Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 15, 1994 TAG: 9403150084
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUGH DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Junior Burrough has had foul problems in each of the three games he has started at center, including UVa's 73-66 loss to North Carolina on Sunday in the ACC championship game.
Burrough, a 6-foot-8, 248-pound junior, played as few minutes (17) as he had in his college career and scored three points, his low since he had one against Clemson as a freshman in 1992.
"I would not have recommended me playing center coming into the ACC tournament," Burrough said, "but I guess that's why I'm not a coach. I don't like it personally, but it's worked. When you're on a team, you do the things that help the team."
Coach Jeff Jones indicated the Cavaliers (17-12) would go with the smaller lineup, in which Burrough is the only player taller than 6-6, when they meet New Mexico (23-7) in the first round of the NCAA Tournament notebook. NCAA Tournament at 2:50 p.m. Friday in Sacramento, Calif.
"Having changed the lineup a little bit, we aren't committed to a single lineup at any point, whether it's to start the game or at halftime," Jones said.
"After looking at the sizes [of the Lobos' players] and from I've heard about their style, I would be inclined toward playing the smaller lineup as our starting lineup. But, we will use what has been our normal lineup and possibly do some other things to change things up."
Jamal Robinson, a 6-6 freshman, was inserted in the starting lineup for the ACC tournament and responded with a performance that earned him a spot on the all-tournament first team with classmate Harold Deane.
Barnes averaged more minutes as a back-up than he did in 26 regular-season starts and scored in double figures against Duke, in the semifinals, and North Carolina. He was 11-of-19 for the weekend.
"You don't know with Junior," Jones said. "I believe he could come out Friday and have the same type of game that he had against Virginia Tech [24 points on 10-of-15 shooting].
"Even though he expressed that he would step up for our basketball team, there was no tangible reason to believe that would happen [against Tech]. Junior is a good player. He's erratic, but he doesn't get too down."
\ FOULING FALLOUT: Jones has been made aware of comments attributed to ACC supervisor of officials Fred Barakat, who "if I might paraphrase," Jones said, "has said that Virginia fouls on every possession."
North Carolina coach Dean Smith expressed similar thoughts Sunday, even though the Tar Heels shot 27 free throws to the Cavaliers' 11. The free-throw difference has been 67-26 in their last two games and 99-33 in Carolina's last three victories over the Cavaliers.
Barakat, when questioned about his alleged comments, said that other coaches had complained to him that all five Virginia players foul on every possession but that he would not over-react to this situation or any other.
"It's almost a cliche that Virginia's physical," Jones said. "We are no more physical than North Carolina; in fact, I don't think we're as physical as North Carolina. [But] I guess that's perceived differently."
\ ABOUT THE LOBOS: New Mexico, which won nine of 10 games between Jan. 22 and March 3, has lost two of its past three games, including a 61-58 loss to eventual Western Athletic Conference champion Hawaii in the semifinals of the conference tournament.
It was the low scoring output of the year for the Lobos, who also had season lows for field-goal percentage (31.7) and 3-point percentage (19.4). New Mexico leads Division I in 3-pointers with 9.8 per game, but was only 6-of-31 against Hawaii.
The Lobos, making back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time, finished 24-7 in 1992-93 but were a preseason WAC choice of fifth. They are one of four teams in Division I to win 20 or more games in eight straight seasons, along with North Carolina, Duke and Syracuse.
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by CNB