THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 14, 1996 TAG: 9603140516
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM ROBINSON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DALLAS LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
Aside from the obvious powerhouses, there are three teams that nobody wants to play in the first round of the NCAA tournament, Virginia Tech coach Bill Foster said.
The Hokies tangle with one of them today in the Mideast Regional. Not confusing Princeton or confounding Temple, but the deliberate, determined and, as its tournament history attests, the dangerous Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix.
The Phoenix, seeded eighth, is in the tournament for the fourth time in six years, as opposed to the ninth-seeded Hokies, who are making their first visit since 1986.
While Tech took a decade to get here, Wisconsin-Green Bay, while seeded no higher than 12th, was losing by two to Michigan State in the 1991 tournament, upsetting California in 1994 before losing by five to Syracuse, and dropping a one-point decision to Purdue a year ago.
It has a new coach, Mike Heideman, in place of Dick Bennett, who moved over to Wisconsin this season. But it has the same style that has made life difficult for past opponents, and a high-scoring forward in Jeff Nordgaard who could make Tech's tournament life very brief, indeed.
``It's a team you've got to beat as a team,'' Foster said of Wisconsin-Green Bay (25-3), which earned its first at-large bid after being upset in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference tournament by Detroit. ``They're a team that, as a coach, you love to see play because they all help each other.''
They especially help Nordgaard, and the 6-foot-7 senior helped his teammates to 23 victories in a row this year by averaging 22.6 points a game. Nordgaard can post up on one possession and step out and hit the perimeter jumper the next, all at a 55.5 percent clip, which makes guarding him a complicated issue, Foster said.
``He reads screens really well,'' Foster said. ``I don't think any one guy is going to play him. He'll wear out one guy.''
Nordgaard led Wisconsin-Green Bay in scoring in 22 of 28 games. Forward Ben Berlowski, another senior, is next at 15.2 per game.
Aside from two guys carrying the scoring - Tech has three who average in double figures and two others above 8.0 - Foster and Heideman have spent a lot of time this week discussing how their teams ``mirror'' each other.
Both rely on tough, man-to-man defense. Both start four seniors. Both hold opponents to about 41 percent shooting. And both operate ``systems'' that worry the other.
But Tech holds a distinct advantage in rebounding, averaging 35.3 per game to Wisconsin-Green Bay's 29.4, and in the backcourt. Damon Watlington and Shawn Good combine for 21 points per game while the Phoenix's Eric Jackson and Gary Grzesk each average six.
Befitting the usual No. 8-9 matchup, anything other than a tight game would be surprising. Of course, the winner's reward is a probable second-round date with mighty Kentucky.
So while a victory in the Hokies' long-awaited return to the NCAA tournament - just Foster's second appearance in a 29-year career of 516 wins - would be sweet, their time still figures to be short.
``If it's God's will for us to get to Kentucky, we'll have a good showing against them,'' Tech forward Shawn Smith said. ``We're not gonna be scared at all.''
NOTE: Watlington and Smith, who suffered ankle and shoulder injuries, respectively, in last week's Atlantic 10 tournament, pronounced themselves less than 100 percent Wednesday but able to play. ``Once I get loose, it doesn't bother me too much on the court,'' Watlington said. by CNB