Ralph Blalock was drawn to Towson State by two legacies: the NCAA tournament berths the Tigers earned in 1990 and '91, and the prominent roles backcourt players have had there.
Because there won't be an NCAA berth in March, Blalock will inherit Towson State's mantle of shooting star from Scooter Alexander a year earlier than anticipated. A 6-foot-2 junior with a manner as soft as his shooting touch, Blalock will have to usher a young team and persuade the players that, appearances aside, it's not a lost season.
"I haven't spoken to him about the situation," coach Terry Truax said, "but Ralph's a bright kid. He sees what's going on, and he knows what he has to do. He's our most experienced player, and he's produced. He should be a natural leader."
Blalock was somewhat reluctant, however, to take on a role that was thrust upon him by a chain of events that began last January.
* Campbell announced that it was in its last season in the Big South Conference.
* Campbell's departure caused the Big South to lose its automatic bid to the 1995 NCAA tournament.
* Alexander, who scored 1,469 points in three seasons, wasn't about to spend half of his college career without an NCAA bid as a goal. With the blessing of the Towson State administration, he took a redshirt season and will be a senior in 1995-96.
The Tigers will be in the North Atlantic Conference by then, and it will be their third conference in five years. Alexander's freshman season, 1991-92, was Towson State's last in the East Coast Conference, in part because that league was also stuck without an NCAA bid, usually the only postseason prize in the nation's minor conferences.
Even without Alexander, Towson State could use the three-guard lineup that served it so well last season, when Blalock matched up against small forwards and the Tigers went 21-9, their best record in 15 seasons in Division I. They need a more selfish Blalock, whose 55.7 field-goal percentage was second in the Big South last season.
"There were games when Ralph went 8-for-10 in the first half, then only took two or three shots in the second half," Truax said. "That's not what I want. I don't want to say he's nonchalant, but Ralph has to be more assertive, on and off the court."
It's a departure for a program that recently followed the lead of Kurk Lee and Devin Boyd, who were as flamboyant as they were productive. Blalock, who takes as much pride in his defense and rebounding as he does his shooting, identifies more closely with Terrance Jacobs, another guard who led Towson State in scoring three years ago.
"I like that comparison," Blalock said. "My style's something like Terrance's, because both of us don't mind getting inside and helping with the dirty work. If I end up playing two-guard this year, that's fine, but I
prefer the three-spot. You get to rebound more, free-lance more. You get the alley oop thrown your way."
Blalock's diversity was evident past season, when he was the Tigers' second-leading scorer (16.6), third-best in rebounds (4.7) and leader in steals (1.9).
Blalock, who was a high school star at Sanford (Del.) Academy, should make it nine straight seasons in which a guard leads Towson State in scoring, but the first who wasn't from Baltimore since 1986-87, when Bill Leonard started the streak.
From Marty Johnson to Lee to Boyd to Jacobs to Boyd again to Alexander, Baltimoreans have followed Truax on an impressive run: His past five teams finished atop their conference regular-season standings or won the conference tournament.
Minus Alexander, who was Dunbar's senior leader when Donta Bright and Michael Lloyd were juniors and Keith Booth a sophomore, Towson State's local contributions will come from a pair of juniors. Quintin Moody, the point guard, is from Cardinal Gibbons, and Stevie Thomas is a 6-7 forward from Walbrook.
Towson State has eight freshmen and sophomores, and the youth movement will be even more evident until 6-9 senior Jason Crump has served a four-game suspension handed down by the NCAA for his participation in a nonsanctioned league last spring.
The loss of an NCAA bid hasn't stripped the Tigers of all incentive in the Big South. They're 30-4 in two seasons there, but were bumped off in the tournament quarterfinals in 1993, the semifinals last March.
"Our main motivation is proving something in the Big South," Blalock said. "We've got the players and the coaches, but things have fallen apart at the end the last two seasons. We didn't take advantage of what we had, and letting it slip away was a big disappointment."