THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 2, 1996 TAG: 9603020384
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
Considering that James Madison coach Lefty Driesell has 667 career wins, a mere five would not normally have much of an impact on his demeanor.
But Driesell has seemed strangely buoyant this week as the Dukes prepare to play Old Dominion tonight at 7 in the opening round of the Colonial Athletic Association tournament. JMU may be the seventh seed, but comes in with a five-game winning streak and abundant confidence, which was nonexistent three weeks ago when it played Old Dominion.
The Dukes found themselves that night at Scope. Center James Coleman was serving a one-game suspension and JMU was riding a seven-game losing streak.
The streak reached eight that night, but barely. ODU trailed by 19 in the first half and 16 in the second half before eking out a 76-72 win. The Dukes are 5-0 since, with four wins coming against teams seeded in the top five in the tournament.
``Our team morale is up now,'' said senior guard Darren McLinton, the conference's leading scorer and a first-team All-CAA pick. ``We can write off what happened earlier in the season because that's over now.''
``I think we finally found the right combination,'' Driesell said.
It took some searching. Driesell tried 13 different lineups in the first 23 games, but has stuck with the same one - featuring a sophomore and two freshmen, including point guard Ned Felton - in the last six. UNC-Wilmington coach Jerry Wainwright likened Driesell to a cook who stands at the stove throwing ingredients into a pot until he gets the recipe just right.
``I learned that in the first book I read about basketball by Adolph Rupp, you should find your starting five and stick with them,'' Driesell said. ``Well, we didn't find out who they were until the ODU game.''
The five victories - the longest winning streak of any team in the tournament - came by a total of eight points.
``It looked for a while like they got used to losing,'' American coach Chris Knoche said. ``And then, all of a sudden, they figured it all out.''
The Dukes are a tough draw for second-seeded Old Dominion, which has met JMU in three of the last four tournament title games.
ODU coach Jeff Capel said the Monarchs were lucky to overcome the 19-point deficit in the last meeting and cannot afford to start slow like that again.
It's unlikely ODU will be able to shut down McLinton - few teams have. But the Monarchs will have to do a better job than they did last time against forward Charles Lott, who had 16 points and seven rebounds.
ODU would seem to have a big advantage on the boards - JMU is the worst rebounding team in the league and was outrebounded by 13 in the last meeting - and has two post players in CAA first-team selections Odell Hodge and Joe Bunn that present problems for the Dukes.
JMU, however, has one advantage it has not enjoyed in recent tournaments, when the Dukes were always among the favorites.
``We're not going to be uptight, we'll play loosey-goosey,'' Driesell said. ILLUSTRATION: Graphic
CIAA Men's Tournament
Gamewatch
by CNB