ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, March 8, 1996                  TAG: 9603080086
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA 
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK

IT'S BYE AND GOODBYE FOR HOKIES

Where have we seen this before? Was it Louisville? Or Cincinnati? Or Memphis? Or Biloxi?

Or all of the above? The leagues and datelines and players and coaches may change, but Virginia Tech's conference tournament tradition continued Thursday night in the Hokies' Atlantic 10 debut.

Tech talks about trying to add Big East Conference basketball to its football membership. Maybe the Hokies should forget it and dribble back to independent status, because the first-night result in the A-10 wasn't any different than it was most years in the Metro.

Rhode Island made sure 15th-ranked Tech wouldn't have to spend too much time at the crumbling Philadelphia Civic Center. The Rams' 77-71 victory brought the Hokies right back to where they were before a good final week of the regular season.

Rhode Island (18-12) needs to win the A-10 to get an NCAA Tournament bid. The Hokies (22-5) had nothing to play for in the quarterfinal prime-time opener - and played like it.

Since losing to Memphis State in the 1984 Metro tournament final, Tech's conference playoff record is dismal - and that's being kind.

In its past 11 conference tournaments - Tech was on NCAA probation and didn't play in the '89 Metro field - the Hokies are 3-11 this week of the season.

That's eight first-game losses in 11 tournaments, and six of those clubs finished with winning records. Never before Thursday night, however, had the Hokies' exited as such a high seed. Tech was No.1 in its half of the bracket, behind only once-beaten Massachusetts overall.

Asked about the continuing string of early trips home from conference tournaments, Tech coach Bill Foster couldn't explain the phenomenon - or why the Hokies played as dismal as the tournament atmosphere in an old barn due for demolition.

``I'm shocked,'' Foster said. ``Everybody was 10 minutes early for the bus and not a word was said on the way over. It was `focus.' I thought we were going to come out and rip their britches off, but we didn't play physical at all.

``Maybe I didn't make it important enough for 'em. I don't know. Maybe this will help us.''

Damon Watlington sprained an ankle early, followed by a shoulder injury to Shawn Smith, but it wasn't pain that doomed the Hokies. It was their passive play at both ends of the floor.

Ace Custis and Watlington, the team's top two scorers, combined for four field goals. Custis didn't get his first hoop until 8:51 remained in the game. By then, the Hokies already had trailed by 13 a couple of times.

``It was like Ace was on another planet some of the time,'' Foster said.

He wasn't alone.

Had not pivotman Travis Jackson been productive early, the Hokies could have showered at halftime. After the break, Shawn Good and backup point guard Troy Manns of Roanoke - in a season-high 29 minutes - did the most to somehow give Tech an edge again.

Jackson got the game's last goal, with 12 seconds left. That was Tech's only basket in the final 5:15. Rhode Island, an overtime loser at home in February to Tech, was relentless.

Foster said he ``knows it sounds screwy,'' but he buys into a notion that some teams who go through three conference tournament games are too weary when they begin NCAA play a few days later.

That, however, may be wishful thinking about his team. Tech has dropped three of its past six games, and has beaten only one A-10 team with a winning record - Dayton (15-14) - since the OT triumph at Rhode Island five weeks ago.

``I remember the other time at Clemson,'' said Foster, referring to his only NCAA Tournament appearance, in 1980. ``We and UCLA were two of the last three teams picked and we made it all the way to the regional final and played to go to the Final Four. If you get the invitation, anything's possible.''

If the Hokies are seeded any higher than No.6 in their region when the NCAA brackets are revealed Sunday evening, they should consider themselves very fortunate.

So, what will Tech take home from its first Atlantic 10 tournament?

The Hokies did make it past the first round. They had a bye.

LENGTH: Medium:   85 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:   AP Virginia Tech's Travis Jackson runs into Rhode 
          Island's Michael Andersen during Thursday's Atlantic 10 tournament 
          quarterfinal in Philadelphia. The Rams beat the Hokies 77-71.   (did
          not run in Metro edition.)