he CIAA
Picking a coach and player of the
year from a league like the CIAA that's
so blessed with talent and personalities
is a tough thing to do. That's a given.
But we at Blac4c College Sports
Review are going to endeavor to do it
anyway. At the end of the tournament,
the CIAA's men's and women's coach
es will select a coach and player of the
year for women and men. But to be
honest with you - here's a little behind
the scene insight - many coaches have
felt these votes were very political.
BCSR interviewed many of the
conference's coaches to try to deter
mine who had the best years and why.
In choosing coaches of the year,
we looked at the available talent pool,
what the coach had done with it and
whether or not the coach was expected
to do well. If he or she was nationally
ranked and picked to win the leagues
like say Dave Robbins with Virginia
Union's men, then to be chosen as
coach of the year, he or she better well
have won the league.
If a coach was not supposed to
have much, we looked at how they did,
and whether they surprised us.
For player of the yean^we looked
at value to the team. If you took the
player away, what would've hap
pened? Obviously we looked at statis
tics and took in consideration such
things as national reputation and big
game performances. It's one thing to
average 35 points a game against
Podunk High. It's another to put up the
big number in the games-that matter,
say against your conference arch rival.
So, here we go.
w oiih ii\ ( o.u 1 1 < > I I lu \ t .11
There are many candidates. Nor
folk State's James Sweat has built a
year-in, year-out powerhouse and
you've got to be good in a lot of areas
to do that. You've got to consistently
bring girls in to ymii-progfam-amt
you've got to be a good coach of the
talent you bring in. St. Augustine's
Beverly Down-ing has done much of
the same.
They were two of the three prima
ry candidates and names mentioned
when talking to coaches.
But the award this year goes to the
candidate behind curtain No. 3: John
son C. Smith's Cynthia Evans-Liebert,
BCSR's CI A A Women's Coach of the
Year.
Liebert, who won her 10()th game
on Feb. 6 against Winston-Salem
State, completely turned her team
around in midseason. Smith began the
year by losing seven straight games.
"We were waiting for our team to
jell, to come together," Liebert said.
*We had a hunch of new players."
But led by Liebert's infectious
enthusiasm and a little 5-2 p^g^uard
named Shani Baraka, Smith won 1 3 of
4heir next 14 games to improve to 13-8
as of Feb. 7. More important, perhaps,
the Bulls won eight straight CIAA
Southern Division games, including a
win over preseason favorite St. Augus
tine's on the road. And in her past five
games, Baraka, daughter of noted
African-American poet Amiria Baraka
- has averaged 19 points and 10 assists
and has posted triple-doubles in three
of those games.
Mt U s < ??;n li ( >1 I Ih ^ i .n
There was really little doubt in this
category. Who expected N.C. Central
m 'mm
Greg Jackson
lo start the season 17-0 and move up to
as high as No. 5 in the national rank
ings? We didn't. The CIAA couches,
who picked Central to finish fourth in
their league, didn't.
Greg Jackson, the Eagles coach,
was only in his second year. He had a
short team of jump shonlei^-J4mv?
courcTtheycompete'?
They have, somehow, done so.
Joining together after the death oT
teammate Stephen Birchette due to an
asthma attack in preseason, Central
and Jackson have put together a season
that has Eagles fans again dreaming on
a national title. Central won it ail in
4 89. So, for all of that, Greg Jackson is
BCSR's CIAA Coach of the Year.
\\ omen's I'l.i \ i i ( >1 I lir N r.u
Carolyn Brown, who was featured
in last month s BCSR, is really without
peer in the CIAA. She's led St. Augus
tine's to a 17-3 record and despite
missing a few games with a knee
strain. Brown is still among the
nation's leading scorers and is easily
/
Carolyn Brown
No. I in her league at 28.9 points,
nearly- J 0 points al?ea<l of Iter closest?
competitor, Norfolk's llicynthia
Spells. Brown also leads the league in
steals (7.0), shoots 47% from the Held
and is second in three-point field goals
and is second in three-point field goal
percentage (40%). Oh, and she's No. I
at the line, making a league leading
8 I % of her free throws.
Is there any doubt? Didn't think
so. .
\hn s PI. iv ir ( >1 I lu ^ r.ir
Among coaches interviewed this
category sparked Ihe most debate Hut
remember we're choosing Ihe most
valuable player to his team, not neces
sarily Ihe best player in the league.
And based on that, the award goes to
Johnson C\ vSmith's inimitable shoot
ing guard Chris "Cireen Light" Parker.
Parker is a two-lime Division 11
All-America who averaged 23.3 points
(No. 2 in the league), live assists, live
rebounds and live steals per game. Me
is among his team's top 3 in every sta
tistical category. And he's athts-bcvHn
the big games.
"I'll always remember him as a
guy who never quit," said Smith coaelv
Sieve Joyner.
And Joyner has used Parker lo
Ivelp build .Smith into an annual 20-?
game winner.
This season. Smith was most
dependent on its Green Light. When
the Lights went out ? usually due to
double - or tripfil- team de lenses used
on a 6-1 guard - Smith ( I6-.S) just lost.
The Bulls were a young team. The
Chris Parker
only starter other than Parker who
returned this season was Ron Boyd, a
point guard who averaged about I
point last season. Boyd, in fact, no
longer starts. The rest of the Bulls
were wide-eyed freshmen and sopho
mores who needed, desperately need
ed, a leader. Parker was that leader.
Anil without him. Smith wouldn't be a
favorite to win the CIAA title or be
thinking about an NCAA bill.
"Without Parker." Joyner said.
"We'd be in trouble."
Without Parker. Smith might be
less than ..S(H). So based on that, he is
BCSK's player of the year.
? Langston Wcrtz Jr.
i
Cynthia Evans-Liebert
"We were waiting
for our team to
jell... to come
together. We had a
bunch of new
players. "
' \
? Coach Liebert