Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 19, 1995 TAG: 9510190025
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Bailey, who committed to Tech this week, has played on teams at Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tenn., that have gone 104-12 the past three years.
Science Hill has gone 74-5 the past two seasons and has won back-to-back state championships, with Bailey the choice as most valuable player after last year's tournament. He also was chosen first-team all-state.
``A lot of the Southern Conference and Ohio Valley Conference schools were after him,'' said Science Hill coach George Pitts, who believes Bailey was under-recruited. ``Virginia Tech was the most prominent program to offer him, [but] I definitely feel he can play there.
``I think the success they've had there recently was a factor in his decision, as was the league [the Atlantic-10] that they will be playing in. He liked the campus, the players and the location.''
Bailey averaged 17.2 points and nearly six assists as a junior, when he shot 53 percent from the field and 75 percent from the free-throw line. He has outstanding range, as evidenced by his 69-of-160 (43 percent) accuracy from 3-point range.
``He's very quick,'' Pitts said. ``We play a 94-foot game offensively and defensively and he's been involved in that since he came to us in the ninth grade.''
Bailey, a 5-foot-10, 155-pound point guard, has not met NCAA requirements on the Scholastic Assessment Test. He would join returning Tech point guards Troy Manns, who will be a senior in 1996-97, and Myron Guillory.
Junior-college transfer Keefe Matthews, who missed the 1994-95 basketball season after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, has a stress fracture in his foot and is not participating in any running drills for the Hokies.
Tech star Ace Custis had a similar injury last year that prevented him from practicing extensively but did not keep him out of any games. Coach Bill Foster said Matthews has been wearing an ``orthotic'' in his shoe since the condition was diagnosed 21/2 weeks ago and should be pain-free after six weeks.
The Atlantic 10 Conference will hold its postseason men's basketball tournament at the Spectrum in Philadelphia beginning with the 1997 tournament. The Spectrum and the Atlantic 10 signed a three-year contract.
With the new agreement, the entire tournament will be held at one site. The last time the tournament was held at one site was in 1988 at Morgantown, W.Va.
Since then, the first rounds have been played at the Palestra in Philadelphia, with the championship game played at the home court of the highest remaining seed. The 1996 Atlantic 10 Tournament will be played at the Philadelphia Civic Center, which seats 10,000. The Spectrum seats 18,168.
The 1996 tournament will be held March 6-9.
COUNTING ON WHITAKER: Virginia men's basketball coach Jeff Jones told reporters last week that the Cavaliers have two scholarships available, which indicates that he treats 6-foot-10 Melvin Whitaker from Hargrave Military Academy as a commitment.
Virginia has been notified that Whitaker must meet the NCAA requirements that were in place when he graduated last spring from Oak Hill Academy and not the sliding scale that goes into effect for players in high school this year. That means Whitaker must score 820 or better on the Scholastic Assessment Test.
Virginia is still in the picture with 6-5 Willie Dersch, a national top-20 prospect from Flushing, N.Y., who visited North Carolina this past weekend. The Cavaliers have been recruiting Dersch since his sophomore year at Holy Cross High School, alma mater of then-UVa assistant Dennis Wolff.
Close to 2,000 students were turned away Saturday night at UVa for ``Midnight Madness,'' which was televised by ESPN. Maybe the biggest surprise of the night was 6-9 freshman Scott Johnson making 14 3-pointers in 60 seconds to tie Curtis Staples, last year's ACC leader in that category.
OFF THE BOARD: Oddsmakers no longer are offering line on the Virginia-Texas football game, owing to the uncertain status of Longhorns quarterback James Brown, who suffered a sprained knee late in a 24-24 tie with Oklahoma. The last posted odds had Virginia as a 11/2-point favorite.
IN THE ACC: Clemson defensive tackle Marvin Cross, a preseason All-ACC selection, has given up hopes of playing this season and will undergo surgery next week to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament. The knee remained unstable despite extensive rehabilitation.
The continued inconsistency of North Carolina quarterback Mike Thomas, who has been intercepted 10 times, has coach Mack Brown talking about using freshman Oscar Davenport on Carolina's third series of each game. It helps that UNC is playing 231/2-point underdog Wake Forest this week.
IN THE BIG EAST: Temple's players and coaching staff were so confident they would end a 27-game Big East losing streak Saturday that they already had engraved a game ball with the date, the opponent [Pittsburgh] and the words ``First Big East Win.''
``It had everything but the score on it,'' said Temple coach Ron Dickerson, whose Owls beat the Panthers 29-27. ``You'd think we won the national championship here. I thought winning the national championship at Penn State as a player was tops, but this is the biggest win in my coaching career and probably my playing career.
``It was total chaos [after the game]. Somebody opened a cold bottle of champagne in the locker room. The players know I don't drink alcohol, but I chugged some of that champagne. Whoever dug out the champagne was ... confident. Either that or the champagne has been sitting there for three years.''
Pitt coach Johnny Majors says he may bench quarterback John Ryan, who has yielded a Big East-high 14 interceptions, in favor of sophomore Pete Gonzalez from Miami. University of Miami coach Butch Davis, whose Hurricanes visit Pitt, says he will platoon quarterbacks Ryan Clement and Scott Covington.
NON-REVENUE: Radford University will serve as host to a golf tournament for the first time when 13 teams travel to Draper Valley Golf Club in Pulaski County for a 36-hole event next Monday and Tuesday to honor ex-Highlanders' golfer Chris Cothran, killed in an automobile accident in August.
LOCAL UPDATE: Roanoke-based basketball official Howie Burgess will be calling games this year in the new Conference USA. Burgess, who also has games in the Sun Belt and Southwest Conferences, previously worked for Conference USA officiating supervisor Dale Kelley in the Metro Conference.
by CNB