"I'm not the first option," Lundy said. "I'm usually the last resort."

Yet Lundy, a freshman tailback, leads the Cavaliers in catches with 27, one more than All-ACC receiver Billy McMullen.

That statistic has something to do with Lundy's superb receiving skills. After all, he was an all-state wide receiver as a high school junior before moving to tailback. But it likely has more to do with Schaub's development as a quarterback.

Last season, Schaub says, he threw to his primary receiver a vast majority of the time. That usually was McMullen, who finished with 83 receptions, 50 more than any other Cavalier. While the tactic often was effective, it occasionally meant Schaub forced throws into heavy coverage, resulting in incompletions and interceptions.

This season, Schaub says, he has been less fixated on one receiver and much quicker to explore his other options. As a result, he has spread the ball around, improved his efficiency rating and made UVa's offense less predictable and more dynamic.

"That's something I've really worked on, checking to the second and third receivers," Schaub said. "Last year everything was happening really fast for me. I wasn't as comfortable making my reads. … Experience really helps. It slows the game down and gives me time to see the whole field."

Each of Virginia's pass plays has a series of progressions. If the first option isn't open, the quarterback is supposed to look at the second receiver, then the third and maybe a fourth.

Schaub says he has gone to the primary receiver less than half the time this season. Sometimes he makes that decision during the play. More often, he says, he reads the defense before the ball is snapped and figures out who should be open.

Usually, his judgment is sound, and his throws are accurate. His completion percentage of 69.3 is the best in the country and a marked improvement from last year's 58.3. He has thrown 16 touchdown passes and four interceptions, compared to 10 TDs and eight picks a year ago.

"That's what is supposed to happen when you're playing in your second year in the program," said UVa coach Al Groh, who has frequently praised Schaub's decision-making this season.

Schaub isn't forcing passes to McMullen, who is getting plenty of attention from opposing defenses. If McMullen is covered, Schaub looks elsewhere. Tight ends Heath Miller and Patrick Estes have been among the beneficiaries, especially around the goal line. They have combined for nine touchdown catches.

Lundy often is the safety valve. He is averaging just 6.8 yards per reception, but that's better than an incompletion.

McMullen, too, has benefited in that his role has changed from every-play receiver to big-play receiver. He is averaging 16.3 yards per catch, compared to 12.8 last year. Junior wideouts Michael McGrew and Ryan Sawyer are averaging 19.1 and 26.6 yards per reception, respectively.

"We have more of a short passing game, but we still go deep sometimes," McMullen said. "When we take shots downfield, the receivers can make plays."

Clemson coach Tommy Bowden, whose team ranks first in the ACC in total defense, knows he will be facing a hot quarterback Saturday at Scott Stadium.

"He's kind of in a zone right now," Bowden said of Schaub, who is the nation's third-rated passer. "They have a good plan, so we have to confuse him a little bit [by mixing up coverages] or put some pressure on him."

Easier said than done. Coaches and teammates have talked about how poised Schaub has looked in every situation over the past month, and opponents are noticing the same.

"It was like night and day from what I saw last year," said Wake Forest coach Jim Grobe, who watched Schaub complete 22 of 27 passes for 312 yards and three touchdowns in UVa's 38-34 victory two weeks ago. "We saw a kid [in 2001] who didn't seem to be real, real confident, seemed to have happy feet in the pocket a little bit, just did not seem to be a take-charge kind of kid.

"This year [it was] completely opposite - a guy who seemed to have control of the offense, seemed to understand the offense, sits in the pocket well and, I thought, made all the throws."

Question after question is asked of them by a plethora of reporters with plenty of time and recording devices for the answers.

Yet, on Thursday at University Hall, one Virginia player did not seem too bothered by the proceedings. Then again, he's had a significant respite from it.

Virginia junior guard Majestic Mapp, who has missed the past two seasons because of complications from an ACL tear in his right knee, actually seemed to enjoy each question asked of him.

"For the most part, I'm just ecstatic to be back doing all this stuff. It's sort of like freshman year again. I'm hungry to play again," Mapp said. "It's great to be able to lace them up again."

While he says he'll be ready to go when official practice begins Saturday, the matter of how much he'll be able to do is still in doubt. Neither Mapp nor UVa coach Pete Gillen would get into specifics about what percentage he's currently working at.

"I'm not going to give myself any percentages right now. I won't know how ready I am until I step out there on the floor. When I'm playing against the best in January and February, when I'm playing against a Chris Duhon or a Steve Blake, then I'll tell you what percentage I'm at," Mapp said.

According to Gillen, Mapp has not conditioned greatly in terms of basketball shape and instead spent the bulk of the time rehabbing the knee.

"He hasn't conditioned heavily with our guys. He's played sporadically. He's played some with the guys. He is going to play this year, but we don't know exactly where he is right now," Gillen said. "He's confident that he's going to play and we are, too."

Mapp likely will be in the mix at the point guard position along with sophomore Keith Jenifer and Rutgers junior transfer Todd Billet, who also could see time at the shooting guard position.

The point guard scenario is just one of many that should develop before the regular-season opener against Long Island University on Nov. 22. As Gillen noted Thursday, the Cavaliers have ample depth and versatility on their roster despite losing three starters and nearly 60 percent of their scoring from last season.

"We have to see who earns it at practice. We have a good dilemma. We have 11 scholarship guys and 11 good, solid players. We have a lot of competition. We have a lot of guys that can play and compete," Gillen said.

