U.VA. NOTES
Saturday, Jun 23, 2007 - 12:07 AM
LEITAO GIVES DIENER AN EXTENDED TRYOUT

A vacancy was created on basketball coach Dave Leitao's staff when assistant Rob Leitao left for the University of Florida. It will be filled, at least temporarily, by Drew Diener, Leitao's director of operations for the past two seasons.

Diener, 28, came to U.Va. from DePaul with Leitao in 2005. Each Division I school is allowed to have four recruiters during next month's evaluation period, and Diener will work alongside Leitao and assistants Steve Seymour and Bill Courtney. Leitao likely is to decide in August whether to keep Diener in that position.

"I believe in my heart that he's going to be a very good coach, both as a recruiter and on the floor," Leitao said. "And giving him this opportunity to do that gets him thirsty and gives me some time to sit back and think about what's going to be best for this program. Not for me, not for him, but what's best for this program."

Receiver delivers Cavs' 9th commitment

Virginia's football program yesterday received its ninth commitment for 2008. The Cavaliers' latest recruit is 5-11, 175-pound wide receiver Javaris Brown, a rising senior at Northeast High in Macon, Ga. Brown visited U.Va. late this week.

In 2006, Brown caught 38 passes for 721 yards and 10 touchdowns in 10 regular-season games. He carried 13 times for 92 yards and two TDs. Hoops team has plenty of backcourt options

Assuming his program suffers no attrition before the start of the season, Leitao will have seven players whom he can use at shooting guard or point guard (or both): Sean Singletary, Mamadi Diane, Solomon Tat, Calvin Baker, Mustapha Farrakhan, Jeff Jones and Sammy Zeglinski.

The Wahoos had no such backcourt depth in 2006-07, and that limited what they could do defensively. Now, Leitao said, U.Va. "can start to open ourselves up a little more and put more pressure on the ball for longer periods of time. I think we have some options that we may not have had." Forward Scott out with ankle injury

One of the four freshmen in Leitao's program, 6-8 forward Mike Scott, is on crutches, with his left ankle in a boot. Scott suffered a high-ankle sprain recently and said Thursday that he expects to be sidelined at least another two weeks.

Since leaving Chesapeake's Deep Creek High, Scott has undergone a physical transformation. At Hargrave Military Academy, where he played for the postgraduate team in 2006-07, Scott weighed about 210 pounds. He now weighs about 235. Prospects warned about future obstacles

The NBA Players Association's Top 100 camp concludes today at John Paul Jones Arena. Campers, who include many of the nation's top high school players, have been reminded all week that it will be easy for them to be led astray.

"The better they become, the more people will want to gravitate and be part of their lives," camp director Tim McCormick said. "You have shoe companies that want them to wear their sneakers, and college coaches that want them to lead them to the promised land, and AAU teams that want them to play for them, and runners that one day want their agents to represent them, and young girls that want to ride on their coattails."

Big man says he'll attend Stanford

Several campers have scholarship offers from U.Va., including Miles Plumlee, a 6-10 forward from Indiana who attends the Christ School outside Asheville, N.C. Plumlee, a rising 12th-grader, won't be matriculating to Charlottesville. He committed Thursday to Stanford. His brother Mason, also 6-10, is a rising junior at the Christ School, and the Cavs remain interested in him. - Jeff White
 

Lamp sharing the facts with tomorrow's stars
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 22, 2007

Jeff Lamp is one of just five players in Virginia basketball history to be named All-America. The 6-foot-6 guard was an All-ACC selection in each of his four seasons and finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer (Bryant Stith overtook him in 1992).

However, all of those accolades didn’t ensure great NBA success.

“For me professionally, it was always a struggle,” Lamp said. “I think I had a difficult time making the jump athletically from college to the pros. I was kind of a tweener.”

But Lamp’s experiences have served him well in his life after basketball. For the last seven years he has worked for the NBA Players Association as a career development counselor. The main part of his job is helping high school players prepare for their lives after the hardwood.

This week, Lamp has been working at the NBA Top 100 Camp, which is taking place at John Paul Jones Arena.

The camp features 100 of the top high school basketball players in the country. Part of Lamp’s talk to the youngsters centers around the fact that only seven percent of them will ever play in the NBA.

“Even if they do make it, the average career is four years,” said Lamp, who was a first-round draft choice of the Portland Trail Blazers in 1981. “That leaves another 50 years that they’ll have to figure out what to do.”

Lloyd Walton, a fellow counselor for the NBAPA, says Lamp does an excellent job of putting things into perspective for the impressionable teenagers.

“It’s great for these young players,” Walton said, “because he speaks on their level. They understand where he’s coming from.”

Lamp, who lives in San Diego with his 13-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter, has worked mainly for the NBA since his playing days.

He still talks periodically with former teammates Jeff Jones and Lee Raker. On Friday, he got to catch up with Ralph Sampson.

Sampson isn’t surprised by Lamp’s career path.

“Jeff has always had a great passion for the game of basketball and just for life,” Sampson said. “It’s great to still see that.”

