Singletary in a 'good situation'
UVa star happy after Sixers workout
By Andy Jasner / Special to the Daily Progress
June 16, 2007

PHILADELPHIA - The process can be agonizing, especially for a player who has not hired an agent and holds the option of returning to school.
Sean Singletary doesn’t view it that way.
Singletary, who has one year of eligibility remaining at Virginia, has until Monday at midnight to decide whether he’s remaining in the NBA Draft or returning for his senior year with the Cavaliers.
After his workout with the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday, the fourth stop he’s made since the pre-draft camp in Orlando, Fla., he’s just continuing to have fun.
“For me, it’s a win-win situation,” Singletary said after a one-hour workout at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, the Sixers’ practice facility. “I’ve got a great situation at Virginia. I also feel good about the way my workouts are going. I’ll talk it over with my family. But either way, it’s a good situation.”
Singletary participated in the workout along with former Villanova guard Mike Nardi, Ohio State guard Daequan Cook, who has only played one season of college basketball, and Australian guard Brad Newley.
The players displayed a number of individual skills, then competed in various two-on-two sequences.
The Sixers are particularly interested because they have three picks in the first round of the June 28 draft - Nos. 12, 21 and 30 - as well as a second-round selection at No. 38.
“Sean is a scoring point guard, a very talented player and very athletic,” said Sixers vice president of basketball operations Tony DiLeo. “In the NBA, he’ll have to work more on learning the point guard spot, but he has a lot of talent.”
Singletary displayed that talent as a junior by averaging 19.0 points per game, tied for second in the ACC. The Cavaliers finished 21-11 (11-5), and earned a share of the league’s regular-season title.
He has scored 20 or more points 27 times during his three years while starting all 90 games.
Is it enough to land Singletary in the first round?
He has received mixed reviews since the pre-draft camp in Orlando. There are no guarantees what will happen on draft night.
The last Virginia player to leave school early was Roger Mason Jr. in 2002 and he wasn’t taken until the second pick in the second round, No. 31 overall. He spent time with the Toronto Raptors and Chicago Bulls then played overseas before reappearing with the Washington Wizards this season.
“It’s been tough at times,” Singletary said. “It’s my first time experiencing all of this. I’m a junior, so whatever happens, happens. It’s a blessing to be working out with the Sixers. I’ve just got to take it all in stride.”
Working out for the Sixers was especially satisfying for Singletary, who was raised in Philadelphia and attended high school at Penn Charter.
“It’s really nice,” Singletary said. “I watched the Sixers growing up. It’s an opportunity to come back and work out for them. It felt pretty good. It would definitely be a blessing to play for them. To put that jersey on would be really nice.”
While the Monday deadline is looming, Singletary still has a workout scheduled with the Miami Heat on Saturday. Between now and Monday, he’ll be making one of the most important basketball decisions of his life.
But he isn’t fazed at all.
“I’ve got the confidence I’ll make it [to the NBA] whether it’s now or later,” Singletary said. “Like I said, I’ve got to talk it over with my family and I’ve got to work it all out.”
 

Virginia hosts horde of top recruits
Benedictine's Davis a no-show
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 16, 2007

It was about this time last year when Eric Wallace participated in Virginia’s Elite Camp at University Hall.

Shortly after the camp’s conclusion, the electrifying swingman from Hargrave Military Academy gave a verbal commitment to UVa, despite the fact the Cavaliers’ coaching staff hadn’t been recruiting him very long.

Wallace wound up reneging on his commitment and choosing Ohio State, but the episode showed the value of hosting a two-day camp featuring some of the top high school prospects in the nation.

This weekend, the Virginia coaching staff will have another chance to reel in some of that talent when the Elite Camp reconvenes. This time, they’re hoping nobody leaves them in the lurch like Wallace did.

The staff’s job could be a little easier this year since they have the sparkling John Paul Jones Arena to show off.

Potential targets include Deshawn Painter, a 6-foot-9 junior center from Booker T. Washington High in Norfolk, and Melvin Tabb, a 6-8 sophomore power forward from Enloe High in Raleigh, N.C.

Virginia has already extended a scholarship offer to Painter, who is also considering Louisville.

An estimated 75 percent of the campers in attendance will go on to play Division I basketball.

