
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990                   TAG: 9005230029
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff report
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAVS' STITH INVITED TO TRIALS

Virginia sophomore Bryant Stith was one of 25 basketball players invited to the second round of trials for the U.S. National Team that will compete in the Goodwill Games in Seattle and the World Championships in Argentina.

Head coach Mike Krzyzewski elected to keep 19 players who participated in trials in Colorado Springs, Colo. Invitations also will be extended to six players who were granted waivers, including former Duke star Danny Ferry, Alonzo Mourning of Georgetown and four players from NCAA champion Nevada-Las Vegas.

Mourning and three of the UNLV players had asked to be excused for academic reasons. The fourth UNLV player, Greg Anthony, has a summer job with the federal government in Washington, D.C.

The team will reconvene June 15-17 at Duke for a minicamp. The Goodwill Games are July 23-29 and the World Championships are Aug. 8-19.

Stith, a first-team All-ACC selection, felt he had something to prove in Colorado Springs.

"I went out there with the purpose that I could play with the best players from across the country," Stith said. "I think that my play really progressed in the days that I was there. I think my play went up a level, particularly on defense but also on offense, and that was evident to the people who were there."

He also went to the trials with the confidence gained in two seasons of ACC basketball.

"I think that when I went to camps when I was younger, I tended to be in awe of the big names," Stith said. "But this time I just wanted to go in on equal ground with everybody and I wanted to play the kind of basketball Bryant Stith is capable of playing."

Stith is one of five players with ACC ties who received invitations. The others are Bobby Hurley and Christian Laettner off the current Duke team, Kenny Anderson of Georgia Tech and Ferry.

Also surviving the first cut were Old Dominion center Chris Gatling and Southern Mississippi forward Clarence Weatherspoon.

"I think the selection process always produces some youngsters who, to the public, are perceived as surprises and also to the coaching staff because you don't know a lot about those kids," Krzyzewski said. "Three kids in particular fall into that category: Clarence Weatherspoon, Henry Williams [of UNC-Charlotte] and Chris Gatling."

by CNB