Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 31, 1995 TAG: 9503310071
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SEATTLE LENGTH: Long
It was no surprise that the item was one of the NABC positions expressed Thursday at a news conference in conjunction with the Final Four.
George Raveling, the former Southern California coach and incoming president of the Black Coaches Association, said the BCA and NABC will continue to work together on the standardized-test issue.
He cited 11 different investigative reports the NABC has seen, ``and all have come to the same conclusion ... that there is blatant misuse of the standardized test as it relates to Propositions 48 and 16.''
Jim Haney, the NABC's executive director, said the organization also will continue to lobby for a fourth year of athletic eligibility for a partial qualifier who makes sufficient academic progress.
The NABC also will continue to fight the $16,000 salary ceiling for restricted-earnings coaches.
``That position is the bloodline of our profession,'' said NABC board member Mike Jarvis, the George Washington coach.
The NCAA has used a 700 score on the Scholastic Assessment Test to go with a 2.0 grade-point average in 11 core courses as the standard for eligibility for incoming athletes. Under the new Proposition 16, those standards are rising, with a sliding scale combining test scores and the grade average in 13 courses.
``In the face of this overwhelming evidence, the Presidents Commission continues to pursue this misguided course,'' Raveling said. ``So, it leaves us no other position other than to be adversary.
``It's a moral issue. It's not an athletic issue at all. It happens to be an issue that has been placed on the public's table by athletic people. But it's really a social issue.
``It would seem to me that any rule that's blatantly discriminatory, that those people in leadership should demonstrate a greater sensitivity about it.''
Raveling said that by setting the 700 SAT minimum - which now is 820 because of a change in grading weight for test answers - ``the minimum has become the standard. You're teaching children to accept mediocrity.''
Asked whether the BCA had any plans for a boycott because of the issue - threatened by the organization during last season - Raveling said, ``I think it's always good to keep the hammer in your hand. That doesn't always mean you have to hit the nail.''
On another issue, the NABC is asking the NCAA Basketball Rules Committee, which Raveling chairs, to make bench conduct and taunting ``points of emphasis'' next season.
When asked if those matters would be enforced by officials as diligently as hand-checking was this season, Jarvis said, ``Hopefully better.''
From the Final Four notebook:
CORLI$$: Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson expects his junior star, 6-foot-7 Corliss Williamson, will end his college career with the Final Four.
``I know that Corliss will probably come out'' for the NBA, Richardson said on a coaches' teleconference. ``We haven't discussed it yet. We did talk a little bit about it last year.
``I'm a realist. I don't know many jobs that are going to pay $30 million to anybody.''
Richardson said Williamson would go with his blessing.
``I've got some kids right now with degrees looking for jobs,'' he said. ``So, degrees don't always say you're going to get a job; it just gives you a little better opportunity. If you get a chance to go play in that league and make the kind of money that they're paying these youngsters today, then I can't be against that.''
MR. UNCLEAN: Don't look for North Carolina center Rasheed Wallace to follow teammates Jerry Stackhouse, Donald Williams and Jeff McInnis with the Jordanesque head shave at the Final Four.
``That bald thing hasn't gotten to me,'' Wallace said. ``And it won't. You can keep your bald head.''
Dante Calabria will be the other Tar Heel starter with hair.
``Dante's too much of a pretty boy to shave,'' Williams said.
TOP WEENIE: What's in a name? The Seattle Post-Intelligencer picked its 10 best coaching nicknames in NCAA Tournament history in Thursday's newspaper.
Heading a list that had ``Bones'' McKinney at the bottom and included ``Whack'' Hyder and ``Rinso'' Marquette was Louis ``Weenie'' Miller, the former VMI coach and retired Hampden-Sydney athletic director. Miller guided the Keydets to the 1964 NCAA Tournament.
UH OH: The Post-Intelligencer polled all 302 Division I head basketball coaches on a variety of subjects and received about 100 responses. One of the questions was: In which conference do you think there is the most breaking of rules?
The Southeastern was the answer on 62 responses, the Southwest on eight and the Great Midwest and Big East on two each. Several other leagues were named in one response each.
The coaches also said, 56-43, that increased academic standards do not pose a threat to the quality of major-college basketball. Asked if a coach's school should get a portion of his shoe-contract money, 71 respondents said no, 34 yes.
Speaking of shoe contracts, the only coach in the 64-team field without one is longtime Mount St. Mary's boss Jim Phelan, who should have a bowtie deal.
The Mount wears adidas. Of the 64 teams, 30 wear Nike, including North Carolina and Oklahoma State. Arkansas is one of 15 teams in Converse, UCLA one of nine in Reebok. Eight wore adidas, two Asics.
DRIBBLES: UCLA coach Jim Harrick on what the Final Four has become: ``It's one of the biggest social events in America, but I don't think the teams are involved in the social part of it.'' ... Something's got to give in Saturday's opening semifinal. UCLA is shooting 51.5 percent for the season. Oklahoma State has held 10 of its last 12 opponents to below 40 percent marksmanship. ... In 1952, the first time the three-game national semifinals and championship game were played in Seattle, a ticket cost $3.50. ... The Most Outstanding Players from the last two Final Fours are playing in this one - Williams of UNC and Williamson of Arkansas. It's the first time that has happened in 57 NCAA Tournaments.
by CNB