THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 16, 1995 TAG: 9503160533
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTON, OHIO LENGTH: Medium: 69 lines
Admit it, Wahoo fans.
When the NCAA tournament pairings went up Sunday evening, you thought Virginia had been tossed a free pass into the Midwest Regional second round.
Nicholls State?
A team you never heard of couldn't be very good, could it?
People were questioning Manhattan and Santa Clara being in the tournament. At least those were schools people knew existed.
Nicholls State?
It might not be a pushover, after all. Certainly no free pass.
``I had never heard of it before,'' Virginia senior Junior Burrough said after practice Wednesday in the Dayton Arena, where Midwest first-round games will be played today.
``But we have learned it is a very good team, and we have to respect it for being here.''
Virginia coach Jeff Jones got the Cavaliers' attention Monday when he showed them tapes of Nicholls State playing Oklahoma and Southern Mississippi.
Nicholls State, located in south-central Louisiana near the city of Thibodaux, lost both games. But it held 10-point leads in both.
``You could tell they were not intimidated by teams who were supposed to be better than them,'' Burrough said.
The Colonels qualified by winning the Southland Conference championship. They promise not to be intimidated in their first tournament appearance, too.
They even sounded a little cocky Wednesday.
``We can play with any ballclub in America,'' guard Terrel Castle said.
``We match up pretty well with Virginia, so I don't think playing them will be a problem.''
Added forward Gerard King: ``Our goal was not only to get here, but to win some games. We do have a talented team and can play with the best in the country.''
The Colonels do have an impressive resume.
They beat one opponent, Faith Baptist, by 89 points (140-51) en route to a 24-5 record. They average 90.9 points per game and force an average of 22.7 turnovers a game.
All five losses were to teams in the tournament.
Their best player, 6-foot-6, 240-pound forward Reggie Jackson, has a baseball name and a football body. He also is 21st nationally in scoring with a 22.3 average.
Teammate King is 25th with a 22.0 average.
Even with a cram course on the Colonels, Burrough admitted he is a little uneasy playing a team he had never heard of.
``You can watch all the film you want, but you can't see everything or know for sure how they will come at you,'' Burrough said.
``I am not nervous about it, but I'll be glad when we finally go out there and play.''
The only thing the Colonels seemed nervous about was the status of Jackson, who has a stretched ligament in his big toe.
He played in the Southland title game with the sore toe but has not practiced the last two days.
Colonels coach Rickey Broussard said he would not know until game time if Jackson would play.
The winner will advance to the second round Saturday against the winner of today's game between Arizona and Miami of Ohio.
Kansas, the Midwest's top seed, plays Colgate and Western Kentucky plays Michigan in other games. by CNB