ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 9, 1996 TAG: 9603120027
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: GREENSBORO, N.C.
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
IT'S BEEN A BAD SEASON on and off the court for the Cavaliers, but coach Jeff Jones still feels good about his team.
Curtis Staples was just being honest. When he heard that recruit Melvin Whitaker had been arrested, his first thoughts were of Virginia's 1996-97 basketball team.
``That part hurt me more than anything,'' said Staples, one of four underclassmen who start for UVa. ``All we needed was a center. We were looking forward to having Melvin, but things happen for a reason.
``Who knows what will happen. Maybe we'll get somebody else just as good.''
It appears unlikely that Whitaker, a 6-foot-10, 225-pound center, will play for the Cavaliers after his arrest Tuesday night on charges of malicious wounding, a felony. For one thing, a conviction would bring jail time.
Also, although he has signed a letter-of-intent, Whitaker had not been accepted into school. Dean of admissions Jack Blackburn said earlier this week ``the incident'' would be a factor in his decision.
``I just hope that people will allow things to play out and run their course, rather than coming to conclusions, particularly about the other guys on the team,'' said UVa coach Jeff Jones.
Jones was concerned that the character of his active players might be questioned after the arrests of Whitaker and freshmen Darryl Presley and Scott Johnson, who face petty-larceny charges in a separate incident.
``I think this is one of the most clean-cut programs around,'' Staples said. ``We've always done things by the rules. We always want things to be perfect. People shouldn't judge our program by a couple of incidents or by a couple of people.
``You just sit back and say, `What else? What else bad could happen to the team this season?' You can't make sure that anything like this won't happen. This was somebody who wasn't even on our team yet.
``We really didn't know [Whitaker], but nobody expected anything like this. I'd say there is a one-in-a-million chance that something like this would ever happen again.''
Virginia was down to six able-bodied scholarship players at one point, but the team actually seems to have become closer during the closing stages of the Cavaliers' worst season since 1987-88.
``Basketball-wise, everything has gone wrong that could possibly go wrong,'' said Norman Nolan, another sophomore. ``With this latest thing, we've got to fight through it, just like we have all the other adversity.
``We've still got a lot of good kids on this team. We know how we're supposed to act. So, we're going to continue doing the things we've been doing. We're going to stick together; we're going to take care of each other, but you can't see or know everything.''
When Jones was informed of Nolan's remarks, he observed that it might have been the first matter on which he and Nolan had been in total agreement.
``We've got a group of young men on this basketball team that I like and that I feel good about in terms of representing the University of Virginia,'' Jones said. ``Obviously, some things have happened that have, at the very least, been embarrassing.''
Whitaker's arrest received big headlines in Virginia, but Wake Forest coach Dave Odom said he didn't see anything about it in his paper. All his information came second-hand.
``My first thought was, `There's another sad incident that proves the toughest thing in this business is keeping a team together,''' said Odom, whose Deacons defeated Virginia 70-60 on Friday night.
``Now that I've heard the details, I think it's more tragic than that. It's more involved than that. It's sadder than that. There's a situation that just has no part in our society.''
Whitaker, who had met NCAA admissions standards and was working in Charlottesville, allegedly struck UVa football player Maurice Anderson after a pick-up basketball game. Anderson required 75 stitches to close a cut on his cheek.
``You feel bad for the innocent - the people at the university, the coaching staff and the basketball team - who put so much trust in him,'' Odom said. ``But you get to the point where you don't feel bad for the people who commit these things.''
Jones, in the midst of preparing the Cavaliers for an ACC tournament they had to win to make postseason play, now faces the prospect of going back on the recruiting trail to find a big man.
Johnson, who has the same hearing date (March 20) as Presley and Whitaker, has dropped off the team and is expected to transfer. At 6-10 and 243 pounds, Johnson was UVa's top frontcourt reserve at the time of his injury.
``I don't know if it's [the Whitaker situation] been a distraction or not,'' Jones said Thursday. ``Obviously, the players have been informed, but it's not something we've spent a lot of time talking about.
``I think, for me, it's probably been a little bit different. I've tried as best I could not to let it affect me, but that's easier said than done.''
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