ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220017
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: TECH NOTES
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
Now it's up to Virginia Tech to hold serve in the Atlantic 10 West.
Volleyed back on top of the division by La Salle's upset of George Washington last Sunday, the 12th-ranked Hokies' hopes of ruling the West are back in their hands.
``La Salle did us a big favor,'' said Bill Foster, Tech coach. ``Now we've got to try and take advantage of it.''
Tech (19-3 overall, 10-2 Atlantic 10) can take a huge step towards the West title the next four days in Philadelphia. The Hokies meet La Salle (6-19, 3-9) tonight at 7:30 at the Philadelphia Civic Center, then stay over to face Temple (14-11, 9-4) Sunday at 1:30 p.m. at McGonigle Hall.
Although second-place GW (16-5, 9-2) still is even with Tech in the loss column, the Hokies, thanks to La Salle's upset, now have the tiebreaker edge on the Colonials.
The No.2 tiebreaker, behind head-to-head (a mute point since Tech and GW split), is division record. The Hokies are 6-1 against the West, while GW is 7-2.
Besides La Salle and Temple, Tech has a home game with Xavier (Feb.29) and a road date at Dayton (March 2) left.
George Washington's five-game stretch to close the season includes home games with Duquesne (Wednesday) and Rhode Island, and road games at Massachusetts, Xavier and St. Joseph's.
While Tech and GW each are guaranteed of finishing either first or second in the West, the team finishing on top will have the advantage of being in the opposite bracket of East champion and No.1-ranked UMass in the conference tournament. The West winner can't see UMass until the final, while the West runner-up may face the Minutemen in the semifinals.
PROMISING SIGHT: One of the encouraging notes coming out of Tech's 74-58 home loss to UMass last Saturday was the Cassell Coliseum crowd. There was nary an empty seat in a house that was rocking.
``I think that atmosphere was probably about as good as you can get here or anywhere else ,'' Foster said. ``Everybody was tuned in, they were in there early and they stayed until the bitter end. It was a great crowd, As coach of a team, it's something you hope you can develop on a more regular basis.''
What will it take for Tech to develop that kind of atmosphere regularly? Or was it just the much-hyped invasion of unbeaten UMass?
``I want to be an optimist and hope that we can develop an atmosphere where they come to see us play,'' Foster said. ``With a student body in excess of 20,000 and a lot of people within an hour's drive, we should be able to do that.
``If we can keep working our butts off and putting a program and a game on the floor that people enjoy and can identity with, hopefully we can do it.
``A lot of people do. Look at Xavier. They're going through a tough year for them, but they've had four straight sellouts. Didn't win a one of 'em and people still kept coming. You'd think they're 20-0. And Dayton. They're playing .500 basketball and averaging over 10,000 a game. So it can be done.''
FORGET ABOUT NUMBERS: That's Foster's advice to struggling senior forward Shawn Smith down the stretch. After leading Tech in scoring the past two years, the 6-foot-6 Smith's average has fallen to 11.5, behind Ace Custis (13.9) and Damon Watlington (13.7) this season.
``All of a sudden he's not getting shots and he's not scoring and it plays with your head,'' Foster said. ``I think the different defensive looks [a myriad of zones] in this league have hurt him and he's a hard time adjusting.
``As a result, his stats haven't been good and he's been guilty of looking at his stats and thinking he's letting the team down. He's got to forget that and do some other things. One way he can really help us is rebound better. That's something that shouldn't change from year to year.''
Smith's rebounding average is 4.2, down from 6.9 last season.
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