ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 6, 1996 TAG: 9603060051
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Jack Bogaczyk
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: JACK BOGACZYK
Temple is what Bill Foster is pointing to as his basketball team leaves today for its first Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
Not the Owls. His own.
``At this time of year, so much of the game is right there,'' said Virginia Tech's veteran coach, tapping the side of his head. ``It's as much about being in the right frame of mind as anything.''
The last time the Hokies made their first appearance in a conference tournament, they won it. That was so long ago, however, that William Fleming High School coach Marshall Ashford was Tech's lone senior starter. He's now approaching 38.
It was 1979, and Tech was the fifth seed at the Metro Conference tournament in Memphis, Tenn., then won three games, the title and an NCAA voyage that ended in the second round against Larry Bird and Indiana State.
Those Hokies had nothing to lose. Nor does Foster's fifth Tech team, which probably can improve its NCAA seeding only slightly by advancing in the first 12-team A-10 bracket, which starts shrinking today with four games at the Philadelphia Civic Center.
Tech (22-4) surely sealed its first NCAA Tournament bid in a decade with victories during the past week over Xavier and Dayton. In another way, those triumphs also brought the Hokies back to where they were during their NIT championship run of last year.
Tech has ended the regular season with its best defense of the year. In a loss at Temple and the victories over the A-10's Ohio entrants, Tech has limited opponents to 34.5 percent shooting.
Foster isn't alone when he opines that his team, although shooting better than in 1994-95, ``hasn't played defense with the passion or consistency we did last year, for whatever reason.''
Then, as Foster literally pointed out, that can be mind over matter, too.
Nine days ago, 24 hours after the loss at Temple, Foster and his staff met with the Hokies for 25 minutes, then the coaches walked out and the players talked for another 15 minutes.
In the skull session, Foster didn't detect any senioritis, and he spoke of how he knew some players weren't getting the points or minutes of last season. He brought every player's name into the monologue.
He used a couple of players' reduced playing time as an example, and said, ``If that were me, I'd be [ticked] off, too.'' The reaction was raised eyebrows - then passionate play just in time for March madness.
``Hey guys, that's life,'' Foster said of what he told his team. ``The chemistry hadn't been what we needed, what we had last year. We knew it would be like that. We had more people, more depth.
``And, when you lose, when you're struggling, you get advice from everybody.
``You hear it from both of your parents. Maybe you hear it from more than one girlfriend. It's OK, and it's understandable. It's human nature, especially when you've had some success. We've talked a lot about human nature this year.''
Tech is likely to face Rhode Island in Thursday's quarterfinal round. A first-game loss isn't likely to damage Tech's NCAA seed, and to repeat the '79 debut, the Hokies probably would have to beat the Rams, Owls and UMass in about 50 hours.
Those teams all have one thing that has troubled Tech - height. Foster just wants his team to relax and rebound. Rhode Island had 18 offensive boards in an overtime loss Feb.3, a high this season for Hokies opponents.
``We're going into this for the right reason,'' Foster said. ``We can play not with the fear of having to advance. We're playing to try and win the league, not to get in the [NCAA Tournament] field of 64.
``That's a whale of a difference. When you're in this situation and realize what it's like, it kind of makes you envious of teams like North Carolina that are in this situation every year.''
Not only did Tech's victories over Xavier and Dayton ``get us off the hot seat,'' Foster said. They also did wonders for the Hokies' offensive capabilities and confidence.
Dealing with junk sets and changing zone defenses in a foreign league for two months, Tech has struggled at times. Xavier played man-to-man defense on all but two possessions. Dayton stayed in man-to-man the entire game Saturday. Perhaps that's because those two teams are new to the A-10 scheme of things, too.
The Hokies are one of only 13 teams to be ranked in every AP poll this season, but there's another fact that Tech's goal-selling coach undoubtedly will tell his team sometime before its A-10 tip-off, too.
All four of the teams from last year's NIT semifinals in New York likely will be in the NCAA field this year, with Metro Atlantic tournament champion Canisius already in and Marquette and Penn State also expected to join the Hokies. It's only the second time in a decade that's happened.
``It's kind of neat,'' Foster said. ``It's sort of an incentive for going to the NIT. It tells you can get from here to there.''
LENGTH: Medium: 91 linesby CNB