THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, April 13, 1995 TAG: 9504130540
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C11 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Old Dominion has not filled its final basketball scholarship - the signing period began Wednesday and runs until May 13 - but two recruits have scheduled campus visits.
Mike Byers, a 6-foot-2 guard from Hargrave Military Academy, will be in Norfolk Monday and Tuesday, Hargrave coach Scott Shepherd said. Byers visited James Madison last weekend and will pick between the Monarchs and the Dukes.
Shepherd said Byers received recruiting overtures from Dayton, Virginia Tech, Richmond, Florida, Clemson and Wisconsin, but narrowed his choice to ODU and JMU without taking any other visits.
Byers averaged 15 points and six assists for Hargrave, where he played point guard. Shepherd said Byers is a great athlete with shooting range who prefers to play shooting guard, a position the Monarchs need help at next season.
Byers went to Hargrave out of William Monroe High School in Stanardsville, Va., - about 25 miles north of Charlottesville - to bolster his SAT scores.
The other recruit known to have told ODU he will visit is Mark Poag, a 6-6 small forward from South-Doyle High School in Knoxville, Tenn. Poag was second-team all-state with averages of 24 points and 12 rebounds per game, according to coach Eddie Hodge.
Hodge said Poag has not taken any visits, but has had recruiting interest from East Tennessee State, Texas Tech, Pan American, Coastal Carolina and Tennessee.
``I think Old Dominion is his favorite of all the people who have talked to us,'' Hodge said. ``That's really where he wants to be.''
NCAA rules do not permit college coaches to discuss recruits until they sign a national letter of intent. ODU's available scholarship is the result of reserve Mark Johnson's decision a couple of weeks ago to transfer.
SIGNEES UPDATE: ODU signed a heralded group of four players in November that recruiting analysts rated among the top 20 nationally. The quartet had varying degrees of success as high school seniors.
The least-heralded pair - 6-10 Cal Bowdler of Rappahannock and 6-8 Skipper Youngblood of Ashbrook High in Gastonia, N.C. - had the most productive seasons.
Bowdler was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Virginia, averaging 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks per game, according to coach Kevin Jones. However, he was only second-team all-state in Group A.
``To be Gatorade Player of the Year is a great honor,'' ODU coach Jeff Capel said. ``With some of the people who won it from other states, he's in good company.''
Youngblood, a 230-pound bruiser, averaged 19 points, 13 rebounds and 6.5 blocked shots.
``He really came around offensively this year,'' coach Joe Shepherd said. ``He's always been an exceptional defender, shot blocker and rebounder.''
Reggie Bassette of Highland Springs High in suburban Richmond and Radee Benson out of St. Patrick's in Elizabeth, N.J., had injury-plagued seasons. Both were rated among the top 100 recruits nationally by at least one recruiting service.
Benson, a 6-5 guard/forward, only played in four or five games, according to St. Patrick's coach Kevin Boyle. Benson suffered a stress fracture in his pelvis in the fall that was not diagnosed until the season began.
``I think he'll be back in good health,'' Boyle said. ``He's going to come down to ODU early in the summer so he can work out there.''
Bassette, a 6-9 center, missed the first 10 games of the season with strained ligaments in his knee. In 14 games he averaged 16.7 points, 12.8 rebounds and seven blocked shots. He was named second-team all-conference.
All four players' teams won at least 17 games, and they had a combined 73-29 record.
RADIO REPLAY: It's been almost four weeks since ODU beat Villanova in the NCAA tournament, but WGH-AM 1310 program director and voice of the Monarchs John Castleberry said he still gets requests for tapes of the broadcast. WGH will replay it from start to finish tonight at 6:30.
``We don't have baseball, so we had several nights where it was kind of slow, so we figured what the heck,'' Castleberry said. by CNB