Women Closing in on A-10 West Title

Through the grace of GW's 68-56 loss to Xavier on Sunday, all the Tech women's team has to do is beat La Salle Thursday night, and the Hokies will win the A-10 West outright.   Tech currently has a 13-1 record in conference, which is two games better in the loss column than GW's 10-3 record.  So if the Hokies win Thursday, they're tops in the A-10 West.

The odd thing about GW's unexpected loss to Xavier is that just one week before, the Colonials had destroyed a Xavier team that was reeling from their loss to Virginia Tech.   GW topped Xavier 99-64 in the first game, so the second game represents a 47 point turnaround from the first game.  Bizarre.

Not that beating La Salle will be an easy task.  Tech learned against Rhode Island that you have to (all together now) play them one at a time.  And although Tech whipped LaSalle 62-35 in Cassell on February 7th, the GW-Xavier turnaround should also tell the Hokies not to take the Explorers lightly.  And with an A-10 championship on the line, how much more motivation do you need?  It will be interesting to see if Bonnie's embarrassed charges come out with fire in their eyes in Philly tomorrow.

Speaking of which, I received an email with directions to the La Salle arena, so those of you who are in the Philadelphia area and are thinking of going to the game, here's how to get there.

One last note worth mentioning about the women's team ... on Sunday's edition of Virginia Tech Sports Today (the weekly Tech TV show), Bill Roth interviewed Bonnie Henrickson, and of course, one of the questions he asked her concerned the fact that her name is starting to be thrown around in the newspapers with regards to coaching vacancies.   Bill wanted to know what her thoughts were.

Bonnie said, "I don't have any thoughts on that."  She said all the right things, reiterating her commitment to Virginia Tech and its basketball team.   She said that at the end of the season, she and Athletic Director Jim Weaver are scheduled to sit down and "discuss a contract extension."

Bonnie then repeated something she has said before, namely, that she feels that Tech is a great environment for building a perennial power that will draw a lot of fans.  She noted that there are a lot of residents within close driving distance of Tech, either in the New River Valley or Roanoke, and there isn't a lot of competition for people's time and attention in this area, as there might be in a larger metropolitan area.  She said that if you put a team on the floor that is entertaining and wins, people will show up to see them play.

She got that right.

Tech Notes

• Athletic Department sources tell me that the exterior sealing and repainting job that was scheduled to be done to Lane Stadium this summer will be postponed.  The reason is a good one:  the project, which was to cost 2-3 million dollars, will instead be incorporated into the Lane Stadium expansions and renovations that will take place in the coming years.
  
  While we're on the topic, the Athletic Department has put together a special committee that will make a report and recommendations for Lane Stadium expansions and improvements.   Their report is due in June, and is still on schedule, from what I've been told.
  
  What will they propose?  Here's one hot tip - 1999 will probably be the last season without a Jumbotron in Lane Stadium.  So you traditionalists enjoy the silence during timeouts this coming season, and you Jumbotron advocates get ready for the new millenium!

• Dan Abushanab, a new HokieCentral member, wanted me to let you know that he's running a free "sports-pool gaming site" at http://www.office-pools.com.   I promised him I would give him a quick plug, so if you're into that sort of thing, check out Dan's site.

• Sorry there hasn't been a Members Only update for the last week or more.  I'm working on some stuff that I hope to have posted by the end of the week, including an update of the rumored-dead "Members Forum," so hang in there.

• I have revamped the "Football Opponents Web Sites" section of my Links Page to bring it up to speed with the 1999 schedule, and I need some JMU links.  If you know of any good JMU web sites, then send me an email and let me know.

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