Athletic Wallace bolsters '07 class
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
June 23, 2006

HAMPDEN-SYDNEY - There is about 30 seconds of music on the outgoing message of Eric Wallace’s cell phone.

Wallace’s selection? Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries.

How appropriate.

Right about now that would be the perfect song for the Virginia coaching staff to be blaring at high decibels as they rejoice.

Late Wednesday night, the staff scored big when Wallace, a 6-foot-7 swingman from Kernersville, N.C., verbally committed to UVa. Wallace joins Sam Zeglinski, a point guard from Philadelphia, in the class of 2007.

Virginia beat out the likes of Florida, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Connecticut for Wallace’s services.

“They recruited me for about four months - not very long at all - but they did all the right things,” Wallace told the The Sabre. “They established a good relationship with me. I got up there and visited the campus, met with the coaches and saw how well they’ve bonded. I went to two games. They just showed a lot of interest and they are good guys, so I felt comfortable.”

Of all the recruits who Coach Dave Leitao has secured in his brief tenure, Wallace - who made his announcement at the Five Star Camp at Hampden-Sydney College - may have the greatest potential.

The senior, who will attend Hargrave Military Academy this season, averaged 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists for Glenn High School last season.

“He runs and jumps like a fifth-year NBA pro,” said Howard Garfinkel, the founder of Five Star. “He’s the best athlete on the planet. You can’t be a better athlete than him. Now he’s got to learn to put it all together, take the right shots, learn how to play.”

At Virginia’s Elite Camp last weekend, Wallace put on a show. He electrified a sparse crowd on hand at University Hall with an array of dunks. He also displayed a sweet jumper.

Wallace is only rated as a 3-out-of-5-star prospect and the 105th-best player in his class by Rivals.com. But several people who have seen him play say that is way too low.

“He could potentially be within the top 10 recruits in the country if he works on his game,” Garfinkel said. “No question.”

Wallace’s athletic ability is what sets him apart from just about everybody, according to Tom Konchalski of HSBI Report, a recruiting service.

“He’s an extraterrestrial athlete - he has off-the-chart athleticism,” Konchalski said. “He’s got a great body - chiseled out of granite - and he plays with a lot of energy. What he has to do is freshen up his perimeter skill set and also improve his understanding of the game.

“I think right now he’s probably relying on his tremendous athleticism to get him where he is. He needs to work on his ball handling and his ability to get his jump shot on balance.”

Wallace, according to Konchalski, possesses a pretty nice X-factor.

“He’s an extremely bright kid - 4.0 [GPA] and 1630 on his SAT - and really wants to become a good player,” he said. “He has the potential to be a big-time player.”

With Wallace and Zeglinski now in the fold, Konchalski said Virginia’s 2007 class is shaping up nicely.

“Zeglinski is more of a piano carrier,” said Konchalski, referring to the guard’s playmaking skills. “Wallace is more of a piano player.”

Virginia has one scholarship remaining for 2007. Sources say the Cavs would love to give it to Patrick Patterson, a 6-8 post player from West Virginia. However, the competition for Patterson, as it was for Wallace, is fierce, and Patterson isn’t expected to make his choice for several months.

But the addition of Wallace, who played on the same team as Patterson and Zeglinski at the Elite Camp, should only help Virginia’s chances.

Wallace, ex-Glenn star, commits to Virginia
Wake Forest, UNC, UConn had also shown interest
By John Dell
JOURNAL REPORTER

Eric Wallace, a former basketball star at Glenn High School, has committed to play at Virginia.

Wallace confirmed his decision yesterday afternoon.

"I've decided on Virginia," he said in a short phone interview after reports had surfaced on the Internet and in The Daily Progress in Charlottesville, Va.

Wallace, a 6-6 senior, will play his final season of high-school basketball at Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Va. He was expected to announce his commitment before an all-star game at Hampden-Sydney College last night.

Wallace averaged 16.4 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.8 steals last season.

Wallace was named the winner of the Winston-Salem Journal's Frank Spencer Award. He won that award the past two years.

Wallace was an explosive athlete at Glenn, with 1,208 points and 636 rebounds in his three seasons on the varsity.

Coach Lee Reavis of Glenn said that he hadn't talked to Wallace about his decision but was happy for his former star player.

"Some of the guys were telling me that's where he's going, and if Eric and his family feels like that's a good fit academically and basketball-wise, then I'm sure he'll do just fine there," Reavis said.

Wallace was a recruiting target of several schools, according to Reavis, including Wake Forest, North Carolina, Connecticut, Florida and Louisville.

Reavis said that Wallace has a grade point average around 3.8 and that adjusting to the academic rigors of Virginia shouldn't be a problem.

