Basketball Features 
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Basketball Features
Rising senior Damarcus Harrison recently finished up his first full year at Christ School (Arden, N.C.) and he did well on and off the court. The 6-4, 185-pound guard now turns his attention to the late spring and summer months, which will include playing on the AAU circuit with the Carolina Ravens and making college visits, including one to the University of Virginia next month.
UVa men's basketball has signed six prospects in the 2010 class, but if the right fit is there it seems as though the staff would add another high school senior or college transfer. This past weekend, the staff hosted St. Peter's Prep (Jersey City, N.J.) senior forward Ronald Roberts on an official visit. St. Peter's Prep head coach Mike Kelly goes in depth on Roberts, who signed with St. John's last November but was released from his letter of intent after the Red Storm underwent a coaching change.
Billy Baron will sign a letter of intent with the University of Virginia tomorrow, officially becoming a member of Tony Bennett's first full recruiting class as Cavaliers head coach. Three words come to mind for the 6-1, 185-pound point guard, who attended Worcester Academy (MA) this year after a standout 4-year career at Bishop Hendricken High School in Rhode Island.
"I can't wait," he said.
Wrapping up TheSabre.com's updates from last Saturday's Carolina Challenge, the focus is on a pair of 2012 point guard prospects in Tyler Lewis and Madison Jones and 2011 forward Bernard Sullivan. The latter has an official offer from the Hoos.
Virginia fans will get a look at one of its 2010 recruits this evening, when Charlotte Christian (N.C.) takes on Findlay Prep (Las Vegas, NV) in the quarterfinals of the ESPN Rise prep tournament. Charlotte Christian features 6-7 forward Akil Mitchell, who hopes to help his team to victory at 8:00 p.m. on ESPNU.
Also read more on Will Regan and K.T. Harrell.
Montrezl Harrell was relatively quiet in games one and three at the Carolina Challenge, but in game two he really showed off his abilities on the offensive side of the ball. The 6-6 1/2, 215-pound forward scored inside and out in game two, finishing with 19 points in the contest. Harrell demonstrated a nice outside stroke on Saturday, but this offseason the North Edgecombe (Tarboro, N.C.) sophomore wants to continue to improve his perimeter skills.
When Virginia coach Tony Bennett secured a commitment from Billy Baron as the sixth player to the 2010 recruiting class on March 2, discussions began about how next season's men's basketball roster would be handled. At that point, Bennett appeared to have eight scholarship players returning to the squad; adding those to the six newcomers, there were a minimum of 14 candidates for 13 scholarships. Many wondered who would draw the short straw.
Bennett, it turns out, was several steps ahead of those speculators. It was no accident that he landed one more scholarship-worthy player than he had scholarships available. Unexpected attrition, he figured, is a reality of college basketball, and likely would solve the problem for him. He was right.
Beddingfield High School (Wilson, N.C.) product Aaron Rountree averaged 15 points, nine assists and seven rebounds per game this past season as a junior, earning first-team all-conference and first-team all-area honors. The 6-7 small forward is on the radar of at least three Division 1 programs, including Virginia.
Nichols School (Buffalo, N.Y.) will continue what has been a terrific 2009/2010 season this weekend, when it faces Long Island Lutheran in the semifinals of the Federation state playoffs. Helped by senior forward and Virginia recruit Will Regan, Nichols already has the Manhattan Cup (league championship) and a Catholic Class A championship under its belt and is looking for more.
Elsinore (Wildomar, CA) senior forward James Johnson estimates that he averaged 22 points and 13 rebounds this past season, helping the Tigers to a 25-5 overall record including an appearance in the state playoff semifinals . The 6-9, 230-pound Virginia recruit was named Valley Player of the Year by The Californian for his performance. Despite a productive senior season, Johnson is hungry for more.
In just three months, Joe Harris will travel across the country from Lake Chelan (WA) to Charlottesville to begin his college career. Harris, one of five high school seniors to sign with Virginia's men's basketball program last November, recently concluded a stellar high school career in which he amassed 2,398 points.
In February, things looked bleak for Virginia and it had nothing to do with the long losing streak. After all, not a lot changed in that regard in the last two days as the Hoos posted a 1-1 mark in the ACC Tournament. No, the gloomy outlook had more to do with poor play, on-floor chemistry and inconsistent effort. It was about quality as Tony Bennett likes to say.
Virginia needed something positive to happen heading toward the offseason. That's exactly what happened in the past week. The tenor changed.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - At the 4:05 mark of the second half, the normally quiet, sedentary Mike Krzyzewski was on his feet and red in the face with excitement. He threw his fist as if cracking a whip, then raised his arms toward the crowd, inviting them to get as fired up as he was. That's because his team was in the midst of a hard-fought battle with ninth-seeded Virginia, which ultimately came up short in a 57-46 defeat in the ACC Tournament Quarterfinals on Friday.
Virginia's defense has struggled quite a bit at times this season, particularly in the last five weeks. And if one thing proved to be poison for the Pack-Line defense much of the time, it has been the flex offense. Against Boston College on Thursday, however, UVa seemed to find a magic antidote for the flex, which keyed a strong team defensive effort and propelled the Hoos to victory.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Heading into the Virginia men's basketball team's opening-round ACC Tournament game against Boston College, the question was how the Hoos would get by without leading scorer Sylven Landesberg, who was indefinitely suspended for academic reasons prior to the season finale against Maryland. If you had asked the attending media the answer to that question, the consensus would have been, they won't get by. After all, how do you replace a routine 20-point scorer?
Sammy Zeglinski provided the answer: a 21-point scorer.
GREENSBORO, N.C. - Heading into the ACC Tournament with a nine-game losing streak, there was little positive to be said about the Virginia men's basketball team - except that the Hoos had hung with Maryland in their season finale, even without Sylven Landesberg. Apparently, that game wasn't a fluke.
With an inspired performance on both ends of the floor, Virginia became the first ACC team in 2010 to join the "crazy things happen in postseason tournaments" category as the Cavaliers pulled off a 68-62 victory against Boston College.
Virginia post player Jerome Meyinsse continued his remarkable rise Saturday afternoon with a tremendous Senior Day performance in a disappointing 74-68 loss to Maryland. Meyinsse poured in 17 points as he added another chapter to what's become a fond farewell story. No, he was not the jewel of his recruiting class. Yes, he spent the first three years of his Cavalier career as an afterthought. Within Meyinsse's story, however, resides a lesson for future Cavaliers and fans alike.
When Virginia men's basketball followers looked forward to the team's contest against Maryland, few could have expected much drama. The Terrapins, tied for first place in the conference, could ill afford a bad loss to end the season; the Cavaliers entered as the losers of eight straight games, the last six by double figures. Even on Senior Day in Charlottesville, another ho-hum double-digit Virginia loss appeared all too predictable. That could not have been further from the truth.
While the final result of the Duke and Boston College games were similar to others in the past month, both games showcased some positives that hadn't been seen much as well as many of the same problems. In both games we saw adjustments by Tony Bennett and players scrambling to turn the season around. I'll take a look at some of the positives and negatives of each contest and briefly cover what these two games should show us going forward.
Virginia did not find a cure for its struggles on Wednesday night as Boston College dealt a 68-55 road loss to UVa. The Cavaliers, who have dropped eight straight games, continued to misfire offensively in defeat. The Hoos have scored 55 points or less five times during the recent losing streak and they have surpassed 62 points just once since January.
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