Sunday, December 9, 2001
[ UH BASKETBALL ]
It's getting tougher and tougher for Riley Wallace to schedule quality opponents. Few schools will make the trip to Hawaii for a single basketball game. Hawaii next on ASU
coach’s farewell tourBy Cindy Luis
cluis@starbulletin.comThe Hawaii men's coach "schedules what we can, when we can," he said.
Ergo, Alcorn State tomorrow night. The Braves are 1-4 on the aloha tour for their 71-year-old coach Davey L. Whitney, who'll retire at the end of this season.
Wallace met Whitney at the annual coaches' golf tournament hosted by Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson. There were a few reasons to invite Whitney out, none of them related to Whitney's 18-handicap.
"He's never been to Hawaii (for a game), he's retiring this year and he's a good guy," Wallace said of his ASU counterpart.
Whitney is a legend in other parts of the country. The winningest coach in the Southwestern Athletic Conference has kept a fairly modest profile during his 30 years of coaching, 25 of those at Alcorn State.
Few realize that he replaced Ernie Banks at shortstop for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues when Banks left for a Hall of Fame career with the Chicago Cubs in 1952. Or that the first baby-sitter Whitney's children had was Wilma Rudolph, who went on to Olympic greatness.
Perhaps even more amazing is that, as a teenager, Whitney was one of the few blacks allowed in the gym to watch Adolph Rupp's Kentucky teams practice. Rupp had a 41-year career at UK, starting in 1931; it was only in 1971 that the Wildcats had a black player on the roster.
It's been a long road for Whitney, especially this season. The Braves have had one home game in the D.L. Whitney Center -- a win over NAIA Tougaloo College -- while losing at New Mexico State, Southern Mississippi, New Mexico and Alabama-Birmingham.
"It's not normal for us to do this, but we wanted a real tough schedule to toughen our young team," said Whitney. "We only have three seniors and this should be good for us in the long run.
"I've been to Kona and Maui before, but never to play a basketball game. This trip is more for our kids than anything. Some of them come from poor families and they'll probably never get a chance to go to Hawaii again."
The Braves, who arrived last night, are at full strength for tomorrow's game. Back after a one-game suspension are leading scorer Lee Cook, a 6-foot-9 sophomore forward who had started three games, and reserve 6-8 junior forward Dion Callans.
With Cook, the Braves have been competitive with the likes of the Lobos and Southern Miss, seeing close games get away from them. Without Cook, Alcorn State had a problem staying with UAB; the Blazers used a 31-9 run to open the second half en route to a 102-61 victory.
"We have some kinks to iron out, but I'm pleased with how we've progressed," said Whitney. "We like to run, but haven't been able to do as much as we like. Our defense is far ahead of our offense. And we have to do a better job of getting to the line instead of putting our opponents there."
The Braves have hit 27 of 73 free throws while their opponents are 86 of 119 from the line. In the 66-60 loss to Southern Miss, the host Eagles finished 25 of 37 from the line while the Braves were 8 of 17.
Whitney said he didn't know much about the Rainbows, other than to notice that senior guard Predrag Savovic has not been in the boxscores this season. Savovic has sat out six games while waiting on an eligibility ruling from the NCAA.
The Braves' coach said he is very ready to retire and play a lot more golf. He doesn't know if this young team can rise to the challenge that put Alcorn State on the basketball map during the last two decades.
ASU made postseason history in 1979, becoming the first historically black school to play in the National Invitation Tournament. The Braves stunned Mississippi State 80-78 in Starkville before falling 73-69 in the second round to eventual champion Indiana, coached by Bobby Knight; five years later, Whitney was Knight's assistant as the U.S. won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles.
In 1998-99, the Braves went 23-6, winning the SWAC title. They gave second-seeded Stanford a game during the first round of the NCAA Tournament; the game was tied deep into the second half before the Cardinal pulled out the 69-57 win.
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Ka Leo O Hawaii
