Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 18, 1993 TAG: 9312180057
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SCOTT BLANCHARD STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
"There's always been some tension on other teams I've been on," the Virginia Tech senior said of his Hokie basketball career. "Not on this one."
Subtraction may have helped. Ten of the 13 players who dress for Tech were recruited by third-year coach Bill Foster. Steve Hall, a senior last season who was outspoken about his lack of playing time, is gone.
Time helped, too. Foster said his eight-man 1992 freshman class has matured, and he said the players have grown closer.
But the Hokies' liberation from cliques and selfishness may have come from one of Foster's old ACC coaching friends, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski. Foster said Tech, which is 4-0 and resumes its season today at Xavier (Ohio), got a pep talk from Krzyzewski during Tech's Tip-Off Banquet that stressed what has become a catch-phrase for the '93-94 Hokies: Team Over Time.
Foster said he had been preaching that and "collective responsibility," another topic Krzyzewski touched on, since arriving at Tech in 1991. The results were two 10-18 seasons.
Foster got Krzyzewski to speak in Blacksburg knowing what he'd say and knowing who would be among the listeners.
"I knew anything he said would be a positive reinforcement," Foster said. "The only thing these guys ever see about Duke is win, win, win, Final Four."
The Hokies' four victories, only one against the common December pushover, gives them a chance to be 5-0 for the first time since 1984-85. With the next four games on the road, including today in Cincinnati and Dec. 20 against East Tennessee State, it's likely Tech is about to answer a different question.
"It's something you have to work on every day," Foster said. "You don't just get it and wear it like a shirt. How tight are we going to be after we collectively lose one?"
If the solidarity holds, the Hokies have other assets as they seek their first winning season since 1987-88:
Ace Custis. The 6-foot-7 redshirt freshman is averaging 12.8 rebounds per game. The starter at his position last season, 6-8 Thomas Elliott, averaged 6.9. Purcell has mentioned the improved rebounding in his analysis of almost every game.
Custis and Shawn Smith have combined for 22.6 points per game, almost all inside. Last season, although Smith played well at times, Tech had no consistent inside game.
"Since the inside people are playing so good, [defenders] are going to have to help out," said guard Damon Watlington, who made 35.4 percent of his field-goal attempts last season and is hitting 50 percent this season. "[That leaves] me some open shots."
Comfort. Tech hasn't shot better than 44.4 percent from the field as a team since 1985-86; it's at 44.7 this season. Purcell, Jim Jackson, Shawn Good and Jimmy Carruth are in their second year starting together; the new guy is Custis.
"We're playing with a lot more confidence. This unit flows together when we play together," Jackson said. "Last year, I think we were all tentative, we didn't know when to shoot."
Defense. The Hokies won't strangle anybody defensively, and they have their flaws - for example, Foster mentioned Watlington's tendency "to keep two teams in the game" - but physical strength and smart positioning make the Hokies hard to beat.
None of Tech's first four opponents has scored 60 or more points, the first such four-game streak for Tech since 1949-50. West Virginia, Coastal Carolina, VMI and UNC Greensboro have combined to shoot 31.5 percent from the field.
Playing Xavier and East Tennessee State on the road, however, is different than playing VMI and UNC Greensboro at home.
"These are games against teams that have been 20-game winners, that are used to winning," Foster said. "It kind of lets us know where we are. We can't get to feeling too good about where we are. The better we do, the better people are going to get after us."
by CNB