Four-star power forward Tyler Cook (2016) is down to six schools, including UVa.

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I saw today, UVA made the cut for 2016 recruit, Tyler Cook who is from St. Louis Mo and is a PF, 6'9", 240lbs

Something that stood out for those fans that were around during the Ralph Sampson era, he plays for a school named Chaminade High School in St. Louis.

Chaminade a name some of us know and I was in Hawaii in the military at the time Ralph, Ricky and the rest of the UVA team lost to them. It was a nightmare for us that were fans that day. I was telling guys before the game that it was going to be a 50 point blow out for UVA.

Didn't live it down the rest of the time I was there from North Carolina fans and Maryland fans in my unit.

and could someone please explain how I can take a picture of it with my phone then down load it to this site.

Sorry if already posted

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-bas...ldcats-stay-atop-revised-way-too-early-top-25

5. Virginia Cavaliers

With Justin Anderson back, Virginia would have been atop this list. Why not? When Anderson was healthy in 2014-15, the Cavaliers were the best combination of lights-out defense and efficient offense in college basketball, and the only team deserving of a mention in the same breath as Kentucky. When Anderson was injured, the offense took a major knock, and the Cavaliers couldn't put it back together in time to outduel Tom Izzo and Travis Trice's complimentary iso clinic in the round of 32. With Anderson now departed for the NBA draft -- a slightly surprising, though totally understandable, decision -- the same offensive questions will be asked about UVa. But here's the thing: This team, otherwise more or less intact, was still a defensive purebred when Anderson was out, good enough to win nine of its final 10 regular-season games (and finish 28-2 overall). And this time, coach Tony Bennett has an entire offseason to account for his star wing's absence, namely by coercing promising rising sophomore Marial Shayok into an approximation of Anderson's perimeter shooting and athletic slashing. You might not pick the Hoos to hang a national title as readily as if Anderson had returned, sure. But they're still awfully good.

I know some folks have some angst about Diakite having a "sponsor/advisor/handler" whatever you want to call it in the mix. But let me throw out an alternative perspective:

If you were the parents of a foreign basketball prospect looking to play college ball in another country and your son or daughter has a favorite school which has evolved due to proximity and getting to know the players and coaches from that school, how would you approach recruitment? Would you let him/her just commit to that school? Or, would you have someone knowledgeable of US college basketball set up visits at multiple schools for your child and you so you can look at multiple programs before visiting the child's favorite? Remember the adviser was not involved in the visits but an interpreter was so there was no influence from the adviser.

While we've seen "handlers" and street agents get involved with recruits to the detriment of programs that are trying to operate within the rules, that doesn't mean this is one of those instances. The approach so far as we know is pretty sound and in Mamadi's best interests. It is very possible all this is being orchestrated in the most forthright and honest manner to make sure the Diakite family can make an informed decision. At least I hope that's the case.

2018 LB Teradja Mitchell is one of the most heavily recruit 2018 prospects in the country. His offer sheet is already in double-digits and he is doing research on all of them. Mitchell recently visited North Carolina, South Carolina and Virginia Tech. He wants to visit N.C. State, Maryland and Florida State this summer. Mitchell has a lot of connections to Virginia, including family members that played on the team and many Bayside alums that continued their careers in Charlottesville. Miami and Clemson has also offered Mitchell but is sounds like the Florida State offer really caught Mitchell's eye. Look for plenty more schools to offer Mitchell before all is said and done.

Video: Things heating up for 2018 LB Mitchell

In the video linked below, OL Mike Carney talks about his offers from N.C. State, Rutgers, Virginia and Old Dominion. Carney says Virginia and ODU are his leaders right now but he is attracting interest from schools like Maryland, Penn State, Tennessee, North Carolina and Miami. He plans on camping at PSU and UMD in June.

Video: Two leaders for OL Carney

UVA had two LBs drafted by the NFL while Grant, who was coveted by UVA fans before he chose Ohio State, was not drafted at all. This is another example of why the number of *s is not necessarily a predictor of future success.

Though he's already up to 10 offers, the recruitment of Ocean Lakes athlete Tahj Capehart (2017) is only getting started. Here he talks about his recent impressions of Virginia Tech and UVa.

Link: Capehart is just getting going

http://sports.yahoo.com/footballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/player-LaGerald-Vick-158430

Read on another board that he is a 2016 3* who is thinking of reclassifying to 2015 and UVA has contacted him. Know anything Brad?

If you would like to see a heart warming story involving Counsell, go to YouTube and look up A Chicken Runs at Midnight..

Check out these highlights of three-star ATH and UVa commit Nick Grant during his junior season at Courtland.

Link: Rivals Spotlight- Nick Grant

Where does eli harold go in the draft tonight?

Videos of basketball players making uncontested dunks or blocking stupid shots by short guys show nothing to me and are, quite frankly, boring! With the exception of the Wolfpacker.com videos, these vids only show made shots, an occasional nice pass, blocked shots, or an occasional steal. Very little, other than a guys' mobility, hops, and form on his made-shots can be gleaned from this.
Sure, I get it: you're aiming for a million hits on You-tube or trying to hype the player and even an old guy like me will bob his head to Master P, Ninja-vitis, or Ryza Roni rappin' in the background to a stream of alley-oop dunks by a guy who is wide open because he failed to run the floor to get back on defense. But you should know that these vids are watched mostly by basketball geeks like myself and others on this board who are looking for real information on a player's ability to help his future team. I doubt coaches waste any time watching these vids.
So, here's my suggestion for a compromise: video montages called "Mix-tape: the Little Things". The suggestions here for these vids hopefully provide a few ideas to keep the vid interesting but show us what we want to see:
Show us that big man setting a nice pick and you can add the old TV Batman "Kapow" to the vid. Show us that same big man setting a poor pick and you can add the sound of the Road Runner whizzing by (the arrows you use in the football vids are helpful here.)
Let us see some missed shots along with the made shots so we can tell if he missed the shot because he is human or because his shot was flat, or he drifted or was off-balance. There are a lot of nice fun sound effects you could add here (clanks, boinks, etc.) or even, say, a country song like "You're The Reason Our Baby's So Ugly" (with arrows showing the problem on the shot.
Show us how well a guy anticipates on defense, especially if its just sliding over to be in the right place (county song here: "I'm The Only Hell Mama Ever Raised"), or if he falls asleep on D, show that with the rap song "You Put The Bitch In Obituary."
The point here is that these vids can still be fun and interesting while educating us (and the players) about tangible, useful, basketball skills!
Anybody else have some good ideas for these vids?

