ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170047
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: TECH NOTES
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
They are ranked No. 11 in The Associated Press men's college basketball poll. Sports Illustrated, Basketball News and USA Today suddenly are beating on their door for feature-article material.
Just what is the story on these Virginia Tech Hokies? Can they be this good?
Maybe so, maybe not.
But after turning back a solid George Washington team 79-71 on Monday night at the Roanoke Civic Center, Tech (10-1) has positioned itself to push the national-recognition meter higher.
Except for a return date at GW on Jan.25, the Hokies will be solid favorites to win their next 10 games. It's certainly not out of the realm of possibility that Tech could be 20-1 when Massachusetts (14-0), the nation's current No.1 team, rolls into Blacksburg a month from today.
If the Hokies run the rack from now until Feb.17, it's hard telling how high they will rise in the poll before facing powerful UMass, which barring an upset loss, would come to town 24-0.
Sounds intriguing enough, but, of course, a lot of things can happen in a month's time. There are too many games to be played for Tech coach Bill Foster to spend one second thinking about such a scenario.
Like most head coaches, Foster is his team's harshest critic. He will be the first to tell you his bunch needs to get better.
``I think 11 is kind of high,'' said Foster, referring to Tech's best AP ranking ever. ``I'd like to think we're the 11th-best team in the country. On certain nights we are. But whether we are consistently right now, I don't know.''
No doubt, this deep, experienced Tech team does a lot of things well.
Defensively, the Hokies may not intimidate anybody physically, but they can move their feet and play man-to-man with the best of 'em.
Offensively, Tech exhibits great ball movement and possess tremendous scoring balance. Seven Hokies have scored at least 24 points in a game once in their college careers. Another, senior center Travis Jackson, has scored 17 twice. All eight are capable of posting up or roaming outside to nail a 3-pointer.
Except for rebounder supreme Ace Custis, Tech, won't scare anybody on the backboards. Nevertheless, Tech outrebounded a much bigger GW team 32-23. The Hokies have outrebounded eight of their first 11 opponents.
Tech's biggest problem comes when others teams go to a roughhouse game. The book on playing the Hokies evidently starts with the words ``get physical.''
GW went that route in the second half and turned a 15-point deficit into a three-point lead before Tech righted itself. During the Colonials' run, the Hokies could get nothing out of their half-court offense, scoring almost exclusively off offensive rebounds and in transition.
``We can't just get pushed out of what we want to do,'' Foster said. ``We've got to get better in the half-court offense if we're going to be a [No.]11 team.''
NOT AMUSED: After the final buzzer, Foster shook hands with GW coach Mike Jarvis, then walked across the court to where Linda Bruno, the Atlantic 10 Conference's commissioner, was sitting on press row.
Obviously, Foster was none too pleased with the work of A-10 officiating crew John Clougherty, Rich San Fillipo and Bob Donato. To put it mildly, the trio, as they say, ``let 'em play.''
GW's mountain-sized center, 7-foot-1, 296-pound Alexander Koul, at times pitched the Hokies around like they were rag dolls.
When asked what he said to Bruno, Foster struck up his best deadpan act.
``I just told [Bruno] I was glad she could make it to the game ... nice to have her here,'' Foster said.
Tech center Travis Jackson said the Hokies are well aware teams are going to keep trying to beat up Tech.
``I guess that's the way it's going to be and we'll just have to be tough and play through it,'' Jackson said. ``We did that. Coach had written on the board `make lemonade,' which means if we're handed lemons, make lemonade out of it. We made about a keg tonight, because we overcome everything.''
ACE HIGH: In a game of big plays, none was bigger than Custis' miraculous left-handed tip-in with 45 seconds left that put Tech up 75-71.
Custis, who hit eight of nine shots en route to a club-high 18 points, went over two GW defenders to slap in Shawn Smith's missed shot.
``I wasn't even trying to tip it in,'' Custis said. ``I just wanted to get my hand on the ball and tip it to the other side of the glass where somebody else or myself could get it again. Fortunately, it went in the basket.''
TECH TIDBITS: Foster went with backup point guard Troy Manns instead of senior starter Shawn Good at crunch time against GW. ``Troy was doing a great job of defending and, in all fairness, I just thought he was a better matchup against their little guy [5-3 Shawnte Rogers],'' Foster said. ... A crowd of 6,143 attended the late game (9:37 p.m. tip-off), which was moved from Blacksburg because of roof problems at Tech's Cassell Coliseum. ``We appreciate that,'' Foster said. ``If we'd ended up with one of those 3,500-to-4,000 jobs, I don't think we'd have pulled it off.'' ... The victory moved Tech to 3-0 in the A-10 West Division, one game ahead of GW (8-4, 2-1). ``It's good to get this one behind us,'' Foster said. ``Because if you drop this one, you've got to go up to their place 10 days later and it's kind of an uphill climb.''
LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: DON PETERSEN/Staff. George Washington's Alexander Koulby CNB(center) looks to pass over Tech's Shawn Good and Damon Watlington
on Monday night. color.