The guests for this week’s edition of the Hokie Hotline were women’s head basketball coach Bonnie Henrickson and assistant coach Mark Cline and head coach Ricky Stokes from the men’s basketball team.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL NOTES

DAYTON GAME

Bill Roth and Coach Henrickson began their discussion with the women’s victory over Dayton on Sunday after being down by as many as sixteen points in the second half. Roth called it a memorable game for the team and Coach Henrickson called it a "huge" win and the biggest win of the year. She credited the players for executing well late in the second half after digging themselves a big hole.

Prior to the game, the staff had talked to the team about the situation that the game presented to the players with the absence of Tere Williams due to injury. For Nicole Jones it meant the opportunity to start. For Kim Seaver and Mollie Owings, it meant more playing time. They stressed that one player could not make up for the loss of Tere from the line-up.

The game plan was to force Christi Hester to her left, because the coaches thought that was their best opportunity on defense. The plan was working well, and the Flyers had just a four point lead at half, but they went on an extended run and began to bury the Hokies. During a timeout, Coach Henrickson told the players that she didn’t care what the score was, but the team had to "stay aggressive." Coming out of the timeout, the team went on runs of 16-5 and 14-0 to ultimately win the game.

At the end of the game, Mollie Owings guarded Hester very well, and Coach Henrickson commented that she may have been the best to cover Dayton’s star player in that situation because she was able to elevate the best.

A-10 TOURNAMENT

Thanks to the win over Dayton, Virginia Tech will be the third seed in the Western Division for the Atlantic-10 tournament beginning on Friday, which gives them the opportunity to play two teams with losing records in the first two rounds. The first game will be against Rhode Island in a game that both Roth and Coach Henrickson made sound like a walk-over. Coach Henrickson first commented that the staff will bill the tournament as three games in three days with the equivalent of a practice on Friday. Roth later mentioned that the team would play Massachusetts on Saturday "when" the Hokies win the first game.

The discussion of the game as a foregone conclusion was based on the fact that Rhode Island is 2-24 on the season and has just six players on the squad, only three of whom are on scholarship. (As a side note, Roth also mentioned that the men’s team is just 5-23 and the school’s football team went 1-10.) As a result, Coach Henrickson said that she would attack early in the game against the Rams, try to take the lead and then go to the bench based on the game situation. Above all else, she doesn’t want the starters to play a lot of minutes.

The women’s record now stands at 18-9 and Coach Henrickson still believes that the team has to win the conference tournament in order to go to the NCAA tournament. She did, however, leave open the possibility that the team could get an invitation if it went to the finals, which would leave them at 21-10 on the season. She also mentioned again that she has a good feeling about the team’s chances of being invited to the NIT.

SEASON SUMMARY

Bill Roth first asked if any victory from last season meant any more than the win over Dayton on Sunday. Coach Henrickson commented that the only one that was close was last season's game against Duke, which she said started that season off well, but that none of them meant as much as Sunday’s win because of what was at stake for this season. She also said that the Dayton win was one of the top five wins in her career at Virginia Tech.

She said that at times this year things have been disappointing because of the high expectations, but they have also been rewarding because of what the players had accomplished. She said that she enjoyed working with the team very much and the team had good chemistry and cohesion, and played together very well. They also represented Virginia Tech very well.

As a final note, she commented that she thought that the team would be ready for Big East play next year. Davina Simmons will help the team from her position, and the whole team is excited about playing in the Big East. She mentioned that Amy Wetzel is particularly happy to have the opportunity, because she didn’t think that she would have that chance during her four years.

WOMEN’S MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Tere Williams has maintained a positive attitude throughout her rehabilitation and her status beyond the conference tournament will depend on how she feels in the days and weeks leading up to the post- season. There is no test or exam for her injury. It will be based on how she feels.

Television coverage for the Atlantic 10 women’s tournament will be a semifinal game at 6pm on Sunday on regional television and the final on Monday at 5pm on ESPN2.

Tickets for the Atlantic 10 women’s tournament in Philadelphia will be sold at the door. Senior Citizen’s tickets will be $4, but prices for regular ticket were not given.

At the game Sunday, Dayton recognized their 1980 women’s NCAA Division II basketball championship team. That team beat St. Cloud State during Bonnie Henrickson’s junior year on their way to the national championship. Roth commented that it made the victory "doubly sweet" for her as revenge for the game earlier in the year and as revenge for her defeat 20 years ago.

