It was easy to come up with the cover theme for the Post’s college basketball tabloid.
“Hey, I’ve got it,” I announced to the assistant sports editor. “We’ve got Terrence Baxter at Pfeiffer and Julie Tarrance of Livingstone. Terrence and Tarrance.
“We can call it T-N-T”
And then, it hit me. Catawba has a Terrence too — Terrence Hamilton, who is a pretty fair player himself.
Terrence, Terrence and Tarrance. Hmmm.
T-N-T-N-T?
Whatever you call them, they give this area a triple threat. When it comes to college basketball, they are dy-no-mite. Two of them are tall. One is short. And all three are as different as night and day.
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Julie Tarrance walks toward you and the first thought is, “Here comes Lisa Leslie.”
Leslie, an Olympic hero, is long and lean at 6-foot-5. Julie Tarrance is long and lean at 6-foot-5.
When Leslie isn’t playing basketball, she is modeling. When Tarrance isn’t playing basketball, she is modeling.
“I want to keep playing ball and modeling after school, too,” Tarrance said.
Like Lisa Leslie?
“Yeah, but I’ll be Julie Tarrance.”
And being Julie Tarrance could be bad news for the rest of the CIAA.
Tarrance received rave reviews in several preseason publications. She is, without a doubt, the top center returning in the CIAA. Last year, she helped lead the Blue Bears to a Division IIplayoff berth after they won the CIAA Tournament. She is expected to lead the team to the title.
She thinks Livingstone can do it. Her coach, Andrew Mitchell, has even higher expectations. He wants Tarrance to lead the nation in rebounding and blocked shots. And scoring?
“Oh, 15, 16 points would be good,” he says.
Tarrance could match Leslie as an Olympian with the right breaks, but not in basketball. She is also one of the CIAA’s top volleyball players.
Livingstone wasn’t always a good basketball team. Then, Tarrance’s high school coach got her interested in his alma mater. Which happened to be Livingstone College. The Blue Bears have been winning since.
“We want to win the CIAA again, win the regionals and make it to the nationals,” Tarrance says matter-of-factly. “We want to be national champs.”
That’s quite a challenge, just like the one she faces off the court with her height.
“It’s hard to find clothes,” she chuckles. “But it’s not a bad thing being tall.”
Just ask Lisa Leslie.
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Throw a long pass downcourt to Hamilton and he watches it in, cradling the ball. You immediately think wide receiver.
What’s that? He came to Catawba as a wide receiver?
Seems Hamilton, a 6-5 junior, had football recruiters banging down his door when he was finishing up high school in Dillon, S.C. The Catawba coaches watched his fluid athleticism and decided he would fit in nicely with the other receivers. Basketball coach Jim Baker came onto the scene later.
“Coach Baker didn’t know about me,” Hamilton said.
Marvin Moore did. Catawba’s All-American guard told Baker, “You’ve got to let this kid play.”
Football coach David Bennett was out of scholarships and Baker welcomed him with open arms.
“I came to play football,” Hamilton says, “but basketball stole my heart.”
Hamilton can dunk. Oh, can he dunk. He is a high-riser, a P-T-Per, a windex man on the glass. He should be one of the South Atlantic Conference’s best players on one of its best teams.
“I’ve never tested my vertical leap,” he smiles. “But it runs in the family.”
What’s better, Terrence? A dunk or catching a TD pass?
“It’s the same. When you dunk, you don’t hear anything. When you catch a touchdown, you don’t hear anything.”
Hamilton should be hearing the cheers from the fans this season. He averaged 14 points as a sophomore and everyone expects those numbers to climb.
“It’s going to be a fun year,” he said.
And when the season is over, Hamilton will immediately get ready for his senior year.
In two sports?
“I’m thinking about playing a year before I graduate,” said Hamilton, a former North-South All-Star, who added he would have loved to be a part of this year’s undefeated football juggernaut. “Seeing those boys winning over Carson-Newman did it.”
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Somebody makes the comment that there is an honorable mention All-American in the Livingstone gym.
You immediately think Tarrance or Hamilton. That little guy over there? C’mon, not him. No way.
Way.
Terrence Baxter is 5-foot-7. Maybe. Looking at him makes you think of the old story about N.C. State coach Jim Valvano when he went to the airport to pick up Spud Webb. The 5-7 guard gets off the plane and Valvano asks, “Are you the manager?”
Spud wasn’t. What Spud Webb became was an NBAdunk champion.
No one sold him short and no one will with Baxter, a fifth-year senior point guard, who was among the nation’s leaders in steals and assists.
Pfeiffer coach Dave Davis said he can’t remember his initial reaction upon seeing Baxter for the first time. But after coaching him?
“He’s incredibly quick. He’s incredibly fast. He’s just a blur.”
Nem Sovic may score most of the points for Davis but Baxter has scored points with the fans, who love a player who on paper is too short for the game of basketball but has no shortage of confidence.
“His heart is enormous,” Davis said. “He’s not physically intimidating to anyone but it’s not how tall you are.”
Baxter rolls his eyes when the line of questioning pops up about inches and feet.
“Height doesn’t matter,” he scoffs.
Obviously. Street & Smith has him ranked on their All-American list, along with Sovic.
“It’s still preseason,” Baxter said. “I’ve got to make it happen.”
Baxter smiles. He comes from a football town (Thomasville) but currently, there are no football All-Americans from the Chair City. The Pfeiffer basketball player is carrying that banner.
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Baxter, the short guy, gets the ball and starts dribbling. Guarding him was Tarrance, the big girl. While backing her in, he’s asked how he controls bigger opponents.
“You can’t play with the ball too much because they have long arms,” Baxter says, juking and jiving with the Livingstone star. “You have to keep your body between them and the ball.”
Tarrance was trying to swat it away but Baxter dribbles so close to the floor, that no one this side of Muggsy Bogues can get down that low to knock it away.
Nearby, Hamilton holds up his arms as if to say, “Hey, what about me? Pass me the ball!”
Don’t worry, Terrence. When the season begins, you’ll get it.
The photographer finally calls it a day and the three walk off the court together. They’re all smiling. They’re all confident. And they can’t wait to get the season under way.
And after watching Terrence, Terrence and Tarrance for just a few minutes, we can’t wait either.
Let’s play ball.
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Ronnie Gallagher is the sports editor of the Post.
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