THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 3, 1995 TAG: 9505030556
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
The news on selection Sunday cast a pall over Virginia Tech's basketball program.
But in retrospect, not getting into the NCAA tournament may have been the best thing for the Hokies.
They channeled their disappointment quickly and swept through the 32-team NIT field to win the championship at Madison Square Garden. Tech played four times on ESPN, which never hurts recruiting. And the Hokies gained tournament experience for their top seven players, all underclassmen who will return from a 25-10 team.
``It worked out better for us than if we'd have gotten an NCAA bid,'' Hokies coach Bill Foster said Tuesday.
Foster was in Portsmouth along with other members of Tech's athletic department for an Athletic Fund Spring Tour golf outing and dinner at Elizabeth Manor Country Club. After his fourth season at Virginia Tech, Foster can make the rubber chicken rounds and warm the hearts of Hokie fans and alums as he discusses his team's future.
Tech figures to be a top 25 team at the start of next season, in which the Hokies will compete for the first time in the Atlantic 10. ESPN - which Foster said had not aired a Tech game in six seasons before the NIT - has already guaranteed the Hokies at least two nonconference appearances against national-caliber teams Foster has been asked not to identify yet. And next season he has a problem coaches yearn for: too many good players.
``I never dreamed we'd get as far as we've gotten as quickly as we got here,'' Foster said.
Foster's first two Hokie teams won 10 games apiece. He had a bit of a breakthrough in 1993-94, going 18-10 only to be snubbed by the NCAA tourney and NIT. After winning the NIT last season, Tech has legitimate aspirations of making the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1986. The last six NIT champions advanced the following year to the NCAA tournament.
``We'll go into next year with a lot of people expecting us to be in the field of 64 teams,'' Foster said. ``We have a good foundation now.''
The biggest problem Foster has next season is finding a chance for everyone to play.
All five starters and the top two reserves return, as do Jim Jackson and Keefe Matthews, who both sat out the season with injuries. Transfer Troy Manns from George Mason joins the mix, as does Shawn Browne, who had to sit out last season for academic reasons. Foster also signed two recruits this spring.
``We've already addressed it and talked about it with our team,'' Foster said. ``I said to them in a meeting `How many minutes are in a game?' They said 200 and I said `They're not going to change it.' ''
Foster doesn't expect to be making a trip to South Hampton Roads with his basketball team in tow any time soon. Foster said he has not talked to ODU coach Jeff Capel about resuming their series that had run 12 consecutive years before Foster elected to drop the Monarchs after the 1992-93 season.
Although he is interested in playing ODU, Foster said the Monarchs will fit into Tech's schedule better some years than others. And he has no interest in making it a home-and-home deal, saying a 2-for-1 is the best he's likely to offer ODU.
Foster said a Tech-ODU game at Scope might be a sellout largely because of the Hokies' large alumni base in Hampton Roads. He said Old Dominion would not be a significant draw at Tech's Cassell Coliseum.
``I think at some point in time we'll get back together. But we'll have to work something out, because we bring a whole lot more to a game here than they do to a game there. They don't have a big alumni base in Southwestern Virginia,'' Foster said. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Bill Foster
by CNB