THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, April 30, 1995 TAG: 9504300166
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines
Petey Sessoms, hoping to make a career out of basketball, will get a taste of playing for pay in a couple weeks.
Sessoms will join a group of 10 players who just completed their college careers on a European tour beginning May 23. The team, organized by television analyst Billy Packer and coached by George Raveling and Oscar Robertson, will play in Italy, Spain, France and Portugal against national teams gearing up for the World Championships. They will play five games during the 13-day trip.
``We take 10 top NBA prospects to play against the national teams in very strong competition,'' Packer said Friday. ``It's a pretty damn good trip with very serious basketball to play.''
Raveling, the former Southern Cal coach, saw Sessoms play while doing television commentary on Old Dominion's NCAA tournament games against Villanova and Tulsa.
``I think my play in the NCAA tournament got me a spot,'' Sessoms said.
Packer said Raveling suggested they invite Sessoms because of his ability to shoot, play inside and outside, handle the ball and defend.
``George felt for the kind of player we are looking for, ones who are really versatile, that Sessoms would fit in nicely there,'' Packer said.
And Sessoms will be nicely compensated, earning a $5,000 check for participating in the expenses-paid trip. Among the other nine players on the tour will be Cuonzo Martin of Purdue, Brent Barry of Oregon State, Fred Hoiberg and Loren Meyer of Iowa State and Andrew DeClerq and Dan Cross of Florida.
Packer said only one of the 20 players he has taken overseas the past two years was not chosen in the NBA draft.
The team will fly from Paris to Chicago on June 4, where Sessoms will get another chance to play in front of scouts at the Chicago NBA pre-draft camp beginning June 4.
MORE SESSOMS: Sessoms was in Phoenix last week for the Nike Desert Classic, playing on a team headlined by Syracuse's Lawrence Moten and Georgia Tech's James Forrest. In three games, Sessoms, a Portsmouth native, averaged 7 points and 5.3 rebounds and shot 38.5 percent from the field, 12.5 percent (1 of 8) from 3-point range and 54.5 percent (6 of 11) from the line.
Sessoms was measured at 6-foot-6 and weighed 184 pounds, an inch shorter and six pounds lighter than ODU listed him. His 31 1/4-inch vertical leap was the fifth-best of the 40 players at the Classic.
``It was a great experience,'' Sessoms said. ``I didn't shoot the ball as well as I'd have liked, but I got a lot of things accomplished. I played great defense and was real energetic, rebounded well and did other things besides scoring.''
ODU coach Jeff Capel said NBA teams have expressed a lot of interest in Sessoms. If Sessoms is not drafted June 28, Capel expects him to get in camp as a free agent.
``He's definitely going to get a chance,'' Capel said.
WRITE STUFF: Ivan Maisel, writing in The Sporting News, had this to say about Virginia Tech's tailbacks, the kingpins in the Hokies' offense this fall: ``Virginia Tech has the best one-two tailback combination in the country. One of the few players anywhere who could prevent sophomore Ken Oxendine from starting is senior Dwayne Thomas. After an injury-marred junior year, Thomas has looked sharp.''
BITS AND PIECES: ODU center Odell Hodge had to turn down a chance to try out for the World University Games team because he is still rehabilitating his injured knee. . . . Shawn Foreman from Indian River had a good spring for West Virginia's football team. Foreman, who will be a redshirt freshman in the fall, had three tackles and an interception in the spring game. He comes out of spring drills as the backup strong safety behind junior Charles Emanuel. . schedule next week. Look for ODU, coached by Jeff Capel Jr., to play Jeff Capel III and the Duke Blue Devils in an opening-round game on ESPN. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ODU's Petey Sessoms join nine other seniors on a team chosen by
broadcaster Billy Packer.
by CNB