Incoming UVa freshmen Sam Zeglinski, Jeff Jones, Mustapha Farrakhan and Mike Scott will also be taking part in the camp, which will feature a speech from Miami Heat coach Pat Riley this evening.

Benedictine star Ed Davis, Virginia’s prime recruiting target for 2008, took part in last year’s camp. On Friday, Davis told The Daily Progress that he won’t be attending this year’s camp or the NBA Top 100 Camp at JPJ scheduled for next week, because of a commitment to a USA Basketball event in Colorado.

“I’m just looking forward to trying something new,” Davis said.

Davis said nothing has changed regarding his interest in Virginia, despite a visit to Connecticut earlier this week.

“It just helped me figure out where I’m at,” Davis said of the visit. “My top three are UVa, UNC and UConn. Right now there’s no favorite.”

However, Davis revealed that he will not be waiting until the fall to make his decision, which was his original plan.

“I can be free, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “I won’t have to worry about people always calling me and always asking, ‘Where are you going?’”
 

Four guards show their stuff in Sixers workout
By Marc Narducci
Inquirer Staff Writer
JOHN COSTELLO / Inquirer Staff Photographer

Ohio State freshman guard Daequan Cook gave his itinerary for next week, which also gave away his decision whether to stay in the NBA draft or return to college.
Cook was one of four guards who had a predraft workout yesterday with the 76ers. He was joined by Villanova's Mike Nardi, Virginia's Sean Singletary of Penn Charter, and Brad Newley of Australia.

Because he hasn't hired an agent, Cook could withdraw from the draft by Monday's deadline and return to Ohio State.

Except that the 6-foot-5 Cook has workouts scheduled for Utah, Golden State, San Antonio and Miami next week. He then said the obvious - that he was staying in the draft.

"I will sign with coach [Mike] Conley Monday or Tuesday of next week," Cook said.

Coach Conley is Mike Conley Sr., the former Olympic track star who is now serving as an agent.

Cook, who averaged just 9.8 points for Ohio State, is still considered a potential first-round pick. The Sixers have three first-round picks - 12, 21 and 30 - but Cook appears a better fit for a team that doesn't need immediate help, allowing his game to develop.

"He is an extremely talented player who has the ability to shoot the ball and has good athletic ability, and that is a hard combination to find," said Tony DiLeo, the Sixers' senior vice president of basketball operations. "He just has to work on other parts of the game, like defense and putting the ball on the floor, and he is just learning the game."

Cook, who turned 20 in April, said the fact that fellow Ohio State freshman center Greg Oden - the likely first pick - and point guard Mike Conley Jr. were in the draft had no bearing on his decision.

"I just felt confident enough in my ability to declare for the draft," Cook said. "It wasn't what they did."

While Cook has declared his intentions, Singletary isn't showing his hand. The 5-11 point guard maintains that he doesn't know whether he will return for his senior year at Virginia.

"It's a win-win situation, no matter what I do," Singletary said. "I'm not torn between the two."

Singletary averaged 19 points for Virginia last season. His assist-to-turnover ratio wasn't impressive, averaging 4.7 assists and 3.1 turnovers.

"Sean is a scoring point guard and a very talented player, very athletic," DiLeo said. "In the NBA, he has to work more on learning the point guard spot."

Singletary isn't projected to go in the first round, which may factor into his decision.

Notes. Yesterday was Nardi's first NBA workout. He will attend a European league camp in Italy and said he also hoped to hook up with an NBA summer league team. . . . The 6-6 Newley, who pulled out of last year's draft, said he would remain in the draft this time. He averaged 22.1 points last season in the NBL, Australia's premier pro league. . . . Today, the Sixers will work out Georgia Tech point guard Javaris Crittenton (a potential lottery pick), USC guard-forward Nick Young, UCLA guard Arron Afflalo, and Fresno State forward Dominic McGuire.

 

U. Va. or NBA for Virginia's Sean Singletary?
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© June 16, 2007

If anyone would know, you would think it would be Jim Phillips.

Phillips, the coach at Philadelphia's Penn Charter High, laughed. He knows nothing, he said. Though he spoke to Sean Singletary on Wednesday, he doesn't know if the Virginia point guard is coming back to school or leaving his name in the pool of underclassmen eligible for the NBA draft.

