Leitao taking measured steps to get U.Va. back on solid ground
By DOUG DOUGHTY, LANDMARK NEWS SERVICE,
© June 21, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE — As evidenced by the one-month search that preceded the introduction of Dave Leitao as head coach, the restoration of Virginia men’s basketball has not been about quick fixes.

That has never been athletic director Craig Littlepage’s style, and the first 60 days of Leitao’s tenure have been marked by a commitment to the long haul.

“Sometimes, it feels like I’ve been here for one week — or just one long day — but then you start looking at the calendar,” said Leitao, who turned 45 last month.

“I thought I could use a lot of the experience from the transition I went through at DePaul, but what I’ve learned is, it’s two different animals. There are so many different avenues you need to drive down.”

Virginia is much more similar to Connecticut, the state university at which Leitao served as an assistant for 14 years, than it is to DePaul, a private Catholic school in Chicago.

“At DePaul, it was both good and bad that you had to share the spotlight with so many other teams,” Leitao said. “The entertainment dollar could be spread only so many ways. There was Northwestern, Notre Dame was next door and, of course, you had Illinois.”

And, that was just the colleges. There isn’t a major professional sports league in which Chicago doesn’t have at least one franchise.

“You could sometimes hide or not have to address certain things,” Leitao said. “Here, it’s the state university and people want to know a whole lot more.”

Attention has been focussed on Leitao’s efforts to put together a staff. His first two hires were ex-DePaul assistant Gene Cross and former Siena head coach Rob Lanier. An announcement on one-time Drexel head coach Steve Seymour, expected to fill a third full-time coaching spot, could come any day.

“It was more important to get it right” than get it done fast, Leitao said.

Said Littlepage: “That is an indication of his personality. He doesn’t rush into things. He doesn’t do things just to develop a resume or make a to-do list of items he can cross off.”

The records would suggest that Leitao took over a team sorely in need of an overhaul. The Cavaliers tied for 10th in an 11-team ACC in predecessor Pete Gillen’s seventh season and finished 14-15 overall.

Even if he had wanted, Leitao could not have enacted sweeping changes, however. Virginia has 11 scholarship players returning, none of them rising seniors. If Leitao had added another scholarship player this spring, that would have cut into the two scholarships U.Va. has available for 2006-2007, the year its new arena opens.

Besides, there were almost no recruits remaining who fit Virginia’s needs and academic profile. Moreover, many of the top juniors already had committed or narrowed their lists.

“You look at this league and almost everybody has something going on,” Leitao said, “and some guys are done already. We’re trying our best to play catch-up with the 2006 class.”

At least in recruiting, his model is Connecticut, where Leitao and boss Jim Calhoun arrived in 1985. That spring, three other Big East teams participated in the Final Four .

“It all started with the frustration of getting the fourth- or fifth-best player in the Eastern block of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut,” Leitao said. “We couldn’t go into the Catholic League and say to a first-team All-New York City player, 'You’ve got to come to Connecticut.’

“You were going to get left with the leftovers. The decision was made, 'Hey, let’s branch out. We’re not going to win the battle to sell Connecticut locally. Let’s win the battle to sell the Big East nationally.’ And, it worked.”

In the short period of time that Leitao has been in Charlottesville, he has heard the term “Virginia kid” to describe a prospect with good grades and a desire to enjoy a traditional college experience. U.Va.’s problem always has been that Duke and North Carolina attract the same kind of players.

“My success, or lack thereof, will be based on recruiting quality people, guys of character who have both talent and the ability to get better,” he said. “You’re not going to get high-quality recruits without fighting some real battles, and that includes Duke and North Carolina.”

In the short term, Leitao will have to make do with a roster that loses its top two scorers from last year, Devin Smith and Elton Brown. However, Brown slumped badly at the end of the season and the Cavaliers’ starting lineup in their final game consisted of a senior, two sophomores and two freshmen.

“If we can come together, then we’ll have two solid years to work on it and implement it without a whole lot of structural changes,” Leitao said. “The opposite is, if things don’t go so well, we’re stuck with one another. I think the former will be true. I think these guys are thirsty enough that they’ll want to go in a different direction.”

In a recent speaking engagement, Leitao said he had “grown to admire” J.R. Reynolds, a sophomore guard from Roanoke who snapped out of a late-season funk by scoring 32 points in Virginia’s 66-65 upset of Miami in the first round of the ACC tournament. The feeling, apparently, is mutual.