MEN’S BASKETBALL NOTES

RECRUITING

The second half of the show began with recruiting coordinator for men’s basketball Mark Cline, who is in his first year with the Hokies after coming from Old Dominion. Coach Cline said that he has been on the road quite a bit recently, including Toronto, Rhode Island, Kansas City and Pittsburgh just in the last week. He said that he’s seen some of the players that have already signed to come to Virginia Tech and a few targets that he thinks have a chance to come in and help the team next year.

He said that all four of the players that are already scheduled to come to Tech next season are having outstanding seasons, and that he agrees with Coach Stokes that it’s good that the players signed early, because Tech might not have a shot at them any more based on their performances in their current seasons.

Chris Exilus is having an outstanding season. He has been selected to play for the world team in the all-star event staged in conjunction with the NCAA Final Four in Indianapolis. His AAU coach also said that he is the second best player he has ever had play for him. (The best, he said, was Wayne Smith.) Danny Gathings and Carlos Dixon are having good seasons at their prep schools, and Brian Matthews may be selected All-State in South Carolina. They are still waiting for test scores to come through for Matthews, but Coach Cline saw no problem with him achieving the required score.

Coach Cline said that the Hokies current class is rated as the 29th best recruiting class in the country and fourth best in the Big East. The three schools with better classes for next year are Connecticut, St. John’s and Seton Hall.

In response to a discussion on the influence of AAU coaches and shoe companies, Coach Cline said that he prefers to deal with only the parents and high school or JC coaches of the players, and that if anyone else gets involved, he usually backs off of the player. Things get too complicated at that point, he said

"WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED?"

That was the question with which Bill Roth greeted Coach Stokes to the program following Coach Cline’s appearance. The coach responded that Sunday’s game had certainly been a big one for the team and that they had discussed what was at stake. He said that Duquesne played hard throughout the game and used the zone effectively, particularly when Brian Chase went out with a cut on his cheek. Overall, he said that the loss was due to a combination of a lot of factors, and that both the team and the coaching staff were down about it, but that the team goal of having a winning season was still out there.

Roth asked about the incident that involved Rolan Roberts. Coach Stokes said that he would have liked for the foul to have been called earlier, and that it may have been a case of the Duquesne player slipping, but that he thought the officials and everyone else involved had done a good job. Roth asked what had been said between the two coaches when they shook hands following the explanation from the referees. He said that, basically, the two coaches had gotten what they wanted -- no one lost from the contest.

Someone had asked Roth about the reduced playing time of Tony Dobbins in yesterday’s game. He said that he wasn’t sure at the time, but that he would relay the message during the show. Coach Stokes said that it was a result of the zone defense and the fact that Jermaine Kimbrough and Rodrigo Viegas had shot well from long range during the week.

FUTURE GAMES

LaSalle has won five of the last six games against Tech, and have a lot of big, physical players and three dangerous shooters. Roth mentioned that one of their players, Garrick Bragg, has been suspended for the game by the school for an elbowing incident in a recent game. Coach Stokes said that it is important that the team takes control early in the game in order to have a chance to win.

Dayton is a team that has already won 20 games on the season and may be a lock for the NCAA tournament, but Roth said that it may be a chance for Tech to pull an upset. The game Saturday will be Senior Day at Cassell Coliseum.

POST-SEASON AWARDS

Coach Stokes and Bill Roth gave their picks for the post-season awards:

Coach of the Year -- Coach Cheney of Temple (both) MVP -- Mark Karcher, Temple (Stokes); Pepe Sanchez, Temple (Roth) Rookie of the Year -- David West (Stokes); Brooks Hall (Roth) -- Both said that they wouldn’t be surprised if Val Brown won, though.

Coach Stokes’s first team all-conference team was Karcher, Sanchez, Monte Mack, Ashman, and Lloyd Price.

MEN’S MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

A-10 Commissioner Linda Bruno sent a fax to all of the coaches in the league regarding the incidents that have become prevalent around the league. In essence, Coach Stokes alluded that she had indicated that she was tired of it all and that she wanted it to stop.

Brian Chase’s status after his cut is good. He has a swollen cheek and took six stitches.

Coach Stokes said that he would have liked for the team to have been more consistent, but that he had no regrets over the season.

He mentioned that the team will look very different next year, with as many as seven new players on the team, depending on the success of the recruiting process for the rest of this season.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

Next Monday’s broadcast of the Hokie Hotline will come from the Hotel Roanoke, where Tech football coach Frank Beamer will receive the Bobby Dodd National Coach of the Year Award during a banquet in his honor.