ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, February 29, 1996 TAG: 9602290063
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
TECH'S SENIORS look back as they prepare for their final home game tonight against Xavier.
A mop boy may be required to dry the basketball court tonight at Cassell Coliseum.
In what figures to be an eye-swelling, tear-inducing farewell, four Virginia Tech senior starters will make their final Cassell appearance when the Hokies meet Xavier (11-13) at 8 p.m. in an Atlantic 10 Conference game.
Shawn Good, Travis Jackson, Shawn Smith and Damon Watlington have only one question: Where did the time go?
``Our last game at Cassell ... it's really hard to believe that this is going to be it,'' said Smith, a 6-foot-6 forward from Gastonia, N.C.
``I'm certain it's going to be emotional. I don't know how it could be any other way. We've all been through so much together the past four years. And we all love each other. We're all just like family.''
The quartet has played an instrumental role in the revitalization of the Hokies program. Four years after being part of a 10-18 team, they now find themselves on a 20-4 club that is ranked No.16 in the nation.
``To see the rebuilding we've done from our freshman year to senior year, I'm happy to be a part of it, a piece of the puzzle,'' Smith said. ``The first three years went by so slowly. Now our senior year has gone by too fast.
``But it seems like our dreams are coming true, though. We've finally gotten some national respect in the rankings, and it appears our dream of making the NCAA is about ready to happen. That does give you a good feeling, a sense of real accomplishment.''
It should. The four seniors never have forgotten what it felt like in 1992-93, when the Hokies struggled to win 10 of 28 games in coach Bill Foster's second season in Blacksburg.
``All that losing, you wonder if you're any good.'' Smith said.
Good, a 6-4 guard from Columbus, Ind., had his doubts, too.
``I was ready for that season to get over with,'' Good said. ``After that, I wondered why in the heck I even came to Virginia Tech. I was ready to leave.
``But I hung around and we got it together. As it turned out, that year was the start of something great, a lot of great friendships. It was rough, but a rewarding process.''
Since '92-93, Tech has won 63 of 87 games, including a school-record 25 last season when it captured the school's second National Invitation Tournament title. This season's team, which was ranked as high as No.8 in the Associated Press poll, is a veritable lock to earn the program's first NCAA bid since 1986.
``Now you get up in the morning and you feel good about yourself,'' said Jackson, a 6-8 center from Peterstown, W.Va.
Watlington, a 6-3 guard from Reidsville, N.C., said he thought things would get better for Tech. He never counted on them getting this good, however.
``I never imagined being ranked so high, ranked ahead of some of those big-name schools,'' he said. ``On campus, people come up to me all the time to talk about the team. Used to be nobody even knew I played basketball.''
The four seniors were part of a critical eight-player recruiting haul by Foster and his staff in 1992. Two others in the '92 recruiting class - forwards Ace Custis and Jim Jackson - would have been seniors this season, but each was redshirted a year because of injuries. The other two recruits - forwards Delwyn Dillard and Dwayne Archbold - played little and eventually transferred to other schools.
None of the Tech signees was ranked in the top 150 on the recruiting lists. Watlington, at 166th, was the only one in the top 250 of noted recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons.
``None were high school All-Americans,'' Foster said. ``They were pretty much guys that the big schools didn't want. None were highly recruited. They all came in here very unheralded.
``They might not have been wanted by the big boys, but they've come in here and earned a lot of respect nationally for the way they play.''
When asked what stands out most about these seniors, Foster said all are ``good people.''
``Good people off the court and good players on it,'' Foster said. ``You see one, you always see some more. I've never had a more compatible bunch of guys.''
Smith, whose two free throws with seven-tenths of a second left lifted Tech over Marquette 65-64 in the 1995 NIT title game, said the Hokies finally have been rewarded for all their work.
``We've shown people we can play with the big guys,'' Smith said. ``And right now, I guess we're considered a big guy.''
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. Seniors (from left) Travis Jackson,by CNBShawn Smith, Shawn Good and Damon Watlington have helped put
Virginia Tech back on the college basketball map in the past four
years. color. Graphic: Chart by staff: Senior Class. color.