“He’s a great person,” Reynolds said. “I enjoy talking to him every day. I can talk to him about anything. His office is welcome any time he’s in there to all of his players.”

Three Virginia players were rehabbing from injuries this spring and did not participate in individual workouts with the new coaches. The ones who did, including Reynolds, found them considerably more intense than in the past.

“It’s full-speed all the time,” Reynolds said. “If you don’t go hard, you’ll do the drills over again. I enjoyed it.”

When he wasn’t recruiting, watching film or working out the players, Leitao was speaking to alumni groups and making the kind of impression that left Littlepage reassured with his choice.

“I would say, based on nearly two months, that he’s been everything I had hoped for and maybe a little bit more,” Littlepage said. “Whether it’s been with donors, student-athletes, department staff, university staff, the board of visitors or what have you, he’s been superb.”

Of course, this is the honeymoon stage. What will they think in five months, when Virginia is embarking on a schedule that includes early road trips to Arizona and Gonzaga?

“I feel like I’m getting to know him,” Reynolds said, “but part of me wants to wait until the season gets here to see how he really is as a coach.”

Chances are, the proof won’t come in one game or one month or even one season. That’s not how Leitao’s program is being built.

Cavaliers land N.J. tight end
From Staff Reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
June 17, 2005

Joe Torchia has considered himself a part of the Virginia football family for the past few weeks.

With the exception of some family members and the UVa coaching staff, no one else knew it.

Torchia, a 6-foot-5, 231-pound tight end from Queen of Peace High School in North Arlington, N.J., made a “silent commitment” to the program in May. He did so in order to gain extra time to inform the other schools that had been recruiting his services of his decision.

The silence was broken on Thursday.

Torchia confirmed to Mike Farrell of Rivals.com that he committed to play for UVa, becoming the fourth known commitment in the last six days and the fifth overall for the Class of 2006.

Over this past weekend, Virginia coach Al Groh received verbals from linebackers John-Kevin Dolce and Almondo Sewell and defensive tackle Asa Chapman. George Johnson committed to the program in February.

“[Virginia] had the academics I like, they have a good football program that throws the ball to the tight end and I really liked the coaches,” Torchia said. “I spoke to Coach Groh on a visit down there and he challenged me to ask people about Virginia as a university.

“I did my research, asked a lot of people and there was nothing that was wrong.”

Torchia, a rising senior in high school, has been ranked as one of the best tight end prospects in New Jersey and one of the best on the East coast. As a junior, Torchia caught 21 passes for 567 yards and six touchdowns.

Following his junior campaign, Torchia was named first-team all-Northern Jersey and second team All-State.

Torchia also played defensive end and logged 58 tackles, 9 sacks and forced a pair of fumbles.

While Torchia said his decision is final, he is planning a return visit to the university on Monday.

“UVa was No. 1 in every area I wanted,” he said. “They’re a great fit.”

Huguenot’s McFee says TE Epps is for real ... and has offers to prove it
Jersey boy likes 'Tight End U'
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

The word from Huguenot High School football coach Richard McFee is that he has never had a player with as many written offers as tight end-wide receiver Dedrick Epps — not even David Terrell, rated the No. 2 prospect in Virginia in 1997 behind Hampton quarterback Ronald Curry.

McFee said Friday that he and Epps (6-foot-4 1/2, 229 pounds) would be at Ohio State on Saturday and at Michigan on Sunday. According to McFee, Epps had just returned from Miami and Florida.

Epps has written offers from those two programs, McFee said, as well at Tennessee, LSU, South Carolina, Georgia, Illinois, Penn State, Michigan State, Purdue, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Morgan State and Massachusetts. If you’re counting, that’s 22 offers, 20 from Division I-A programs.

"There is nobody who has seen him on film who hasn’t offered him," McFee said. "The only [in-state] player who possibly could have more offers is Percy Harvin."

McFee originally called Friday to say that he had heard I was upset that McFee had pitched former Huguenot defensive back Sean Smalls when Smalls was only a Division I-AA recruit.

Smalls, rated the No. 21 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, signed with Division I-AA Massachusetts this past winter but had the opportunity to go Division I-A, McFee said Friday.

"I’ve always been square," McFee said. "I don’t promote kids just for the sake of promoting them."

