6/27/02 - Whipping Boy Conference

Bulls draft Mason in second round
By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer

Virginia junior guard Roger Mason Jr. was selected with the 31st overall pick in the second round by the Chicago Bulls during Wednesday night’s NBA draft in New York.
Mason, who announced his decision to leave Virginia and enter the NBA draft April 8, becomes the first Virginia player since 1995 to be selected in the NBA draft. That year, Cory Alexander was selected with the 29th pick of the first round by the San Antonio Spurs while teammate Junior Burrough was taken in the second round (33rd overall) by the Boston Celtics.
“I think it’s a great situation there. I got to visit there last week and was able to meet [Bulls general manager] Jerry Krause and [Bulls’ coach] Bill Cartwright,” said Mason, a native of Silver Spring, Md., who has recently hired Dan Tobin of the Washington-based Professional Management Associates to represent him. “I think I will fit in perfectly out there.”
Coincidentally, Mason will be joined in Chicago by fellow ACC players in Duke’s Jay Williams, who was the draft’s No. 2 overall pick, and Maryland’s Lonny Baxter, a fellow Silver Spring, Md., resident, who was the 44th overall pick in the second round.
“We’ve played against each other for a long time now in the ACC and now we are teammates. I think we will get along great,” Mason said.
Mason and Williams will join a loaded — at least for now — backcourt that includes such players at Travis Best, Jamal Crawford, Trenton Hassell, Fred Hoiberg and swingman Jalen Rose. It’s possible, however, that Williams’ arrival could jettison Best, who is currently a free agent.
While Williams’ role most likely will be as the franchise’s future point guard, Mason’s role is a little less specified in that mix.
Mason, who played mostly the two-guard position at UVa but also had significant minutes at the point, will be probably cast in a reserve role at both positions initially.
Mason, who had hoped to be a first-round selection when he opted to leave Virginia, slipped to the second round where contracts are not guarranteed as in the first. Certainly, that was somewhat of a sour note for Mason, but he says the future will be the final judge of his abilities.
“Five or six years from now, people will be looking back and wondering why Roger Mason was drafted in the second round,” Mason said.
Mason led the Cavaliers in scoring (18.6 ppg.), assists (4.1 apg.), free-throw percentage (133-151, 88.1 percent), field goals made (162) and 3-point field goals made (81) during the 2001-02 season. He ranked second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in free-throw percentage and third in scoring.
Mason was a second-team All-ACC selection this past season, was named to the 2002 National Association of Basketball Coaches All-District 5 first team and was selected to the United States Basketball Writers Association All-District 3 team. He was also among the top 50 Preseason Candidates and the top 30 midseason candidates for the 2001-02 Wooden Award All-America Basketball team.
Chris Williams and Adam Hall, who exhausted their eligibility at UVa, were not selected in the draft and now must search for homes in which to begin their professional basketball careers.

R.C. Cosby, a former standout at Highland Springs High, said yesterday that he's academically ineligible to return to the University of Virginia and hopes to resume his football career at a Division I-AA or Division II school.

The 6-2, 225-pound linebacker appeared in five games for U.Va. in 2001 - a total of 22 plays - and didn't make a tackle. That was the only season Cosby played for the Cavaliers. He redshirted in 1999 and wasn't academically eligible to attend Virginia as a sophomore.

During Cosby's absence, Al Groh succeeded George Welsh as U.Va.'s coach. Groh let Cosby return to the team last summer, but the 1999 Highland Springs graduate never seemed to win over the new staff.

"It didn't work out the way I planned," Cosby said, "but I'm not going to point my finger at anybody. It's just life. It's just something I have to deal with. As I told my mom, God's not going to close one door without opening another."

Before he can play college football again, Cosby must improve his academic standing - he failed a sociology class this spring - and return to good health. He sustained a blow to his head during the 2001 opener at Wisconsin, and a knot developed on his forehead over his right eye. Despite U.Va.'s trainers attempts to treat the injury, Cosby said, it "would never go away."

During spring practice this year, he suffered another setback. Cosby was temporarily paralyzed after colliding with linebacker Angelo Crowell in a drill. He was rushed to the hospital and had a CAT scan taken. He regained full movement, but on April 30, a plastic surgeon in Charlottesville tried to remove the knot, which Cosby said is similar to a cyst.

The operation failed, Cosby said. It caused problems with his eyes, and nearly two months later, the knot remains. Worse, Cosby said, he has no feeling "on my forehead or the top part of my head."

Cosby, 22, recently underwent another CAT scan, this time in Richmond. His mother would prefer that he give up football, but Cosby is determined to play again.

"This is not the way I want to end my football career," he said. "I made it to college, and I want to finish college."