Lamp and Sampson helped lead Virginia to an ACC regular-season title and Final Four appearance in 1981.

“Where we started from and where we ended up is a real point of pride for me,” said Lamp, whose No. 3 jersey is now retired.

Lamp didn’t have the individual success in the NBA that he had in college. However, he was part of some great Los Angeles Lakers teams in the 1980s that featured Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabar.

Lamp, who played for coach Pat Riley, said Johnson was the best he ever played with.

“He was just a winner, a great leader and very charismatic,” Lamp said. “You’d just run through a wall for the guy. He was a great teammate and a lot of fun. Magic was one of a kind.”

Lamp has yet to attend a game at John Paul Jones Arena, but has seen a few on television. He said the differences between his former coach, Terry Holland, and current Virginia coach Dave Leitao are stark.

“I think they have different personalities,” he said. “The thing that was great about Coach Holland was that he let us play. Coach Leitao, I know, is a lot more stern and more of a task master.”

This week, Lamp has had the chance to get to know Leitao a little better.

“I think he’s doing a great job and has a great vision,” Lamp said. “I think he has a great group of kids and will do great.”

Lamp said it’s been a little strange to walk around the Virginia campus.

“It seems like a whole new world - starting with the arena,” he said. “We never imagined that anything like this would ever be built. We were happy enough to be over at [University Hall].”

Lamp hopes to make it back for a game this season.

“I’d love to come back for Duke or North Carolina,” he said, “when this place is going nuts.”

Dunks

Just one day after saying he had no clear frontrunner and would make his college decision at the end of the summer, 6-foot-9 center Miles Plumlee of Arden High School in North Carolina reportedly committed to Stanford. The timing of the announcement, which came while he is participating in the NBA Top 100 Camp at Virginia, was certainly a bit curious. UVa might still be in the mix for Mason Plumlee, Miles’ younger brother, although the Cavaliers have yet to offer him a scholarship.

 

Cavs add another commitment
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
June 22, 2007

If Millard Vining had a certain cell phone provider, Virginia assistant coach Anthony Poindexter would likely be in his top five.
Vining, a former standout quarterback at Ferrum, is close friends with Poindexter and routinely calls his pal to inform him of talent he witnesses, regardless of the uniform being worn.
Recently, the offensive coordinator at Northeast High in Macon, Ga., sent film of his top wide receiver to Poindexter and the staff at Virginia.
Javaris Brown, a 5-foot-11 wide receiver, had the necessary skills that made him a natural fit at Virginia, Vining felt.
“I coached at Franklin County in Virginia for four years, so I am really familiar with UVa and their staff, and when I come across a player ... I will refer him to them and to Anthony because he is like family to me,” Vining said. “I told them about Javaris and they asked for some film, and the film said enough for them.”
Virginia proved that, offering Brown with a scholarship offer.
On Friday, after a one-night stay in Charlottesville and lunch with incoming quarterback Peter Lalich, Brown surprisingly accepted the offer to play for the Cavaliers before departing for Georgia.
“I didn’t plan on it,” Brown said of his decision. “I just enjoyed being [at UVa] and went on and took advantage of the opportunity that was given to me.
“It wasn’t a big deal … I just liked it. It was a perfect fit.”
Brown’s verbal gives Virginia nine commitments for the Class of 2008, a group that has grown dramatically in the past week - the Cavaliers landed four players last weekend.
The decision also gives Virginia an added dose of speed.
“He is as fast as he needs to be,” said Vining, who graduated from Ferrum in 1996. “Javaris slipped last week at Georgia [at the Bulldogs’ camp] and still ran a 4.5-flat on grass. He is a low-4.4, high-4.3 kid right now that is going to get faster the more flexible he becomes.
“He hasn’t even touched on how fast he will become.”
As a junior, Brown hauled in 44 passes for 863 yards and scored 10 receiving touchdowns for a team that reached the playoffs. In six Region 4-AAA games, Brown averaged four receptions for 21.8 yards.
Brown’s numbers came despite the development of freshman quarterback Michael Palmer.
“He got a whole lot better as the year progressed,” Brown said. “We should be really good this year.”
Vining also said his offense was geared to get reverses for Brown, which accounted for almost 100 yards rushing and two more scores.
“It is not rocket science,” Vining said. “You just have to put the ball in the person’s hands that’s going to make the plays. If you do that, it takes care of itself.”
Brown, who also served as the team’s punter and plays basketball, has seen his stock soar of late, landing offers from Georgia, Kentucky and Alabama-Birmingham.
Had he elected to run track in college, Vining is certain offers would have followed there, too. He was clocked, Vining said, at 10.6 in the 100-meter dash.
Brown boasts a 3.4 GPA and has the needed qualifying scores on the SAT.
“I have already told him that I am extremely proud of him, but I am prouder of him that he has already qualified academically at an early stage,” Vining said. “To go to an institution like UVa says a lot about you, about your character as a student and that you are not one-dimensional.
“You are only an athlete if you are not taking care of your business in the classroom, but obviously Javaris has done both.”

