Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 15, 1993 TAG: 9303150075
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHARLOTTE, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
VIRGINIA TO TAKE ON MANHATTAN
Virginia will make its fourth appearance in the NCAA men's basketball tournament in five years when the Cavaliers meet Manhattan on Friday in Syracuse, N.Y."I've got to admit, sitting in here, I had a few butterflies with all the upsets," said Jones, who remained at ACC Tournament headquarters when weather conditions prevented the team from traveling Sunday.
"I remember the emptiness we felt last year at not making the field and it was certainly a relief to see our name go up on the board relatively early in the telecast."
UVa, which won the National Invitation Tournament last year, made the NCAA field with room to spare as a sixth seed in the East Region. Manhattan was seeded 11th.
"To be honest with you, I don't spend a lot of time looking at all the possible seedings," Jones said. "Last year, the people around here were doing a lot of analyzing, but in the end nobody seemed to know."
Manhattan (23-6) received an automatic bid as the champion of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Association. The Jaspers finished first in the regular season at 11-3, then beat regular-season runner-up Niagara 68-67 in the tournament final Monday.
It was the third NCAA bid, but only the first since 1958, for Manhattan. The Jaspers are coached by Fran Fraschilla, who took over this year for Steve Lappas, who resigned when he was hired to succeed Rollie Massimino at Villanova.
"I must admit, my initial reaction was [former Virginia guard] Anthony Solomon," Jones said. "He's an assistant there and just two weeks ago we were in their gym watching [recruit] Jamal Robinson play.
"One positive in looking at the matchup is, they're not an extremely tall team. Since we're not particularly big ourselves, that's one thing that's bothered us from time to time."
Manhattan also finished first in the Metro Atlantic last year before suffering a one-point loss to LaSalle in the MAAC championship game. The Jaspers finished 25-9 after losing to eventual NIT runner-up Notre Dame in the quarterfinals.
As of 9 p.m. Sunday, when the paper went to press, no time had been set for the Virginia-Manhattan game, but UVa officials said tickets could be purchased by calling the Virginia Student Aid Foundation or the Syracuse ticket office.
Virginia, if it can beat Manhattan, would face the winner of the game between third-seeded Massachusetts and No. 14 seed Pennsylvania. The Cavaliers defeated the Quakers 74-68 in Philadelphia in the first game of the season.
"It's a nice feeling to be going back," said Jones, mindful of the fact that many analysts had UVa as a "bubble" team before the season. "It's a reward, to be sure, but at this point we don't want to be patting ourselves on the back."