ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 10, 1996 TAG: 9611120021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
THE DEMON DEACONS shoot for their third straight conference championship.
In the fall of 1994, before the first of back-to-back ACC men's basketball championships, Wake Forest coach Dave Odom seemed sincere when he advised friends in the media to ``pick us seventh.''
He won't be using that line again.
``I'm not about to go back to Tim Duncan or Ricky Peral or any of our players and say, `We're no good; you're no good,''' said Odom at the ACC's annual Operation Basketball. ``They don't believe that. I don't believe that. It would make no sense.''
The Deacons won their first ACC title under Odom after being picked fifth in 1994-95. They were a second-place choice in 1995-96 and this year were chosen No. 1 for the first time since the ACC instituted a preseason poll in 1970.
``We must be better because the league is going to be better,'' said Odom, whose Deacons finished 26-6 for the second straight season. ``I could make a case for seven teams in this league being better on paper than they were last year.
``I could not make a case for Wake Forest being better. I could not make a case for Georgia Tech being better.''
Odom tried to make a case for Maryland being improved, although the Terrapins, picked first last year in the preseason, lost four of their top five scorers.
Wake's only loss of consequence was guard Rusty LaRue, who averaged 10.1 points and was one of the ACC's top 3-point shooters. However, the Deacons still have two-time All-American Tim Duncan, who received all but one vote as the preseason player of the year.
``If you're going to embark on any kind of journey, Tim Duncan is as good a place as I know to begin,'' Odom said. ``Is he better than last year? I think he is. At this time last year, I thought he was very good. Now, I think he's much more versatile.
``He's much more aggressive, particularly on the offensive end. He's trying to score every time he touches it right now, and not to a fault, either.''
Following is a team-by-team look at the ACC teams, in order of how they were picked in the preseason poll. Virginia will be covered in greater depth in a future story.
WAKE FOREST: Odom is optimistic that guards Tony Rutland and Jerry Braswell, both hobbled during the off-season, will be close to 100 percent when the Deacons open the season Nov. 24 against VMI.
Rutland required reconstructive surgery after suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the ACC tournament and Braswell sustained a broken foot in a late-summer pick-up game. There is little behind them, especially with Steven Goolsby expected to be sidelined two weeks after arthroscopic knee surgery.
The strength of the team is the frontcourt of Duncan and fellow seniors Ricardo Peral and Sean Allen. Peral was 51-of-100 on 3-point shots last year and has the size to help on the boards, while Allen does the dirty work. Teams shot 40.2 percent from the field against Wake Forest, the low by an ACC team's opponents.
NORTH CAROLINA: Although the Tar Heels enjoyed their 26th consecutive season with 20 victories or more, they had one victory - combined - in the ACC and NCAA tournaments and lost more than 10 games (21-11) for only the second time since 1964.
Moreover, Carolina lost point guard and leading scorer Jeff McInnis, who passed up his final season of eligibility. Freshman Ed Cota is one candidate for McInnis' position, along with Shammond Williams, a backup at several perimeter spots who was 46-of-116 on 3-pointers last year.
Smith also expects improvement from shooting guard Vince Carter, a big-time recruit who was something of a disappointment as a freshman. Antawn Jamison, one of only five freshmen ever to make first-team All-ACC, heads a core of inside players that has been joined by transfer Makhtar Ndiaye from Michigan.
CLEMSON: An upset victory over North Carolina in the ACC tournament helped get Clemson (18-11) into the NCAA Tournament and lifted expectations for a team that has eight returning players who averaged 20 minutes or more.
That doesn't include redshirt Iker Iturbe, a starter on coach Rick Barnes' first Clemson team, or talented recruits Woni Mohammed and Vincent Whitt. Barnes doesn't think playing time will be a problem time because ``some of our players, if you asked them, probably wanted to play less last year.''
Greg Buckner's 13.1-point average was by far the low for an ACC player who led his team in scoring, but five other Clemson players scored 7.6 points per game or more. Point guard Terrell McIntyre, an ACC all-rookie selection, will be joined in the backcourt by ex-point guard Merl Code, returning from reconstructive knee surgery.