 

Singletary’s parents didn’t orchestrate decision
Padres meet with Tech football recruit
By Doug Doughty

The one message that Sean Singletary’s mother wanted to emphasize earlier this week was that she would have supported any decision her son made.

Singletary told NBA officials on Monday that he would be removing his name from draft consideration in order to return to Virginia for his senior year.

“From the start, we wanted to have him do what made him happy because we believe he’s mature enough to make an intelligent and sound decision,” Jaqui Singletary said. “Whatever he chose to do was OK with us.

“When he speaks, he is saying that he leans toward his parents’ wishes, which goes to show how in tune we all are to one another because we think alike, I guess. We’d been pretty much on the same page forever.”

Admittedly, she was disturbed by the assessment of her son as “torn,” a characterization used in a blog by Charlottesville Daily Progress beat reporter Whitelaw “Whitey” Reid.

“I don’t normally read those things,” she said. “That article was brought to my attention by someone. I was concerned because it wasn’t true and I didn’t know where that information came from. He’s not an indecisive person.

“I didn’t like the way he was characterized. That’s not Sean. He knows what he wants. He knew what he was doing. He wasn’t agonizing over the decision. He was going through the ropes. He was learning about the draft. He was preparing for the future, as he is every day.”

As for the perception that her son was not excited at a news conference Tuesday when he discussed his return, Mrs. Singletary said, “I think the public, for lack of a better word, is more excited about what’s going on than he is or we are.

“For us, it’s just routine: the experience, the learning. I don’t think he does anything as a lark [or] just to do it. He was extremely serious about what he was doing. He was not taking it lightly at all.”

It was almost as if he were interviewing for a 9-to-5 job.

“In essence, that’s what he was doing,” Singletary’s mom said. “Sean plans to be a professional basketball player. If you know what your chosen career is going to be, every day you plan for it.”

If Singletary had made it apparent at every step that he would be returning to school, how honest of an appraisal would he have received?

“There wasn’t any question,” Sean Singletary said. “They knew I was serious. Whenever you go into something, you have to be 100-percent into it. If I hadn’t been serious, I wouldn’t have been in the right frame of mind to do well.”

WHEN SARASOTA, FLA., LINEBACKER Hunter Ovens made an oral commitment to Virginia Tech last fall, it was with the understanding of all parties that he might be selected in the major-league baseball draft.

Ovens was drafted, but his selection came in the 25th round (by San Diego) and players picked at that level don’t command the kind of bonuses that are too good to pass up.

Ovens batted .530 this past season for Cardinal Mooney and had eight doubles and one home run. More impressive for Hokie fans, Ovens stole 24 bases in 25 attempts.

Ovens originally committed to the Hokies last Aug. 1, then reopened his recruiting, only to recommit on Aug. 23.

Ovens scored 26 touchdowns in helping his team to a 13-1 record this past season.

In a June 13 notes column in the San Diego Union-Tribune, it was reported that Ovens had indicated he would choose baseball over football if the Padres came up with $250,000. Padres manager Bruce Bochy was expected to huddle with Ovens during batting practice.

“He has impact tools in power and speed,” said Grady Fuson, the Padres' vice president of scouting and development. “If he goes to Virginia Tech, his baseball career is over.”

Ovens was the 777th player selected overall.

ED HOMER, THE football coach at Christchurch School on the Northern Neck, said Florida’s Urban Meyer and LSU’s Les Miles were among the coaches who made a total of 50 visits to Christchurch during the May evaluation period.

“You’re allowed to make two visits as a staff and most of the schools in this [Mid-Atlantic] area took two visits,” said Homer, whose chief prospect is 6-4, 195-pound wide receiver Deion Walker.

Homer said he was at a movie theater in Gloucester last week when his phone rang. When a Stanford assistant called, Homer handed the phone to Walker’s father, Art, who is the Christchurch offensive coordinator. Within 10 minutes, there had been a second call from Stanford, this time from head coach Jim Harbaugh.

Art Walker was from California before entering the Air Force (Deion was born in Alaska) and they will make a visit to the West Coast later this summer to visit Southern Cal, California and Oregon. Proximity to Virginia will not be a factor, although Deion has an interest in UVa, which was among the first schools to contact him.

Homer said that Virginia Tech first thought that Walker was not the kind of receiver they were targeting until assistant coach Jim Cavanaugh took a closer look and came back with an offer on the second of two visits.

Christchurch linebacker J’Courtney Williams was selected a SuperPrep All-American before signing with Virginia in February and the Seahorses actually had a third Division I-A prospect in 2005, then-sophomore offensive lineman Corey Lewis (6-6, 260).

Homer said that Lewis’ disappointment over a lack of playing time as a sophomore on the 2005-2006 Christchurch boys’ basketball team may have contributed to a decision to move to East Stroudsburg, Pa., where his father had moved. Both parents previously had lived in New York.

Lewis has made no secret of his interest in Virginia, which became aware of him during the spring of 2006 while defensive coordinator Mike London was observing Williams.