Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 17, 1993 TAG: 9307170038
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
He already has been.
Hines, a 5-foot-9 point guard, turned heads recently at the Pitt I session of the Five-Star Basketball Camp, where he was named most valuable player in the all-star game.
"This was a big accomplishment for me - one of the biggest I've had," said Hines, selected Sizzlin' Sophomore of the year by the Roanoke Times & World-News. "I thought I was just a local player there for a while."
Hines will have a chance to build on his national reputation next week as a member of the Roanoke Hawks team that will compete in the 17-and-under AAU national championships starting Sunday in Winston-Salem, N.C.
"I feel good about it," Hawks coach Joe Gaither said. "We've done just about everything but win the nationals."
The closest the Hawks came was in 1988, when they finished second to a team from Memphis, Tenn., led by Anfernee Hardaway. That Hawks team included Curtis Blair, Tim Basham, Doug Day and Mark Ward, but not George Lynch, whose prep school coach (Stu Vetter) had other ideas.
Gaither has coached teams that were third in the 15-and-under nationals (1986), seventh in the 14-and-unders (1990) and 10th in the 16-and-unders (last year).
"It's a stronger, more mature team," Gaither said. "They've [last year's players] raised the level of their play."
The Hawks do not have a player over 6-7; however, Gaither wouldn't trade guards with anybody. He goes four-deep with Hines; former Patrick Henry star Curtis Staples, who will spend his senior year at Oak Hill Academy; Mark Byington from Salem; and Marcus Toney from Magna Vista.
The tallest player is 6-7 Kevin Robinson from Monacan High outside Richmond, although Gaither is counting on inside production from 6-6 William Fitzgerald from Fleming, 6-5 Shannon Taylor from Patrick Henry and 6-5 Todd Wheatley from Alleghany.
Jamar Crump and Reggie Reynolds from Fleming are other talented perimeter players, but the big names are Staples, emerging as one of the top 20 prospects in the country, and Hines, who to this point has resisted the temptation to go the prep-school route.
"For right now, Fleming is a lock," Hines said. "I know there are a lot of younger kids in Roanoke who might be following my career. I want to set an example and show them you don't have to leave town to be successful."
In Staples and Hines, Roanoke boasts the MVPs from the first two sessions of Five-Star. Hines was unable to go to the first week of Five-Star at Hampden-Sydney, where Staples was all-star game MVP.
In the all-star game at Pitt I, held at Robert Morris College in Coraopolis, Pa., Hines had 16 points, seven assists and four steals. The MVP for the week was point guard Kareem Reid from the Bronx, N.Y., rated No. 32 by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons among players who will be seniors next year.
"He's [Hines] grown into a pretty good leader," said Gaither, who helped with the team at Fleming last year. "He's stronger and gotten more confident in his shooting ability. We give him the option of taking the ball to the hoop. He's really worked on his quickness."
Gaither, who has coached some of these players for five or six years, has tried to stay out of the controversy caused by the exodus of Roanoke's top players, but he said Staples committed to play with the Roanoke AAU team in April.
"I don't think Vetter would have wanted him to play," Gaither said, "but there were indications from Curtis and his family that [playing in the nationals] was something that could be worked out."
The Hawks go into the tournament as one of the favorites after finishing third in Gibbons' tournament, featuring many of the nation's top AAU teams, earlier this summer. They lost in the semifinals on a last-second shot by the Tennessee Travelers, the eventual champions.
In the consolation game, the Hawks beat the Boo Williams All-Stars from Hampton. Williams is without his best player, Allen Iverson, who faces an 8 p.m. curfew after his conviction last week on three felony charges.
"I think we've got the talent to win it," Hines said. "Our [lack of] size and how we deal with it will be the key, but I don't think anybody has more athletes than we do."
by CNB