ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040124
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
On the short road to the Final Four 11/4 miles away at the Salem Civic Center, Roanoke College will have to go through the Midwest.
That's geographically, and physically.
The Maroons will stay home at the Bast Center for this weekend's NCAA Sweet Sixteen sectionals, but the South Region top seed's obstacle in Friday's 8 p.m. sectional nightcap is huge in more ways than one. Illinois Wesleyan (25-2) started the season 20-0. The aptly-named Titans, playing in the final 16 for the third straight year, also start a front-line trio that measures 6 feet 7, 6-6, and 6-6.
It's Midwest basketball, and that's not just a reference to the region in which Wesleyan is the No.2 seed. You've seen the physical play. Think a Division III version of Purdue and Iowa. Think former NBA star Jack Sikma. Illinois Wesleyan is his alma mater. Even coach Dennie Bridges is huge, with 554 career victories.
When he started as the Titans' head coach 31 years ago, Roanoke coach Page Moir was 4.
Wesleyan was ranked No.1 in the national coaches' poll until it lost two in a row. Bridges has four senior starters, including 6-6, 225-pound All-America center Chris Simich, who averages 18 points and eight rebounds. Wiry 6-7 junior Brian Crabtree has scored 40, 31 and 22 points in his past three games. Wesleyan also is a poised club that rallied from 14 points down to win Saturday's second-round game over Hanover.
So, what sort of shot does Roanoke (24-4) have at a Final Four trip with no luggage?
Wesleyan is the tallest assignment. In Friday's sectional opener, Dixie Conference champion Christopher Newport meets Washington (Mo.). The potential national quarterfinal matchup could be less imposing to the Maroons, whose 12-game winning streak is the fourth longest among the 16 Division III survivors.
To keep playing, Roanoke must continue to get solid production from its bench, and keep starting guards Jason Bishop and Nathan Hungate on the floor and pushing the tempo.
Hungate has played only 45 of 80 minutes because of foul trouble in Roanoke's first two NCAA victories. Moir's team can't afford extended chair time for the point guard as it goes deeper into the tournament. Nor does it need 6-6 Jon Maher pulling up for 17-foot jumpers - not because the Johns Hopkins transfer can't hit them, but because his size and smarts are needed more under the hoop.
The Maroons, who barely survived three nailbiters to win the Old Dominion Athletic Conference tournament, have relaxed in two NCAA triumphs. Roanoke's plus is its uncommon depth for a Division III team. Nine Maroons are averaging 12 minutes per game.
Moir can play a perimeter club that can be dominating. Roanoke has hit 21 of 38 shots from behind the 3-point arc in two NCAA wins. The Maroons also haven't shot free throws well, particularly at the end of games. If it's close, that will count.
``We can go with different lineups and maybe get a mismatch somewhere,'' Moir said. ``We might not be quite as big as someone, but we have depth, and we can run. Our 26-2 team [two years ago] was awesome on the perimeter, but we had only one true post player in Bryant Lee. This team, we have two post players who start and two off the bench. We can go a lot of ways.''
This wasn't expected to be the Maroons' year, and a junior-dominated club - backup postman Steve Camara is the lone senior - has overachieved in many minds. Picked third in the ODAC coaches' preseason poll, Roanoke had only one first-place vote - from Moir. Now, his club is ranked ninth in the nation.
``I thought this could be a good team, but I didn't think we could be 24-4,'' he said. ``I didn't think we'd go through the ODAC with only four losses. Still, once we got into this thing [the NCAA], I thought if we played as close as we can to our potential, we could go far.''
It's still a long road to just up the street.
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB