CIAA SPECIAL REPORT
Va. Union Beats N?CU, But Best
May Be Yet To Come
Heading into a Feb. 1 1 show down
? ' with Va. Union, N.C. Central was 18- \
and indeed Eagles fans were reminded
of the 1989 season when the Eagles
started 17-0, lost, and won the national
championship.
This season, the Eagles started 17
0, lost to Johnson C. Smith - in a 106
81 blowout - and are now moving on.
"And this team has surprised everyone.
Central coach Greg Jackson is BCSR's
choice for C1AA coach of the year
with good reason.
The conference coaches picked
him to finish fourth in the Southern
Division and he's all but won it now.
He has a young team of mostly guards
to try to win with, then he lost his best
big player, Stephen Birchette, a sopho
more from Warfield, Va., in preseason
to a vicious asthma attack. The team
banded together and dedicated their
season to Birchette.
It's working. "When Stephen died
early in the preseason, it affected the
team," Jackson said. "They began to
play hard. That was a good signal that
we'd be pretty good.'*
That and the ptay- of junior* college -
transfer Jirrimie Walker.
Walker has come on and led the <>
team in scoring (15.6 points per game)
and has joined Clifton Daye to form
one of the most exciting backcourts in
the league. Daye gels it done in Jor
danesque fashion, leaping over taller
opponents for crowd-pleasing slam
dunks.
Walker stays mainly on the
perimeter, as he possesses one of the
best jump shots in the league.
And Central, if you haven't seen
them lately doesn't look much like
Central.
The Eagles used to slow the ball
down, score in the 5()'s, put you to
sleep. Now, they look more like Loy
ola Marymount during the good-ole
days, running and shooting and mak
ing teams shoot quickly. They lure
you into playing their style, they kill
you.
"We want to try to move the ball
upcourt to get easy baskets," Jackson
said. "Ami 1 ilun't know how far we
can go. We just want to play basketball
and have fun."
So far the fans are having fun too.
"Oh man. our fans support has
been tremenous," Jackson said. "We
have the best student body and the best
community around. We're turning
away fans."
Now, can they win a CIAA cham
pionship?
N.C. Central's point man is Jimmie Walker. He is expected to help take the Eagles all the way.