In 1982-83, the Mary Washington College basketball team established a winning tradition with MWC's first winning season. According to Coach Tom Davies, the 1984 squad will follow those teams' leads with a winning barrage oftheir own, and, Davies hopes, do them one better. Playing in the Capitol Conference for the first time, MWC is aiming for a conference championship and berths in the NCAA and Eastern College Athletic Conference tournaments.
"I expect us to do at least as well as we have done in past seasons," said an optimistic Davies. "We have six of our top ten scorers from last year back and a talented incoming group. We might have a better outside shooting team. We are quicker. And we have the potential to rebound as well as last year (when the Blue Tide outrebounded 22 of 26 opponents)," Davies outlined.
Leading the six returning scorers will be Frank Gilmore (Bethesda, MD). The 6-5 senior center is Mary Washington's anchor in the middle. For each of the past three seasons, Gilmore, a 1984 team co-captain, has keyed the squad's fortunes as the leading Blue Tide scorer and rebounder. With 14.2 point and 11.2 rebound averages, he topped the Tide's 1983 lineup. Already the career rebound leader, he needs only 76 points to move into MWC's career scoring lead.
Assisting Gilmore underneath in 1984 will be returning junior Tony Farris (Springfield, VA, 6.3 points per game in 1983), a two year forward starter at 6-5, and leapers Gilbert Fields (Colonial Beach, VA, 6.3 ppg), a junior, and sophomore Ron Kenney (Petersburg, VA, 6.1 ppg). Freshman newcomer Dave Bergh's (Springfield, VA) outside shooting talents add that dimension to the Blue Tide's front line. Marcus Mickle (Richmond, VA), a senior 6-2 forward, brings boundless defensive quickness to the forward spot after a two year hiatus from the squad.
At guard, Tim Jones (Richmond, VA, 7.2 ppg) emerged as a leader at the point in his freshman season. Now a sophomore, Jones will be joined by sophomore returners Gary Coles (Montpelier, VA) and Barry McCormick (Norristown, PA), a talented outside shooter who moves up from the MWC JV squad. Junior co-captain Robert Baldwin (Richmond, VA, 5.7 ppg) returns to the backcourt as a defensive specialist. Freshman Brian Doyle (Charlottesville, VA), a first team choice on an All Central Virginia team from Heritage Christian School, and Anthony Reese (Richmond, VA), an All District and All Regional guard at Lloyd C. Bird High School, will both push the veterans for playing time at their positions.