Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, June 20, 1993                   TAG: 9306200144
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Long

WAITING GAME ISN'T ONLY ONE UVA'S DEANE PLAYS WELL

There was only one problem: Virginia wasn't prepared to offer him a scholarship.

Even when Deane averaged 25.9 points as a senior at Matoaca High School and was named first-team All-Group AA, his only Division I offers were from Radford University, Boston University and VMI.

"I really liked Radford and I was sort of close to signing," said Deane, a 6-foot-2 guard, "but I felt, if I waited another year, that I could play at a little higher level."

Deane still thought he could play for Virginia.

It didn't take a year for the Cavaliers to be persuaded. The UVa coaches saw him play in the AAU 17-and-under national tournament in Winston-Salem, N.C., and were so impressed that they virtually gave him a grant on the spot.

"I heard something about it," Deane said, "but if they had offered me [a grant], I don't know if I would have come because I already had made a commitment to Coach [Fletcher] Arritt."

Although he was worried about backcourt depth, UVa coach Jeff Jones knew Deane would benefit from a year under Arritt at Fork Union Military Academy. Two of Virginia's starters last season, Ted Jeffries and Cornel Parker, were Fork Union alumni.

Arritt says he does not keep statistics - partly because he uses so many players that their statistics are rarely impressive. However, Deane twice hit more than 30 points, including a season-high 35 in Fork Union's season finale against Hargrave Military Academy.

"He's as good a guard as I've had here in 23 years," Arritt said. "He can play; I'm telling you. What I like best about him is he comes to the ball. He wants the ball when the game is on the line."

Nevertheless, it is not commonplace for a player to go from a low-major prospect to a high-major recruit in the summer following his senior year.

"I don't know that his story is unique," Jones said, "but I haven't heard of one like it. Why, all of a sudden he did improve or elevate his game, I don't know. But it wasn't only us who recognized he'd taken his game to another level.

"When I saw him play earlier, he never seemed to have the grittiness he does now. I would not have guessed that he was as competitive and mentally tough as he was. Fletcher still maintains that we aren't aware of what we've gotten."

VMI coach Joe Cantafio, who couldn't persuade Deane that four years of the military lifestyle in Lexington was preferable to one at Fork Union, points out that Deane was young for his class. Deane will not turn 19 until Sept. 11.

"I thought he was underrated," Cantafio said. "I thought [when Deane was in high school] that he was a steal for a low- or mid-major program. When I saw him this year, I realized again how many people had missed the boat on him. He's the entire package: He has grades [3.0 GPA at Fork Union], he's a class kid and he comes from a basketball family."

Deane's father, Harold, played basketball at Lucy Addison High School in Roanoke before going to Virginia State, where he became head coach after a distinguished playing career.

"I know it was disheartening for my son," Harold Sr. said of the recruiting process. "I felt like picking up the phone; I did pick up the phone. But I don't want to crowd anybody in recruiting, because I don't like people crowding me. Even though he may have been overlooked, I didn't want to question anybody's motives."

The younger Deane says he has been a UVa fan for six years, roughly corresponding with the arrival in Charlottesville of his favorite player, Bryant Stith. Deane even sounds like Stith.

Jones said Deane, if he were coming out of high school today, would rank as one of the top 100 prospects in the country. He joins a promising group of perimeter recruits that includes 6-2 Mike Powell from Anacostia High School in Washington, D.C., and 6-6 Jamal Robinson from Monsignor McClancy in Queens, N.Y.

Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons has rated Robinson among the top 40 prospects in the country, but Jones feels that UVa's recruiting class, including 7-1 Mark Bogosh from Bacone (Okla.) Junior College, has not received its due.

"The problem I've had with the media attention and the attention of the public was that it seemed to be more on the players we didn't get than the ones we did get," Jones said. "We were then - and are now - pleased with who we got."

Virginia remains in the picture with 6-10 Spaniard Ricardo Peral, who has not taken any visits. However, UVa finished second for three post players - 6-10 Kirk Luchman, who signed with Florida State; 6-8 Ben Davis, who transferred from Kansas to Florida; and 6-10 Jason Lawson, who signed with Villanova.

It is Jones' contention that all three players made a commitment to Virginia at some point.

"It was a strange year in the sense that the players did say they were coming," Jones said. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about it and play it over in my mind, but, at the same time, I don't want to waste time dwelling on it."

The Cavaliers need help in the middle, with the departure of Ted Jeffries, but they already have two established guards in Parker and Cory Alexander, who finished 1-2 on the team in minutes in 1992-93.

"It's going to be hard to play two of the three freshmen a lot of minutes - if a lot is 20 or 30 minutes," Jones said. "But I've told Cornel and, in a different fashion, Cory, flat out not to expect as many minutes next season. By playing fewer minutes, I hope everybody's performance will be enhanced."