THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603090546
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
DATELINE: PHILADELPHIA LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
It was a nice try at a positive spin. If Virginia Tech basketball coach Bill Foster wants his players to believe they haven't lost two games in a row in two seasons, fine. Why let details besmirch a good brainwashing?
Foster and the Hokies have cultivated this image of resiliency this season. The Hokies had lost four times before being bounced in the Atlantic 10 tournament quarterfinals Thursday by Rhode Island. They followed each with a victory. So though it's a bluff, that's the first card Foster played Thursday.
``We haven't lost two in a row in two years,'' Foster said. ``The good thing about this is it means we're gonna win the first round of the playoffs.''
Between now and the NCAA tournament, to which Tech surely will be invited, Foster will just have to keep his more skeptical guys away from last season's statistics. There it is clearly written that Tech twice lost two consecutive games.
Little wonder Foster is pulling out the psychological stops at the truth's expense. The reality is that Tech, 15th-ranked for another couple days, is on the fringe of a swoon that could dust the glitter right off what has been, on paper, a landmark season.
Before this year, no Hokie team had won 19 of its first 21 games. Did we mention that only two victories were against the top-50 teams in the most recent Ratings Percentage Index? None came in games Tech entered as the underdog?
That the Hokies have lost three of their last six, barely beat a bad La Salle team and, assuming an NCAA bid comes through Sunday, could be seeded No. 7 or worse because of their softball schedule and late skid? That they could be ripe for a first-round ouster if they don't get their game back but quick?
Consider it mentioned.
Then there's this, too, from the bad karma department: As good as this team is, or was, it couldn't halt its school's lousy run in conference tournaments. In its last 11, Tech is 3-11.
Thus we have Foster in phase two of the spin cycle:
``If you're in the dance (NCAA tournament), nobody puts a whole lot of emphasis on the conference tournament, to be honest with you,'' Foster said. ``There'll probably be as many teams lose their conference tournament that won the regular season as there will win it, maybe more.
``It's a long season. You go five months, there ain't but so much adrenaline, you gotta get up two, three nights in a row. This isn't the last upset in this one, I'll bet you.''
Foster also has the blessing-in-disguise gambit ready, which has a good ring to it. If they are already in the NCAAs, why should the Hokies beat their brains out - especially with starters Damon Watlington and Shawn Smith nursing injuries - trying to upset Temple and Massachusetts for A-10 bragging rights?
Maybe its seeding will drop. But by going one-and-done, Tech gets to rest a week and refresh its legs. If I'm Foster, I'm flying that baby high on the flag pole, too.
``I know a lot of guys who think going through three games in your conference tournament hurts you in the first round of the playoffs,'' Foster said. ``I know it sounds screwy, and I'm not making excuses, but now we've got a chance to go home and heal our wounds.''
In other words, the loss puts Tech in perfect position for a March run. Watlington, the senior point guard who was so dismal against Rhode Island, buys it. Claims he does, anyway.
``We bounce back pretty good when we lose,'' Watlington said. ``This'll give us a little momentum going into the tournament.''
Hey, you take your momentum your way, the Hokies will take it their way. by CNB