Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991 TAG: 9103130051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I asked him if he could play and he said, `Got to play,' " Tarrant said. "He said we'd have to amputate for him not to play."
Blair had sprained an ankle in the opening minutes of Richmond's semifinal victory, although he played 37 minutes. It was feared the ankle would swell overnight - and it did - but he came back to play 37 minutes in the Spiders' 81-78 victory over George Mason in the championship game.
Richmond (21-9) received an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament and will play Syracuse (26-5) at 10 p.m. Thursday in the first round of the East Regional in College Park, Md.
"I knew that in order for us to play in the postseason we had to win that game," said Blair, a junior from Patrick Henry High School in Roanoke. "It helped that the tournament was held in Richmond because I was in our training room about the whole morning."
Blair was selected to the CAA all-tournament team, completing a trifecta of sorts. Blair earlier had been voted first-team All-CAA and was an all-defensive team selection.
"I think I've proved that I'm a pretty good player," Blair said. "I don't think, until this season, that people took my game that seriously."
Blair may have been selling himself short, considering he averaged 12.2 points a game as a sophomore, but more was expected of him this year after the departure of point guard and leading scorer Ken Atkinson.
Blair has increased his scoring average to a team-high 16.4 (18.1 in CAA games), and he leads the Spiders in assists, steals and 3-pointers.
"He's the go-to person," Tarrant said, "and he has been for the last five or six weeks."
Tarrant was referring to Blair's offensive production, but Blair was the go-to guy in another respect when the Spiders experienced problems at point guard earlier this season.
"Our freshmen [point guards] were having coronaries," Tarrant said, "so, Curtis did the best he could there for awhile."
The development of freshmen Eugene Burroughs and Gerald Jarmon eventually enabled Blair to return to shooting guard, and he was instrumental in Richmond winning 15 of 17 games after a 6-7 start.
"The team needed scoring punch," Blair said, "and, when I was playing the point, we weren't scoring."
After scoring 20 or more points only three times in the first 17 games, Blair had eight 20-point efforts in the next 11 games.
Before his injury, Blair scored a career-high 27 points in Richmond's 86-62 victory over East Carolina in the first round of the CAA Tournament. Although his scoring dropped off in the next two games, the Spiders received unexpected production from 6-10 junior Jim Shields.
Shields, averaging 7.1 points for the season, scored 14 in the semifinals and hit for 26 in the championship game. He had not scored more than 17 in a game all season.
"He was the real story of the tournament," Tarrant said. "You're talking about a guy who, one year earlier, had played 4 1/2 minutes against James Madison in the championship game of the Colonial tournament. Then, he lost his starting job [this year]. His ego was shattered."
To hear Tarrant, no Spider let his ego get in the way of the team's success.
"I've never had a bunch of guys like this who didn't care who scored the points, got the headlines or had their faces in front of the TV cameras," said Tarrant, who is making his fifth trip to the NCAA Tournament since 1984.
"I didn't think, in December, that we'd have a chance to get this far. At Christmas time, we were woeful. It certainly looked like a rebuilding year," Tarrant said.
The Spiders' turnaround coincided with some lineup changes, including Blair's return to shooting guard, where he is most dangerous on drives to the basket.
by CNB