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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 13, 1994                   TAG: 9408050019
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SHORT SUMMER FOR SOME CAVALIERS

Virginia men's basketball coach Jeff Jones, realizing that the Cavaliers are likely to be ranked in the preseason for the second year in a row, has made an unusual request of his players.

"I've required all of our players to be here for the second session of summer school, whether they need to go to summer school or not, so they can begin competing [and] establishing roles on and off the court," said Jones, who is prohibited by the NCAA from supervising any workouts.

"I don't want to wait until school starts or Oct. 15 to start working on that. I don't think it will be a problem, but to assume that people will automatically accept what might be perceived as lesser roles is unrealistic."

UVa welcomes back four starters from an 18-13 team that trailed North Carolina by two points with less than one minute remaining in the ACC championship game and then lost to eventual West Region champion Arizona in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Cory Alexander, a second-team All-ACC selection and the team's leading scorer in 1992-93, will rejoin the team after missing virtually an entire season with a broken ankle suffered in the opening game.

"We should have better depth; we should have more flexibility," Jones said. "Chemistry will be our initial hurdle. I think it would have been more complicated if we'd tried [integrating Alexander] during the season than it will be with him going through the workouts and playing in pick-up games.

A WASTE FOR REYNA: Claudio Reyna, who passed up his final season at Virginia to represent the United States in the World Cup, did not play in the team's four games because of a pulled hamstring. There is some consolation for Reyna, the national player of the year, who is likely to sign a lucrative contract to play professionally.

BASEBALL LOSSES: Virginia first baseman-outfielder Brian Buchanan, whose 22 home runs this spring shattered the school record, has signed with the New York Yankees, who selected him in the first round of the June free-agent draft.

Coach Dennis Womack did not expect to keep Buchanan for his senior year.

However, the Cavaliers also lost their best pitcher when fourth-round pick Yates Hall signed with St. Louis. Hall, who was 6-4 with a 3.72 earned-run average, finished second in Division I in strikeouts with 104 in 722/3 innings.

"It was very important for Yates to return to school," Womack said, "so, the Cardinals made it easy for him. They agreed to pay for his education and let him attend school both semesters next year. I thought we were going to keep him before that."

Womack, whose team lost 23 of 25 games against ACC opposition, is fearful of losing one of his top signees, left-handed pitcher Pat Daneker from Williamsport, Pa. Boston drafted Daneker in the 45th round but is waving some significant money in front of him.

Rising junior Eric Parker, who actually had a better strikeout percentage (69 in 472/3 innings) than Hall without the innings to qualify for the NCAA statistics, recently struck out five batters in one inning for the Staunton Braves of the Valley League.

Keywords:
SOCCER BASEBALL

by CNB