In addition to Billet, a sharpshooter who was a third-team All-Big East selection at Rutgers, the Cavaliers have three other newcomers in freshman Derrick Byars, sophomore Devin Smith and Cal transfer Nick Vander Laan.

Byars, the Tennessee Gatorade Player of the Year while at Ridgeway High School in Memphis, and Smith, a junior college all-American at Coffeyville Community College last season, are Gillen's likely options at small forward. Both players have reputations as good outside shooters and, along with Billet, should improve that facet for the Cavaliers, who struggled there last season.

"I think we will be a better shooting team. That was one of our weaknesses last year. Todd Billet is a terrific shooter and Devin Smith is a terrific shooter. I think we have two new shooters that are better than what we had last year," Gillen said.

Byars also could factor into what is a jammed backcourt for the Cavaliers. Depending on what occurs with the point guard situation, Billet, Byars and sophomore Jermaine Harper all are possibilities at the second guard spot.

The one position on the floor of which there is little doubt is power forward. Senior Travis Watson, a second-team All-ACC selection last season when he averaged 14.1 points and an ACC-best 9.7 rebounds, could be one of the best returning big men in the nation. Just ask Gillen.

"Travis Watson is a special player. He's an All-America player in my opinion. I think he can have a special year if he can stay healthy," Gillen said.

Watson enters the season in perhaps the best physical shape of his UVa career. He's down to a lean 255 pounds after spending much of his first three seasons around 265.

"Since I've been here I've been in the best shape of my career, but I think I'm in the best shape entering this season now," Watson joked. "I want to try to be a more complete player this season and have a complete game."

Sophomores Elton Brown and Jason Clark and the junior Vander Laan should join Watson in the frontcourt. Keeping with the versatility theme, Gillen said all three players had different assets and attributes.

If Thursday's "talking points" were Mapp, versatility and depth, then the Cavaliers' collapse at the end of last season received little mention, at least from the players.

The Cavaliers lost 10 of their final 13 games last season and fell from No. 4 in the rankings to being relegated to the NIT.

That is something no one wants to remember, especially Brown.

"Don't criticize us for what we did last year, criticize us for what we do this year. I hate when people say, 'What happened last year?' We don't care about that. It's old. We are worrying about this year right here," Brown said emphatically.

Whichever is the case, Brown is looking a lot trimmer and fitter as his second season in Charlottesville approaches.

"I've changed both mentally and physically since last season. I got caught up in all the hype. When I came out of games, I came out with an attitude and that affects everyone else. I've changed that," Brown said.

The physical changes are the result of an intense summer program with UVa strength and conditioning coach Lorenzo Rivers.

"Lo Rivers is the number one trainer in the country because I couldn't make any [running] times last year. I spent the summer running and lifting every day. I worked on my game twice a day and shot 1,000 shots twice a day," said Brown, who looks much leaner at his current 270 pounds than he did last year at 260 or 265. "It's going to be real scary this year. I'll tell you, this team is going to be real scary this year. With me and [senior forward] Travis Watson down low, I really don't see anyone stopping this team. I really don't."

According to Brown, the change in essentially his whole makeup is the result of a conversation with the UVa coaches toward the end of last spring.

"Some of this was self-motivated but also it's because of a talk with the coaches. They told me that I had the talent but I only showed a little bit of it. They told me to imagine what I could do if I got into the right shape mentally and physically. They said I could be unstoppable so I went out and did it," Brown said.

According to fellow sophomore Keith Jenifer, Brown is already showing the improvement.

"He's been the best frontcourt player in the pick-up games hands down," Jenifer said.

Practice, practice, practice. Virginia will host its Hoos in the Hall event tonight as the school's version of Midnight Madness. The event is free to the public and the University Hall doors will open at 10 p.m. UVa's men's and women's teams will take the court for introductions and drills at midnight.

Next Saturday, the Virginia men's team will renew its Orange and Blue scrimmage. It also will be free to the public and should begin at University Hall around 10:30 a.m. [prior to the UVa-UNC football game at noon].

Injury update. Sophomore swingman Devin Smith is recovering from a surgery that repaired a tear to his meniscus in his right knee. He first suffered the injury last season at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas and re-injured it this summer.

"It's fine and everything is going pretty well. When practice starts Saturday, I'll be involved with everything," Smith said.

Sophomore guard Jermaine Harper had battled a case of mono earlier this semester but is fine now.

"I've been fine. That was like three weeks ago," Harper said.

Chaminade? There will be certain hype and nostalgia when Virginia faces Division II Chaminade in the first round of the Maui Invitational on Nov. 25. After all, the tiny Honolulu-based school pulled one of college basketball's greatest upsets when it beat Ralph Sampson and the then-No. 1 Cavaliers in 1982.

Virginia coach Pete Gillen, witty as always, gave his somewhat foggy recollection of that game Thursday.

"I was in a foxhole with a helmet on my head but I'm not sure in what state or city. I was an assistant at Notre Dame then but don't remember too much about it. It's probably because I was getting [former Notre Dame head coach] Digger Phelps' laundry at the time," Gillen quipped.

Only a handful of Virginia players were alive at the time of the game and none were older than 2. Still, there is some knowledge of the matchup's historic nature.

"We've already heard a lot about it and I'm sure we will hear more as it gets closer," Smith said.

Clarification. Point guard Majestic Mapp will be listed as a junior on the team's roster after missing the past two seasons because of a knee injury. Right now, he will have two years of eligibility remaining but will be able to apply for a sixth year of eligibility at the completion of those two seasons. Mapp, an economics major, said Thursday that he will be three credits short of graduating after this semester and would be interested in some sort of postgraduate degree.