"If you asked me two weeks ago, it looked like he was going," Phillips, Singletary's high school coach, said Thursday night. "I spoke to him yesterday, and he was in class."

Does that mean Singletary, a two-time All-ACC selection and arguably the best Virginia player since Bryant Stith, is returning for his senior year? Or is he just covering his bases?

Virginia fans want to know. They have been burning up a popular Internet message board with speculation, and with pleas for Singletary to stay. Expect more of the same during what will be a long weekend for the Cavaliers faithful. Singletary has until Monday to withdraw from the draft.

The 5-foot-11 guard has not been granting interviews, though he did speak briefly to the Philadelphia Inquirer, saying he's been "taking all the information in and will sit down and discuss everything with my family." Singletary was scheduled to work out for the 76ers on Friday and for another NBA team over the weekend.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao declined comment through a University spokesman. Singletary's mother, Jacqui, did not return a phone message left at her home.

Singletary has worked out for a half-dozen NBA teams, at his own expense, and also participated in the league's pre-draft camp in Orlando. Underclassmen are allowed to go through the evaluation process and then return to school if they do not sign with an agent.

Various mock drafts have Singletary being selected either late in the second round or not at all. Nbadraft.net has him going 57th, behind eight other point guards.

"He's probably a 45 to 60 draft pick," said one NBA scout, who spoke on condition of anonymity because scouts are not allowed to comment publicly on underclassmen. "The question is, if he comes back next year, is he a 25 to 35?"

The main knock on Singletary is his size. At 5-11, he's small for an NBA guard. He's also not a pure playmaker, the scout said.

"He's a heck of a player, he's an awesome kid, he's a winner," the scout said. "But you're either good enough or you're not. He could stay at Virginia 47 more years or he could leave right now and he's probably the same player."

One concern Singletary might have is how good the Cavaliers will be next season, the scout said. His backcourt mate, J.R. Reynolds, has graduated, as has starting forward Jason Cain. Singletary will be the lone returning star on a team that will feature 10 freshmen and sophomores.

"They'll be young and he'll be the focal point," the scout said. "If he's double- and tripled-teamed, it might not be worth it."

With Singletary and Rey-nolds leading the way, Virginia finished tied with North Carolina at the top of the ACC standings with an 11-5 conference record last year. The Cavaliers finished 21-11 overall and reached the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2001. Virginia fell to Tennessee in the second round.

With Reynolds already gone, Virginia could drop into the second half of the ACC standings if Singletary decides to leave as well. Singletary averaged 19 points, 4.7 assists and 4.6 rebounds. No other returning player averaged in double figures.

Phillips said that, selfishly, he hopes Singletary returns so he can play with another Penn Charter graduate, incoming freshman Sam Zeglinski. But he added that he wants what's best for his former player. He also predicted that Singletary would find a way to prove his doubters wrong.

"In Sean's case, it's just a matter of when," he said. "There is no doubt in my mind that one day he'll be in the NBA. The only question is what route he takes."

It's the question Virginia fans are eager to have answered.
 

Duke prosecutor says he will resign
By AARON BEARD - Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. --
Mike Nifong's job as district attorney will soon be over, ended by his ill-fated pursuit of the now-debunked Duke lacrosse rape case. But a panel of peers still must decide whether he can continue to practice law.
Mixing expressions of remorse and admissions of guilt with proclamations of ignorance, the veteran prosecutor tearfully said Friday he would resign as district attorney. The decision will likely end a three-decade legal career in Durham County that will forever be remembered for his disastrous prosecution of the three former lacrosse players falsely accused of rape.

"I will go to my grave being associated with this case. And that's OK," Nifong said. "Whatever mistakes I made in this case were my mistakes. But they're not all the ones that the bar says I made, but they are my mistakes."

Nifong's sudden announcement from the witness stand at his ethics trial, where he stands accused of breaking myriad rules governing professional conduct, stunned his staff in Durham and his own attorneys. They had insisted for weeks their client had no plans to leave the office he was elected to for the first time in November.

"It has become increasingly apparent, during the course of this week, in some ways that it might not have been before, that my presence as the district attorney in Durham is not furthering the cause of justice," Nifong said, adding later: "My community has suffered enough."

