Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 7, 1991 TAG: 9103070475
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The forecast Wednesday was for a chance of rain during the three-day tournament, but the more troubling clouds over Metro basketball are figurative.
Half the Metro's eight schools are bolting to other leagues after this season. The conference will survive, owing in great part to Virginia Tech's decision not to bolt as well. But it will do so as a six-team league with two new members, UNC-Charlotte and South Florida, that lack the p.r. power of such departing members as Florida State and South Carolina.
Moreover, Louisville and Memphis State - the Metro's perennially strong teams, with perennially large followings to match - are having down years. Hometown Tech, the host team, is as usual only in the middle of the pack.
The upshot: Plenty of seats are expected to be empty in the 9,834-seat Roanoke Civic Center.
Still, more seats will be filled - perhaps 7,000 - than not, and Roanoke's landing the tournament means thousands of visitors in the valley's midst. Buoyed by strong local corporate support and the cooperation of the city, tournament director Danny Monk and others who've helped are said to have put together a first-class event for them.
The tournament presumably will provide Roanoke with a measure of fame and, as with any sizable convention of people needing places to stay and food to eat, a measure of fortune. In return, Roanoke can provide the visitors with a spruced-up Civic Center, a vibrant downtown, a Blue Ridge backdrop and a warm welcome.
by CNB