DATE: Thursday, November 13, 1997           TAG: 9711090264

SECTION: SPECIAL                 PAGE: Z3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: 1997-98 BASKETBALL PREVIEW

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   84 lines

SPARTANS WILL TAKE THEIR SHOW ON THE ROAD - 19 TIMES IN 28 GAMES

Fans, take a good look at your Norfolk State men's basketball team Tuesday, for Spartan sightings will be awfully rare this season.

The home opener against St. Francis (Pa.) kicks off a wild odyssey that will have see the Spartans play three games in the Los Angeles area, spend six days in Hawaii and make stops in Colorado, Wyoming, New York, Pennsylvania and Georgia, for a date with Norfolk's own Lefty Driesell and his Georgia State ballclub.

It wasn't this way in the CIAA. But the Spartans are Division I now, and they've got the schedule to prove it.

Problem is, they may wind up with a record that proves it, too. The top three scorers from last year are gone, 10 of the players are either freshmen and sophomores and 19 of the 28 games are on the road.

Long-term, the Spartans may appreciate such an intense Division I introduction. This year, they're probably going to pay for it.

But the schedule, complete with so many far-flung trips, isn't just about this season, according to coach Mike Bernard.

``It's going to be tough for us this year, but we're going to build and we're going to become a very good basketball team - a very good basketball team in the future.''

The schedule also won't be as hectic in future years, as the Spartans will have a full slate opponents in their new conference, the MEAC. Norfolk State will only play six games against MEAC opponents this year.

Some of the questions surrounding this year's Spartans:

How tough is the schedule?

Kentucky probably wouldn't have much trouble with it, but we're talking about a first-year Division I program with only three returners. Among the more difficult opponents: ACC tournament runner-up North Carolina State, NCAA tournament qualifier Colorado and Pepperdine. The Waves, fortified by blue-chip transfers Jelani Gardner and omm'A Givens, should be one of the most improved teams in the country. And remember, all but nine of the 28 games are on the road.

In short, it's a bear. Bernard admits as much. But he also added that it's just the type of slate that can toughen up a young team, in addition to letting the coach know which of the newcomers can keep up with the elevated play of Division I ball.

Judging from the poor crowds for last year's MEAC tournament at Echols Arena, few people around here cared what was going on. Why was Bernard looking on so intently?

How better to scout his future competition? Bernard came away believing his Spartans would need to get bigger, and promptly recruited four players 6-7 or taller. Three of them - 6-8 freshman Darrell Neal, beefy 6-9 freshman Clyde Abney and 6-7 Yugoslavian import Mihajlo Delic - are expected to contribute this season. The fourth, 6-10 Miles Pearce from St. Joesph's, Australia, is ineligible this season.

Which newcomers should make the biggest impact?

Bernard goes into the season very high on Neal, a versatile and athletic forward could push incumbents Greg Jones and Michael Beckles for playing time. Abney, who's in the 300-pound range, could be a force when he sheds some excess weight. And while the jump from junior college to Division I is considerable, if guards Kevin Perry and Tony Pullins can produce anywhere near the way they did in the juco ranks they'll both be among the nation's best three-point shooters. Both made over 50 percent from behind the arc last year.

Whatever happened to Tajai Young, last year's CIAA rookie of the year?

The Young man went west, as he packed up his 11.8 points-per-game scoring average and made a surprise transfer to Seminole State Junior College in Oklahoma last September.

Assess the Spartans' postseason chances.

NCAA tournament: slim. Even with this souped up schedule, the Spartans would have to go about 26-2 to even get on the bubble for an at-large bid.

NIT tournament: slimmer. In an event where pedigree and ability to fill seats has become almost as important as a team's record in the selection process, Bernard believes the Spartans would have to be considered an extreme longshot to make this field regardless of how well they perform.

MEAC tournament: none. The Spartans are ineligible for the MEAC tournament for the next eight years, or until they become eligible to receive an automatic NCAA tournament berth.

So what's this season about?

It's about taking that difficult but necessary first step in the Division I ranks. It's about players experiencing parts of the world they'd otherwise never visit, having experiences they'd otherwise only read about. And it's about those same players absorbing the lessons learned from taking on some of the nation's best teams, then gearing up to help accomplish Bernard's long-range goal of establishing a competitive Division I program. KEYWORDS: SPECIAL SECTION SUPPLEMENT BASKETBALL

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