ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 14, 1997 TAG: 9703140048
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: WEST REGIONAL NOTES
DATELINE: SALT LAKE CITY
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES
During the 1990 season, when Virginia was looking for a successor to men's basketball coach Terry Holland, one of the first names to surface was Dr. Tom Davis.
It was reported by at least one newspaper that Virginia would hire Davis, then in his fourth year at Iowa after stops at Lafayette, Boston College and Stanford.
``I don't remember much about it,'' said Davis on the eve of the Hawkeyes' meeting with UVa in a first-round NCAA Tournament game. ``I never interviewed for it. It happens every once in a while that you get in the mix. Maybe it's because I started in the ACC.''
Davis, a native of Wisconsin, was an assistant coach at Maryland for three years during the late 1960s. It was during his Maryland tenure that he received his doctorate on physical education.
Davis wrote his thesis on the role of sports and exercise in colonial America. In order to compare the Virginia and Massachusetts colonies, he did research at UVa and at Thomas Jefferson's Charlottesville home, Monticello.
MARTELLI A MESS: Atlantic 10 champion St. Joseph's would have been the talk of the NCAA Tournament if it had arrived in Salt Lake City without a coach, as once appeared possible Wednesday.
After the Hawks' original flight was delayed out of Philadelphia, coach Phil Martelli and the team were given clearance to take another flight; however, after hurriedly switching terminals, they were not allowed to board.
``I told them, `You're not leaving without us,''' Martelli said. ``They said, `Sorry, the plane's already gone.' At that point, the coach lost his mind and they had to call the police.''
Airport security guards eventually were able to calm Martelli and the Hawks were able to board their original flight, which had been rescheduled after mechanical problems were corrected.
``They wanted us to run through airports,'' Martelli said. ``I told them the last guy to run through airports got in big trouble. Plus, a couple of our guys were wearing gloves and I was scared they might drop one.''
MORE MARTELLI: Martelli reeled off rapid-fire one-liners, even when talking seriously about first-round opponent Pacific and its 7-foot, 265-pound center, Michael Olowokandi.
``I hear their big man cold-called them,'' Martelli said. ``Just picked their phone number out of a book. What a find! Our number must be unlisted because I never got a call like that.''
ANDERSON IMPROVING: There seems to be an unusual amount of talk about Kentucky forward Derek Anderson for a player who is supposed to be lost for the season.
Anderson, a starter last year on the Wildcats' national championship team, suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament Jan.18 and underwent surgery Jan.22 with hopes of being able to work out for scouts before the NBA draft.
``The doctors told me today that Derek's bad knee - or, rather the one that had surgery - is 16 percent stronger than the other knee,'' Kentucky coach Rick Pitino said Wednesday.
``They told me, `Outside of conditioning, his knee is ready to play.' I said, `Get him out of here for this weekend.' He's doing great, but we won't play him. I don't think we'd ever play him ... unless we got in foul trouble.''
In the absence of Anderson and Jeff Sheppard, who is being redshirted, Kentucky is without six of the top eight scorers from last year's team. Nevertheless, the Wildcats finished the regular season at 30-4.
LENGTH: Medium: 72 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli washappy to be on the sidelines for the Hawks' first-round NCAA
Tournament game after the team's flight out of Philadelphia was
delayed.