Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 23, 1990 TAG: 9005230064
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BILL BRILL EXECUTIVE SPORTS EDITOR
DATELINE: MYRTLE BEACH,S. C. LENGTH: Medium
An official announcement will be made Thursday, when the league's annual meeting concludes.
ACC spokesman Tom Mickle said that Salem and Rock Hill were the only cities remaining in contention, "and it's pretty much even. I think the coaches are split down the middle."
Recent ACC women's tournaments have been held in Fayetteville, N.C., but enthusiasm appears to have waned there.
Fayetteville and Winston-Salem, N.C., have been eliminated from the competition, the latter apparently because Joel Coliseum is considered too large. The ACC is interested in keeping its women's event in a building that seats about 5,000.
\ Charlotte will be awarded the 1992 and 1993 men's basketball tournaments, sources said, making it four years in a row for the 23,900-seat Coliseum.
The 1994 ACC Tournament is likely to be awarded to Atlanta and the new Georgia Dome, scheduled for completion in August 1992.
The multipurpose facility, which will be home to the Atlanta Falcons and Braves, will have configurations to seat between 24,000 and 72,000 for basketball.
The ACC is expected to use just 24,000 seats for its basketball event, even though it could sell out in the largest configuration.
The real money within the league is made from contributors who give big bucks simply for the right to purchase tournament tickets. The league won't change that pattern and start selling tickets to the public.
The Georgia Dome is expected to bid for the 1998 NCAA Final Four, using a 40,000-seat configuration. The Final Four was held in Atlanta in 1977 in the Omni, a building now deemed too small.
\ North Carolina's top two football recruits - quarterback Mike Thomas and tight end Oscar Sturgis of Richmond County, N.C. - still have not qualified under Proposition 48 guidelines for freshman eligibility.
Each will get one more chance at the Scholastic Aptitude Test on June 2. If they don't reach the mandatory 700 score, they are expected to attend Fork Union Military Academy.
Wake Forest basketball recruit Rodney Rogers also may be headed for Fork Union unless he raises his SAT score. Coach Dave Odom said that Rogers, who has been on the Hillside High honor roll in Durham, N.C., five straight semesters, hasn't received the scores from his last test. Rogers is believed to have scored 680 on his previous attempt to qualify.
\ ACC Commissioner Gene Corrigan arrived late for the meetings after attending the graduation of his son, Boo, from Notre Dame.
Boo is the seventh, and last, of the commissioner's children to graduate from college. Five are sons.
The parents stayed with another son, Kevin, the Notre Dame lacrosse coach.
Gene Corrigan was delighted with the news Monday that a record four ACC teams had been selected for the NCAA baseball tournament.
What's more, North Carolina was a No. 1 seed in its regional, North Carolina State and Clemson were No. 2 seeds and Georgia Tech was a surprising No. 4.
"They told us that outside of the Pac-10 and the California schools, we played the best baseball in the country this year," Corrigan said.
The NCAA computer didn't agree with the baseball polls, which had only North Carolina rated, at No. 11 and No. 12.
\ Clemson officials expect to learn the outcome of the latest NCAA investigation into their football program any day now.
Privately, they are hoping for a one-year probation with no TV or bowl sanctions.
If the Tigers are allowed to play on television, their game with Virginia on Sept. 8 is a certainty for ESPN.
With the Citrus Bowl obligated to select the ACC winner this year - unless that team can play for the national championship elsewhere - the Orlando, Fla., bowl could begin planning on Sept. 9.
Because restrictions on dates to announce bowl selections never have been effective, that hypocrisy has been eliminated this year. Bowls can announce their choices at any time.
Since UVa and Clemson will be heavy favorites in the ACC, the thinking is the Citrus Bowl can start printing tickets after the two teams meet in the second week of the season.
by CNB