THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 5, 1996 TAG: 9609050552
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 55 lines
After Georgia Tech lost to Cincinnati in last year's NCAA basketball tournament, coach Bobby Cremins said he'd always have a special place in his heart for the 1995-96 Yellow Jackets, an unheralded team that won the ACC regular-season title and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.
``It is the team that brought Georgia Tech and Bobby Cremins back,'' he said.
Just where had Cremins and the Yellow Jackets been?
Nowhere, which was precisely the problem.
``We had not been to the NCAAs for two years,'' Cremins said Wednesday before speaking to the Georgia Tech Club of Hampton Roads at Tandom's Pine Tree Inn. ``And people were saying, `Bobby's midlife crisis took a lot out of him. The whole South Carolina thing.' ''
In 1993, Cremins accepted the coaching job at South Carolina - his alma mater - only to have second thoughts. Tech took him back, but some critics suggested that Cremins had lost his edge.
Nonsense, he said. ``But in other people's minds, I was not officially back until we got back to the NCAAs.''
Now that they're officially back, the question facing Cremins and the Yellow Jackets is: How do they stay there?
It won't be easy. Cremins must replace his starting backcourt, including point guard Stephon Marbury, who left for the NBA after just one season.
Cremins said he was prepared for Marbury's departure but nevertheless had to hustle to find another point guard late in the recruiting season. He landed New York City prep star Kevin Morris.
``I used my New York connections,'' Cremins said. ``And Stephon really helped a lot. He talked to Kevin for me.
``I've only seen Kevin play once. He's obviously not in the category of (Kenny) Anderson and Marbury, but I'm hoping he'll be a real solid player.''
Cremins has made good use of his New York connections over the years. But Wednesday, he was playing up his Hampton Roads connections. After his high school days in New York, Cremins spent a year at the now-defunct Frederick Military Academy in Portsmouth.
``It was a blessing,'' he said. ``I needed the discipline.''
Cremins said he was interested in playing at Old Dominion, but coach Sonny Allen thought he was too skinny. South Carolina coach Frank McGuire happened to see Cremins score 27 points one night and took a chance on him.
Cremins has not been back to the area much since his Frederick days, but that could change. Cremins said he is recruiting a player from the area. NCAA rules prohibit him from naming that player, but recruiting publications have said Tech is pursuing Kempsville High center Brian Bersticker, who is also interested in Virginia and North Carolina. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Bobby Cremins played one season at the now-defunct Frederick
Military Academy in Portsmouth. by CNB