ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220053
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LEXINGTON, KY.
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK STAFF WRITER
MOST PEOPLE THOUGHT he'd be better off playing football, but Matt Harpring is proving them wrong at Georgia Tech.
The rumor is that Matt Harpring always planned to play basketball for Georgia Tech.
``No,'' he said Thursday. ``What I was going to do was play football. What I wanted to do is play basketball.''
Harpring thought he was going to follow his brother's football career at Northwestern, or go to Wisconsin. If Harpring was to go to Tech to play hoops, for a time it was most likely to be Virginia Tech.
``It's a long story,'' Harpring said.
Getting to the NCAA Sweet Sixteen has been a real trip for Harpring, who will play against a school from his native city, Cincinnati, in tonight's Southeast Regional semifinal nightcap at Rupp Arena.
Tech coach Bobby Cremins saw Harpring play at Marist School in suburban Atlanta as a teammate of the coach's son, Bobby III. He thought Harpring could be a player.
``For Davidson,'' Harpring recalled.
Cremins, in his best Bronx accent, calls his sophomore All-ACC player ``Haw-pin.'' He also calls Harpring the Yellow Jackets' most valuable player - on a team that includes Stephon Marbury and Drew Barry.
This is the same coach, however, who suggested that Harpring have his shot rebuilt last summer by one of the sharpest shooters in Tech history - Mark Price - then wanted Harpring to revert toward his freshman form because Cremins didn't like the change Price had made.
``I was shocked when he said that,'' Harpring said. ``You just never know what he's thinking.''
The 6-foot-7 Harpring is a remarkable player. He's something of a throwback. A superb athlete with smarts and discipline, he plays the game as if it were about angles - which it is. Dave DeBusschere and Jerry Lucas come to mind when you watch Harpring.
He handles the ball like a point guard - which he was before he became Georgia's Mr. Basketball and led Marist to the 1994 state title. It also was before he literally grew into the game he's now playing.
Marist basketball coach Ron Bell worked with Virginia Tech coach Bill Foster back at UNC Charlotte more than two decades ago. They've been friends since. During Foster's years at Clemson, Bell had sent busloads of Marist kids up for the Tigers' annual camp.
``One day Ron called and said he had this kid that wasn't being recruited much,'' Foster said from his Blacksburg, Va., office. ``He said he was a point guard who had grown 5 inches. He said Furman and East Carolina were always there, but he couldn't get anyone else much interested.''
Foster went to see Harpring. ``He scored 51 in a regular-season game,'' said the Hokies' coach. ``We jumped in with both feet. We had a great in-home visit. We worked him hard.''
Harpring might have been a redshirt freshman quarterback for Northwestern's Rose Bowl team last season. He went to the game to watch his older brother, Brian, play linebacker for the Big Ten champions.
``It was Feb. 1 [1994], and I had to decide what to do, because the next day was the signing date for football,'' Harpring said. ``I called Northwestern and Wisconsin and told them I was going to play basketball.
``It was very confusing, one of the worst times of my life. I think coach Cremins wanted me to go to Northwestern or Davidson. I had been telling basketball coaches all year I was going to play football. Now, all of a sudden, we're trying to get basketball coaches to recruit me.''
They were in line by now. Foster had the Hokies in the picture. Harpring had used two recruiting visits on the football side, so he had three left. He went to Wake Forest, Georgia and Georgia Tech.
``It's a good thing coach [Kevin] Cantwell [Cremins' assistant] was there. Coach Cremins didn't want me early on.''
After Tech signed Harpring, Cremins said publicly that he'd probably be redshirted. Again Cantwell turned salesman.
``We recruited Matt harder in one month than we did Kenny Anderson in four years,'' Cantwell said.
Harpring started as a freshman, averaging 12.1 points per game last season, and was runner-up to Clemson's Greg Buckner as the ACC's top rookie.
This season, after adding 20 pounds of muscle, Harpring is averaging 18.8 points and 8.2 rebounds. He was behind only Wake's Tim Duncan, Todd Fuller of N.C. State and Marbury (by one point) in the All-ACC balloting. He got four votes for ACC player of the year, three more than Marbury.
He is the only player in the ACC to rank in the top five in scoring, rebounding, field-goal percentage, 3-point percentage and steals.
``People underestimate him,'' said Cremins, who once did, too. ``He's been our most consistent player. I've said all season he's our MVP. I wish I had 10 of him. He's a warrior.''
Some say Cremins finally recruited Harpring only because Georgia wanted the son of a former football player who played on the same Michigan offensive line as Dan Dierdorf.
Harpring remembers those times when Cremins would bring up Davidson.
``I'd ask him, `What about Georgia Tech?''' Harpring said. ``It was like I was recruiting him.''
It worked.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 linesby CNB