By Bret Strelow

Salisbury Post

Appalachian State basketball coach Houston Fancher doesn’t expect a big crowd to witness today’s home game against Brevard, but devoted fans will get their first look at one of the Mountaineers’ biggest players.

Former West Rowan star Donte Minter, a

6-foot-8, 250-pound forward who transferred out of the Virginia program last December, is eligible to compete today after sitting out the first eight games of Appalachian’s season.

The matchup with Brevard will begin at 5 p.m. so ASU fans have plenty of time to reach Chattanooga, Tenn., for the Division I-AA football championship game on Friday night.

“It’s been a long wait for him, and I know he’ll be anxious and nervous,” Fancher said. “There won’t be enough people in here to start a fight because of the football game, but that’s not important. What’s important is working him back into the flow.”

Minter, who originally signed with Appalachian State as a West Rowan senior but spent a post-graduate year at Fork Union Military Academy, played two seasons at Virginia and left a month after the start of a third.

He hasn’t appeared in a live game since March of 2005.

“It’s going to be very interesting,” Minter said. “The lights will be on, fans will be there, but I’m not going to make any predictions.”

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Bret Strelow will cover the 1-AA football championship in Chattanooga for the Post.