"He's top 10 in his class academically," Reavis said. "So, he'll do just fine there. As far as the basketball part of it, I'm sure he wants to be one of the pillars of that program as it continues to climb."

Wallace was a standout for the Bobcats as a freshman, and after his sophomore season he shared the Spencer Award with Jarvis Jackson of North Forsyth. Jackson now plays at Appalachian State.

Wallace is the second member of Virginia's 2007 class. Point guard Sam Zeglinski from William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia committed last fall.



 

Hurley hoping for rare win on Virginia turf
By Nick Hahn / Daily Progress correspondent
June 23, 2006

Former basketball standout Bobby Hurley hopes his 3-year-old colt can do what many of his Duke squads didn’t, win in Virginia. Although he played during Duke’s most successful and visible eras between 1990 and 1993, only once in four tries could Hurley celebrate victory on the home floor of the University of Virginia.

Hurley’s 3-year-old colt, Stream Cat, is the 7-2 favorite in Saturday’s $1 million Colonial Turf Cup at Colonial Downs that will be broadcasted live on ESPNews. Post time for the first leg of the $5 million Jacobs Investments Grand Slam of Grass is 5:40 p.m.

“We did not have a lot of success in Charlottesville,” Hurley said. “I never had a good game there individually, and we never played well as a team there.”

Hurley remembers his sophomore trip to University Hall as one of the worst days of his life. After a loss and a 4 ˝-hour bus ride home, Coach Mike Krzyzewski led his Blue Devils off the bus and into Cameron Indoor Stadium for a impromptu practice. Teammate Grant Hill had his nose broken during that practice.

It wouldn’t be the first time Hurley has returned to the homestate of one of Duke’s rivals with a promising 3-year-old. In 2001, Hurley’s Songandaprayer ran in the Kentucky Derby.

“I had that apprehension about Kentucky too, but Kentucky fans dealt with that pretty well,” said Hurley about Songandaprayer’s Derby outing. “It was a tremendous experience, but I knew it was trouble when he went out too fast. He really cut out some quick fractions.”

Hurley’s interest in racing began when he started going to Monmouth Park while playing in the NBA for the New Jersey Nets. After his NBA career ended, he purchased two horses in 1999 and currently has eight thoroughbreds training as part of a stable that generally fluctuates between six and 12.

“I began to enjoy racing at Monmouth and then started to follow the Triple Crown, the Breeders’ Cup and the bigger stakes races with hopes of someday participating in them,” Hurley said.

In a short period of time, the former point guard has become quite knowledgeable of horse racing. He has partnered with John Dowd, the retired trainer that saddled Songandaprayer in Louisville, and bloodstock agent Jack Goldthorpe to create Derby Dream Stable. The trio purchased Stream Cat for $120,000 when Hurley thought that Stream Cat stood out physically and had a “good pedigree page” at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale in 2004.

The following year Hurley returned to Keeneland hoping to sell Stream Cat but never received an offer to meet the sales price. Trainer Patrick Biancone had inquired about the colt but the two sides didn’t come to terms on the purchase. Hurley appreciated Biancone’s interest in the colt and offered the son of Black Minnaloushe to Biancone to train. Stream Cat is the only horse Biancone currently trains for Hurley, but more may be on the way.

Before Stream Cat, Hurley’s prior racing interest had been almost exclusively on the dirt, but with Biancone’s European turf background, the turf was always an option.

Racing at Saratoga last summer, Stream Cat had a disappointing result in his first start on dirt, finishing fifth. Later in the meet, Stream Cat broke his maiden in the $67,000 With Anticipation Stakes on the turf.

“After the Saratoga stake, we saw the capabilities he had of becoming a very good grass horse,” Hurley said.

However, Hurley’s dirt preference temporarily prevailed when Stream Cat returned to the dirt and won the $100,000 Kentucky Cup Juvenile (gr. III) at Turfway Park on his way to the $2 million Bessener Trust Breeder’s Cup Juvenile (gr. I). With an unfavorable trip right out of the starting gate, Stream Cat finished eighth.

“He received an injury in the Breeder’s Cup,” Biancone said. “He had a chip in his knee and it was too short to go to the Triple Crown. When we saw the two big races at Colonial, we started to prepare for that.”

In his first 2006 start, jockey Julien Leparoux hustled Stream Cat to catch Go Between, also entered on Saturday, at the wire in the $200,000 Crown Royal American Turf (gr. IIIT) at Churchill Downs. Three weeks later at Lone Star Park, Stream Cat, again with Leparoux aboard, prevailed in the $150,000 Pin Oak Stud USA Stakes, making him undefeated in his three turf starts. Leparoux returns to ride Stream Cat on Saturday.

