
DATE: Saturday, March 8, 1997               TAG: 9703080593

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C8   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY PAUL WHITE, STAFF WRITER

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   85 lines

COACH BRINGS OUT THE BEST IN THE BOOKERS

Watching Jarrell Wilkerson coach is almost as entertaining as watching the team he coaches.

The Booker T. Washington boys basketball coach will get excited, annoyed and flustered, all in the same possession. If it's a particularly intense game, the arm gestures will come so furiously his neatly tucked-in shirttails will be exposed by the middle of the second quarter.

And when it's over, he'll take a deep breath, throw his head back and roar, ``Thank God we won!''

Of course, divine intervention hardly explains the Bookers' success under Wilkerson, who has deftly guided them back to their accustomed role as one of the powerhouse teams in Virginia basketball.

The Bookers will meet undefeated John Marshall tonight in Richmond in the first round of the Group AAA state tournament, in the second game of a girls-boys doubleheader at the Ashe Center. Kempsville's girls team takes on James River in the first game at 5:30.

The Bookers struggled to a 10-12 mark during Wilkerson's debut a year ago, while players and coach felt each another out. But this year, the team is 21-4 and won the Eastern District regular-season title in a year highlighted by the trademarks of Wilkerson's 16-year coaching career - relentless defense, disciplined play at both ends, and an astute ability to identify and maximize the particular skills on hand.

``Jarrell is great at getting the talent out of what he has,'' Lake Taylor coach John Kelly said.

Kelly should know, as he took over a Titans team he said Wilkerson had molded from perennial cellar-dweller to area contender. Lake Taylor's boys team had a 14-78 record in the five years prior to Wilkerson's arrival; it won 19 in Wilkerson's two seasons at the helm (1992-93 and 1993-94).

``I was able to inherit a solid team,'' Kelly said.

Wilkerson's abilities were recognized by his peers Wednesday, when he was named the Eastern District Coach of the Year.

``The key with this group is that they've learned to be strong defensively,'' said Wilkerson, who also won the award after his first season at Lake Taylor. ``You need to win defense to win championships. We want to win championships.''

Wilkerson contributed to two CIAA championship teams as a player at Norfolk State (1976 and 1978). This followed a stellar high school career at Smithfield. Venerable Nansemond River coach Spencer Mayfield calls Wilkerson the best player he's ever coached against.

After graduating from Norfolk State, he began a three-year stint as an assistant with the Spartans in 1981. It was the first of two tours of duty as a Norfolk State assistant for Wilkerson, who also spent the 1994-95 season on the staff at Hampton University.

In his one year as a girls basketball coach in 1991-92, Wilkerson led the Titans to the Eastern Region tournament appearance.

But while there are certain constants to a Wilkerson-coached team, he hasn't become infatuated with a particular style of play. With the victory-starved Titans boys, for example, Wilkerson employed a grinding, deliberate, halfcourt attack that was about as exciting as watching cheese mold but kept his squad in virtually every game.

This will probably surprise some of today's Bookers, who have thrived in the team's disciplined yet freewheeling attack.

``When one of us starts feeling it, he'll put us in motion and let us get our shots off,'' Bookers guard Kentrell Hines said. ``He lets us play.''

Whatever it takes, Wilkerson said.

``My style? Winning,'' he said. ``That's the only style I want.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Photo]

BILL TIERNAN/The Virginian-Pilot

Jarrell Wilkerson wears his heart on his sleeve when his Bookers

play. They face John Marshall tonight in a state tournament game in

Richmond.

[Graphic]

BOYS GROUP AAA QUARTERFINAL

[For copy of graphic, see microfilm]

TONIGHT