Of course, there are occasions when talented players do not meet NCAA eligibility standards, "but that happens with everyone," McFee said.

Although he plays middle linebacker at Huguenot, Epps wants to play offense in college, either as a tight end or H-back. McFee discounted a published 40-yard time of 4.59 seconds and said Epps has run a 4.51. In addition, he has a 3.3 grade-point average and scored 1,280 on the SAT.

McFee was furious at the notion that Epps is the 16th-best prospect in Virginia, as he was rated by one service.

Another Huguenot player who has attracted Division I-A interest is Keymon Bailey, a 5-11, 180-pound tailback and kick returner who has offers from Purdue and Florida.

COACH BILL DEE at Phoebus High School in Hampton says that Virginia is not among the schools that have made scholarship offers to linebacker Matt Wright — a move that can be compared to the Cavaliers’ recruiting of Xavier Adibi earlier in UVa coach Al Groh’s tenure.

The word Dee got from UVa assistant Danny Rocco is that the Cavaliers liked their linebackers a little bigger than Wright, who is 6-2 and 215 pounds, but there is also the matter of family ties. Wright is the younger brother of ex-Phoebus quarterback D.J. Parker, now bucking for a starting spot in Tech’s secondary.

Virginia never got around to offering Adibi, instead asking him to notify them if he had legitimate interest in them. Adibi’s older brother, Nathaniel, had played for the Hokies, although the Adibi family insisted that Xavier was wide-open.

In any case, Dee said, Virginia asked Wright to come to Charlottesville last weekend for the Cavaliers’ elite senior day, but Wright had other plans. He already has offers from Tech, N.C. State, Northj Carolina, Miami and Syracuse.

The Cavaliers have made an offer to speedy Phoebus wideout Brett Vinson, whose 10 offers have come from the likes of Tech, UVa, North Carolina, N.C. State, Maryland, South Carolina and Miami. Vinson is a cousin of Tech defensive back Jimmy Williams and told Mike Farrell of rivals.com that he favors the Hokies.

Dee said that Phoebus defensive back DeNathian Robinson has Division I-A offers from Kent State and Marshall but is not being recruited as heavily as once anticipated, although he can improve his stock at one-day camps that Maryland and others are having.

AN ITEM IN THURSDAY’S College Notebook was misleading on the subject of Brandon Caleb, a wide receiver from Richmond by way of the undergraduate program at Fork Union Military Academy.

Virginia Tech is in Caleb’s final five and, according to my sources, the Hokies definitely are recruiting him as a wide receiver. The rest of Caleb’s top five is Florida, Miami, Oklahoma and Georgia Tech.

Caleb told Chris Horne of thesabre.com and techsidelines.com and techsideline.com that he had liked UVa’s practices but "it was too uptight" for him.

JOE TORCHIA, the South Arlington (N.J.) prospect who committed to Virginia on Thursday, said he was attracted by the Cavaliers’ reputation as Tight End U.

"Of course," said Torchia, a 6-5, 230-pound tight end and linebacker from Queen of Peace High School. "Who wouldn’t be, with Heath Miller going in the first round of the NFL Draft? I wouldn’t mind catching a few more balls."

Torchia, a 4.0 student with 1,060 on the SAT, said he had offers from Rutgers, Michigan State, Nebraska, Duke, Kansas, Maryland, Boston College and Akron.

BILLY MILES, venerable football coach at Franklin County High School, said he thinks Duke is close to offering the Eagles’ 6-3 1/2, 238-pound tight end, Wyn Sigmon, and that Wake Forest has expressed significant interest.

APOLOGIES go out to Heritage coach Chris Jones, last week listed in this space as the head coach at Brookville. It has been pointed out to me that Brookville has hired Jeff Woody, a former Division III All-America wide receiver at Hampden-Sydney.

McMULLEN KNOWS HIS TIME IS NOW
June 18, 2005
By ZACH BERMAN

The first-team offense was practicing, and Billy McMullen lined up at receiver. When he was drafted three seasons ago, the thought of McMullen practicing with the first team might have been expected.

But the Eagles offense is complicated and the depth chart was crowded for two years, so McMullen seldom saw action.

Things are different now.

Freddie Mitchell is gone, Terrell Owens didn't participate in the post-draft mini-camp or the June passing camp, so McMullen moved up in the rotation.

