DATE: Wednesday, August 20, 1997            TAG: 9708200619

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   45 lines

UNC TO PLAY HAMPTON IN BASKETBALL NEXT 3 YEARS GAME IN HAMPTON COULD BE RECRUITING PLOY FOR CURRY

The University of North Carolina and Hampton University have signed a three-year contract that will bring Dean Smith's Tar Heels to Hampton Roads during the 1998-99 season.

The two-for-one arrangement has Hampton traveling to Chapel Hill on Dec. 16, and again in the 1999-2000 season.

The home game with UNC is a boon for Hampton, a third-year Division I program that ranked 191st of 305 schools in attendance last year, with an average of 2,286 per game.

``This is a tremendous opportunity for our basketball program to play one of the premier, if the not the premier, programs in America,'' Hampton athletic director Dennis Thomas said.

How UNC benefits from coming to Hampton is less clear. The Tar Heels can play virtually anywhere they choose, and usually have a reason for playing road games against small-conference schools.

A source with access to Smith said the coach told him the game at Hampton is the ``home'' game for Kempsville High graduate Brian Bersticker, an incoming freshman at UNC.

There's also the possibility that the game is a recruiting inducement for Hampton High quarterback/point guard Ronald Curry, the source said. North Carolina and Virginia are the finalists for Curry's services.

``It (the game) sure ain't gonna hurt,'' the source said.

North Carolina is also recruiting blue-chip forward Jason Capel, son of Old Dominion coach Jeff Capel. Capel, a former star at Indian River, will be a senior at St. John's Propsect Hall in Frederick, Md.

UNC promises each of its recruits that it will play at least one game in their home area. The Tar Heels played Old Dominion at Scope in 1988-89 when Virginia Beach's J.R. Reid was on the roster, and again in 1994-95 when Norfolk's Ed Geth was on the team.

ODU reciprocated by playing at Chapel Hill in 1989-90 and 1992-93.

Thomas said the game is the product of years of hard work that began when Hampton chose to go Division I back in 1991.

``We had a long-range plan,'' Thomas said. ``We had hoped we could get teams of Top 25 caliber to go home-and-home and two-for-one.

``It's not only North Carolina. We've been working with a lot of different teams. North Carolina just worked for us.''

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