THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 17, 1996 TAG: 9601170478
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 81 lines
Harold Deane came into the season without promising he would return for his senior year if he had the opportunity to jump to the NBA.
``I plan on being at Virginia for four years, but who knows? No one can predict the future,'' said the Cavaliers' junior point guard.
In a recent interview with Barry Jacobs, editor of ``ACC Insider,'' Deane sounded even more as if he'll take a long look at what's available from the pros at the end of the season.
``Guys nowadays, they're not just playing college basketball because it is their ultimate goal,'' Deane told Jacobs. ``It is because they want to go to the next level. . . . The NBA really is where everybody wants to be.''
Deane said he has ``people telling me all kinds of things.''
``It is hard not to listen to them because when you grow up, as a kid your dream is to play in the NBA,'' Deane said.
``When you are so close to it, and people say if you leave this year you might go here, or if you wait, next year you might be in a better situation. All those things go through a player's mind.''
After a slow start, Deane has averaged 28.3 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 5.7 assists in the last three games.
CAVS AILING: Virginia coach Jeff Jones and two starting players were fighting the flu bug Tuesday while trying to prepare for tonight's game against 10th-ranked North Carolina.
Assistant coach Pete Herrmann, who subbed for Jones on the ACC's weekly press conference, said Deane and forward Norm Nolan also were not feeling well.
``We don't think it is serious enough to affect everyone and spread quickly through the team,'' Herrmann said.
STILL MUM: The Cavaliers still aren't saying if recruit Mel Whitaker is going to enroll for the second semester.
Whitaker, who made his test scores while at Hargrave Military Academy during the first semester, reportedly wants to enter Virginia for the second semester.
Jones previously declined to comment on the situation and Herrmann would say only, ``Jeff is trying to sort all of this out.''
He'll have to do it quick, since the second semester begins in a few days.
Sources speculate even if Whitaker enrolls, Jones won't play him until next season.
TERP TURMOIL: Maryland coach Gary Williams is so down on senior forward Exree Hipp that he's begun calling him a no-show for the season.
``We've lost two guys from last year - Joe Smith and Exree Hipp,'' Williams said recently.
Hipp, who shot 49 percent from the floor his first three seasons, is hitting only 34 percent this season.
Williams said Hipp reported overweight and is still not in top shape.
``If he plays up to his level, we'll play him a lot,'' Williams said. ``If not, he won't play much.''
Once thought to be the team to beat for the title, the Terps are off to an 0-3 start in the ACC.
DISSING: The ACC found itself in an international squabble last week with Canadian Greg Newton of Duke and Wake Forest's Tim Duncan, of St. Croix, heaving barbs at each other.
Newton told Lenox Rawlings of the Winston-Salem Journal that Duncan, who many think is the best player in the country, was ``soft . . . babyish'' and sometimes ``lazy.''
Duncan replied, ``We won the game. He didn't stop me when it counted. So, peace to him. He's the greatest player I've ever seen.''
UNC BETTER? North Carolina coach Dean Smith isn't buying a contention from some Clemson players that the youthful Tar Heels are playing better than they did last year with NBA-defects Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace.
Smith agrees his three freshmen are performing better than expected.
But he adds, ``It is hard to believe if Stackhouse and Wallace had played their junior year that we would not be a pretty good team.''
CODE HOPEFUL: Clemson guard Merl Code, expected to miss the rest of the season because of a torn anterior cruciate ligament, is holding off surgery to see if he can play with the injury.
Code was jogging with a brace on his knee at practice on Monday and coach Rick Barnes is going to give him 10 days to see what progress he makes.
``I've never heard of anyone playing with that kind of injury in basketball, but we'll see,'' Barnes said. by CNB