Entering his third season, McMullen is staring opportunity in the face.

With Owens and Todd Pinkston returning as starters, contributor Greg Lewis continuing to progress, second-round draft choice Reggie Brown improving by the day and Justin Jenkins coming on strong in his second season, the Eagles receiving corps is a challenge.

As a player who's been inactive more often than he's been active, McMullen is competing to wear his jersey on gameday, to contribute in any way he can.

"I feel a lot more comfortable. I've been working with the first squad and I have better feel for the offense. I'm just taking advantage of every opportunity," McMullen said. "I'm finding a niche in the offense. I'm focusing in on what I have to do and not focusing on other things outside of football. I'm really having fun with the game."

While McMullen's action has been limited, Eagles fans did see flashes of potential in last season's finale against the Bengals. With Owens sidelined and the division title already sealed, McMullen earned increased action. He notched two receptions for 19 yards -- a modest stat line, sure, but a step in the right direction.

The biggest of the competing quartet, McMullen's 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame makes him an intriguing talent. With Lewis known more for his speed and Brown still learning the offense, McMullen's size can be particularly effective through the middle and in the red zone -- the same role that Mitchell often filled.

But when Mitchell was released, McMullen did nothing different. He didn't work any harder, revel in increased opportunity or even think that it might give him a greater role.

McMullen simply continued what he's done since he arrived in Philadelphia as a third-round draft pick from Virginia -- trying to become a better football player.

"I kept doing the same thing," McMullen said. "I worked hard regardless of whether (Mitchell was) going to be here or not. You never know what's going to happen. Freddie made some clutch plays -- fourth and 26. So I just kept working hard."

The third-year player said that he feels comfortable with the playbook. He feels playing college football at Virginia -- where he's the Cavaliers' all-time leader in receptions and yards -- gave him a head start. UVa is coached by Al Groh, one-time head coach of the Jets. McMullen's offensive coordinator was Bill Musgrave, who ran the Eagles' offense for 10 games in 1998 and spent last season serving the same role for the Jaguars. Thus, McMullen felt he had an NFL head start.

But it still took him two seasons to get comfortable. And now, in his third passing camp, McMullen is preparing to emerge.

"I'm trying to put it all together now -- running routes, catching the balls, run after the catch, just know the game like the back of my hand," McMullen said. "Now it's time to step up and make plays. That's what I have to do to get on the field."

O'Connor stocking up on talent
UVa. baseball going to the grocery store
Inside ACC Nation
Chris Graham
chris@augustafreepress.com

Brian O'Connor knows what he needs to do to get the Virginia baseball program to the next level.

To borrow from Virginia football coach Al Groh, he's got to make another visit or two to the grocery store.

"I really love the recruiting class that we have coming in. It's really more an offensive-type recruiting class. Last year was more pitching. This year's is more an offensive class," O'Connor told the "ACC Nation" radio show last week.

The star of the class is Grandview Prep (Margate, Fla.) shortstop David Adams, who was listed as the sixth-best prospect coming out of high school by Baseball America and had been projected as a first-round draft pick prior to his commitment to Virginia.

Adams fell all the way to the 21st round, where he was taken by the Detroit Tigers - who reportedly are willing to pay him first- or second-round money to sign.

O'Connor said he is "confident" that Adams, who carried a 4.0 grade-point average at Grandview Prep, will be in Charlottesville in the fall.

Other top recruits include Jeremy Farrell, a third baseman from Westlake, Ohio, and a pitcher, Shooter Hunt, a Wyckoff, N.J., product who went in the 34th round of the Major League draft by Texas.

The mix of power and pitching help is what O'Connor said his squad will need to get over its first-round NCAA tournament woes.

"The area that we really need to improve on is the offensive part of the game," said O'Connor, whose team scored 371 runs in 2005, eighth in the 11-team Atlantic Coast Conference.

"The pitching is here and installed in the program now. We need to get better from the offensive standpoint," O'Connor said.

The pitching - the Cavs' 2.74 team earned-run average was tops in the league by .43 runs per nine innings - is what sparked the stretch drive that took the program from the brink of not qualifying for the postseason to a second seed in the Corvallis Regional.

"I'm very proud of what we ended up accomplishing," O'Connor said. "We had a fairly young team this year. Out of the 32 guys in our clubhouse, 16 of our players were new to the program from last year. We knew that we'd struggle early on until these young kids got adapted to ACC baseball.

