THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 16, 1996 TAG: 9606160145
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: COLLEGE NOTES
SOURCE: BY STEVE CARLSON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 86 lines
Old Dominion has never played a team coming off a Final Four appearance since the Monarchs basketball program moved to Division I in 1976.
That will change next season. The Monarchs will visit Mississippi State and could meet Syracuse in the second round of a four-team tournament in Syracuse. The Bulldogs and Orangemen both advanced to last season's Final Four.
The Monarchs have not released their schedule, but officials at Mississippi State and Syracuse confirmed the games were set.
The Bulldogs will pay a return visit to Norfolk in 1997-98. Syracuse will meet Pepperdine in the first round of the Carrier Classic Dec. 13, while ODU plays NCAA tournament participant Eastern Michigan. Winners and losers meet the next night.
Other non-conference Monarch foes include home dates with Toledo, Tulane, UNC-Charlotte and Washington, all of which are returning games owed to ODU. The Monarchs also will play in an eight-team tournament in San Juan, Puerto Rico at the end of the calendar year - Cincinnati, Nebraska and Mississippi State are included in the field.
McCANTS OUT: George Mason point guard Curtis McCants has been thrown off the team following a knife-wielding incident in which he threatened a former teammate.
``He will not be playing basketball next year,'' said George Mason vice president for university relations Helen Ackerman, who added it's unlikely McCants could return the following year as well, though he will remain a student. McCants was arrested April 20 by campus police after threatening former teammate Camerron Taylor with what was described in court documents as a ``large butcher knife.'' He was charged with disorderly conduct and appeared in Fairfax City General District Court May 2. The case was continued to May 1997 and will be dropped provided that McCants performs 60 hours of community service.
Ackerman said McCants went through the university's own judicial process, after which he was placed on university probation and dismissed from the team.
A first-team all-Colonial Athletic Association selection as a junior, McCants was second nationally last season in assists (8.3 per game) and second in the CAA in scoring (22 points). According to the Fairfax newspaper, McCants is the 12th player in coach Paul Westhead's three-year tenure to leave or be dismissed from the program.
WILLIAM AND MARY HIRE: Norview's Alan Williams was at his high school alma mater, the school where he always wanted to work. But this week, his college alma mater pulled him away.
Williams, 26, will coach running backs at William and Mary, where he amassed 2,559 yards of total offense as a Tribe running back from 1988-91. He was an assistant football coach and head track coach at Norview, which recently hired David Heath to be head football coach. Williams was a candidate for the job.
``I always thought I'd be the head coach at Norview,'' said Williams, who also served as the school's dean of students. ``I was kind of at a crossroads of which way I'd go in my life. I'll see how I do at this and evaluate my decision a year from now.''
CAA SPONSOR: The CAA is looking for a new men's basketball tournament sponsor after Richfood Inc. pulled out after seven seasons.
``It was no dissatisfaction with the CAA, we have just put that funding into other charitable institutions,'' said John Stokely, president of Richfood Holdings Inc., the Richmond-based grocery wholesaler. ``I think they'll have an easy time tracking down another sponsor.''
CAA commissioner Tom Yeager hopes so. Stokely said Richfood contributed about $200,000 to the league last year. That's a significant chunk of what Yeager said is an annual conference budget of just under $1 million.
Yeager said the CAA has ``legitimate prospects'' to fill Richfood's role. A new sponsor could mean a new location for the tournament, although Yeager said the consensus is that the Richmond Coliseum is the best location in terms of geography and fan base.
Yeager said the Richfood pullout did not come as a surprise.
``It wasn't out of the blue, but at the same time it was very disappointing,'' Yeager said. ``It was like finding out someone in your family is terminally ill - when the last day finally comes, it's still tough.''
ODU TIP-INS: Monarchs coach Jeff Capel accompanied his son Jason to Paris for a recent basketball tournament. Among the high school players on the U.S. team was Mike Williams, an ODU recruit from Thomasville, Ga. ``He didn't shoot the ball particularly well, but he hadn't played a lot,'' Capel said. ``He was athletic, as we knew he was, and he can really defend. I was really pleased with the way he played.'' ...Basketball coaches hit the recruiting road July 8. Capel said ODU, which will have two scholarships available, is looking primarily at rising juniors and sophomores, but is interested in signing a post man. . . . Capel said sophomore Cal Bowdler, who was 207 pounds when he came to ODU, has bulked up to 232 1/2 pounds with weight training. ``He's proud of it,'' Capel said. ``Every time he gains a half pound, he comes in and says `Coach, I'm up again.' '' by CNB