Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300099
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
1973 when?
An event the Virginia Tech fans spoke of with almost legendary fondness as the years went by finally leaped ecstatically into the present.
What does winning the National Invitation Tournament - like 1973 in overtime, like 1973 by one point, but with as much excitement as any 1995 Hokies game - what does it feel like?
Ask the Hokie Bird, in the midst of bedlam on the Madison Square Garden court, arms flailing, legs pumping in the air.
Look at the crowd jumping, screaming, loving what they've just seen.
"Pretty crazy, pretty crazy!" yells Pep Band Director Dave McKee.
But ask the man who led this team all year. All respect to Shawn Smith for hitting two free throws with 0.7 second to go in overtime, but the quote comes from Ace Custis.
Says he: "It feels great man, it feels great."
The game of basketball is predicated on time.
Milking it when Shawn Good's got the basketball, Virginia Tech's got the lead and the second half's running down. Disregarding it when Custis explodes on a fast break for a slam.
But Wednesday's NIT championship between Marquette University and Tech was a game for which the notion of time meant much more. Just ask Tech's fans of yesteryear or the students now. Was it - dare it be said - a game for the ages?
For weeks, it seemed, nary a news story, telecast or a fan's comments failed to allude to Tech's 1973 NIT championship.
Perhaps it was the necessary three- to four-day stay in expensive New York while classes back home continued, but most of the fans in Madison Square Garden this week seemed to be of the older variety - the ones who either were here or remembered watching on television Bobby Stevens' overtime jumper to beat Notre Dame 22 years ago.
Texas Badkins, class of '51, and wife Freeda, were here Monday to see Tech beat Canisius College. In 1973, they weren't here - but they were jumping on a coffee table back home when Tech won.
But this is 1995. Most of this year's team - a hardy, heart-packed bunch of winners - weren't born when Stevens buried his shot.
For them, and for Tech fans about their age, Wednesday's game was one for another time: the future. USA Today said Tech wanted to use it as a "springboard" for its move to the Atlantic 10 Conference next season. Coach Bill Foster said recruits had been calling more after seeing Tech on television.
The Hokies believe it's time to get some respect again - year in and year out. Foster felt it when he invited the seniors from last year's team - which went 18-10 but wasn't invited to the NCAA tournament or the NIT - to New York because he thought they got cheated last year.
Penny Goode, a member of Tech's Pep Band, felt it when she looked at how recent NIT winners have fared afterwards.
"You look at teams like [Connecticut] 10 years ago, and when they won the NIT, and look where they are now," Goode said. (Actually, Connecticut won in 1988; UCLA won it 10 years ago. The two played last weekend in the NCAA, with UCLA advancing to the Final Four.)
Moments after Tech's victory Wednesday, downtown Blacksburg erupted into a huge celebration.
A crowd of about a thousand boisterous fans congregated at the town's main intersection at Main Street and College Avenue.
Firecrackers exploded in the gleeful madness as students yelled and honked their car horns. Toilet-paper banners festooned blooming Bradford pear trees.
"We knew we were going to win, but it was intense," said Tech student Dave Hanson.
Before long, numerous Blacksburg police officers were on hand to help control the crowd. Soon state police were on the scene. Finally, however, the cops gave in and allowed the fans turn Main Street into a mosh pit - students were slam dancing and body surfing as if they were at a rock concert. Traffic was routed around the mayhem.
For the most part, however, the crowd stayed under control. One Blacksburg police officer said there were no arrests or reports of property damage.
For everyone rooting for the Hokies on Wednesday, Tech's NIT torch had been passed.
This is another time.
Tech-student Gwen Handy may have summed it up best when she said: "We may have had better teams, but never one with a bigger heart."
Staff writer Robert Freis contributed information to this story.
Memo: NOTE: A different version of this story ran in the State edition.