ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 18, 1996 TAG: 9602190128
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Virginia Tech learned about life at the top in college basketball Saturday.
The Hokies just couldn't reach that high.
Because Tech couldn't guard Massachusetts big man Marcus Camby - of course, who this side of Hakeem Olajuwon can? - the Hokies couldn't deal with the nation's top-ranked team.
Tech coach Bill Foster described the 6-foot-11 Camby's set-up positioning away from the blocks as ``no-man's land.'' That also would describe where the 10th-ranked Hokies were left in a 74-58 Atlantic 10 humbling.
It was the first top-10 date in the A-10's 20 years, and a noisy, sellout crowd at Cassell Coliseum didn't help against the unbeaten Minutemen, who were patient and poised offensively.
And at the other end of the floor? The UMass defense can be summed up in one statistic: Tech star Ace Custis didn't have a field goal in the second half.
``Maybe we frustrated him a little bit,'' said UMass forward Dana Dingle, who repeatedly kept Custis from reaching his favorite spot on the blocks or catching the ball without effort.
It wasn't just Custis who came up short for Tech, however. The Hokies shot a season-low 36 percent. They also didn't rebound.
And it wasn't that Camby was everywhere. The Hokies just played like he was. Too often inside, they went up expecting a rejection notice.
Defensively, they tried to play Camby straight-up most of the time. It was one of those damned-if-you-do ... decisions.
Wouldn't the Hokies (19-3) have been better off doubling Camby or playing a zone?
``I don't think it much mattered what we tried,'' Foster said, with his usual coaching acumen.
Tech's defense on Camby - primarily by Travis Jackson and Keefe Matthews - was post-like in more ways than one. The Hokies couldn't afford to play short and have Custis giving up four inches and fouls to Camby.
The Hokies' most aggressive move came just before the start of the second half, when Foster grabbed the public address microphone, hollered, ``Hey,'' to quiet the Cassell crowd, and looked at the student section.
``We don't need anybody getting hurt because some dummy throws something out on that floor,'' Foster said. ``Let's keep the floor clean.''
The Tech students minded well. UMass coach John Calipari didn't. He was on the floor more than Minuteman reserve Tyrone Weeks, who played 15 minutes.
However, no technical foul was going to be enough to help the Hokies, whose hopes to get the crowd into the game wilted when they were 4-for-17 shooting in the first 13 minutes of the second half.
Had guard Damon Watlington not played a big-time game at both ends of the floor, the Hokies would have been blown out. Watlington finished with 17 points and chased UMass marksman Carmelo Travieso into a two field-goal day.
If anyone had told Foster his team would hold Travieso and UMass point man Edgar Padilla to a combined three field goals, he would have felt pretty good about an upset.
``I'd have thought we'd be right there,'' he said. ``Our whole emphasis was to stop the inside game and give them the outside. Well, we couldn't stop the inside.''
The slashing of Dingle and Donta Bright opened life inside for Camby, too. They're seniors, and to simply call them role players doesn't do them justice.
In coaching parlance, Camby's a five who plays in the four hole but more like a three. Bright and Dingle are threes, who can afford to cheat defensively because of the huge fly-swatter in front of the hole.
``Imagine what Dingle and Bright have been through the last four years,'' said Foster. ``This was just another big game for them. It was a whole different kind of big game for us.''
It was UMass' seventh victory over a ranked team, and 65th A-10 regular-season triumph in less than five whole seasons. It also showed the Hokies how and whom they will play when the calendar turns again.
``As we go on [into the NCAA Tournament], games are won in the paint and more with free-throw shooting,'' Foster said. ``Offenses get a little more conservative.''
Camby certainly exposed Tech's weakness. Depending on the seedings and pairings, if the Hokies are to advance past their first NCAA game since 1986, they're going to have to figure out how to play someone more sizable.
``We can't play someone like that like we did today,'' Foster said. ``If we do, we won't be playing very long.''
LENGTH: Medium: 85 linesby CNB