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

DATE: TUESDAY, July 4, 1995                   TAG: 9507050095
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-1   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

CAVS GET CAUGHT SHORT ON THE COURT WITHOUT WHITAKER

Whitaker, who failed to meet NCAA eligibility standards on the Scholastic Assessment Test and American College Test, no longer is bound by the national letter of intent he signed with UVa in May.

The Cavaliers would like Whitaker to attend Fork Union Military Academy; however, he has the option of attending a junior college or enrolling at an NCAA Division I program that accepts ``partial'' qualifiers.

Whitaker, rated the No.31 prospect in the country by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, did meet NCAA standards with at least a 2.0 grade-point average in 11 ``core'' courses at Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson.

The absence of Whitaker will be felt more strongly by Virginia if 6-8 Norman Nolan can't improve on his academic showing as a freshman. Nolan is enrolled for summer school at UVa in hopes of regaining his eligibility for at least the second semester.

``I'm not positive about that,'' said sophomore Curtis Staples, from Roanoke. ``We have to plan as if he's not [eligible]. If he is, it will be a bonus. We're hoping he's going to be there.

``It's really frustrating because we thought everything would be a smooth transition to the next season. As everybody knows, you can't do it all from outside. We're looking for somebody to step up [inside] and give us at least 10 points per game.''

UVa's other returning scholarship players will be fifth-year senior Chris Alexander, juniors Harold Deane and Jamal Robinson and freshmen Chase Metheney, Darryl Presley, Scott Johnson and Courtney Alexander. Metheney was redshirted this past season.

Whitaker is only the second UVa basketball signee not to qualify, following Cornel Parker, who achieved the necessary test score in 1990 while at Fork Union Military Academy.

Coaches at Oak Hill and Virginia stressed the importance of tutoring, but Whitaker, who had improved his grade-point average, went to the beach after graduation. He fell one point shy of the required 17 on the ACT.

EYE-OPENING: Staples, an ACC All-Rookie selection, watched with great interest as eight ACC players were selected in the first round of the NBA draft but James Forrest of Georgia Tech and Donald Williams of North Carolina went undrafted.

Three of the top four selections were players Staples saw this past season in the ACC - Joe Smith from Maryland and Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace from North Carolina. All were sophomores, just one year ahead of Staples, who previously had expressed little inclination to leave early.

``When you're at the top of your game and you have the opportunity to move on, you should,'' Staples said during a break in a summer camp he was supervising this past week at the Roanoke YMCA. ``I can't really say what I'm going to do. You don't want to stay in college too long.

``Guys like James Forrest and Donald Williams peaked in college. At the same time, guys like [undrafted Arkansas guard] Scotty Thurman weren't ready to go yet. I'm sitting back and watching and trying to learn from everything that's going on. There's an example for everything.''

COLONEL TO UVA: Shannon Wilson, starting quarterback for William Fleming High School this past season, is one of five freshmen from the Roanoke Valley who will be on hand for preseason football drills at Virginia.

Wilson will join former Colonels teammate John St.Clair, a tight end and defensive tackle; as well as quarterback Shannon Taylor from Patrick Henry, quarterback Hal Johnson from North Cross and offensive lineman Jeff Painter from Northside. Taylor and St.Clair will be on scholarship.

Wilson, a 5-foot-9, 160-pounder with hopes of playing in the secondary, was a second-team All-Timesland wrestler who finished second in the Northwestern Region meet at 140 pounds. He also ranked in the top 10 percent of his graduating class academically.

Virginia's track and field staff might want to take a look at St.Clair and two other weight men among UVa's football recruits, Dillon Taylor of Spotswood and Travis Griffith of R.E. Lee-Staunton.

Taylor won the discus and shot put at the Group AA meet, St.Clair was second in the discus in Group AAA and Griffith was second in the shot in AA. Taylor won the discus by more than 26 feet, with a toss of 173 feet, 3 inches.