TAKING HIS TIME: Two-and-a-half months after top assistant Tommy Herrion left to run the program at the College of Charleston, University of Virginia men's basketball coach Pete Gillen has yet to fill the vacancy on his staff.

At N.C. State, Herb Sendek hired Larry Hunter, who'd been a successful head coach at Ohio, as an assistant last year, and the Wolfpack advanced to the NCAA tournament in 2001-02. Some U.Va. officials would like to see Gillen follow suit and add a veteran coach to his staff. If Gillen chooses to do so - and by all accounts, the decision is his - the candidates are likely to include Mack McCarthy.

McCarthy, who turns 50 next week, stepped down as Virginia Commonwealth's coach in March, saying he needed "a change of direction." He compiled a 66-55 record in four seasons as the Rams' head coach. His final VCU club went 22-11 and reached the CAA tournament final.

In McCarthy's 12 seasons as Tennessee-Chattanooga's coach, his teams went 243-122 and reached the NCAA tourney five times.

A native of Covington who has two degrees from Virginia Tech, McCarthy has been working in VCU's SportsCenter since resigning as coach.

Gillen hasn't said what role Herrion's replacement will play. One option he's considering is promoting Alexis Sherard, U.Va.'s director of men's basketball administration since 1999, to an assistant's job. If that happens, the new staffer might take over Sherard's administrative duties.

SLIGHT IMPROVEMENT: U.Va., which finished 30th in the Sears Directors' Cup race in 2000-01, ranked No. 26 in the 2001-02 standings released last week. The final standings will include the results from the College World Series, which Texas won.

In the Sears Cup competition, schools are awarded points based on how their teams fare in NCAA championships. Before 2000-01, Virginia had never finished worse than 22nd. Its best finish came in 1998-99, when it placed eighth. The men's lacrosse team, which lost in the NCAA semifinals to eventual champion Syracuse, contributed the most points (75) to Virginia's effort this school year.

In last week's standings, U.Va. was 56 places ahead of the next school from this state, Liberty.

DROUGHT TO END: Some analysts say he'll be picked in the first round of tonight's NBA draft. Others say Roger Mason Jr. will drop into the second round. But everyone agrees that the 6-5 guard will be the first player from U.Va. selected since 1995. Guard Cory Alexander went 29th overall and forward Junior Burrough 33rd that year.

Mason, who's from Silver Spring, Md., is forgoing his final season of eligibility at Virginia. He was a second-team all-ACC pick in 2001-02.

WAITING GAME: U.Va. football recruit Keenan Carter, who took the SAT on June 1 and the ACT a week later, said yesterday that he's awaiting the results of both standardized tests.

Carter, a nose tackle from Potomac High, said he graduated with a 2.65 grade-point average in his core courses. Under the NCAA's sliding scale, then, he would need at least 820 on the SAT or at least 68 on the ACT to qualify for freshman eligibility.

He previously scored 810 on the SAT, Carter said. "I'm confident of qualifying."

Also waiting on an ACT score is another U.Va. recruit, linebacker Ahmad Brooks, an All-American from Hylton High. Brooks needs at least a 68 to meet NCAA requirements. Like Carter, he took the ACT on June 8.

WORTHY CAUSE: The second annual Mac McDonald Invitational raised about $42,000 for the U.Va. Children's Medical Center. The golf tournament was held this month at the Keswick Club. McDonald is U.Va.'s play-by-play announcer. - Jeff White

CHARLOTTESVILLE, June 26 -- Virginia guard Roger Mason Jr. did not get picked in the first round of the NBA draft. That was not the plan when he left school a year early, but tonight he slipped to the second round, where the Chicago Bulls chose him with the 31st overall selection.

"I'm excited. I think it's going to be a great opportunity for me," the Silver Spring native said from his apartment in Northwest D.C. "I think the organization is on the rise and I'm ready to contribute."

Mason joins a franchise that tied for the league's worst record at 21-61 but features rising stars Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry and drafted former ACC foe Jay Williams of Duke with the No. 2 selection overall. The Bulls -- with eight players on the roster 24 years old or younger -- don't have a lot of veterans playing many significant minutes.

"We're more excited to see him here than some of the situations at the tail end of the first round," said Mason's agent, Dan Tobin.

Mason, a second-team all-ACC pick last season, said when he made himself eligible for the draft three months ago that he probably would return to school if it seemed likely he would slip to the late first round. He remained in the draft even after an old shoulder injury flared up and limited his ability to work out for NBA teams.

"I could have gone anywhere from 14 to 31," Mason explained. "Four or five years from now, I want people to say that other guys made a mistake" by drafting someone else.