OK, I'll start...
Most Impressive RS Freshmen...I'll go with Darrious Carter. The staff seems to be impressed with his physical development.

Most Intriguing Frosh...Chris Sharp - has size and speed, but appears to run a little upright. It will be interesting to see how well his skill set translates to College ball. The level of competition he faced in HS was not significant.

I felt it would be another season before he would have any impact on the program, but the way he started to fill into his body the genius of Mike Curtis and the fact from some videos that he seems to have at least one or two post moves makes me think he could give us 6 to 8 minutes a game this year . Plus he seems to play with a chip on the shoulder and I love that


http://www.newsplex.com/sports/head...-a-Year-Later-320979451.html?device=phone&c=y

I know he came back so the simple answer would be he has every shot to win the number two job, but we have a transfer and a talented freshman and even though I want the freshman to obviously redshirt, we need talent at that position and I want the best guy who can play when we have an injury or has a shot to lead us in the future to be that guy regardless of his year because as we've seen quarterback development isn't our strongest point. Anyone heard about his development going into camp?

Good stuff from Keenan with our WVU site on three-star CB Sean Mahone, who is set to make his decision at some point soon among a final list of Kentucky, Purdue, UVa, and West Virginia. As you'll recall, Mahone plays at Lakota West in West Chester (OH), which is where the Cavaliers pulled former four-star linebacker C.J. Stalker.

Link: Mahone set to decide sometime this week

UVa begins fall practice tomorrow. The Cavaliers will go at 7 p.m. tomorrow night and then at 3 p.m. the following four days. The public can come to the first three practices and media members have access to those as well as the two after that. Prior to Tuesday's practice, we'll have media day in Charlottesville in the late morning and early afternoon.

As always, our plan is to be in attendance for all of the practices as well as media day.

Since we're not allowed to do "live" updates on message boards or social media during practices, we will once again do what we've done in years past: Post some quick thoughts right after practice ends and then a comprehensive practice report later on. Once that goes up, we 'll then open the floor for questions. I'll also be doing interviews for stories that will run once our practice access ends and I'll record Coach London's presser prior to each practice and post that audio if there's anything pertinent that comes directly from it. We won't get access to either of the coordinators until media day on Tuesday.

If anyone has any questions, feel free to email me.

1. Maryland
2. North Carolina
3. Kentucky
4. Virginia
5. Kansas

Link: ESPN's No-Longer-Way-Too-Early Top 25

I mentioned this yesterday in another thread but just in case: No War Room today. But you will get something here in a few minutes that I think you're going to like a lot.

Grind doesn't stop, apparently...

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Four -star junior RB A.J. Dillon is in the middle of a slew of visits and will take one to UVa today. Definitely one to watch in 2017.

I had thought I had heard that Hunter was scheduled to visit yesterday. Did he cancel or we did because of Porters visit. Are we still interested or we have Porter dancing in our greedy UVA minds. I love it, what a wild wonderful roller coaster summer for UVA basketball! CTB has had me dreaming, losing sleep and absolutely slobbering for more info. Thank you Brad for putting up with us very obnoxious, pain in the butt UVA fans!

The possibility of him coming on campus this year, getting adjusted to the college life and spending time with Mike Curtis will do wonders. He could get acclimated in the weight room and easily gained 10 to 15 pounds over the next year while learning the pack line, but the biggest key for me is when he can stop on the court in 16 it will put no pressure on Huff having to contribute and he can take the same route of a redshirt year that Diakite would have gone through. Some people say the redshirt does not work, but at UVA with our Grade A strength and conditioning program. Not only get kids ready on the physical level, but keeps our quest to the title on a very good road .

I was told that he is not only coming to UVA but that the holdup in committing is due to a goal he is trying to achieve. Heard he is trying to graduate early so he can come in this fall.

As official scheduling news continues to come out, here's the release on UVa playing Bradley in the Charleston Classic.

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The preseason ranking by ESPN and the recent recruiting success got me to thinking about something.

I thought one of the best things UVa exhibited last year was the ability to go from the climbing program to one that tried to stay up top despite significant personnel losses, even with pretty big expectations. The Hoos have historically had some trouble when big things were expected and likewise have typically been a bit better without expectations. From that standpoint, last year already signaled a difference in this program. Not only did they meet expectations, they exceeded them, flirting with history in the process.

However, this season they're in the top 5 preseason. IF they play well, they would be a top 5-10 team most of next season even with some losses here and there. People have switched from "yeah, but what can they do without Joe Harris and Akil Mitchell?" to "we trust the Cavs will replace Justin Anderson and Darion Atkins". Is this truly the season that will prove whether or not we're a top-tier program and just reload? Or can that only happen next season after MB/AG/MT/EN leave?

All of that said, maybe it really does not matter until you start putting up banners (i.e., UK, KU, Duke, UNC, UCLA, Indiana, and maybe UConn/Florida on a shorter time frame are the only real "heavyweights" that have the history to throw around and we're still in a lower tier chasing them without winning one). Without a deep tourney run, is this team in jeopardy of the "regular season only" label like Pitt and Wake Forest before them and Mizzou much earlier? Would an Elite 8 or F4 be enough to show top program status? Or is finishing in the top 2-3 of the ACC enough?

Just curious to others' thoughts, as I'm not sure where I fall on these subjects ...

I feel like I am asking a silly question, and know I am asking an insignificant one, but will Diakite join Reuter in the class of 2015? If so, any idea how the class ranling will change? I kind of have a who cares attitude bec ause it changes nothing, but I am still curious.

I've heard stories but considering I'm 34 I really didn't start paying attention and watching the final four seasons until after he graduated. People I talk to who watched him play say he was dominant yes, but at times soft. I think a lot of that just had to do with the rules with the shot clock at the time that personally slowed him down and to be honest from the film that I've watched on him the guy was just about 10 or 15 years ahead of his time as he could do a lot of things that big men at the time just weren't able to do. I kind of think if he was playing in the 90s he would have had a little bit of Kevin Garnett in his game, but with about five inches. It frustrates me for people to say he was soft or not a great player because they never won a national championship. That happens in life, but what I saw was a fairly dominant player during a very dominant era of basketball that was ahead of his time. I want to get feedback from people who actually got to watch him play live because all I have is YouTube, yet as a player he has always fascinated me.

Adidas Global Nations comes to an end tonight out in California, with the third-place game between Team USA Lillard and Team Africa set to start at 7 p.m. Eastern on ESPNU. Four-star Rivals150 power forward Mamadi Diakite, the No. 30 overall player in the class, will be playing for Team Africa.

Just sayin'...

According to Blue Ridge School...


http://www.newsplex.com/sports/head...UVa-This-Fall-320806291.html?device=phone&c=y

As I reported last night, Virginia became the fourth school to offer Chicago (Ill.) Mt. Carmel 2018 ATH Houston Griffith. Today I got a chance to talk with him a little more in-depth about the offer and found out he has some connections to the school. FYI, the cousin he mentions is Angela Griffith, who ran track at Virginia in the early 1990's.

https://footballrecruiting.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1789098&PT=4&PR=2

I would think their games would complement one another well. Everyone wants to talk about how he pairs with Nichols but obviously he and Reuter have a chance to spend 3 or 4 years with one another.