“We’re happy he was able to come off the bench and win like he did,” Hurley said. “He was able to win at Lone Star although we really didn’t think he liked the soft track. I think that says a lot about him.”

In this trip to Virginia, Hurley won’t have to match up against Cavaliers or even Monarchos, the 2001 Kentucky Derby winner that beat Songandaprayer.

He’s part of a team that will send the favorite against the best 3-year-old turf colts in the country.

“Obviously, it will be a very competitive field,” Hurley said. “I’m not sure that we’ve come up on a strategy yet for this race.”

With three Final Four appearances and two NCAA championships, Hurley’s teams know what it’s like being the one to beat. He’s bound to come up with something.


 

Defense gets load of new evidence
Durham rape case is called shaky
Benjamin Niolet and Anne Blythe, Staff Writers

DURHAM - District Attorney Mike Nifong on Thursday handed more than 536 pages of rape-case evidence, and a defense lawyer immediately said the new material casts more doubt on the charges against three Duke University lacrosse players.
Lawyer Joseph B. Cheshire V said after a court hearing that the documents, which bring the evidence divulged by Nifong to a total of 1,814 pages, contain a reference to the accuser saying she was raped by five people. Defense motions have pointed out that the woman has given different accounts of how many men she said raped her after an escort service sent her to dance at a March 13 team party.

"We've got none, we've got three, we've got five, we've got 20. I mean, pick a number -- any number you want to pick," Cheshire told reporters outside the courtroom. "She's told so many different stories I'm not sure how many there are."

Defense lawyers have declined News & Observer requests for copies of the evidence, and Cheshire did not make them available Thursday. An investigator in Nifong's office called into question Cheshire's claims Thursday.

When Cheshire told reporters that the woman claimed five people attacked her, investigator Linwood Wilson asked Cheshire to show him that page in the evidence.

"You're welcome to come get it," Cheshire said.

"Yeah, I'd love to see it," Wilson said.

Wilson walked away, and Cheshire continued talking with reporters.

Cheshire said half or three-quarters of the pages are copies of information already provided. But the new pages refer to a previously unknown police lineup -- the second in which the accuser could not identify a team captain charged in the case as one of her attackers, Cheshire said.

In one lineup, the woman said she recognized David Evans, 23, of Bethesda, Md.; Collin Finnerty, 19, of Garden City, N.Y.; and Reade Seligmann, 20, of Essex Fells, N.J. All three have been charged with rape, sexual offense and kidnapping.

Defense attorneys had requested a lengthy list of evidence from Nifong that state law entitles the defense to receive. In most other cases, the court appearance would have been informal and routine. But with dozens of reporters and spectators watching, Nifong went over the defense requests individually. The prosecutor said the new evidence should answer most outstanding questions. The defense lawyers were not satisfied.

They still wanted toxicology reports on the accuser, who police first thought was drunk when they found her after the party. Nifong said on his way out of court that he had no report to turn over. The lawyers also awaited records from a Durham detoxification center, where the woman first reported she was raped. Nifong said that he is waiting for the record but that it would be only a single-page log.

Also Thursday, Superior Court Judge Ronald Stephens reduced Seligmann's bond from $400,000 to $100,000. And he refused to entertain a request by The News & Observer to make public the accuser's medical records. Attorneys for Seligmann and Evans filed the records under seal out of caution that they not violate the accuser's privacy rights but asked that the judge open them.

The newspaper's lawyers cited the long history and practice of open courts in asking for the seal to be broken, but the judge refused to grant a hearing on the issue and did not explain why.

'Rodeo cowboy'

After the last round of indictments, Nifong stopped commenting publicly about the case, while defense lawyers stepped up their attack through court filings. Nifong's silence is occasionally broken by an off-the-cuff remark.

Before the hearings Thursday, Nifong walked up to Susan Filan, a legal analyst for MSNBC who was sitting in the courtroom gallery. Filan, a former prosecutor, once characterized Nifong as a "rodeo cowboy" on the air, but Thursday she had asked for an interview with him.

Nifong told her this: "Two words: rodeo cowboy."

"When he came out and said, 'Two words,' I stood up. I thought he was going to grant me an interview," Filan said.

The rancor that has simmered between Nifong and defense lawyers, particularly Cheshire, seeped out in court again. When responding to a request from Evans' lawyers, Nifong said that the legal team had asked for something that didn't exist.

"People who don't do a lot of rape cases probably don't know that," Nifong said.

"It made me feel really good that he would help me along in that way and try to give me some pointers," Cheshire said after the hearing.

The three players have another court appearance set for the week of July 17. A trial date could be set then.