Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, October 29, 1993 TAG: 9310290039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DOUG DOUGHTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Chase Metheney, a 7-foot-3, 258-pound center from Charlotte (N.C.) Latin School, said Thursday that he has chosen UVa over Wake Forest and Florida.
Metheney has been labeled "a future NBA player" by recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, who rated him the No. 63 prospect in the country after his junior year.
"The thing I want to make sure everybody realizes is that Chase is not Ralph Sampson," said Charlotte Latin coach Jerry Faulkner, an assistant coach at Clemson during the period Sampson was college basketball's national player of the year from 1981-83.
Metheney, preparing for his fourth season on the varsity, averaged 17 points and 11 rebounds last season for a team that finished 26-4 and won a state championship in its private-school division.
"He doesn't have a glaring weakness," Faulkner said. "He has not yet played in the same body for any length of time. When he came to us as a ninth-grader, he was 7-3 and 190 pounds. It's very possible he will play at 275 to 280 pounds in college and, when he gets there, I look for him to take off as a player."
Metheney visited Virginia during the weekend and said he made up his mind Wednesday night, although he did not call UVa coach Jeff Jones until 4 p.m. Thursday.
"It was a shock to me," Faulkner said. "We talked Wednesday, and we were supposed to meet [Thursday] just to talk things over. He told an assistant coach that it would be another week or two."
Metheney easily meets NCAA academic requirements with a score of 960 on the Scholastic Assessment Test as a junior and a 3.7 grade-point average.
"I felt comfortable around the coaches and players," Metheney said, "and I'm looking forward to playing with Curtis Staples."
Staples, a guard from Roanoke and Oak Hill Academy, committed to UVa two weeks ago.
"I don't look to be [an impact player] my first year," Metheney said. "Who can be? [But] I wanted to go somewhere that I was needed."
by CNB