ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, December 20, 1995 TAG: 9512200048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
As the ``defending NIT champion,'' there is a word in that compound adjective modifier to Virginia Tech's basketball team that the Hokies need to remember.
It isn't the last one.
In Tech's 68-62 comeback victory Monday night over West Virginia, the Hokies displayed a maturity you'd expect from a veteran club, a resiliency necessary to bounce back after watching Georgia lead them on a gee-whiz trip through the Georgia Dome over the weekend.
As Tech tries to become the school's first NCAA Tournament visitor in a decade, the Hokies don't need to recall that they won the program's second NIT title last March. Those Big Apple memories are etched as permanently as the ``Ace'' tattoo on Adrian Custis' left shoulder.
What the Hokies must remember is how they not only won a Garden party, but how they won most of their school-record 25 games last season. They did it with composure. They did it by defending.
``That's it,'' said coach Bill Foster, two victories from becoming the 16th active Division I coach with 500 victories. ``We're not going to outscore many people. That's our whole deal, has been since the day we got here. Unless we `D' it up, we're not going to get it done. That's the stamp on our program. Halfcourt man, and swarm, and it has to be collective.''
Coaches love to preach defense. Most kids don't love to play it. If the Hokies don't enjoy it, they're doing a good job disguising it. Foster, who signed a new 5-year contract Tuesday, brought in most of his current players in the same recruiting class, and he's been preaching about playing without the ball since. It's a tough sell when you're 10-18.
And when you're 25-10 and find the program ranked for the first time in more than a decade? Well, then you start thinking about where you are, and not how you got there. You make some silly decisions near the end of games, which the Hokies did, and almost allowed the Mountaineers to win again.
You have team meetings, and you don't invite the coaches, which the Hokies did after being torched by Georgia.
``I said during the meeting that if you're going to be in the Top 25 and stay there, you've got to beat a good team sometime,'' said Custis, who became a very forward forward. ``West Virginia is one of those. They're in the Big East [against which Atlantic 10 teams are 3-4 this season]. They played Georgetown tough [an overtime loss] and should have won. You don't beat teams like that unless you guard people.''
How did Tech win the NIT? The simple answer, as those TV promos remind, was on Shawn Smith's free throws. It wasn't that easy. In five NIT victories, the Hokies held their opponents to a combined .357 shooting percentage. How good is that? Alabama led the nation last season, with a field-goal percentage defense of .376.
Tech was at .405 in 1994-95, 25th among 301 Division I teams. When the Hokies play the kind of dribble-stopping and lane-filling defense they did in the second half against WVU, they can get away with making only eight field goals in a half. Only then.
If Virginia beats VCU at University Hall on Thursday night, Tech and UVa will meet next Thursday night at the Roanoke Civic Center as ranked opponents for the first time since last month.
Sorry, wrong sport.
It will be their first hoops date as ranked foes since Jan.19, 1983, when the Cavaliers were No.7 and Hokies No.17 for a Richmond Coliseum date. There are no Dell Currys or Ralph Sampsons on these teams these days. They don't have to be defensive about that, but that is why they're good.
Foster's fifth Tech team isn't big and can't afford to play a perimeter-oriented game, either. It has to draw fouls. Foster appears to still be fiddling with his new-found depth, looking for just how to play with what will likely be an eight- or nine-man rotation.
If the Hokies don't defend, they're a decent team, probably another NIT entrant. If they want more, they know on which end of the floor the 64 tickets to the Big Dance are handed out.
LENGTH: Medium: 76 linesby CNB