind North Carolina. The Jayhawks also were second in RPI strength of schedule, behind Duke.
CANDIDATES: The word from Western Kentucky folks at last weekend's NCAA Midwest opening rounds in Dayton, Ohio, was that the Hilltoppers' athletic director search prominently includes two men with area ties - Virginia Tech associate AD Danny Monk and former VMI assistant basketball coach and ex-Georgia Tech administrator Bernie McGregor. Monk's candidacy is being pushed by Roanoke native and former Hokies star Lewis Mills, who is Western's chief athletic fund-raiser and the interim AD.
MAKING HALF: Only five of Virginia's past 102 opponents have shot 50 percent or better. This season, no opponent has hit 50 percent against Kansas. That number is losing its significance as a benchmark for marksmanship anyway. In Division I men's basketball last season, only Auburn, Michigan State and Radford made at least half of their field-goal attempts. This season, seven teams are at 50 percent or better, and that number could dwindle during postseason play.
GOOD COMBO: Football may have been the genesis of the new conference that basically will merge the Metro and Great Midwest next season, but basketball in that league will be much bigger business. Of the 12 teams in the still-nameless league, six received NCAA bids and four got NIT berths this season. The NCAA entries are 5-5 with Memphis still playing. Marquette and South Florida meet in an NIT quarterfinal tonight.
by CNB