THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, December 28, 1994 TAG: 9412280534
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ED MILLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 155 lines
For most of his basketball life, Ed Geth has drawn criticism the way other big men draw double-teams.
His first offense: not dominating high school games the way many thought a 6-foot-9, 240-pound player should. Geth, a Granby graduate, never averaged more than 14.5 points during his high school career.
His second offense: compounding the first offense by accepting a basketball scholarship to the University of North Carolina, which takes on Old Dominion Thursday night at Scope in Geth's first local appearance as a collegian.
He's not worthy, critics said, and they didn't mean James Worthy. They meant he wasn't Carolina material.
A couple of months before he announced he was headed to North Carolina, Geth sent a letter to James Madison basketball coach Lefty Driesell, informing him he was crossing Madison off his list.
Driesell responded with a vitriolic letter, warning Geth: ``You are a long way from being a big-time player.''
And, ``You will find yourself sitting on the bench like a lot of big men who have gone to North Carolina.''
Driesell wasn't done. He said that if Geth went to a school like Carolina he would become ``scrimmage bait.''
Geth was stung by the letter, but then again, he was used to criticism. As a gawky, 6-foot-7 freshman at Granby, he heard it all.
``I was clumsy, I was a scrub, I was uncoordinated,'' Geth said.
He'd walk the halls and people would ask: Why aren't you dunking? Why aren't you dominating?
He used the criticism as motivation. By his junior year, Geth had grown to 6-9, and college coaches were flocking to Granby games. He was still not the smoothest player in the world, but he weighed 240pounds and oozed potential. His stock peaked when he went to the Nike camp and played his way onto recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons' list of the nation's top 50 seniors.
For once, the critics were quiet.
``It was an amazing time,'' Geth said. ``Everybody was congratulating me. Then I said I was going to North Carolina and it was like, bam, it all started again.''
It's still going on. Geth, now a redshirt sophomore at North Carolina, averaged just 2.1 points and 1.3 rebounds as a freshman. He redshirted last season, a move designed to get him in shape for this year.
Geth has shown improvement, but not enough to silence his detractors. In seven games this year, he's averaging 3.4 points and 1.9 rebounds.
Gibbons, who had Geth rated the nation's 49th-best player after his performance at Nike, says he dropped him out of his top 150 by the end of his senior year.
``I didn't think he was that good. I was surprised North Carolina signed him,'' Gibbons said. ``I think they liked him as a player, but who knows why they signed him? You'd have to ask Dean Smith.''
Smith said Geth is making strides.
``He's now in our 8-man rotation, and we look for further improvement from him during the course of this year,'' Smith said. ``He is developing into one of the better rebounders on our team.''
Were this the court of public opinion, Geth might already be certified as a bust. Geth's grateful he'll have an opportunity to prove his case on another court: the one with a basket at each end.
``After a bad freshman year and sitting out last year, I got to thinking a lot: Are the fans right? Was Lefty Driesell right?'' Geth said.
``I had to get over that. Now I know that I can play.''
The size 15 shoes scattered on the living room floor of the Geth home on Christmas Eve can only mean one thing: Ed's home.
``He wrecks the place like that every time he comes home,'' says Geth's father, Leon, with a smile.
Family is important to Geth. A broadcast journalism major, Geth says that if he were writing his own story, ``I'd start with my background. That's what really built me. How my grandmother raised me, the teachings of my parents.''
Geth's grandmother, Susie Saunders, is pastor of Smyrna Church of Christ in Norfolk. Leon Geth is a deacon in the church, which was a big part of Ed's upbringing.
``I resisted temptation,'' Geth said. ``I had temptation to go out on the streets and make a lot of money, to be in a gang. But we spent a lot of time in church.''
Geth was a good student, easily qualifying under NCAA freshman eligibility guidelines. (In fact, in Driesell's famous letter, the Lefthander said some schools were recruiting Geth to ``raise their average SAT scores.'').
A natural basketball player he wasn't, however. The next part of Geth's story, as written by Geth, would recount how Granby coach Jim Harvey worked with him tirelessly, teaching him such rudiments as how to catch the ball.
``Coach Harvey was the first to ever have confidence in me,'' Geth said. ``He took me as a raw player, and put me in the starting lineup as a freshman.''
With sometimes disastrous results. But Harvey didn't give up on his clumsy charge.
``He was awful,'' Harvey once said. ``But he was a great kid, and he was willing to work.''
Geth spent hours after school - even after basketball practice - at a run-down court behind Lindenwood Elementary, near his grandmother's house.
``I taught myself to dunk. I taught myself to rebound,'' Geth said. ``I'd just throw the ball against the backboard and go after it.
``I took all that (the criticism) in and turned it into positive energy.''
And into a college scholarship. Not only did North Carolina recruit him hard, but Virginia came after him, and Villanova. Dean Smith came to Norfolk to see a summer-league game, and then flew him to Chapel Hill for a visit.
Smith made him the offer. Geth wonders now: What did his critics want him to do? Turn Smith down? Turn down North Carolina?
``Exactly,'' Geth said. ``It was an opportunity. A chance to go to a good school, play for a good coach in a good program.''
Geth arrived in Chapel Hill and was surprised at what he found.
``I knew that they worked hard. But when I got there, it just overwhelmed me,'' he said. ``I wasn't ready for it.''
Geth was carrying about 20 pounds too many and lacked endurance. Practice, with the likes of Eric Montross, Kevin Salvadori and George Lynch banging on him, was brutal.
Geth and the coaches decided that he would redshirt last year, and Geth set out to rebuild himself from the ground up. He lost 30 pounds and replaced some of it with muscle, going from a soft 260 to a solid 240, his current weight.
``Last year was hard at times,'' Geth said. ``I wanted to be out there. There were times I figured they could use a big body out there.''
Those times are certain to come this year as well. North Carolina is thinner in the frontcourt than it's been in years. Geth and Serge Zwikker are the only big men behind starting center Rasheed Wallace.
That should mean minutes for Geth, who can recite his role by rote: ``To be a good screener, get rebounds, play consistent defense, and be able to change ends.''''
Notice he did not mention scoring. Geth doesn't shoot much, and never from more than a few feet from the basket. But he shoots well - 64.7 percent - and had eight points twice this year, against Pittsburgh and South Carolina. He'll also pound the defensive glass.
``Eddie can rebound the ball, that's one thing he can do,'' says Boo Williams, who coached Geth in AAU ball and is one of his strongest backers. ``Don't be surprised if toward the end of this year and the beginning of next, Ed will do a few things well.''
He's already done a lot. Geth has a national championship ring. He's been all over the country, and to Brazil, where he played with an ACC touring team last summer. And he just got back from Hawaii. Those things alone have made choosing North Carolina worthwhile, he said.
``I've done a lot of things I would not have been able to do anywhere else,'' he said.
With his redshirt season, Geth is on track to graduate in 1996, meaning he could spend his final year as a graduate student.
Geth talks about playing professional basketball, probably overseas, but his ultimate goal is to be a sports announcer.
It's a job he seems well-suited for. Geth's manner is relaxed and confident. He answers questions thoughtfully and enthusiastically. He's an easy guy to like, even root for.
Undoubtedly, many will be doing just that when Geth returns home Thursday night. Smith always schedules one game in each player's hometown, and tomorrow will be Geth's night.
``I think I'll do well,'' Geth said. ``I've always done well with crowds. I'm looking forward to playing in front of the critics, as well as the supporters.''
He's always had plenty of both. by CNB