ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, June 30, 1996 TAG: 9607010121
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESILLE
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
On the same day that Virginia handed Florida State its first ACC defeat in football, the men's basketball staff received a piece of news last fall that was greeted with almost as much glee.
Willie Dersch, one of the nation's premier wing players, had picked the Cavaliers over Duke and North Carolina and given UVa everything it could have wanted from a recruiting class.
Virginia earlier had received commitments from center Melvin Whitaker and power forward Colin Ducharme, and one-time top 100 prospect Monte Marcaccini already was enrolled in classes after transferring from Pepperdine.
``The truth is, we were done,'' Cavaliers' coach Jeff Jones said earlier this week. ``We weren't continuing to keep up with our recruiting list. The one variable was - could or would Mel Whitaker get his test score? - and we were pretty confident he would.''
So, what was the UVa staff doing in mid-May, sitting around the office and sweating out the decision of two prospects - one on the other side of the world?
Actually, the one possible hang-up - Whitaker's eligibility - never was an issue. Whitaker made the required score on the Scholastic Assessment Test in December and nearly enrolled at Virginia for the second semester.
Although he did not receive immediate NCAA clearance to begin classes, Whitaker moved to Charlottesville anyway and had been in town only a matter of weeks before his arrest March 5 following an attack on UVa football player Maurice Anderson.
That came less than a month after a pair of freshmen basketball players, Scott Johnson and Darryl Presley, were arrested for their part in a December shoplifting incident. Suddenly, the Cavaliers were running out of players, with no place to turn.
Jones never would have suspected that 6-10 Kris Hunter from Tallahassee, Fla., had grown up as a Virginia fan. All Jones knew was that Hunter had not signed early and had not taken any visits.
A second post player, 6-9 Australian Craig McAndrew, did not enter the picture until mid-April. The original target of Virginia's search for a power forward was 6-7 Ronnie DeGray from Howard College, a two-year school in Big Spring, Texas.
``To get Hunter and McAndrew was a long shot,'' Jones conceded. ``There were a bunch of other kids - both junior college and high school kids - that we tried to get involved with. With some of them, we couldn't even get in the door.
``For whatever reason, the two best kids that we tried to recruit [in the spring] were the two we ended up getting.''
Clearly some things broke Virginia's way. It would have been the Cavaliers' preference for Hunter to visit during the weekend of April 12-14, when UVa holds its Spring Fling, an African-American celebration, but Hunter decided to come the preceding week.
DeGray was the only recruit on campus for Spring Fling and was in the crowd when Harold Deane, the Cavaliers' most prominent player, was arrested at a private party. Two days later, DeGray made an oral commitment to Colorado.
If DeGray had committed to Virginia, once thought to be his favorite, the Cavaliers would not have pursued McAndrew. However, DeGray's decision prompted Jones to send assistant Tom Perrin to Charlotte, site of the NIKE Hoop Summit.
McAndrew caught Perrin's eye during practices for an all-star game between an international team and a United States squad. The only problem was, McAndrew had a strict timetable before his return to Australia in early May.
``Obviously, I had some other schools that I was visiting,'' said McAndrew, who was involved with Washington State and Gonzaga. ``At the time, it looked like I wasn't going to be able to visit Virginia. But, I wanted to give myself a chance to play at the highest level.''
It meant flying from Charlotte to Seattle and then back to Virginia. But, given the total flying time to Australia - 30 hours - one more cross-country trip wasn't a major obstacle.
McAndrew may cross the Pacific Ocean again when Virginia opens the season in the Maui Invitational. That is, if the NCAA does not make him sit out a year for a brief appearance he made for the Perth Wildcats in Australia's professional league.
If McAndrew is ineligible this season, Ducharme may serve as the back-up to Norman Nolan at power forward. If McAndrew is eligible, Ducharme may be redshirted.
In either case, the recruiting class has greatly improved the talent level of a Virginia team that sputtered to a 12-15 season in 1995-96. Dersch and Hunter are national top 50 recruits; a recruiting analyst puts McAndrew on a par with Ducharme as a top-100 talent, and Marcaccini has had a year to learn the system.
``I can't say a feeling of satisfaction has set in,'' said Jones, who has seen UVa's recruiting ranked anywhere from first to fifth in the ACC. ``With everything that's gone on the past year, the mood around here has to be, `Don't take anything for granted.'''
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: Charts by staff. 1. The nation's top 40 boy's collegeby CNBbasketball prospects. 2. Nation's top recruiting classes.