Friday, August 15, 2008
In-state basketball recruiting critical for Tech and Virginia
What’s happening to the Insiders?
Doug Doughty
Doug Doughty's College Notebook Plus is exclusive to roanoke.com and is posted by 5 p.m. Fridays.
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Before sitting down to write this week’s column, I wanted to make sure and cast my vote in last week’s “Taking Sides” poll, realizing ahead of time that I would be in the minority for the third straight week.
Brett Favre met the same fate as The Who and Bon Jovi. I had expected that after my daughter called from Greensboro, N.C., last Friday and said she couldn’t believe that 200 people had voted by 6 p.m.
That surprised me, too. I knew that people were really into music, but thought it might have been reaching to ask for opinions about Brett Favre.
Readers supported the Green Bay Packers over Favre by a 63-37 margin. As usual, there were some interesting comments.
Here’s one of the best: “If I told my employer I was quitting and then, three months later, wanted to come back and was told they had already filled my spot, what is the employer supposed to do?”
The most obnoxious: “You suck. Shouldn’t you go back to doing shoe shines in the lobby?”
The most offbeat: “I know it’s not part of the poll but come-on, the Eagles have four guys who can sing better than Tom, and that includes Joe Walsh.”
That was in reference to an e-mail, allegedly from Paul O’Donnell, who suggested that readers be asked to choose between the Eagles and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
I eventually heard back from O’Donnell, who said I must have gotten the Eagles vs. Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers e-mail from someone else.
“But now that you’ve got me in the middle of this, maybe your next Music Poll should go local?” O’Donnell wrote. “How about Acoustic Endeavors vs. Blue Mule? Bluegrass vs. New Grass, sort of. I like them both, but I’d vote for Blue Mule.”
I also heard from Michael Murphey, not to be confused with the Michael Martin Murphey, who sang “Wildfire” (not a bad song, IMO). According to wikipedia, that Michael Murphey is recognized as “America’s singing cowboy poet.”
For some reason, I thought it was Michael Martin Murphey who had a guitar ripped from his hands by John Belushi in Animal House. Turns out, that was Stephen Bishop.
But we digress.
Here’s what this Michael Murphey from Wachovia Midrange Operations had to ask: “Why hasn’t Steve Miller gotten into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame? I think it’s a sham, actually, the RFHF. Seems to be an East Coast bias.”
I’LL BE VERY INTERESTED in the response to this week’s Taking Sides, but first I’ve put in a call to Virginia Tech men’s basketball coach Seth Greenberg.
Greenberg’s name came up Thursday, when I called Hampton-based AAU mogul Boo Williams and asked him about Tristan Spurlock, who had committed to Virginia the previous day.
Spurlock, a 6-foot-8, 210-pound perimeter player from Woodbridge, played on Williams’ AAU team with another UVa recruit, Jontel Evans, a point guard from Bethel High School in Hampton.
“I got a call from Seth,” Williams said. “I said, ‘Seth, we still love you.' "
There is no evidence to suggest the Hokies made a major push for Spurlock or Evans, but, clearly, it was a good time for Greenberg to call and reiterate his interest in the Boo Williams program.
Greenberg acknowledged as much when we spoke Friday.
Know how many in-state players were on scholarship at Tech and UVa last season? Tech had one, Lewis Witcher, or two, if you want to count Puerto Rican A.D. Vassallo, who went to high school in Virginia. UVa had Mike Scott and Lithuanian Laurynas Mikalauskas, who also went to high school in Virginia.
You could count Calvin Baker if he were on scholarship, which might be a possibility now that Will Harris has elected to transfer, but Baker has been at Virginia for two years as a walk-on. In any case, neither Tech nor Virginia has set itself up as a school of choice for Virginians.
Williams had some nice things to see about Spurlock but he was particularly complimentary toward Evans, with whom he had to be more familiar, given the area connections. Evans actually does not start at point guard for the Boo Williams all-star team. That distinction goes to Kendrick Marshall, a North Carolina recruit (for 2010) who is from Bishop O’Connell in Arlington.
“Two different type of players but Jontel will do a good job,” Williams said. “You won’t find somebody who plays as hard and as passionate as he does. Not only is he a good defensive player, he can change a game. We were down against Georgia, which has a very good team. We were down by 10 with seven minutes left in the game. [Evans] goes in and four minutes later we’re up 14.”
(By the way, column contributor Allison Doughty, with her vast Northern Virginia basketball connections, predicts that Spurlock ends up at Hylton).
WE PREFACE THIS WEEK’S poll by saying that the UVa and Virginia Tech Insiders that have run on Thursdays during the football and basketball seasons have become an endangered species.
My plan is to write at least one more UVa Insider with an annual rating of the Virginia programs, but sports editor Jeff Gilbert is pushing for a blog format that could include posts by Randy King and me on a more regular basis. While I have enjoyed writing the UVa Insider, I would be fine with the proposed new blogs provided they were easily accessible.
Let us know what you think. (There are no plans to alter Notebook Plus).
Finally, here is this week’s edition of “Taking Sides”
