THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 7, 1996 TAG: 9602070552
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER ACC NOTES
LENGTH: Medium: 90 lines
No one can question how much Harold Deane means to Virginia, but the Cavaliers learned an important lesson by solidly thumping Old Dominion without much help from the junior point guard.
The lesson, says coach Jeff Jones, was that ``we don't have to rely on one person to do things.''
Deane bruised his left big toe early in the 87-49 victory, played only 12 minutes, and did not contribute a single point.
With Deane on the bench and not dominating the offense as usual, the Cavaliers had their most balanced-scoring game of the season.
``A lot of different people stepped up and did nice jobs of playing together,'' coach Jeff Jones said.
``We should be able to do that when the the chips are down and we don't have a big lead.''
The Cavalier stepping up the biggest in the last three games is Jamal Robinson, who has come off the bench to average 17.6 points, 8 rebounds and 3.3 assists.
TOUGH STRETCH: The Cavaliers face the toughest stretch of their season in the next 10 days.
They are at North Carolina State on Thursday, return home to play Clemson on Saturday, and go back to Tobacco Road for games at Duke and North Carolina.
According to the latest RPI Report, the Cavaliers have the sixth most difficult schedule in the nation.
Georgia Tech's schedule is rated the toughest, just ahead of North Carolina's.
DEVILS STREAKING: Duke, with four victories and a pair of 1-point losses in its last six games, is impressing the ratings computer.
The Blue Devils climbed nine spots from 43rd to 34th in this week's RPI Report, whose computer ratings are based on the same formula used by the NCAA.
Expect the Devils to make another giant jump, too, if they sweep key road games against Georgia Tech tonight (ESPN, 7 p.m.) and Wake Forest on Sunday.
TERPS' LEADER: Keith Booth has averaged 17.6 points and 11.8 rebounds to help Maryland win four of its last five ACC games after an 0-3 start.
``I don't know if we have turned the corner or not,'' coach Gary Williams said, ``but we are playing much better.''
Like Virginia and Duke, Maryland is hitting a tough part of its schedule with three of its next four ACC games on the road.
``If we can survive that stretch, we'll be in a position to do some damage since our last three league games are at home,'' Williams said.
Maryland's only home loss the past two seasons was last month's overtime defeat to North Carolina.
HEEL MARKS: Jeff McInnis is being rapped in the media for North Carolina's recent offensive dropoff.
Critics say other teams have adjusted to prevent McInnis from driving the lane, but that hasn't stopped him from trying to go one-on-one too frequently.
Coach Dean Smith seemed to be talking about McInnis, too, when he said his team was too eager to go one-on-one against Duke's 5-foot-11 guard Steve Wojciechoski.
``We seemed to think we could take him one-on-one,'' Smith observed. ``Well, we took him one-on-one and never scored.''
Smith also recalled he tried very hard to sign ``Wojo'' for his team, making all three recruiting visits himself.
WOLFPACK ADVISORY: North Carolina State fans wanting to dump coach Les Robinson should remember that no coach in the league has a better record against the Tar Heels.
Robinson is 4-2 against the Heels in Raleigh and 5-7 overall for a .417 winning percentage.
Duke, under Mike Krzyzewski, is 13-24 (.351) against the Heels, and no other ACC coach is over 30 percent against them.
Even before the Wolfpack's win over Carolina on Saturday, Robinson received strong support on the editorial page of the Raleigh News and Observer.
``He (Robinson) represents the very best of college athletics and N.C. State is blessed to have him,'' the editorial concluded.
DEE-FENSE: Wake Forest coach Dave Odom boasts that the ACC not only is the best conference in the country, but also the best defensive conference.
He may be right on at least the last half of that contention.
Wake Forest, Virginia, and North Carolina are holding opponents to under 40 percent field-goal accuracy. None of the league teams allows better than 44.1 percent.
COST-SAVER: No one was happier about the weekend ice storm than promoters of the Wake Forest-Saint Louis game in Greensboro that was canceled because of the weather.
The promoters, which included Raycom-ABC, indicated advance ticket sales were ``grim,'' and they probably would have lost a bundle if the game had been played as scheduled. by CNB