ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 10, 1996 TAG: 9603110105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
A TAPE OF FRIDAY NIGHT'S oss may help coach Page Moir motivate his team to be the best in Division III.
Although at first he might have wanted to take a sledgehammer to the tape of Friday night's 116-88 loss to Illinois Wesleyan, Roanoke College men's basketball coach Page Moir has decided to keep it.
It could be a valuable tool in the future.
``Next year I'm going to use that game film,'' Moir said the day after his team's season-ending loss. ``When we've won seven or eight in a row and they're feeling good, I'm going to let them see it.''
Moir also might want to let prospective recruits have a look. One of the reasons teams like the South/Midwest Sectional finalists, Illinois Wesleyan and Washington (Mo.) University, land such good (and good-sized) players is that in their regions, there's nothing wrong with playing Division III basketball.
In Virginia, home of sectional losers Roanoke and Christopher Newport, Division III is way down the wish list, below the ACC, the Colonial Athletic Association, the Southern Conference, the Big South and so on and so on. That poses problems for Moir on the recruiting trail.
``Sometimes it's tough to get to a high school coach because there's such a stigma until they see a game at this level,'' he said. ``A lot of people think in Division III, you can just show up and play. I don't know how many calls I get about kids and I go to see them and they're not even good high school players.
``The talent level is much better than that.''
It doesn't help that Division III schools in this region are relatively scarce. High school players can get an athletic scholarship from any one of the many NAIA programs around, such as Clinch Valley College, Bluefield College or Virginia Intermont. There are fewer NAIA schools to contend with in the North and Midwest, however. Division III is the way to go.
It shows when you look at who wins in men's basketball. Only one South Region team, Centre (Ky.) College in 1989, has gone to the Final Four since Roanoke did in 1983. A team from the South never has won a Division III men's basketball championship.
While this year's Maroon squad looked capable of being the first to do so, next year's should have a better chance. Roanoke loses just one player, center Steve Camara, from its Old Dominion Athletic Conference championship team.
In Camara's absence, there will be the tape and the terrible memory of what Illinois Wesleyan did to the Maroons. ``It will serve as a motivator,'' Moir said. ``I'm real excited about the players we have. Maybe it will encourage them to do a little more work to get to the next level.''
Moir will try to expose his players to the highest level of Division III play next season. Already signed for the Maroons' New Year's tournament are Augustana (Ill.), which competes in Illinois Wesleyan's conference, and Goucher, which was ranked in the Mid-Atlantic Region most of this season. Moir also is trying to line up a game against New York University, along with Washington, a member of the University Athletic Association.
In the association's nine-year existence, UAA members are 34-16 in the tournament. Members of the 20-year-old ODAC are 24-37.
Moir wants his team to bring the ODAC to a comparable level. A greater presence in the public mind would help, too.
In the Midwest, ``Kids just want to play,'' he said. ``They want to go where they can be big fish in a small pond. Hopefully this was an eye-opener for our fans, and it gave us exposure to high school kids that are dreaming of Division I.''
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ERIC BRADY/Staff Jason Bishop of Roanoke Collegeby CNB(right) and Brady Knight of Illinois Wesleyan go for the ball on
Friday.