During an afternoon of sometimes brutal testimony, Nifong acknowledged he was likely to be punished by a disciplinary committee for maybe getting "carried away a little bit" when talking about the case. He said he regretted some of his statements, including a confident proclamation that he wouldn't allow Durham to become known for "a bunch of lacrosse players from Duke raping a black girl."

But Nifong also faces much more serious charges of lying to both the court and North Carolina State Bar investigators, and of withholding critical DNA test results from the players' attorneys. It is those charges that are more likely to lead the disciplinary committee to suspend Nifong's law license or take it away entirely.

Testimony was to resume Saturday morning with both sides making closing statements to the three-person panel, which could issue a verdict later in the day.

The DNA tests found genetic material from several males in the accuser's underwear and body, but none from any lacrosse player. Aware of those results, Nifong still pressed ahead with the case and won indictments against Reade Seligmann, Dave Evans and Collin Finnerty. State prosecutors would later conclude the three players were "innocent" victims of a rogue prosecutor's "tragic rush to accuse."

Even after saying he would resign, Nifong was incapable of agreeing that no crime was committed. Asked late Friday if he still believed the accuser was attacked, Nifong paused for several seconds before answering that while he could not say it was a sexual assault, "something happened to make everybody leave that scene very quickly."

Gov. Mike Easley, who appointed Nifong to the job in 2005 and will be called on to pick his replacement, declined to comment. Freda Black, a former Durham county assistant prosecutor whom Nifong beat in last year's elections, cheered his decision and said Friday she wants the job.

Seligmann testified Friday that he and his teammates had faith the DNA testing would clear their names, and broke into tears as he described how his attorney got a call from Nifong notifying him of the indictment. He said the attorney glanced his way and said, "She picked you."

"My dad just fell to the floor, and I just sat on the ground," Seligmann said. "And I said, 'My life is over.' ... The first thing I thought about was, 'How am I going to tell my mom?"

Nifong said he was moved by Seligmann's testimony. His own teenage son was in the courtroom Friday, and watched as his father broke down on the stand.

"When I saw Mr. Seligmann on the stand today, I thought that his parents must be very proud of him," Nifong said, struggling to form the words. "I am very proud of my son. I wanted him to be proud of me. And I felt that it was important for him to see this."

Associated Press writers Steve Hartsoe and Samuel Spies in Raleigh, N.C., and Joedy McCreary in Durham, N.C., contributed to this report.

Singletary enters Sixers' workout still undecided
By Marc Narducci
Inquirer Staff Writer

Sean Singletary is displaying the calm presence off the court that he has shown during the past three years as the point guard at the University of Virginia.
Faced with a decision whether to stay in the NBA draft or withdraw by the Monday deadline, the former Penn Charter star appears unruffled.

"I'm just taking all the information in and will sit down and discuss everything with my family," Singletary said in a phone interview. "I'm not stressing out at all."

Singletary, who has not hired an agent and thus remains eligible to return for his senior season at Virginia, will be on hand today at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine for a predraft workout with the 76ers. Also participating will be Australia's Brad Newley along with Ohio State's Daequan Cook and Villanova's Mike Nardi.

Singletary won't be awed by the setting, having gone to PCOM several times while in high school with his old friend and Inter-Ac rival Ryan Ayers, the son of former Sixers coach Randy Ayers.

"It will be great working out for the Sixers," Singletary said. "I used to watch them when [Jerry] Stackhouse and A.I. [Allen Iverson] were playing together."

Singletary participated in the NBA predraft camp in Florida and was among the quickest players there. He had an up-and-down performance, with 10 assists, 10 personal fouls and 10 turnovers in three games, while averaging 6.3 points.

After the predraft camp, he stayed in Orlando and participated in a workout that was conducted simultaneously by Houston, Golden State and Dallas.

Since then, Singletary has traveled to Chicago, Seattle and Portland for workouts.

Even at this late date he isn't ready to say whether he is leaning toward staying in the draft or returning to Virginia.

"Right now all I am trying to do is make an impression on the various general managers," said Singletary, who averaged 19.0 points and 4.7 assists and was named first-team all-Atlantic Coast Conference for the second straight year.