I f you are like most Virginia fans, there is a good chance that you sat in front of a computer yesterday, staring at a screen that was full of message boards or various college basketball news Websites. Chances are you wore out your mouse, because you couldn't stop clicking the "refresh" button. Through all of the pop up ads and week old news, you were looking for six little words.
Mason Jr. withdraws from the draft.
Unfortunately for diehard and casual fans alike, those words were nowhere to be found. And that could only mean one thing. There is no more Roger Mason Jr., Charlottesville -- at least not in the college game.
Yesterday was the last day for underclassmen to pull their names out of the NBA draft, in order to remain eligible in the world of college basketball. Names like Mason, Dunleavy and Jacobsen had their respective teams holding their collective breath, as they waited until the last minute to inform coaches that they needed the NBA life. Your head must already be filled with coaches' voices repeating the same thing over and over.
"We want what's best for [insert players's name here]," the coaches will tell the reporters. "We encourage [player] to do what's best for him and his family. We wish him well in the future, but this team will still be very good."
But will they be very good?
That seems to be the $10,000 question.
Stanford will suffer, and Duke will be Duke with their influx of talent? But who cares about Stanford and Duke? You want to know about Virginia, right?
Well, there is good news and bad news. The bad news is with Mason running the two guard, Virginia might have been the favorite on paper to win their first ACC title outright in close to 20 years. I do stress "on paper."
The good news you ask? Well, the Cavaliers still have a chance to win an ACC title -- just without Mason.
That statement may seem rather odd, especially when considering that Virginia lost three of its starting lineup, with Mason going to the NBA and seniors Chris Williams and Adam Hall graduating.
But Virginia, like so many of the ACC's elite this season, will count on newcomers to shoulder the load of players gone, and that will be the key to the Cavaliers success. The ACC will be a young league with 16 out of a possible 25 starting players lost to graduation or the NBA draft.
What does all this number crunching mean in the end? A wide open ACC. Any one of the top 6 teams has a chance to jump up and steal the title. The winner of the conference title in 2002-03 will be the team whose newcomers step up and complement last season's returning starters and reserves.
That's good news for the Cavaliers, who will bring an influx of talent, though their recruiting class won't rank in anyone's top 20. Virginia has only one freshman joining the team, though there are three "new" players joining the Cavaliers. That is not including senior Majestic Mapp, who will practically be an incoming player after missing the two previous seasons because of several knee surgeries.
Virginia's first additions made to the 2002 class were transfers Todd Billet and Nick Vander Laan, who transferred to the University following the 2000-2001 school year.
Billet, a 6-foot combo guard from Rutgers, is likely to be Mason's replacement at the two guard. He is described as a terrific shooter, who has a knack for passing and drilling the three-pointer. He set a school record with 82 threes in his last season with Rutgers, a stat that has to make Virginia fans smile, as making three pointers was one of the Cavaliers' most glaring weaknesses last season. That same year he hit 41 percent of his threes compared to the 37 percent that Mason hit.
Joining Billet is the 6-foot-10 center Vander Laan who will provide Virginia with much needed defense in the post. Though he is not a big scorer, he should compliment senior Travis Watson nicely, while providing intensity and rebounding.
The lone freshman is Memphis' Derrick Byers, who was ranked as high as 37 in recruiting ranking done by espn.com. Byers is another shooter who should fit nicely on the wing, with the ability to step behind the line and hit a three, or slash to the basket. Byers is one of 16 finalists who will be chosen to represent the United States as a member of the Junior World Championship team.
The latest recruit of head coach Pete Gillen was junior college transfer Devin Smith, who is transferring to Virginia after one year at Coffeyville Community College in Kansas. Gillen pulled a major coup by pulling in Smith over the likes of fellow powerhouses Kansas and Iowa. There is a good chance that Smith will start at the wing forward position when the season opens after averaging 19.4 points and 6.9 rebounds a game, while leading his team to the Junior College championship game. The young man shot an amazing 46 percent from downtown, and I don't care if you are at a junior college or Division I level. If you can shoot, you can shoot. And Virginia needs players that can hit long range jumpers.
Signs are good that Mapp is recovering from yet another knee surgery in the fall and should be able to play in pick up games toward the end of the summer. If he comes back healthy and able to play at full strength when the season comes, there is a good chance that he could join the starting lineup.
So while Virginia certainly will miss the likes of Roger Mason Jr., everyone does want the best for him, and for once, it is easy to believe the coach when he says, "This team will still be very good"
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