THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, March 29, 1996 TAG: 9603270142
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 19 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Sports
SOURCE: BY BILL LEFFLER
CURRENTS SPORTS EDITOR
LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
The scorers and the rebounders get most of the attention through the college basketball season.
When the eight-team field is announced at today's Drawing Party for next week's 44th annual Portsmouth Invitational Tournament, the oohs and aahs will sound as the big names - the major pointmakers and the backboard bosses - are assigned to teams.
But the coaches of the teams and the NBA scouts coming in for the four-night tourney April 3-6 in the Churchland High School gym will be equally interested in some unsung players.
Role players, they are called.
Chances are about a dozen will be selected from their performances in the PIT.
Falling in this category are the defensive standouts via ball stealing.
Two who will draw special attention of scouts are Erick Strickland and Pointer Williams.
Both wore jersey No. 21 during their college careers - Strickland at the University of Nebraska and Williams at McNeese State.
Strickland, a 6-foot-3, 210-pound guard, was named the Big Eight's best defender by The Sporting News. A year ago he set a school record with 89 steals. He finished his college career with more than 200, also a Nebraska record.
Williams, a 6-0, 170-pound guard, led the nation in steals with a 4.4 average. Twice he had games with eight steals. He broke the McNeese State school record in just two seasons.
While it's their defense that has been most noticable, Strickland and Williams will be here to display their other talents.
Strickland is among the top 10 scorers all-time at Nebraska and a fine 3-point shooter. The pros certainly have noted that he set a school pro agility run record with a 4.04 clocking and has improved his vertical jump to 31 inches.
Williams topped the Southland Conference in assists with a 7.1 average. While playing as a point guard, he has averaged 4.0 rebounds and 12.4 points.
The 64-player field and team pairings will be drawn today at noon in a luncheon meeting at The Max. Cogentrix is sponsoring the luncheon. ILLUSTRATION: PORTSMOUTH INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
Erick Strickland
by CNB