"The turning point to our season was when we were 5-10 at one point in the league after we'd played the second game at Clemson. We won that third game at Clemson and went 9-4 in our last 13 ACC games. And that was against Georgia Tech, Florida State, Miami and Duke. We put it together at the end, and I was very proud of what we ended up doing in the ACC tournament, getting to the championship game. I was proud of where we came from throughout the entire season," O'Connor said.

 

Cavs add a punter to recruiting class
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Jun 21, 2005

CHARLOTTESVILLE --Chris Gould will face some unexpected competition for the starting punter's job at the University of Virginia this season.

The Cavaliers have added an 11th-hour recruit to their incoming class for football: punter Ryan Weigand, a junior college transfer from Pasadena, Calif.

A 6-2, 190-pound rising sophomore, Weigand met NCAA academic standards coming out of high school and so will be eligible immediately at U.Va. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

Weigand averaged 40.3 yards on 55 punts last season for Pasadena City College. Twelve were downed inside the opponent's 20-yard line. He also kicked off for Pasadena.

Gould, a rising sophomore from Lock Haven, Pa., took over as the Cavaliers' No. 1 punter late last season. He appeared in three games and averaged 38.6 yards per punt.

In 2006, Gould is expected to replace Connor Hughes as Virginia's kicker. Hughes, an All-America candidate, is a rising senior. --Jeff White
 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Jun 17, 2005

ON THE GRIDIRON: U.Va.'s fifth commitment for 2006 is from Joe Torchia, a rising senior at Queen of Peace High, a Catholic school in North Arlington, N.J. The 6-5, 230-pound tight end chose Virginia over Boston College and Maryland.

In all, Torchia said, he had nine scholarship offers. "It was getting kind of hectic," he said of the recruiting process, "and I feel very confident in and very comfortable with my decision."

Two tight ends from U.Va. - first-rounder Heath Miller and seventh-rounder Patrick Estes - were selected in April's NFL draft, and that made the Cavaliers especially attractive to Torchia.

"You know they throw to the tight ends," he said.

As a junior, Torchia had 21 receptions for 567 yards and six touchdowns. He also played defensive end and recorded nine sacks.

Of the players who have committed to Virginia for '06, three are from Jersey and one is from New York.

UPWARDLY MOBILE: After placing 30th in the Directors' Cup race for the 2003-04 school year - a showing that matched its worst ever - Virginia almost certainly will finish in the top 20 for 2004-05.

In the standings released June 2, U.Va. (560 points) ranked 20th among Division I schools. The Directors' Cup competition reflects schools' success in NCAA postseason play, and Virginia is yet to receive points for its performances in men's lacrosse, men's tennis, men's golf and baseball.

U.Va. advanced to the NCAA semifinals in men's lacrosse and to the NCAA quarterfinals in men's tennis. The men's golf team qualified for the NCAA regionals, and the baseball team returned to the NCAA tourney.

The school's best showings this spring came in women's lacrosse and women's rowing. U.Va. was NCAA runner-up in each sport.

Virginia finished 19th in the 2002-03 Directors' Cup standings. The school's top efforts: eighth place in 1998-99 and 13th in 1999-2000.

NEW KIDS IN TOWN: New men's basketball coach Dave Leitao said his team's incoming freshmen - 6-10 Sam Warren, 6-8 Laurynas Mikalauskas and 6-5 Mamadi Diane - will enroll in summer school at U.Va. early next month. Virginia will have 11 scholarship players in 2005-06, five of whom are 6-8 or taller: Warren, Mikalauskas, 6-8 Donte Minter, 6-10 Jason Cain and 6-10 Tunji Soroye.

That group can expect to spend a lot of time with Steve Seymour, whom Leitao recently hired as an assistant.

"He's got a very, very good reputation with working with the big guys," Leitao said, "so we'll put him in charge of that, knowing our big guys have to get better."

Cain started seven games and Soroye started two last season. Minter started three games in 2003-04 but was bothered by injuries all last season. The three of them combined to average 4.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in 2004-05.

CAREER CHANGE: Former U.Va. assistant Scott Shepherd recently stepped down as basketball coach at Ferrum College and is now working as a realtor in Charlottesville. Shepherd, who left Virginia after the 2003-04 season, inherited an inexperienced team at Ferrum. The Panthers, whose roster included six freshmen and four sophomores, finished 7-19 in 2004-05.

