European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 4, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Charlotte horns sunday March 4, 1990 the stars and stripes a a Page 25 commentary in on 15 wins a maybe by Walt Morrissette staff writer if you re from the fort Bragg area or the Caro Linas and have adopted the Charlotte hornets As your favorite Aba team then you must be proud of what your troubled charges accomplished thursday night. The hornets had lost 17 of their last 18 games and were the Only team in the league that Hadnot won 10 games yet. Still faithful fans bless their souls keep packing the bowl inside the Charlotte coliseum to the tune of 23,901 per game. Things had become so desperate for the hornets you had to Check the Aba schedule to see just How Many opportunities the hornets had left to win. You see when a team is this bad its Only Chance to win is during a Home game against a sub. 500 team. Enter the los Angeles clippers 22-33 minus Ron Harper and Gary Grant both out with season ending injuries. Rex Chapman the hornets leading scorer with Only 17.4 Points per game is shooting just 39.9 percent from the Field for the season. Charlotte has the worst Point differential in the league scoring Only 98.0 Points a game while giving up 107.9. Well on this night Chapman finally put together an outstanding game. He hit 8 out of 16 shots from the Field a what for him is a stratospheric 50 percent a and scored six of his 21 Points in overtime to help the hapless hornets Send their big crowd Home Happy for a change. They beat the clippers 118-109 in overtime. The hornets took a nine Point Lead into the final period Only to see the clippers come Back to Send it into overtime tied 105-105. Charlotte had just blown a 10-Point fourth Quarter Lead at Home to Portland and lost. The hornets did recover this time by jumping on the clips 13-4 in the overtime while shutting out los Angeles Over the final 2 45. So Charlotte heading into its saturday Home game with Sacramento stood 10-44 with 28 games left in the 82-game season. The average expansion team wins 15 games and Charlotte won 20 last year. Their fellow expansionist have fared much better already. Minnesota has already discovered the sweetness of winning at Home taking five of its last six in the metronome to get to 15 wins. Orlando started off magically for an expansion team �?8-11 a before stumbling to 16-41, but those 16 wins Lead All expansion teams. The Miami heat is 12-47. The hornets will be hard pressed to get to 15 wins this season. The teams remaining a a opportunities Are few. Looking at the Aba schedule these Are the remaining Home games in which Charlotte has the Best Chance to win with the teams and their won loss record through Friday Sacramento 16-40 on saturday new Jersey 13-43 on March 26, Minnesota 15-41 on april 6 and Golden state 25-31 on april 8. Charlotte visits Denver on tuesday and Sacramento on thursday. The Denver game is significant because the hornets have beaten the nuggets twice in three meetings this season and won their Only Road game so far at Denver. So the hornets could get to 15 victories if they done to let any of these opportunities slip by. The hornets also have seven other Home games remaining a but they Are All against Aba heavyweight playoff contenders Detroit March 11the . Lakers March 12new York March 23phoenix March 29houston april 10philadelphia april 14 and Dallas april 19. Do you think the hornets have a snowballs Chance in Carolina of beating any of these teams during the playoff drive neither do i. Shackleford denies shaving East Rutherford . Apr Charles Shackleford denied shaving Points at North Carolina state but admitted saturday he made a major mistake accepting a loan from an agent while in school. The statements were the first directly from Shackleford since an Abc news report last week implicated the new Jersey nets Forward and three other players in the scheme to fix Wolf pack games in the 1987-88 season. Shackleford denied the report and he already did that last week through his agent Sal Difazio. He answered no questions after Reading his Brief statement and did not discuss his arrest in Orange ., thursday for Possession of a Small amount of marijuana. Difazio of Bridgewater ., also refused to answer questions relating to the my estimation saying Shackleford has hired another attorney to represent him in that latter Matthew Boylan of Roseland . Boylan was not in his office saturday. Shackleford who played three seasons at North Carolina state said he asked Tor the news conference so he would have a Chance to comment on the reports. He also apologized to . State coach Jim Valvano who has come under tire during a state investigation of the Post shaving allegations. The news conference lasted 15 minutes and Shackleford said Little about the investigation. T never shaved Points at North Carolina state a said Shackleford hunched a microphone and staring directly his statement. A i did take Money from an agent. I was Young and poor. I was uttered Money and i took it. I borrowed i Money from another person because thought that was my Only Way out. Hid i did was wrong. I know that  f Shackleford accepted about $65,000 rom two men and paid both of them ack in 1988, Difazio said. Tom fips a a a Jimmy v a for Victory vivacious very vexed a . State coach Jim Valvano. From close final to close shave by Hal Bock a sports writer Jimmy Valvano always had the gift of gab. He came equipped with a quip. Ever hear the one about a conversation he had with an official a i asked a ref if he could give me a technical for thinking bad things about him and he said a of course  a i said a Well i think you  he gave me a technical. You can to Trust  Ever hear the one about his playing Days at Rutgers when he was assigned to guard the other teams Star a the coach said the Guy was 6-foot-2, a High school All american goes left goes right pulls up at 30 feet had a 3.8 spa and on top of that he a Good looking too. A i did no to know whether to guard him or ask for a  at first when he arrived in 1980 to coach North Carolina state his new constituency did not know quite what to make of coach v. He was a City Slicker a fast talking new yorker reared on skyscrapers and subways transplanted to the Trees and streams of Carolina. He grew up on Long Island a double dribble from Street smart Queens where his father Rocco used to coach High school Ball against Louie Carnesecca later of St. Johns Fame. Rocco Valvanos Point guard at Seaford High was his own scrappy son Jimmy v. Valvano played at Rutgers and then began a coaching career that took him from Johns Hopkins to Bucknell to Iona. Two straight bids to the Mcaa tournament turned some Heads and on March 27, 1980, he was invited to take his act to the Atlantic coast conference and . State. It was some act filled with big City bombast. The folks of Raleigh were accustomed to a More genteel approach. They had never seen anything like him a big nosed kid from up North with a Mouth to match. Jimmy v had an answer for them though. Jokes a i Tell them jokes a he said. A i Tell them i can to Fly fish because its Tough casting into a fire  get it accept him the locals fell in love with him. Coach v could have owned the state especially after guiding . State to the Mcaa championship in 1983. When Lorenzo Charles jammed in Dereck Whittenburgh a shot for the winning bucket against Houston a Phi Slamma Jamma the coach ran on the court arms Askew looking for somebody anybody to hug. It made a great picture the pure unadulterated emotion of College basketball at its Best. Then things got adulterated at . State. First there was the matter of Chris Washburn a player with basketball skills that far outdistanced his classroom abilities. Washburn was romanced by . State and admitted with Valvanos enthusiastic support despite scoring 470 on his Scholastic aptitude test an exam that awards 400 Points just for showing up. His stay at state was Stormy and Brief pockmarked by scrapes with the Law. Washburn was still the starting Center a year after being jailed for stealing stereo equipment when coach v was an pointed As athletic director at . State in february 1986. Coach Vas and appointment came at just about the time Charles Shackleford was being recruited for . State. Within three years of the appointment the Wolf pack basketball program would be placed on probation by the Mcaa its players found to be Selling tickets and shoes. Now it appears they May have been Selling other things As Well. The shoes and tickets matter seemed a minor indiscretion but when the Mcaa began its investigation Valvano surrendered the ads Job. Last week in the Wake of alleged Point shaving in games coach v was volunteering to leave As coach too if that a what the University wanted. This time there were no jokes