THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, December 8, 1994 TAG: 9412060170
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 62 lines
Eastern District coaches may not have been able to figure out a way to contain Booker T. Washington running back Michael Basnight during the football season, but they sure stopped him cold when it came to picking the All-Eastern District team.
Despite rushing for more than 1,000 yards during the regular season and helping the Bookers win their first league title in 10 years, Basnight was relegated to second-team status on the league's all-star team, a snub so shocking it calls into question the credibility of the entire squad.
``It's a slap in the face for the kid, and a slap in the face for our whole district,'' Booker T. Washington coach Larry Stepney said.
Basnight, a senior, was the district's second-leading rusher, behind Norview's Wayne Bacon. Against league rivals, however, Basnight averaged a district-best 107 yards per game. Bacon's high was 84 yards.
Basnight also led the district (and was third in South Hampton Roads) in scoring with 16 touchdowns.
Nevertheless, only two of the five district coaches (Stepney and Norview's Will Robinson) gave Basnight a first-place vote. Granby coach Dave Hudak's unwillingness to vote for Basnight was particularly surprising, since all the Bookers' star did against the Comets was run for 154 yards and four touchdowns.
But the anti-Basnight faction was apparently so determined to keep him off the first team that they placed a quarterback - Granby's Anthony King - in one of the running back slots.
According to Stepney, one coach stood up at the meeting where the vote was conducted and said, ``I'm just not voting for Basnight. You know my reasons.''
King doesn't have to apologize to anyone for making the first team - he led South Hampton Roads in total offense. But as a running back? If the idea was to put the best 11 players on the first team, fine. That still doesn't explain leaving Basnight off.
Making matters worse, Basnight's omission eliminated him from consideration for All-Region and All-State consideration. Coaches can only nominate first-team all-district players for those squads.
``It's just a shame what's been done to this kid,'' Stepney said.
Clearly, numbers had little to do with Basnight's second-team status. Basnight transferred from Columbia High School in North Carolina, and the legality of that move came into question almost from the moment he arrived at Booker T. Washington. Many believe Basnight should have never suited up at all, that he should have been forced to sit out the fall semester before being allowed to play.
Some people will probably take to their grave the notion that the Bookers slipped a ringer in under the rules. But the facts are that Basnight's eligibility was challenged, and upheld. He played a full season, and by any statistical measure was the best running back in the Eastern District.
And if that doesn't merit a first-team all-district selection, what in the world does? ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Michael Basnight rushed for more than 1,000 yards this season.
by CNB