ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, February 17, 1996 TAG: 9602190113
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: RANDY KING STAFF WRITER
When the Atlantic 10 Conference men's basketball schedule was released in October, Virginia Tech's players immediately pressed the search key.
Rest assured, the Hokies weren't fast-forwarding to find Duquesne or Fordham.
``UMass. That's the first thing we all looked for,'' recalled Tech star Ace Custis.
``Yeah, UMass. That's the one everybody wanted to know about. February 17th. I think everybody on campus has had that date circled on their calendars.''
Well, red-letter day has arrived.
Today at high noon, in front of a guaranteed-to-be-stoked sellout crowd of 10,000-plus and a national television audience (ESPN), anticipation turns into reality for Tech when No.1-ranked Massachusetts invades Cassell Coliseum.
A Tech team desperately seeking to make a statement on the national level will never find a better podium to deliver the message.
UMass (24-0 overall, 12-0 league) is the nation's only remaining unbeaten Division I team. Tenth-ranked Tech (19-2, 10-1) will be looking for its first victory over a Top 25 team this season and wants to answer the critics who say its ranking is the by-product of playing the nation's 134th-strongest schedule.
``We knew this game was going to be big back in October,'' said Custis, ``but I think it's even bigger now.
``Hey, they're No.1. They're unbeaten. Us, we're looking for national respect. This is a great chance for us to show the country about the Virginia Tech Hokies.''
The scenario couldn't be better, said Tech center Travis Jackson.
``We've been pulling for weeks for [the Minutemen] to keep winning,'' he said. "We wanted them to be unbeaten coming to Blacksburg, so we could have a shot at being the first one to beat them.''
To win, Tech likely will require its best effort of the season. The Hokies, who despite their gaudy record have been up and down all season, are hoping to put 40 solid minutes of basketball together on what arguably may be the biggest day in their program's history.
``All of our games in a sense are big, but, yeah, we haven't played one this year that takes on the magnitude of this one,'' confessed Bill Foster, Tech's coach.
``For weeks all we've heard around here is `UMass, UMass.' There's not a ticket to be found ... students have been camping out in the cold to get tickets. So, yeah, it's big.''
Foster, who has complained about the game getting too much hype, said his biggest worry today is his club coming out too charged.
``We've got to bring our guys down in opposed to get them up,'' Foster said. ``We can't go out and try to play too quickly, getting in too big a hurry.
``The thing I worry about is quick foul trouble right off the bat. When you've got it laced up tight and you're ready to go in a game like this with a full house, if you don't watch it you can pick up some easy fouls early. In a game like this, I think the officials want to make everybody understand early who's in control.''
If a guy named Camby is in control, Tech will have a long day at the office. Any discussion of UMass starts with junior center Marcus Camby, the odds-on favorite to capture national player of the year honors.
While the thought of playing the 6-foot-11 Camby will give any coach headaches, Foster has been pained more than others. Tech, without a frontline contributor over 6-8, more times than not has had trouble against clubs with big pivotmen.
And Camby isn't your normal center. This guy's sneakers aren't nailed to the low post.
``I've always said he's a point guard in a center's body,'' Foster said. ``He's mobile and agile. It's rare you see a guy like him.''
Tech will counter with the 6-8 duo of Jackson and Keefe Matthews.
``They're two healthy guys right now who are looking forward to the challenge,'' Foster said. ``Maybe two guys added together can match up with one for most of the game.''
Foster said Tech can't afford to fall into the trap of placing too much emphasis on containing Camby. Put too much help down low and UMass will take it outside and likely burn you with sharp-shooting guards Carmelo Travieso and Edgar Padilla.
``With UMass,'' said Temple coach John Chaney, ``you have to select one of two poisons. You have to stop both outside and inside, and I don't think that's possible.''
Chaney should know. His club got killed 59-35 and 84-55 by UMass this season.
``I think John is right,'' Foster said. ``Camby is a big factor but he's not the whole show. I think first you've got to beat UMass.''
Offensively, Tech will have to make its open looks against a team that leads the A-10 in field-goal percentage defense (38.1). Camby has 80 blocks this season, 11 more than Tech's entire team.
``I don't think there's any question that we're going to have [to] shoot it well from outside,'' Foster said. "It doesn't take a real genius to figure that out.''
Duquesne coach Scott Edgar sees it boiling down to the shooting guards - Travieso and Damon Watlington, the A-10's top two 3-point bombers.
``Everybody talks about Custis and Camby, but I think Travieso and Watlington, and who shoots better, will decide it. I think Virginia Tech can win. But it's going to be very, very difficult.''
Today's game figures to be the toughest hurdle left for a UMass club trying to become the first team to conclude the regular season unbeaten since Nevada-Las Vegas in 1991. The last team to go unbeaten and win the national title was Indiana in 1976.
``Nobody has [to] tell me how hard this game is going to be,'' said John Calipari, UMass coach. ``When I got the league schedule and saw we had Tech in Blacksburg this year I knew what we were in for.
``But, hey, this is what it's all about. If they beat us, they beat us. If we beat them it's going to be a great game and we'll be happy.''
LENGTH: Long : 110 linesby CNB