ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, March 12, 1996 TAG: 9603120114
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
VIRGINIA HAS BEEN in the running for several big men who have made impacts in college basketball in the past three years, but they've all gone elsewhere.
The decline of Virginia's men's basketball program, as sudden as it was steep, may have had its origins three years ago.
The Cavaliers, whose most glaring weakness this season was the lack of a productive big man, finished second on six players 6 feet 9 or taller during the 1992-93 recruiting year.
Three of them were legitimate low-post players and, while recruiting can be a fickle business, the Cavaliers thought they would sign all three.
``When Kirk Luchman told us he was coming, when Ben Davis told us he was coming and when Jason Lawson told me he was coming, yeah, I thought we might get one of those players,'' UVa coach Jeff Jones said.
Steve Smith, who had coached Davis at Oak Hill Academy, said the chances were ``99 percent'' that Davis would transfer from Kansas to Virginia. Two of his former teammates, Cory Alexander and Junior Burrough, already were at UVa.
Davis ultimately transferred to Florida, although he never played for the Gators. Davis was suspended from the team for a violation of team policy, transferred to Hutchinson (Kan.) Community College and has spent the past two years at Arizona.
Luchman was the first of the players to make up his mind, committing to Florida State in the week before the November signing period. Davis' decision came the week after the fall period ended; then, UVa began its serious pursuit of Lawson, who eventually signed with Villanova in May.
Lawson (6-11,235) is averaging 12.0 points and 6.6 rebounds and recently was named second-team All-Big East Conference. Davis (6-9, 240) is averaging 14.5 points and is leading the Pac-10 in rebounding with 9.7 per game. He was a first-team All-Pac-10 choice.
``With Ben, there was all kind of stuff swirling around,'' Jones said. ``I can say now that it was probably better - certainly for us - that he not come here.
``Kirk has been a solid player for Florida State, but, in terms of a guy who could have made a big impact, the one guy is Jason Lawson.''
Lawson, from Olney High School in Philadelphia, signed with Villanova one day after canceling a news conference at which he was expected to pick Virginia.
``He had gone somewhere else to visit,'' Jones said, ``and he called me as soon as he came home. Initially, he told me he was going to Villanova. I just said, `Is that what you want to do? How did you come to that decision?' He mentioned flipping a coin [and] talking to his brother.
``He said he flipped the coin three times. [Villanova coach] Steve Lappas will never believe it, but the truth is, I didn't persuade him. All I said was, `Jason, you've got to be true to yourself. What do you want to do? This doesn't sound like your decision.'
``He cried on the phone and said he wanted to come to Virginia. He told us a week before the press conference. What transpired between our phone call and the press conference, I don't know.''
The other big men who had Virginia second in '92-93 were Joey Beard, Ben Melmeth and Ricardo Peral - all of whom preferred to play on the perimeter. Beard signed with Duke, although he later transferred to Boston University; Melmeth signed with Utah and Peral went to Wake Forest.
Melmeth was an Australian who went to high school in Salt Lake City, so it was a surprise he even took a trip to Charlottesville. Beard never visited Virginia, although he had been on campus unofficially, and Peral added the Cavaliers to his itinerary almost as an afterthought.
If UVa made a mistake in judgment, it was in the fall of 1991, when the Cavaliers declined to pursue Todd Fuller, who became an All-ACC performer at North Carolina State. However, they had just signed a heralded five-member recruiting class, including center Chris Alexander, whom they had not then seen in practice.
Two years later, they were in the running for DeMarco Johnson, a 6-8, 235-pounder who averaged 18.1 points and 8.7 rebounds this season for North Carolina-Charlotte and was named second-team All-Conference USA. Johnson played at Fork Union Military Academy.
The Cavaliers opted for Chase Metheney, who, at 7-4, was considerably taller and also had a better academic profile. Then, last year, they signed 6-9 Melvin Whitaker, who spent a semester in prep school before his arrest last week for malicious wounding.
``We've changed things around to make the power forward our inside scorer,'' said Jones, who enjoyed success with that arrangement last year, when Junior Burrough was a senior, ``but [the big man] has been the one traditional piece that has been missing from our puzzle.''
LENGTH: Medium: 88 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Chart by staff: They got away. color.by CNB