Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, June 29, 1995 TAG: 9506290055
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Unfortunately for the league, so was most of what would have been its very imposing immediate future.
The NBA draft was one of the deepest in history in solid prospects, and the ACC provided more than one-fourth of the first-round choices. With the Toronto dome open, the ACC could see its shooting stars heading for another galaxy. The league lost a record eight first-rounders.
It doesn't take Billy Packer to analyze what this means.
Most seasons, even Clouseau could find the top few ACC players. In 1995-96, it may take Cousteau to locate who stands tallest in the ACC next to Wake Forest junior Tim Duncan.
Then consider that Duncan, likely to play his final season as the Deacons' center next season, would have been the No.1 pick had he left school after two years like three other ACC players named in the first half-hour in Raptorland.
North Carolina, with Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace, and Maryland, with Joe Smith, would have been Final Four contenders. The Terps return the rest of their starters, but 1996 very well could be only the third year in the last 16 the ACC hasn't had a team in the national semifinals.
Not only did the ACC experience a different sort of sophomore jinx when the underclassmen declared, it also had a great case of senioritis with Cherokee Parks, Bob Sura, Randolph Childress, Junior Burrough, Travis Best and Donald Williams.
The league hasn't had a day of losses like this since ``Black Sunday'' in the 1979 NCAA Tournament, when Duke and UNC, trying to get from the second round in Raleigh to the regionals in Greensboro, lost to Eastern invaders.
The ACC might feel next season like Virginia's twice-injured Cory Alexander - an early entry NBA draftee with a diploma - did the past two seasons.
What might have been? Alexander had his questions answered at the end of the first round when he was picked by the San Antonio Spurs.
The ACC won't have its answers until next winter.
Who's best after Duncan? How about Virginia's Harold Deane? Maybe it's UNC's Jeff McInnis. Maybe Maryland's Johnny Rhodes. Maybe James Collins of Florida State. Maybe Todd Fuller of N.C. State.
They're all guards except the 6-foot-11 Fuller. The ACC is going to be a league that's led by the frontcourt. A conference that has to say, but usually can't say, that it's the nation's best league, as the ACC often is.
Less than half of the nine teams figure to be improved from last season. However, unless you're a Dookie, 1994-95 will be difficult to top in the ACC.
For the first time in ACC history, not only did four teams tie for first place in the regular season race at 12-4, but the league had four teams - Wake, UNC, UVa and Maryland - with at least 25 victories.
The ACC never had lost more than six first-rounders in one year. Only in 1986, when Brad Daugherty, the late Len Bias and Chris Washburn went 1-2-3, has the ACC topped Wednesday's three-man landing at the top of the draft.
In '86, the ACC had five of the top 11 picks, adding Johnny Dawkins and John Salley to the first three, and seven of the first 25 (including Mark Price at the start of Round 2). In '77, the ACC had six of the first 15 picks, led by UNC's Walter Davis at No.5.
So, what is the ACC's immediate future with seven of the top eight vote-getters from last year's All-ACC team headed for paychecks?
``I hope it's good for Virginia,'' said Burrough, who was selected 33rd by the Boston Celtics in the second round. ``We lost some seniors, but I don't think we were hurt as much as some other teams that got killed.''
Burrough knows basketball. A drafty evening in Toronto likely had the most impact of any night in 40-plus years of ACC hoops history.
by CNB