Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, March 21, 1993 TAG: 9303210102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: ORLANDO, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
WARD STILL THE CHIEF FOR FSU
The way Charlie Ward played Saturday's NCAA Tournament game, you'd have thought his right shoulder was the one that hurt.On a day when statistics told how Florida State rolled past Tulane and into the Southeast Region basketball semifinals, some numbers on the Orlando Arena scoreboard lied.
Not only did the Seminoles build a 20-point lead midway through the second half without Ward scoring, they did it without Ward shooting. In Florida State's 94-63 romp, Ward didn't launch anything except passes until less than nine minutes remained.
Then, his position is not named "points guard." Like you would expect of a Heisman Trophy favorite, Ward knows something about running the option.
"I kept looking up there and saw I had a zero across my line [points, fouls]," said Ward, FSU's two-sport quarterback. "Scoring is not my job. Distributing is my job."
Ward finished with eight points. He took three shots, didn't miss and dished six assists to go with six rebounds. Just don't ask the junior Georgian to go to his left and do that FSU tomahawk chop. That can be painful.
If Florida State continues its drive for the national championship, the bulky brace that keeps Ward's left shoulder in place will be the Final Four's most famed medical aid since the piece of artificial thumb that Wiley Brown wore for Louisville, the 1980 Doctors of Dunk.
If the Seminoles are to advance past the Sweet 16 - they haven't since losing the '72 title game to UCLA - then Ward must be the designated driver. They learned that last year when Ward's balky shoulder popped out of socket in a first-round win over Montana.
Florida State started this season 8-5 before Ward, one week after being the Orange Bowl's most valuable player, moved into the starting lineup. He's been sidelined twice since then, for the shoulder subluxation (slight dislocation) and fatigue.
Coach Pat Kennedy's team is 12-3 in games Ward has played, 12-6 without the 6-1 guard. After the Seminoles played poorly in an ACC Tournament quarterfinals loss to Clemson, Kennedy spent much of his team's practice time stressing one point to one person.
"Keeping the basketball in Charlie's hands is what I wanted," Kennedy said. "I told him, when we start our offensive sets and they break down, I wanted the ball going right back to him.
"As soon as we get the ball off the backboard and start our offensive transition, I want the ball right into his hands. So, keep the ball in Charlie's hands and good things will happen.
"I got that from Bobby Bowden [the Seminoles' football coach]. We both figured that out pretty quick."
The day before the Southeast first round began, Ward was asked when he might join Bowden at spring football practice.
"No football questions," Ward said, smiling. "I won't be in spring football. I need surgery for my shoulder."
Next to the head atop one good and one bad shoulder, the Cadlow brace may be FSU's most valuable weapon in the next two weeks. Guard Sam Cassell scored 31 points against Tulane. Ward's presence makes Cassell an offensive thinker because it removes the responsibility of running the attack.
Ward's unflappable demeanor and ball-handling will be crucial Thursday night in the region semifinals against Western Kentucky's trapping and changing defenses.
"The way Ward handles the ball means so much to them," Tulane coach Perry Clark said. "He puts Cassell and [Bob] Sura into shooting position. Ward is the one who makes Florida State really tough to play with."
That's what Kennedy pointed out on the eve of the Tulane rout, after Ward shot and passed Evansville from the tournament in Round 1.
"This is the kind of team we can be with Charlie," Kennedy said. "Our success starts with Charlie Ward, period.
"If you took Derrick Phelps in and out of North Carolina's lineup three times, or you took Bobby Hurley in and out of Duke's lineup three times, it's likely that they wouldn't have had the same results they had this season.
"It's the same for us taking Charlie in and out of the lineup. I think that's been a little of that theory of us being so up and down, but we did have that one stretch where we won 13 of 14.
"Still, there's no question Florida State has a better basketball team with Charlie Ward on the floor."
The football coach could have told him that, too.