ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, March 7, 1996 TAG: 9603070009
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: RADFORD
SOURCE: RAY COX STAFF WRITER
The 1995-96 college basketball season ended for Radford University on Feb. 29 with a 55-52 loss to Charleston Southern in the opening round of the Big South Conference tournament in Lynchburg.
In many respects, that melancholy finale mirrored the rest of the Highlanders' season. Radford was close enough to believe it had an opportunity to win but couldn't close the deal when the critical time arrived.
To the game and the season, reaction was pretty much the same.
``Disappointing and frustrating,'' Radford coach Ron Bradley said. ``Typical of the year as a whole. We get to the last two minutes and can't find a way to win.''
Radford finished 14-13, a record that wasn't greeted with much enthusiasm by any in the program. Nevertheless, university vice president Paul Harris, to whom outgoing athletic director Chuck Taylor reports, said this week that he and Taylor will meet with Bradley to discuss extending his contract.
Midway through the season, Bradley signed a one-year extension on a pact set to expire after the season. He was said not to be too happy about it, but there was nothing he could do.
``Despite the early exit from the tournament, we have been impressed with the job Mr. Bradley has done this year,'' Harris said. ``He's only a recruit or two away from taking us to the next level. We'd like for him to be a part of the future here. Chuck Taylor and I will sit down with him to see what needs to be done for that to happen.''
The meeting is expected to be later this week. Certainly one of the topics of conversation will be this past season. Bradley identified several factors that influenced events during the course of the campaign:
THE DEATH MARCH: Forced to schedule games that paid well like all low-major Division I programs, Radford played four games in 10 days, at Florida State, at Marshall, at East Tennessee State, and at South Carolina. Radford lost to Florida State 79-59, to Marshall 101-73, 68-64 to ETSU, and 90-69 to South Carolina.
``That was brutal,'' Bradley said. ``Mental, physical, and psychological fatigue really wore on this team.''
TOO MANY THRILLERS: Nine of Radford's 13 losses were settled in the last couple of minutes. Six of those setbacks were by six points or fewer.
IMBALANCE: Despite a career year from forward Eric Bowens (11.5 points per game, 4.9 rebounds per game) and a late surge by forward Kevin Robinson, inside offensive production was inconsistent, thus allowing opponents to load up on Radford bomb-throwers Jason Lansdown and Anthony Walker.
Eric Parker, a 6-9 sophomore, fell in and out of favor all season. Jermaine Williams was the first big man off the bench and started three games. That was enough to identify him as not yet first-string material.
The one move that seemed to help was Corey Reed's inclusion in the starting lineup in the last part of the season. His outside marksmanship gave the big guys the room to move inside. Reed, though, was prone to be overmatched defensively.
That was not a problem for Chibi Johnson on those occasions when he was in the lineup. Johnson, who showed a great deal of promise as a freshman, was a victim of playing-time downsizing.
A DEPLETED ROSTER: Two players that figured to be here weren't. During the offseason, Johnny Watkins did not return to the team for personal reasons and Damian Ingram was dismissed from the program for violations of team rules.
Watkins was the best defender in the program and Ingram was only a step behind. Plus, Ingram figured to be the point guard, a position Radford never completely filled this season.
Walker was the starting point guard, but that detracted from his other offensive abilities such as his 3-point shooting and slashing forays to the hoop. When he was moved to off-guard, either junior college transfer Marquiz Williamson or Lansdown ran the point.
Lansdown had a great year, posting career bests in all categories including scoring (16.4 ppg), rebounding (4.5 rpg), field-goal percentage (48.5 ) and 3-point percentage (48.5).
At the same time, Walker struggled as teams geared to stop him. He finished with career lows in field-goal percentage (38.1 percent) and 3-point shooting (33.6 percent). He did have a late surge, though, averaging 15.4 points per game over the last five games of the season.
``I think Anthony was weary for a while,'' Bradley said. ``In fact, that was the word he used, weary.''
Only Lansdown and Buzzard graduate. Bradley plans to recruit three more players and he'd like for all of them to share one character trait.
``We need some tough kids, guys like [former Highlanders] Steve Barber and Chris Hawkins,'' he said. ``Guys you can go to war with.''
HIGHLANDER- HIGHLIGHTS: Harris said a classified advertisement for the AD vacancy created by Taylor's return to the classroom is being prepared and should be ready by the end of the week to run in in the Chronicle of Higher Education and other publications.
``We're probably going to begin taking applications in early April,'' Harris said. ``We'd like to have somebody by May. Our absolute deadline will be Aug.15.''
A search committee is being formed.
LENGTH: Medium: 94 linesby CNB