THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 13, 1997 TAG: 9702130576
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Column
SOURCE: Tom Robinson
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: 79 lines
Virginia Wesleyan's Cunningham Gym was never so filled with bodies, never so loud with voices, never so downright worked up over a little old basketball game. Not in Terry Butterfield's day, at least.
In his eighth season coaching the Blue Marlins, Butterfield took the court Wednesday night for his team's Old Dominion Athletic Conference game with Hampden-Sydney and almost couldn't believe it when he looked across at the wooden bleachers.
People, hundreds of them, were staring back, excitement in their eyes. They were shouting for him and his guys, teasing the visiting Tigers, creating a regular ruckus. The place was about as packed as it can get, maybe 750 fans, including many of Virginia Wesleyan's other athletic teams.
``I didn't see much empty wood,'' is how Butterfield measured the best crowd he's ever seen.
Usually, of course, wood easily overshadows flesh at Marlins home games. But this is starting to resemble a special season on Wesleyan Drive, and the campus has picked up the scent.
What it smells is Fish on fire. Over the last month, the Marlins have become hot stuff in the finest sense, and nothing about Wednesday said that their recent roll is anything but the truth.
Butterfield's boys wiped out the Tigers, the third-ranked Division III team in the South. Whipped them 94-75 behind a huge 28-point, 14-rebound performance by sophomore Jason Nickerson from Kempsville that completed a regular-season sweep of Hampden-Sydney for the first time in the Butterfield era.
A game in which the Marlins had five men score in double figures, almost led from wire to wire, shot 62 percent from the floor, including 7 of 15 3-pointers, and played with boundless hustle, was sweet enough.
Consider also that the victory was the Marlins' seventh in eight games since Jan. 18, when they were 8-6 overall and seemingly going nowhere. Now 15-7, 12-4 in the ODAC, Butterfield finds himself in first place in the league with two games to go before the ODAC tournament next weekend.
The Marlins have never led the ODAC this late in a season under Butterfield, never finished first in the regular season. The last time they made the NCAA playoffs by winning the ODAC tournament in the '92-93 season, they finished fourth in the regular season.
``It's a strange feeling,'' Butterfield said, ``almost like I have to pinch myself. Sometimes I think, this is great. Then other times, as good as these kids are, I think we should expect this and should be mindful of it every time we play.''
Somehow, the word hasn't reached whoever puts together those South rankings. That list routinely includes a top eight, and this week featured nine because of a three-way tie for seventh.
But no mention of Virginia Wesleyan, despite the five victories the Marlins have over three ranked teams - Christopher Newport once, Bridgewater twice and now two over the Tigers.
``I think this score will raise some eyebrows around the league,'' Butterfield said. ``This is a good team, but I didn't think we'd beat Sydney by 20 points. It's a real credit to the guys.''
The whole last month is. Not that it came out of the blue; Butterfield said he knew the Marlins had this in them, and he was surprised they didn't jell sooner. They played a tough non-league schedule and all, but Nickerson, for one, said something just wasn't there through the first part of the season.
``I don't know, sometimes we played together and sometimes we didn't,'' Nickerson said. ``Some games we've come in before the game and just sat there. But the last few games, we've been in here banging on the walls.''
Particularly Wednesday, he said, in such a special atmosphere.
``We've seen it before when we've all played together,'' said Nickerson, a 6-foot-4 forward who leads Wesleyan at 16.6 points per game. ``I don't think there's another (ODAC) team that can stay with us when we play our `A' game.''
``That,'' said Butterfield, ``is about as `A' as we can get. We've come together in a way that I anticipated happening a month ago. We're just now coming into our own.''
And at last, breeding a lively brand of Marlin mania. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo
IAN MARTIN / The Virginian-Pilot
Jason Nickerson, right, had 28 points and 14 rebounds in Virginia
Wesleyan's 94-75 victory Wednesday.