Break out your your painfully short gym trunks and your red, white and blue basketballs, because the ABA is coming to Charleston.

OK, so the original American Basketball Association disbanded after its merger with the NBA in 1976, and the new ABA has no connection to the original league that featured players such as Julius Erving, Rick Barry, George Gervin and showcased an all-out assault of offensive basketball.

But the West Virginia Outlaws will bring some live basketball to the area in between college football and the West Virginia Power season, even without the huge hair and tiny shorts.

The Outlaws will play a 30-game ABA schedule that runs from December through March, with home games at the South Charleston Community Center.

The team may also give area fans a chance to watch some of their old favorite players. Although tryouts aren't until Oct. 18-19 at the SCCC, former Marshall forward J.R. VanHoose and WVU alums Lionel Armstead, Tyrone Salley and Frank Young are among the list of possible Outlaw players.

"We are definitely looking at the WVU-Marshall feel," said coach and owner Thomas Jones, who founded the West Virginia Outlaws Sports Academy three years ago as a sports training club to give adolescents a safe place to play competitive basketball.

The Outlaws will bump heads with teams from all over the country, including as close as Bluefield, where the West Virginia Blazers will also begin their first year in the league.

Jones remains realistic in regards to the team's performance.

"We hope to make a run for the playoffs," said Jones. "But realistically, we just want to compete."

Although Jones has been a coach for 14 years, he has remained at the youth, AAU and high school levels up until this point. Understandably, he is realistic about his own performance.

"I already know that I'm not one of the best coaches out there, but I learn quick; basketball is still basketball."

Reach Ryan Pritt at Jcantrellf...@aol.com.

Break out your your painfully short gym trunks and your red, white and blue basketballs, because the ABA is coming to Charleston.

OK, so the original American Basketball Association disbanded after its merger with the NBA in 1976, and the new ABA has no connection to the original league that featured players such as Julius Erving, Rick Barry, George Gervin and showcased an all-out assault of offensive basketball.

But the West Virginia Outlaws will bring some live basketball to the area in between college football and the West Virginia Power season, even without the huge hair and tiny shorts.

The Outlaws will play a 30-game ABA schedule that runs from December through March, with home games at the South Charleston Community Center.

The team may also give area fans a chance to watch some of their old favorite players. Although tryouts aren't until Oct. 18-19 at the SCCC, former Marshall forward J.R. VanHoose and WVU alums Lionel Armstead, Tyrone Salley and Frank Young are among the list of possible Outlaw players.

"We are definitely looking at the WVU-Marshall feel," said coach and owner Thomas Jones, who founded the West Virginia Outlaws Sports Academy three years ago as a sports training club to give adolescents a safe place to play competitive basketball.

The Outlaws will bump heads with teams from all over the country, including as close as Bluefield, where the West Virginia Blazers will also begin their first year in the league.

Jones remains realistic in regards to the team's performance.

"We hope to make a run for the playoffs," said Jones. "But realistically, we just want to compete."

Although Jones has been a coach for 14 years, he has remained at the youth, AAU and high school levels up until this point. Understandably, he is realistic about his own performance.

"I already know that I'm not one of the best coaches out there, but I learn quick; basketball is still basketball."

Reach Ryan Pritt at Jcantrellf...@aol.com.