MATRICULATING? Football recruit Branden Albert said Wednesday that he's planning to report to U.Va. on July 6. A 6-7, 310-pound offensive lineman from Glen Burnie, Md., Albert spent the 2004-05 school year at Hargrave Military Academy, where he played for the postgraduate team.

Albert said he received a qualifying standardized-test score during his stay at Hargrave. He believes he's met NCAA eligibility standards and will be admitted to Virginia. He's awaiting word, though, from the NCAA Clearinghouse.

ALUMNI UPDATE: The Colorado Crush won its first Arena Football League title last weekend, edging the Georgia Force 51-58 in ArenaBowl XIX at Las Vegas. Former U.Va. wideout and cornerback Ahmad Hawkins was named defensive player of the game.

Hawkins, a Hampton High graduate who plays defensive back and receiver for the Crush, had two tackles, including one for loss, recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass. He also caught three passes for 11 yards.

Colorado's roster also includes former U.Va. defensive lineman Maurice Anderson, a Nottoway High product. Anderson, a two-way lineman for the Crush, sat out the 2004 season with a knee injury. He's a part-time starter who pressured the Force's QB into a sack.

Anderson also has a Super Bowl ring. He was on the New England Patriots' practice squad for most of the 2001 season, including the playoffs. In Super Bowl XXXVI, New England edged St. Louis 20-17 at New Orleans. - Jeff White

Sports Focus: Jason Clark
Not looking back Former Virginia forward won't play the 'what if' game; instead he's working toward pro career
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Jun 15, 2005

He didn't run away and hide.

After the University of Virginia suspended him in January for poor grades, ending a college basketball career that had begun with great promise, Jason Clark remained in Charlottesville and continued to show up at University Hall for games.

In the stands, in street clothes, Clark cheered on the Cavaliers, especially classmates Devin Smith and Elton Brown. He declined interview requests, but Clark even turned up for Senior Night, which many figured might be an occasion too painful for him to attend.

"I didn't view it like that," said Clark, a 6-8, 240-pound forward. "I'm close with Devin and Elton, and I was there to celebrate their last game. There was nothing I could change."

Clark's focus remains on the future, but now he is comfortable talking about the past. He realizes his dismissal from the team contributed heavily to U.Va.'s woes in 2004-05 and may have hastened the departure of Pete Gillen. At season's end, Gillen stepped down under pressure after seven seasons as Virginia's coach.

"Whatever happened with the coaching staff and the end of the season, I take full responsibility for that," said Clark, who left Charlottesville and moved back to his hometown of Virginia Beach in late April. "With me not being there, it put some players in positions they'd never been before."

A team captain, Clark was the Cavaliers' strongest, toughest and most athletic post player. He ranks fifth in career blocked shots at U.Va., with 112, and started 47 games in his college career. As a senior, he averaged 6.7 points and 5.2 rebounds, but statistics didn't accurately reflect his importance to the team.

The Cavaliers (14-15) finished under .500 for the first time since 1998-99, Gillen's first season as their coach.

"Who knows what would have happened if I'd played?" Clark said. "[Gillen] didn't have the players out there on the court he wanted to have, and that's tough for any coach, having to adjust halfway through the season, especially in the ACC."

Clark, 22, spent several days in Richmond recently for the VCU SportsCenter Showcase, auditioning for scouts from various professional leagues. He made the most of the opportunity. In four games at the Siegel Center, Clark averaged 15.5 points and 10 rebounds and shot 79.4 percent from the floor.

He plans to be back in town this summer for the Greater Richmond Pro-Am, after which he's expected to embark on a pro career. Clark is likely to play overseas in 2005-06, said his Richmond-based agent, George Christopher of L'Impresa.

Clark called his time at U.Va. a "great experience. I made a lot of great friends. I played for a good coaching staff, and we had a lot of fun."

In the classroom, however, he often struggled, and his academic problems took a toll on Gillen's program.

In 2003-04, Clark was academically ineligible for the first semester and couldn't practice with the team during that period.

Clark said he needs another semester to complete work on his degree in anthropology. He's not sure what he must do to gain re-admission, but said he hopes to graduate from U.Va. as soon as possible.

"I started at Virginia," he said, "so I'm going to finish up at Virginia."