Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 5, 1990 TAG: 9004041088
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
The Cavaliers were ranked No. 34, and the next-highest team from the state was James Madison at No. 108.
Moreover, three teams from Virginia were ranked among the bottom 20. Liberty was 274th, followed by Radford, 275th, and William and Mary, 277th.
Virginia Tech was 137th, down from 104th in 1989 and 48th in 1988. VMI was 178th, up from 227th two years ago.
As recently as 1988, four teams from Virginia were among the top 80.
\ Virginia's basketball program will receive an estimated $646,700 from its appearance in the NCAA Tournament and a share of the receipts from four other ACC schools. Duke and Georgia Tech each is expected to receive $1.25 million after reaching the Final Four.
Under the ACC agreement, teams are allowed to keep the receipts from a first-round NCAA game and 70 percent from each subsequent game. The remaining 30 percent is divided among the other teams, although, in this case, N.C. State could not receive any money according to the terms of its probation.
\ Erik Wilson, a 7-foot, 210-pounder from Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College, is scheduled to visit Virginia Tech this weekend. Wilson, from Detroit, signed with Minnesota out of high school, was redshirted, and transferred to Hutchinson at midsemester last year.
He was a part-time starter on Hutchinson's 29-5 team last season, averaging 5.6 points and four rebounds per game last season. Wilson, who shot 57 percent from the field, is scheduled to visit Tech and Middle Tennessee State at the present time.
"He'll be a full-time player wherever he goes," Hutchinson coach Dave Farrar said. "He'll be a double-figure scorer as a forward-type person and he'll [get] his six or seven rebounds depending on how much he plays. He's a better athlete than most kids of his size."
\ Tech basketball recruit Don Corker, a 6-foot-2 guard from Decatur, Ga., averaged 18.1 points, seven rebounds and 10 assists per game last season while leading Columbia High School to the final game of the Georgia Class AAAA state basketball tournament.
In a second-round state tournament game, Corker had 24 points, 10 rebounds and 14 assists - his first triple-double. Columbia finished 27-5, and Corker was named first team all-state by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
\ Oral commitments involving state and ACC schools include 6-foot Gerald Harmon from Fork Union Military Academy and 6-5 Mike Hodges from Beloit, Wis., to Richmond; 6-3 1/2 Andre Bovain from Columbia, S.C., to Clemson; 6-7 Chris Davis from Chesapeake to George Mason; and 6-3 Chris Ciaccio from Gloversville, N.Y., to William and Mary.
\ One-time Virginia Tech assistant Tom Abatemarco has joined the staff of new Colorado head coach Joe Harrington. Abatemarco most recently was the head coach at Drake, where he was forced to resign in the face of a player revolt.
"I can stand the heat," Harrington said. "In the end people are going to find out what a good and loyal person Tom is. I know he's going to work his butt off for me. I haven't talked to one coach who hasn't applauded the move."
Abatemarco was at Tech for one year, 1981-82, before taking an assistant's position at N.C. State. He was the head coach at Lamar before moving to Drake.
\ Sophomore guard Curtis Blair from Roanoke finished the 1989-90 season as Richmond's second-leading scorer. Blair, who averaged 12.2 points and 4.4 rebounds, is the only Spider with remaining eligibility who made more than three 3-pointers. Blair was 42-of-110 from 3-point range.
\ The University of Rochester (N.Y.), coached by Washington and Lee product Mike Neer, captured the Division III basketball title with a 47-45 victory over DePauw. Neer has a 204-153 record in 14 seasons at Rochester, including a 27-5 mark this past season.
\ Jenny Mitchell from Roanoke, a junior on Wake Forest's women's team, finished first in the ACC in rebounding (9.7) and field-goal percentage (60.6). Mitchell was sixth in scoring (15.9) and second in blocked shots (1.3).
\ When Clemson's men's basketball team played in the NCAA sub-regional in Hartford, Conn., the Tigers rented the Central Connecticut band. One week later, when Clemson played in the women's East Regional in Norfolk, the school rented both the Old Dominion band and cheerleaders.
\ Potomac High School football coach Bill Brown said defensive back Stacy Henley, who has committed to attend Virginia Tech but has not qualified under Proposition 48 guidelines, is awaiting the results of his most recent Scholastic Aptitude Test. Brown said Henley's latest score fell just short of the required 700. Brown said Henley is working with a tutor to help him qualify.
\ Marshall University athletic director and ex-Roanoker Lee Moon, who lost football coach George Chaump to Navy in January, learned in February that he was suffering from an ulcer. Then, this week, Moon lost first-year basketball coach Dana Altman to Kansas State.
\ Former Davidson athletic director and football coach Ed Farrell has been named athletic director at Tennessee-Chattanooga. Farrell, 55, has served as AD for the past five years at North Carolina-Asheville. He succeeds 57-year-old Harold Wilkes, who retired after 19 years.
\ The Anderson (S.C.) Civic Center has withdrawn its bid to hold the ACC women's basketball tournament after being awarded the Big South men's tournament in 1991-92. The ACC women's coaches are expect to choose next Monday from among Salem; Winston-Salem, N.C., and Fayetteville, N.C.
\ Don Johnson of Vinton is the No. 1 singles player for North Carolina's tennis team. Johnson, ranked 27th nationally, beat No. 2-ranked Hose Noriega of the University of San Diego in March.
by CNB