Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 13, 1992 TAG: 9202130072
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: Doug Doughty
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
ALLEN SMILES THROUGH TOUGH SEASON
There are nine-man basketball teams and then there is the nine-man team that greeted Frankie Allen for his first semester as head basketball coach at Tennessee State."We had only one guy who had played much at all," said Allen, formerly the head coach at Virginia Tech. "We had three walk-ons, one of whom is a 5-foot-4 kid [listed at 5-9] who's shooting 12 percent from the field. He's a pretty good pool player, though."
Allen has kept his sense of humor, which couldn't have been easy when the Tigers followed a season-opening victory over Tennessee Temple with 14 consecutive losses.
The situation improved when three ineligible players returned for the second semester, including top scorers Kevin Howard and Leon Johnson, but Tennessee State's record is 4-18 entering the fourth game of a five-game road swing.
"We play a lot of those," said Allen, who has 10 home games out of 27. "I think that was one of the criteria for the job, that I had experience making road trips."
The Tennessee State staff signed five players in November, and, with the addition of two transfers, Allen said he feels confident that a turnaround is imminent.
"There's no doubt we're going to win and be successful," Allen said. "There's no reason, in a year or two, why Tennessee State won't get an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament."
There is only one senior in the Tigers' starting five, which includes 6-1 guard Tim Horton, a candidate for Ohio Valley Conference rookie of the year who did not sign until after Allen got the job May 18.
Tennessee State's early season schedule included games at Oklahoma State, Illinois, Clemson and New Mexico, and there are few breathers in the OVC, which boasts the leading scorer in Division I (Brett Roberts of Morehead State), the second-leading rebounder (Popeye Jones of Murray State) and the leading assist man (Van Usher of Tennessee Tech).
"The new president, who hired me, is a basketball fan," said Allen, who succeeded Ron Abernathy, who had a two-year record of 12-44. "People understand what we're going through.
"The president has already come out and said this year is a wash. The clock won't start ticking on me till next year."
\ Virginia athletic director Jim Copeland does not have a contract but is operating under a five-year letter of agreement that expires in September. Copeland said Tuesday night at the UVa-Maryland women's basketball game that talks are under way with school officials on a new agreement.
\ UVa's basketball staff has made some progress in its efforts to get a visit from 6-9 Othella Harrington of Jackson, Miss., who is considered the top unsigned player in the country. Georgetown is considered the front-runner for Harrington.
Otherwise, the Cavaliers are looking at wing players, including 6-5 Cleveland Jackson from Los Angeles and Butler County (Kan.) Community College; 6-6 Jason Cipolla from Queens, N.Y.; and 6-4 Vaughn Jones from DeMatha High School in Hyattsville, Md.
\ Clemson center Sharone Wright leads all ACC freshmen in scoring (12.9 points per game), rebounding (7.9) and blocked shots (2.3). Coach Cliff Ellis says Wright is more advanced at this stage than any of five former Clemson big men who are in the National Basketball Association: Tree Rollins, Larry Nance, Horace Grant, Elden Campbell and Dale Davis.
\ Football agent Brad Blank, who attended the National Scouting Combine camp in Indianapolis, said Virginia Tech's Will Furrer raised his stock during postseason all-star games and "has got to be the hottest rising star among the elite group of quarterbacks."
"Whether teams are open-minded enough to put him in front of some others remains to be seen," Blank said.
Blank was in Blacksburg recently for preliminary discussions with Furrer, offensive tackle Eugene Chung and offensive guard William Boatwright.
Blank, based in Boston, represents former UVa standouts Jeff Lageman, Herman Moore and Shawn Moore.
\ National Football League analyst Chris Mortensen predicts in The Sporting News that the Seattle Seahawks will select Chung with the 10th pick in the first round of the April draft. The magazine also reports that the Los Angeles Raiders like Virginia offensive tackle Ray Roberts, also mentioned frequently as a first-round pick.
\ Matt Modarelli, a running back from Bellarmine Prep in Tacoma, Wash., has become the first player from that state to sign with VMI in recent memory. The Keydets also signed Damani Wallace, a running back from Akron, Ohio, but fullback Frank Attah from Bronx, N.Y., has not returned his letter-of-intent and may be wavering on his oral commitment.
\ Joey Crowder, a defensive back and wide receiver for Salem in 1990, has accepted a football grant-in-aid at Concord (W.Va.) College. Crowder spent the 1991 season at Fork Union Military Academy, where he played on the postgraduate team.
\ Hampden-Sydney basketball player Russell Turner, a senior from Roanoke, ranks first in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference in scoring (24.0 points per game) and rebounding (9.3) and is fourth in field-goal percentage (56.9 percent) and eighth in free-throw percentage (79.8 percent).
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.