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1C
Cljarlotte ^osit
SPORTS
' V-
THURSDAY, APRIL 15, 2004
Black College Sports/4C
Bulls put
recnuis,
hopes on
iheluie
By Herbert L. White
herb.while@lhecharlo(tepo.\l.com
Johnson C. Smith’s 2004 football recruiting class
addresses its most pressing need - offensive line
men.
Seven of 11 players signed by the Golden Bulls
are offensive linemen, an area long hampered by
a lack of depth. With the loss of
four starters from last season’s 1-
9 team, Smith suited up four line
men during spring drills, which
forced coaches to switch players
from other positions.
Smith’s other need area, receiv
er, got some depth with the sign
ing of three wideouts, including
Brandon Benjamin of South
Carolina 4A power Orangeburg-
Wilkinson High. Smith’s top
returning receiver, redshirt fresh
man Marquis Belton (North Mecklenburg High)
was named to the CIAA’s all-freshman team and
led the Bulls with 39 catches.
Smith had one of the league’s least-productive
offenses in 2003, ranking at the bottom in points
scored, total yards and yards rushing. The Bulls
were also mistake-prone, finishing at the bottom
in turnover ratio.
South Carolina produced the most recruits with
four, followed by Georgia (three) and North
Carolina (two).
Belton
Please see GOLDEN/2C
ALL-STAR EFFORT
PHOTO/WADE NASH
Victot7 Christian’s Sean Tucker defends against
Mike Corpening at the Charlotte All-Star Classic
last week at Queens. Tucker was named MVP.
Tucker’s West team beat the East 80-69.
Ross’ postseason
of opportunities
and honors
Queens all-America
holds his own at NBA
pre-draft tournament
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Queens guard Spencer Ross was one of 64 colle
giate players invited to the Portsmouth
Invitational Tournament last week in
Portsmouth, Va.
Ross scored 31 points over three games in which
his team went 2-1. He hit 13-of-25 shots during
the tournament.
“Spencer will obviously be a professional basket
ball player because of his God given ability,
tremendous work ethic and passion for the game,”
said Queens head basketball coach Barclay
Radebaugh. “He has earned the right to compete
with the very best players in the country. He has
unique abilities.”
Ross has amassed a long list of accolades in two
years with the Royals, but none more prominent
than being named NCAA Division II Player of the'
Year by The Basketball Times.
Ross was earlier selected to the Daktronics
Division II Second Tham All East Region team a^
well as earning Carolinas-Virginia Athletics
Conference Player of the Year honors.
“Spencer is deserving of every award he
Please see ROSS/2C
®oo
CIAA SPRING CHAMPIONSHIPS
PHOTO/OALVIN FERGUSON
Johnson C. Smith long jumper Britni Dash will try to help the Golden Bulls move Into the upper
echelon of women's track and field at the CIAA spring championships in Charlotte.
Challengers look to
topple league powers
By Herbert L. White
herb. white@ihec}}arlotiepost. com
Will the CIAA’s dominant
programs get a challenge at
this week’s CIAA spring
championships in Charlotte?
As usual, St. Augustine’s
men’s track program appears
invincible, but the other
sports could produce surpris
es. The most intriguing could
be men’s tennis, where five
time champion Johnson C.
Smith had its 75-match
CIAA win streak snapped by
Shaw last month.
• Teimis (starts Thursday
at Hornet’s Nest Park; finals
8 a.m.)
Johnson C. Smith is out to
win a school record sixth
Shaw’s Tanesha
Haynes (22) and
her Bears team
mates will try to
repeat as soft-
ball champions
while N.C.
Central (In white)
Is out to avenge
last year’s tour
nament loss.
straight men’s championship
and secure a second straight
trip to the Division II play
offs. But the Bulls won’t have
an easy path if they face
much-improved Shaw.
Shaw (13-2, 9-1) used the
regular-season win over
Smith to fuel the Bears’ drive
for a East Division title, but
the Golden Bulls (18-9, 13-1)
have regrouped and clinched
the West championship.
• Track and field (starts
Friday at Irwin Belk
Complex, JCSU; finals
Saturday at 10 a.m.)
St. Augustine’s, a national
power led by U.S. Olympic
coach George Williams, is
aiming for another sweep in
men’s and women’s competi
tion. Both look to be primed
for a repeat should the
Falcons’ top athletes partici
pate instead of skipping to
prepare for next week’s Penn
Relays in Philadelphia.
Johnson C. Smith, which has
overhauled its women’s pro
gram with an influx on local
talent, is looking to break
into the upper echelon. The
Golden Bulls have won three
meets, including the
Freeman Invitational April 3
at Livingstone. Smith is par
ticularly strong m sprints,
where freshmen Porcia
Douglas (Butler High) and
Aisha Lide (Harding) lead
the Bulls.
St. Augustines’s men have
Please see CIAA/3C
PHOTO/WADE NASH
C. Jemal
' Horton
College
game OK
without
NBA teens
Can we finally stop all the
complaining about teen-aged
boys jumping directly to the
NBA?
Please?
Can we now, at long last,
acknowledge that college
basketball will be aU right if
the high-school prodigies
continue to bypass late-night
study sessions and indiges
tion for the benefits of play
ing for millions?
If you paid any attention to
this year’s NCAA men’s bas
ketball tournament, then
you already know the college
game is just fine. The story
lines are still pretty engag
ing. The college heroes still
do exist.
Some of the experts push
ing their own agendas - per
sonalities who make money
analyzing the college game
(see Dick Vitale) and the
coaches a£ the major
Division I schools - love to
talk about what a travesty
all the NBA defections have
created.
Are you kidding me?
There’s no way you’ll con
vince me the 2004 NCAA
tournament would have
somehow been better if
LeBron James had signed
with, say, Ohio State, rather
than inking his $100 million
deal with Nike last summer.
The image of injury-
plagued Connecticut center
Emeka Okafor leading his
team to the national champi
onship was the best story of
this year’s tournament.
Okafor will graduate college
in three years, and he’ll do so
with a 3.8 grade-point aver
age. Here was a kid who was
considered a project when he
entered college. Now, he’s
the Most Outstanding
Player of the tournament. If
that kind of story doesn’t
show people the college
game still is special and that
it still creates heroes, then I
don’t know what will.
But Okafor’s story wasn’t
the only great one of the
tournament.
Who will forget the picture
of Oklahoma State point
guard John Lucas III hitting
the game-winning shot
against St. Joseph’s in a
regional final, then running
into the stands and jumping
into his dad’s arms?
What about the story of
Georgia Tfech reserve guard
Will Bynum a week later?
Bynum, a transfer who bare
ly found a new school to give
him a scholarship after he
transferred from Arizona
two years ago, drove for the
deciding basket against
Oklahoma State and pro
pelled the Yellow Jackets to
the championship game.
The story of Luol Deng,
who emerged from war-tom
Africa to carry Duke to the
Final Four, was an inspira
tional story, too. Actually,
there were so many other
great stories, so many other
college stars bom during this
year’s March Madness.
Who needs the prodigies in
the college game?
Now, let me clarify: I don’t
have a problem with the
prodigies going directly to
the NBA. Why should any
body, other than perhaps
their parents, have a prob
lem with it? And here’s a
news flash: A kid’s opportu
nities to go to college do not
See NCAA/3C