ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 17, 1996 TAG: 9605170051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Column as I see 'em:
The ACC's athletic directors are going to continue studying a proposal to change the format of their men's basketball tournament.
Why fix something that isn't broken? The coaches, led by chairman Dave Odom of Wake Forest, expressed concerns about the ``play-in'' game between the eighth- and ninth-place finishers, and the pressure that goes with it.
You could call the proposal ``the Les Robinson Rule,'' but it was too late to save the deposed N.C. State coach anyway after four consecutive play-in dates for the Wolfpack. The only plus to the coaches' proposal was a bye into the semifinals as a reward to the regular-season winner.
Then, had a first-place coach lost to a team that had played the previous day, he'd be screaming about the disadvantage of coming in cold. Hey, pressure is part of coaching. The ACC's athletic directors wanted more time to chew on the potential ramifications - including altered TV coverage - for an event that's been nothing but successful.
Under the coaches' proposal, the sixth-place team would have had to win four games to win the title, and the sixth seed has won four ACC titles, starting with Virginia's lone crown in 1976. The ADs also did like cutting the number of Friday games to three, with the first game starting at about 3 p.m. instead of noon.
The belief among coaches is that interest in the regular-season race - and the bid to get into at least fifth place - would be heightened with a format change, and without having to play until the semifinals, the regular-season champ would be fresher going into the NCAA Tournament, making the top seed more of a reward.
During the ACC meetings, some coaches liked another proposed format change put on the table by Terry Holland. The UVa athletic director's concept still has two Thursday games, with the regular-season champ playing No.9 and No.7 vs. No.8. Then, No.1, if it won, would get a bye into the semifinal round, with 4-5, 3-6 and 2-7/8 matchups Friday.
The No.1 seed has lost only one of 33 ACC first-round games, eighth-seeded Maryland's upset of N.C. State in 1989, but would it help the ACC if it played the last three days of its showcase event without its glamour team? No.
Holland's concept is better than the one pushed by the coaches, but neither should be implemented. The answer for coaches worried about the play-in game is to build a good enough program so you don't have to play in it. Any format change is going to take a good sales job to convince this press row occupant.
MAROONS FLYING: Roanoke College was 24-5 and reached the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 in men's basketball this past season, and the Maroons could be even better in 1996-97. Coach Page Moir deserves plaudits for playing a schedule that will test a team with everyone but one backup expected to return.
Roanoke has scheduled dates at Franklin & Marshall (Pa.), familiar to locals from the Final Four at the Salem Civic Center in March, and at Washington (Mo.), which reached the NCAA final eight at the Bast Center sectionals before losing to Illinois Wesleyan, which had whipped the Maroons one round earlier.
Roanoke's trip to Washington, in St.Louis, will be the hoops program's first by air since the 1986 team went to an NCAA regional in New Jersey.
The field for Roanoke's cancer fund-raising tournament just after New Year's also is impressive, with Augustana (Ill.), Goucher (Md.) and NCAA participant Allentown (Pa.) joining Moir's club. Each of those teams won at least 16 games this past season.
CLANG: Draining jump shots won't get you on ``SportsCenter,'' but considering the masonry this past basketball season, kids should work on their stroke this summer because - like big men - there aren't enough shooters to go around.
Among 307 NCAA Division I men's teams, only three shot 50 percent or better in 1995-96 - UCLA, Colorado State and Coppin State. Only one women's team, Connecticut, made at least half of its shots. The average percentages in all Division I men's games were the lowest since 1969. Free-throw shooting was worse. The percentage from the stripe was .674. The last time that number fell below 67 percent was 1958.
The season field-goal percentage was .439, the lowest since .438 in 1969. That figure is mirrored in the ACC, where North Carolina's .492 was the best in the league, but the ACC's worst for a shooting champ since the '68-69 Heels hit .491.
Some of it is too much time in treyland. The .342 percentage on 3-point attempts was the worst in the decade the NCAA has used the arc. Also, the 144.2 points per game was the lowest average in that decade.
Practice won't make perfect, but today, coaches will take 45 percent any day.
LENGTH: Medium: 95 linesby CNB