U.Va. Insider, the column: Addressing Scott's legacy

I wish I knew!

Since I was covering the game in person, I wasn’t privvy to the conversation Saturday between Mike Patrick and Len Elmore, the ESPN broadcast team for the Virginia men’s basketball team between Virginia and North Carolina State.

However, I’m told that Patrick and Elmore were debating whether Mike Scott is UVa’s best player since Ralph Sampson. Or, maybe it was the best big man.

My wife said she thinks it might have been the latter because the list of candidates did not include Sean Singletary, a guard who was a three-time, first-team All-ACC selection between 2005-2007.

Think about it: Scott, a fifth-year senior from Chesapeake, has never made first-, second- or third-team All-ACC during his career.

OK, maybe Patrick and Elmore weren’t counting Singletary. But, I understand that Bryant Stith was on their list. Stith, a 6-foot-6 forward, was another three-time first-team All-ACC selection (1990-92).

Stith gets my vote as UVa’s best player since Sampson. Singletary would be second on the list.

YOU COULD ARGUE that Scott (6 foot 8, 237 pounds) is having the best season by a UVa player – or UVa big man – since Sampson. But, the statistics won’t even let you say that.

In 1996-97, then-senior Norman Nolan averaged 21.0 points and 9.2 rebounds, compared to Scott’s current 17.0 and 8.3 averages. But, that Virginia team went 11-19 and cost coach Jeff Jones his job, through no fault of Nolan or his fellow senior, Curtis Staples, it should be pointed out.

With its 65-61 victory Tuesday night over Clemson, this Virginia team reached 18 victories by the end of January for the first time since 1981-82. Scott’s 23-point, 10-rebound, three-block was typical of the way he has carried on multiple occasions.

Scott’s recent play reminds me of another UVa power forward, Junior Burrough, who put the Cavaliers on back for about six weeks in 1994-1995, when they finished 25-8 and reached the final eight of the NCAA Tournament.

Burrough averaged 18.1 points and 8.7 rebounds that season. For his career, he scored 1,970 points, good for sixth place on UVa’s career list, and had 929 rebounds, which is third all-time.

For my money, Burrough might be the most under-appreciated Virginia player over the past 25 years. He twice made third-team All-ACC, but never higher, and has yet to be recognized as UVa’s “legend” at the ACC Tournament.

SCOTT GOES INTO Saturday’s game at Florida State with 1,320 points and 854 rebounds. He’s about to pass Norman Nolan and Elton Brown on the Cavaliers’ all-time scoring list. He’s had a better career than both of them.

But, it’s hard to put Scott ahead of Burrough and it’s hard to put him ahead of Travis Watson, who had 1,546 points and 1,115 rebounds between 2000-2003. Scott won’t catch Watson in the second category and it will take a great run to pass him in scoring.

Those are measurables but, when you talk about Scott, he has a chance to do something that nobody else in the post-Sampson era. Almost everywhere you turn these days, somebody is saying that Scott is his or her midseason choice for ACC player of the year.

Know how many ACC players of the year Virginia has had since Sampson was recognized in 1983, for the third year in a row?

NONE!

Know how many different ACC players of the year Virginia has had in its men’s basketball history?

Two, Barry Parkhill in 1972 and Sampson.

If Scott continues his torrid play and is named ACC player of the year, that would give him an elite spot in UVa history.

Even if Scott has to “settle” for first-team All-ACC, consider this: Since 1983, the only Virginia players to make the first team have been Richard Morgan in 1989, Stith from 1990-92 and Singletary from 2005-2007.

No UVa “big man” since Sampson has made first-team All-ACC. That’s a distinction that would speak for itself.

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