CIAA SCOUTING Rl
You Thou
By ALLEN JOHNSON
Review Editor
The NCAA's postseason tournament's
got nothing on the CIAA s own
special brand of round-robin mayhem.
In fact, maybe scouts from Houston
and North Carolina State Saw last
year's CIAA tourney, since their
NCAA Division I final seemed
remarkably like a carbon copy of Norfolk
State's upset of St. Augustine's in
the CIAA semi-finals, complete with a
desperation heave at the buzzer and a
- game-winning dunk.
And, as was the case with the
CIAA's Virginia Union, which had the
big man in the middle in 6-8 Charles
Oakley, but exited early in the CIAA
tournament, another Virginia team
had a taller-than-average player named
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sooner than expected, too.
The story would have been complete
had Winston-Salem State's Bighouse
Gaines been able to win his 700th game
in the C1AA tournament's semi-finals.
However, thanks to Hampton Institute
and an unlucky bounce or two, WSSU
and Gaines had to wait until this year
for the milestone, whipping up all over
Barber-Scotia in their season-opener.
What's in store this season? Lots of
questions.
For instance:
Is Winston-Salem State going jo be
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as improved as Bighouse Gaines expects
it to be?
Will an enormously solid recruiting
year by Virginia Union's Dave Robbins
mean curtains for the rest of the
CIAA, as Willard Bailey's stockpiles
of talent meant in football?
WiH Hampton's 6-10 Cedric Miller
mature Into a bonafide big man, or will
he still only occasionally bother opponents
with his height?
Can Bowie State be any worse than
last year's records of 0-12 in the league
and 1-25 overall?
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possibly, yes and we hope not.
Northern Division
After, for them, a disappointing
campaign last year, including a 20-8
record, fourth-place finish in the North
and an embarrassing 77-68 loss in the
CIAA tourney to underdog Fayetteville
State, Virginia Union may be
poised this year to make the CIAA
regular season and tournament look
like a basketball version of "The Day
After."
Not only do three starters return in
6-8 center Charles Oakley, 6-9 forward
Anthony Singleton and 6-5 forward
Gary Dalton, but Coach Dave Robbins
will also enjoy the fruits of his most
successful recruiting campaign ever.
The Panthers may have made a
strong team awesome by signing two of
the top three players in the Richmond
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area in 6-5 swingman Jerry Hargrove
and 6-5 forward Greg Williams. t
Hargrove, an all-state selection and t
Williams, an all-Central Region pick, <
could be starters by mid-season. c
Still, uaiciey is tne Key. 1 nougn trie s
220-pound mound of muscle who
averaged 19.3 points and 13 rebounds
(fifth in the conference) often looked t
like a man among children, he just as 1
often looked bored or sleeply. a
He's got to come to play for Union
to be as good as it ought to be. r
And how good is that? (
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"This year's team is being rated as
he most talented since the 1980 naional
championship squad, "says the
riAA's pre-season prospectus, "and
ould conceivably find itself in the
4unc pvnuiun.
Very conceivably.
To fill the very large gap created by
he graduation of stars Greg Hines and
rony Washington, Hampton Institute
ipparently consulted a travel agent.
Among Coach Hank Ford's 1983
ecruiting class are players from St.
>oix, the Virgin Islands's Nassau, the
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Bahamas, and St. John's Antigua.
Another newcomer at least has an
exotic name. Ra*Him Williams, a 6-6
transfer from Monmouth College, will
become eligible in January.
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Bahamas native.
Put them all together and you've got
one of the most internationaHyflavored
lineups in the nation.
Whether they'll be all that effective
depends on continued improvement in
the middle from Miller, who still is
Please see page 19
?? Dtctobtr, 19?3-Page 17