DUKE: The Blue Devils will have to wait a year for the arrival of college basketball's top recruiting class, but there is plenty of talent on hand, with shooting guard and No. 3 scorer Chris Collins the most notable absentee from last year's team.
Picking up the slack for Collins will be Trajan Langdon, a double-figure scorer as a freshman who missed the entire 1995-96 season with a stress fracture in one of his knees. He will be joined in the backcourt by Jeff Capel, who led the Blue Devils with a 16.6-point average but took almost 500 shots.
Roshown McLeod, a 6-8 transfer from St. John's, could start in the frontcourt while Ricky Price recovers from a finger injury that could sideline him for two or three games. The post players are Greg Newton, one of the ACC's most improved players last year, and all-freshman choice Taymon Domzalski.
VIRGINIA: The Cavaliers have been picked as low as seventh in some preseason publications, which is more a reflection of the Cavaliers' 12-15 record and their off-court problems than the talent level.
UVa has been plagued in recent years by a lack of scoring in the post, but, in contrast with other years, coach Jeff Jones has some options. Norman Nolan made strides on an August tour of Belgium and France, and the Cavaliers have four other scholarship post players, including 7-4 Chase Metheney.
Guards Curtis Staples and Harold Deane rank 1-2 among active ACC players in 3-point field goals, but neither shot as high as 38 percent from the field. Courtney Alexander, who starts at the third perimeter position, averaged 19.9 points over the last nine games last season.
GEORGIA TECH: Few people believe the Yellow Jackets can recover quickly from the departure of point guard Stephon Marbury, who turned pro after one season, and backcourt partner Drew Barry, who led the ACC in assists for the third consecutive year.
A good place to start is 6-7 junior Matt Harpring, a once-unsung recruit who scored 18.6 points and averaged a team-high 8.1 rebounds. Harpring, who made 66 of 154 3-point shots, can play inside and outside and also had more assists last year (79) than any other returning player.
Eddie Elisma has moved up to the upper echelon of ACC centers as he enters his senior year, but, along with 6-8 junior Michael Maddox, it appears that Georgia Tech will start two true freshman, Kevin Morris at point guard and either Jon Babul or Jason Floyd at small forward.
FLORIDA STATE: If the Seminoles fail to advance to the NCAA Tournament, as the preseason polls seem to indicate, then this could be the final season for 11th-year coach Pat Kennedy. However, there would be plenty of coaches who would trade talent with the Seminoles.
Kennedy has turned over the offense to point guard Kerry Thompson, a transfer from Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College, but the key for the Seminoles will be 6-9 junior Corey Louis. Louis averaged 9.3 points and 6.5 rebounds last year, down from 10.9 and 7.8 when he was a freshman.
Shooting guard James Collins disappears at times, but was the seventh-leading scorer in the ACC last year. At small forward, Kennedy can go with highly touted 6-10 sophomore Randell Jackson or bulky ex-point guard LaMarr Greer.
MARYLAND: Odom says the Terrapins have two of the top 10 players in the league, which prompted Maryland coach Gary Williams to ask, `How many guys left?'''
One of the players to whom Odom was referring was 6-5 senior Keith Booth, who could lead the ACC in scoring despite moving from the post to small forward. The other, surprisingly, was 6-6 Laron Profit, who scored 19 points against Duke in the ACC tournament.
Terrell Stokes got enough playing time as a freshman to show he can take over for Duane Simpkins at point guard, but only Booth among the returning frontcourt players scored five points per game.
N.C. STATE: First-year coach Herb Sendek takes over a program that has had five straight losing seasons, never finishing higher than seventh in the ACC, and loses a first-round draft pick in 6-11, 255-pound Todd Fuller.
The only ACC-caliber players in the program are on the perimeter, which is why 6-7, 215-pound freshman Damon Thornton probably will start in Fuller's spot. The only returning double-figure scorer is Danny Strong, a 6-6, 225-pounder who shot 189 3-pointers but only 27 free throws.
Sendek, previously at Miami of Ohio, hopes that 6-5 junior guard Ishua Benjamin regains his ACC all-freshman form from 1994-95.
LENGTH: Long : 155 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Two-time All-American Tim Duncan is better than lastby CNByear, says Wake Forest coach Dave Odom.