THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 30, 1994 TAG: 9408300542
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Short : 37 lines
It's official: Norfolk State's men's basketball team is going to be very good next year.
At least that's the opinion of a handful of national magazines that publish Division II preseason basketball ratings.
The Spartans, with four starters returning from a 27-6 team and five junior college transfers arriving, are ranked second in the nation by The Sporting News, fourth by Dick Vitale's College Basketball Yearbook and sixth by College Sports Magazine.
Two of the publications - Vitale's yearbook and College Sports - have selected Norfolk State's Corey Williams as the Division II preseason player of the year. And the Sporting News has selected the Spartans' Marvin Stinson as the Division II newcomer of the year.
``I think it's very, very good for the program to be ranked in preseason,'' coach Mike Bernard said. ``But a preseason prediction is merely an assumption. We're more concerned with getting ourselves prepared academically and physically to have a successful year.''
Norfolk State was picked fourth in the CIAA Northern Division last year but advanced to the Division II Elite Eight in Springfield, Mass. The Spartans were ranked as high as eighth in the AP Division II poll.
Williams, a 6-foot-8 forward, is the top returning scorer, averaging 23.2 points a game last year.
Stinson, a 6-3 guard, averaged 23 points, 5.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists for Gloucester County (N.J.) Community College last year and was voted Division III junior college player of the year. by CNB