Hadn't seen this posted yet, but this could be a huge game. Cal has a monster recruiting class coming in with multiple 5 star kids and is a definite Pac 12 contender.

http://www.californiagoldenblogs.co...rnia-golden-bears-virginia-cavaliers-schedule

Kenny Williams has committed to North Carolina.

My hope is that Brad is asleep at the wheel and a "COMMITMENT" thread is already due. Feels like I have been following the MD recruitment forever. Is there anything else left for him to do or is it pretty much just making a decision now? Any ideas on a projected time frame?

From UVa:

Virginia’s Games With VCU, GW Will Not Be Rescheduled
Schools were unable to find mutually agreeable dates in which to reschedule games

Virginia’s home games against VCU and George Washington, which were postponed because of inclement weather in February, will not be rescheduled. After exhausting all possible opportunities, the schools were unable to find mutually agreeable dates in which to play this season.

The UVa-VCU game was slated for Feb. 17, while the UVa-GW contest was scheduled for Feb. 24

Tickets for these games were part of the refund processed for season ticket holders in March. Fans who purchased single-game tickets to either game that have not already been exchanged for a ticket to another game this season, may: (a) exchange their tickets in advance for a General Admission ticket to any other regular-season game by calling the Virginia Athletics Ticket Office at (800) 542-8821 during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 9 am to 5 pm., or (b) bring their tickets to the gate for General Admission seating at any remaining regular-season home game, subject to seat availability at the time of arrival.

Following a nine-day break for final exams, Virginia returns to action May 8-10 with a three-game ACC series against Duke at Davenport Field. The Cavaliers conclude their home schedule on May 12 against Richmond.

Was signed by the Arizona Cardinals

I haven't been able to re-find a good link for it, but if any of you remember the Sacha Killeya-Jones video where he dropped 30 points/10 rebounds on L.C. Bird, you might remember that L.C. Bird's defense was non-existent in that video. I wasn't surprised by Kenny's decision since he should feel very comfortable playing for a team where defense is not a pre-requisite for playing time. We know that Bennett is very honest with his recruits and UVA has back-to-back 30 win seasons because of its defense. Tony didn't go small with 3 smaller guards this season for any significant length of time because that becomes a major liability for the pack-line defense. And if anybody thinks that Tony might change this philosophy and sacrifice a little bit of defense for some needed shooting, I would suggest you look to the hiring of Brad Soderberg as evidence that the pack-line defense will continue to remain the priority. So, KW was looking at competing for time at 2 spots on the floor (the 1 and the 2) with: Next year: Brogdon, Perrantes, Hall, Thompson, and occasionally Shayok at the 2; his second year: Perrantes, Hall, Thompson, occasionally Shayok, Guy, and Jerome; his third year: Hall, Thompson, occasionally Shayok, Guy, Jerome, and whoever else we bring in (Matt Coleman?). Given that guys that play defense are the ones that see more playing time with Tony, it should have been clear to KW that the competition for PT was going to be very tough and his strength is on the offensive side of the ball. In reality, UNC is probably a better fit for KW. Our strongest need right now position-wise is at the 3 with someone that has guard skills but the length of Justin or Marial to be able to close-out on the opposition's 3 on defense and help inside as well. Meanwhile, players improve under Tony and every year someone has taken a major step-up in their game, so I think we'll be just fine next year. And I for one don't want Tony to change one bit about his defensive philosophy - it works! I can't wait next year when he'll be able to substitute during a game with a lineup of Thompson, Brogdon, Shayok, Gill/Wilkins, and Tobey. Talk about scoring droughts for the opposition! Good luck to our opponents trying to score against that lineup with a new 30-second shot clock.

Max to the Raiders in the 6th. round,good luck Max make some noise in Oakland.......

Good stuff from Jeff White over at VaSports on new UVa assistant hoops coach Brad Soderberg and the experience he's bringing to Charlottesville.

Link: Soderberg brings wealth of experience

After the KW news, some good news about Diakite would be great...

Four-star OL Josh Ball is starting to make progress toward naming a short list. As of now, Penn State, West Virginia, Florida State, South Carolina, Virginia and Virginia Tech are standing out to Ball. A recent offer from Wisconsin is intriguing to Ball. He wants to visit Madison as well as Florida State.

Story: Some rising to the top for 4-star OL Ball

Fairchild says all the right things. Comments from practice indicate that the players know they need to dig deeper. Johns is the #1 at QB, which is a sign that the coaching staff views performance as more important than recruiting hype. Blanding is a stud and he is back!!!!! Hamm is doing everything the coaches want and then some! Mizzell is improving - he may not be back to "Smoke" but he is drawing favorable comparisons to "water vapor." Yes, UVA Football is heading into the summer after a deplorable season, yet I somehow manage to return to an optimistic state-of-mind. Is this the year where we get traction or is this the year where the definition of insanity is confirmed???