THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, December 2, 1994 TAG: 9412020698
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICH RADFORD, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines
So many new faces at so many different schools. America has always been considered the world's melting pot. Now South Hampton Roads has become the melting pot of high school boys basketball.
Players are coming in from all over the place, which is natural for a community with strong military ties. But it is unusual that so many are expected to be impact players on their teams.
And while some of the transfers have come from out of state, there are others who have come from across town, switching schools for whatever reason and changing the balance of power.
Guard Ashley Berry moves from Green Run to Booker T. Washington. Suddenly the combination of Berry and Kenny Brown makes the Bookers a lethal 3-point team.
Forward Damon Thornton was expected to be a terror at Granby. But he never put on a Comets uniform; instead, he transferred to Atlantic Shores. In his first high school game Tuesday night he scored 31 points and grabbed 19 rebounds.
Guard Mike Harrington played at First Colonial last year. This year he's at Deep Creek. Kinte Smith also left the Patriots, going to Ocean Lakes.
The transfers can all play and will get their points. Those points may change the outcomes of games.
In places, the rich got richer.
Bayside was supposed to be very good. Thomas Bennett, a 6-foot-7, 240-pounder who moved in from Houston, may make them better.
Granby had size already, but when 6-9 Brazilian transfer student Richardo Trevisan showed up . . . let's just say the Comets are reaching for the stars.
Indian River won 21 games last season. Despite some key losses to graduation, the Braves received two out-of-state additions in 6-7 junior Edward Seward from Spain and 6-7 freshman Jason Capel, the much-heralded son of new Old Dominion University coach Jeff Capel.
So who's No. 1?
The preseason South Hampton Roads crown rests with Bayside. The Marlins will find out how worthy they are before some of us have finished our Christmas shopping.
Bayside opens at seventh-ranked Green Run Tuesday, then faces second-ranked Booker T. Washington in the showcase game of the opening night of the Tidewater Classic on Thursday. The Marlins close out their week facing Martin Luther King of New York City.
``I've always felt it's a time in the season to test yourself,'' Bayside coach Ron Jenkins said. ``We want to discover our identity and develop an intensity early in the season. I think scheduling weaker opponents early can have a negative effect.
``So we'll play Booker T. and Martin Luther King in the Tidewater. As for Green Run, that's just district scheduling and we have no control over that.''
Churchland gets the nod as the area's No. 3 team, but its ranking could improve with the expected midseason return of 6-9 Marvin Rodgers.
Rodgers is academically ineligible to play this semester due to a Portsmouth schools rule requiring an overall grade point average of 1.3 in the prior semester.
Do all the other area school systems have this rule? No. Does that create an uneven playing surface? Most definitely.
On paper, any of the area's top 10 teams could win a state title. That makes this season as appealing as any in the last 10 years.
There is parity. But unlike professional sports, this doesn't mean the good teams have retreated to the lesser levels of their competition. Instead, the competition has risen to a higher level. by CNB