Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, March 29, 1994 TAG: 9403290061
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
UVa basketball coach Jeff Jones, whose team was trampled by the Huskies 77-36 in this season's opener, confirmed Monday that the Cavaliers will not visit Connecticut until 1995-96 at the earliest.
"That was pretty much agreed at the outset," Jones said. "Because of the places we already had to go next season, it didn't make a lot of sense to play Connecticut, too."
UVa's tentative out-of-conference schedule for next year includes Stanford and Nevada-Las Vegas at home and Vanderbilt and Rice on the road. Virginia played all those teams last season except Vanderbilt.
"When Eddie [Fogler] was there, Vanderbilt was one of the schools I put on a list of attractive opponents," said Jones, whose first UVa team played Vanderbilt in a series that ended in 1991.
UVa played 13 home games this year and usually tries to shoot for 13 or 14, although the Cavaliers had 15 home games in 1992-93. "I'm not opposed to 15," said Jones, hopeful of getting a preseason NIT game next year at University Hall.
\ STYLE CHANGE?: Jones continued to defend his team's hard-nosed style, but admitted that Virginia won't survive long if opponents outshoot UVa 3-1 from the free-throw line, as they did (82-28) in the Cavaliers' last three losses.
"I'm concerned about perceptions," he said. "There's no way we're as physical as [North Carolina coach] Dean Smith and others suggest, but we can't keep putting ourself in the hole. It's something we'll have to take a look at and maybe address."
\ ODDS AND ENDS: Virginia trailed in the second half in 23 of its 31 games, not 20, as reported previously. The Cavaliers were tied in the second half of a 24th game. . . . Cornel Parker joined Jeff Lamp as the only UVa players to finish their careers with at least 750 points, 500 rebounds and 250 assists.
\ WOMEN'S HOOPS: It was hard to watch Virginia in its 85-66 loss to Southern Cal in the women's Mideast Regional and not notice Southern Cal's superior athletic ability. UVa coach Debbie Ryan certainly did.
"That did become our nemesis," Ryan said, "but it's not going to bother us any more. We'll have a lot of speed next year and be able to do a lot of different things. We were pretty limited in our options this year."
UVa has received an oral commitment from 6-3 Bridget Paul, a national top 100 prospect from East Lansing, Mich., who joins early signees Monick Foote from Hockessin, Del., and Tiffany Bower from Monacan High School. Foote was the Gatorade national player of the year and Bower was Richmond metro player of the year.
"Even with our entire team, I'm not sure we could go back and finish 27-5," said Ryan, who suspended top 1993 recruit Konecka Drakeford in December. "That was an amazing feat, but it's [the season-ending loss] still been tough to stomach. We're still the only team to beat [East Regional champ] North Carolina."
\ ANOTHER QUALIFIER: Running back Terrence Wilkins has become the 13th of Virginia's 15 football signees to meet NCAA eligibility standards. Wilkins, from Bishop O'Connell High in Arlington, was rated one of the top 25 prospects in Virginia by the Roanoke Times & World-News.
\ BUCHANAN GOES BONKERS: Junior outfielder Brian Buchanan hit more home runs (nine) in the first 18 games this season than he did in his first two years with UVa's baseball team. Buchanan tailed off during a four-game losing streak that dropped the Cavaliers to 9-13, but was still batting .440 with 24 runs batted in after 22 games.
\ ALL-AMERICA SWIMMER: Junior Peter Wright finished fourth in the 1,650-yard freestyle and sixth in the 500 freestyle, qualifying as an All-American in both events, as Virginia tied for 22nd in the men's NCAA swimming and diving championships.
Three other UVa swimmers were named honorable-mention All-American for Virginia, which was not ranked higher than 24th in the Division I swimming poll. ACC champion North Carolina was 31st.
by CNB