ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603120047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: ACC TOURNAMENT NOTES
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
MEMO: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
Most of the talk about Stephon Marbury's promising NBA career is coming from outside the Georgia Tech men's basketball program.
Despite published reports that Marbury, a freshman, will leave college after this season, sources close to the Georgia Tech program think he will be back.
``I laugh at it,'' said Tech coach Bobby Cremins, who watched from a distance Thursday as the media descended on Marbury. ``If he's not my point guard, I'll go out and recruit another one.''
It was Cremins' interest in guard Shaheen Holloway from Jersey City, N.J., that prompted sportscaster Craig Sager to report at halftime of an NBA telecast that Marbury would be coming out.
Sager based his story on the fact that he had been asked to serve as host of Cremins' weekly radio show, allegedly because Cremins would be out of town on a recruiting trip.
``To bring that stuff up now is totally asinine,'' Cremins said. ``That will come later on. When the season is over, I'll do my research, I'll talk it over with Stephon and his parents and we'll reach a decision.''
Marbury said Thursday that, if he knew he would be one of the top five players chosen in the NBA draft, he would turn pro. However, he conceded that he wasn't sure if he could get a straight answer to that question.
Marbury recently stopped by the Georgia Tech sports information office, inquired why he had not been on the cover of any programs, and was told that he could expect a cover shot next year.
``We decided before the season that we weren't going to talk about it,'' Cremins said, ``then, I broke the rules and mentioned it when we weren't going well early in the year. It's a non-issue as far as I'm concerned.''
LONG DROUGHT: Cremins is the likely choice as ACC coach of the year, an award he last won in 1985, when he was recognized for the second time in three years.
The Yellow Jackets, who were 6-7 following losses to Santa Clara and Bradley in the Cable Car Classic, went 13-3 in the ACC during the regular season and raised their record to 21-10 with an 88-73 victory Friday over North Carolina State.
``I can't say enough about where we've come from,'' Cremins said. ``It's shocking. In my 21 years in the business, I've never experienced anything like this.''
ROBINSON DETERMINED: N.C. State coach Les Robinson, who has said that he would spare Wolfpack officials the unpleasant task of having to fire him, was in no mood to resign Friday.
``I'll sit down with the athletic director, [Todd] Turner in the very near future and decide what we want to do,'' said Robinson. ``What I want to do is, frankly, what the people want me to do.
``I know what I want to do. I want to continue coaching. We've got some young guys out there and I think we've made a lot of improvement. I'm as proud of this team as any we've ever had.''
The Wolfpack (15-16) lose All-ACC center Todd Fuller, who averaged 20 points and 10 rebounds, but like what they see in 6-9 freshman Marco Harrison, who virtually fell into their laps when Virginia stopped recruiting him.
``If we'd have had a season like last year or the year before, when we really were not a very good team, that's one thing,'' said Robinson, whose 'Pack lost nine games by 28 points. ``We kept getting up and kept getting up and never went south.''
COMPUTER GLITCH: Tournament director Fred Barakat and his staff had all night to get the 35-second clocks in order Friday, but the clocks stopped working minutes before game time.
The outage was blamed on heavy usage of Internet systems that are run through the Greensboro Coliseum scoreboard. Eventually, courtside clocks arrived from UNC Greensboro and were in operation for the second half of the first game.
WILLIAMS' BEEF: Maryland coach Gary Williams was admittedly upset by the All-ACC voting in which Terrapins' senior Johnny Rhodes was relegated to the second team.
Rhodes, who holds the ACC records for steals in a career (334) and season (100), finished one vote behind North Carolina freshman Antawn Jamison, who claimed the fifth and final spot on the first team.
``The problem we have to live with is that the Washington Post and Baltimore Sun do not belong to the sportswriters association that picks the team,'' Williams said.
BY THE NUMBERS: Virginia guard Curtis Staples, a sophomore from Roanoke, received eight votes for All-ACC and was named honorable mention. ... Jeff Capel of Duke was only 3-of-20 from the field Friday but finished with 10 points and his 26th consecutive double-figure game, an ACC high. ... Florida State has one tournament victory in its five years of ACC basketball play.
LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Georgia Tech's Stephon Marbury attempts a reverseby CNBlayup next to North Carolina State's Todd Fuller on Friday. It's
been rumored that Marbury, a freshman, may turn pro.