8Basketbail 1988-89 Friday, November 18, 1988
Gradlyatioim forces Vfi'o
Dimia to rebtLonDd
By ERIC WAGNON
Staif Writer
In another, less competitive con
ference, Virginia might be looking
forward to battling for a conference
title. But in a particularly tough ACC
race this year, the Cavaliers will be
trying to avoid the cellar.
Following last year's 13-18 season
Virginia's first losing season in 1 1
years 1 5th-year coach Terry
Holland must look for someone to
fill the scoring vacuum left by the
graduation of second-team all
conference forward Mel Kennedy
and slick point guard John Johnson.
"Chemistry is going to be a very
big factor for us this year," Holland
said. "Well need five players consist
ently in double figures to pick up the
scoring slack."
With respect to the average points
per game of Cavalier returnees,
Virginia retains only 50 percent of its
scoring punch a substantially
lower percentage than the other seven
ACC clubs.
Holland may find his answer to the
scoring problem in 6-10 Brent Dabbs,
who averaged 19.1 points and 12.2
rebounds last year as a first-team
junior college All-American.
Dean Smith, who rarely seriously
recruits from the juco ranks, had also
courted Dabbs. However, Dabbs'
signing with Virginia last spring
marked the first time since Ralph
Sampson that a player recruited by
both schools chose Virginia over
North Carolina.
"Brent Dabbs will be a player who
can put a lot of numbers on the
board," Holland said. "He can face
the basket and shoot the ball with
good range, maybe not three-point
range, but close to it."
After Dabbs' signing, Holland
seemed positive about recruiting
junior college players.
"It's been proven junior college
players can play the game well,"
Holland said. "Not only that, they
can take you to the Final Four, take
you to national championships. Our
experience with jucos has been very
positive."
Holland also plucked 6-6 Curtis
Williams from the junior college
ranks. Another member of the juco
All-American first team, Williams
averaged 20.6 points, 12.1 rebounds
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Coach Terry Holland's Cavaliers
and 3.7 blocked shots in pacing
Alleghany Community College of
Maryland to a 34-4 record.
"Curtis Williams reminds me a lot
of Robert Brickey of Duke," senior
guard Richard Morgan said of his
new teammate. "He probably has no
right to be in the paint, but he's
strong, he's a great jumper and he's
quick on the boards. Hell help us
right away."
Holland looks for Williams to fill
the role of the departed 6-5 Kennedy
as an all-around scoring threat.
Holland's recruiting class did not
look quite so promising last
December, with only one signee from
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are picked to have a long year
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forward Bryant Stith of Lawrence,
Va.
" "I don't think that when he was
a little kid he ever walked, Morgan
said. "He was just born to run. He
has an incredibly quick jump to the
basket and a very strong move to the
hoop. He's a scorer no doubt about
it."
. Stith, a third-team Parade All
American, showed his scoring poten
tial in his senior season, averaging
29.3 points per game. Stith added to
that mark an average of 11.5
rebounds a game.
Holland certainly did not have to
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worry about Prop 48 in Stith's case,
because Stith's averages in the class
room were just as impressive: he was
class valedictorian.
With a lone signee, albeit an
outstanding one, the future certainly
appeared brighter as the spring
signing period progressed. In addi
tion to Dabbs and Williams, Virginia
successfully recruited Anthony Oliver
and Ted Jeffries.
Oliver, a 6-3 guard out of Faison,
will probably back up sophomore
John Crotty. Along with 22.7 points
per game, Oliver averaged just over
six assists and almost five steals per
game at North Duplin High.
To gain any recruiting attention
while playing at a small school like
North Duplin, Oliver had to play well
against Hobbton High. The scouts
had come to watch Hobbton's highly
touted Chris King, who is now with
Wake Forest. Oliver responded by
playing the best games of his senior
year and joined Holland's fold as
Virginia's first spring signee.
Jeffries, a 6-9 center from DeMa
tha Catholic High in Hyattsville,
Md., grabbed the attention of scouts
in a similar way. Jeffries played
behind Maryland's 6-10 center signee
Jerrod Mustaf, who was considered
one of the nation's top prospects.
Although he was eligible to enroll
at Virginia this fall, Jeffries, who is
rather young for his class, felt a post
graduate year at Fork Union Military
Academy would best prepare him for
college.
As Virginia's top returning scorer,
Morgan is hoping to provide senior
leadership.
"At the end of the game, when that
ball is hanging on the rim, it all comes
down to how you live," Morgan said
rather philosophically. "If you
haven't been livin' right like the
problems weVe had here in the past
it's not gonna fall for you. If youVe
been living a good life, you're gonna
get the roll.
"This year we have guys that live
the right way."
Morgan would also like to improve
his shooting percentage from the
floor. In his junior year, Morgan shot
only 41.9 percent from the floor
overall and 40.3 percent in ACC
action.
Morgan's percentage from the foul
line dropped 12.5 percent from his
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sophomore season to 65.6 percent in
his junior year. Morgan's number of
free throw attempts also fell from 64
as a sophomore to 32 as a junior.
Those 32 attempts average out to just
one attempt for every 25.3 minutes
of playing time. In the ACC, only
Quentin Jackson of N.C. State went
to the line less frequently.
Crotty returns with Morgan in the
Cavalier backcourt. The 6-1 point
guard from Spring Lake, N.J., started
the last six games of last season after
Johnson was dismissed from the
team. Crotty averaged 6.3 points and
2.3 rebounds a game and had 92
assists on the season second only
to Johnson's 107.
Bill Batts, a 6-8 junior center
forward, and 6-6 sophomore Kenny
Turner are the only other returning
players who started at least seven
games.
Batts started every game for the
Cavaliers, averaging 7.9 points and
leading the team with 6.4 rebounds
per game. Batts' most statistically
impressive performance of his career
came last season against Rhode
Island, when he came up with 16
points and 15 rebounds.
Although he is an effective
rebounder, Batts has a reputation for
being reluctant to shoot. Last season,
he attempted but one shot in about
every five minutes of playing time.
Turner averaged 6.2 points a game,
with his season high of 12 points
coming against Jacksonville. Like
Batts, Turner has- a reputation of
reluctance to shoot. Turner finished
just behind Batts and Kennedy with
a rebounding average of 5.3 per game.
Last season, the Cavaliers lost eight
non-ACC games, the highest total of
non-conference losses since 1962
63. This year's schedule should prove
kinder to the Cavaliers than last
year's, which included 22 games
including nine non-ACC games
against teams receiving post-season
bids.
Holland called this year's slate
demanding but more realistic than
last year's schedule.
Nevertheless, the only NCAA
tournament participants on this
year's non-conference slate include
Arkansas, Fairleigh Dickinson and
Louisville. Virginia will also face
DePaul or Seton Hall in the Sugar
Bowl Classic in New Orleans. The
defending NIT champion Connecti
cut Huskies travel to Charlottesville
as the only NIT participant on
Virginia's non-conference schedule.
With 15 of the 22 games mentioned
above coming on the road last season,
See VIRGINIA page 14
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