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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 7, 1990                   TAG: 9003071413
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

NEW ARENA FOR BASKETBALL MUST BE BUILT

As a UVa basketball fan, I have suffered through the early days when success was beginning to come, thanks to a guy named Parkhill, and the great times when winning was expected.

I've also tried to get tickets to the big games over the last 10 years with no success. It's been rare that tickets were available to lesser games.

Then there's University Hall. How would Thomas Jefferson, the architect, feel about having the worst ACC basketball arena?

When you (UVa athletic director Jim Copeland) held your news conference to announce the future of a new arena, I was hopeful that a commitment would be made to a new facility. But my reading of it is that the study was used to justify killing the idea. Mr. Copeland, it cannot be news to you that success in basketball is what first brought national prominence to UVa athletics.

I am proud of the success in football and attended each game this past season. But nothing I've seen justifies allowing the basketball program to deteriorate.

The state of Virginia will benefit mightily from an 18,000-24,000 seat arena in Charlottesville, especially if the site near I-64 and Route 29 is selected.

It does not strike me as "hot air" when top basketball recruits narrow their choices to UVa and UNC, or Duke, Georgia Tech, Maryland, Wake Forest, N.C. State or Clemson and that the basketball arena is the deciding factor against UVa.

We're losing coach Holland. Is that necessary?

I do not want to see the basketball program slide further. I do want to see a commitment to a new arena, the best we can get. Are you ready to make that commitment?

One more thing, here's casting a vote for the promotion within of Jeff Jones. He's young enough to wait for the new arena, enthusiastic enough to persuade recruits, experienced enough to know the ropes, a UVa man and ACC to the core.

W. MARTIN HALL\ ROANOKE

by CNB