A Sea Of Red

TJ Bannister will be enrolled in the fall and eligible for his senior year next season. This is great with the 3 years of experience in the ACC. Not a shabby ACC/Big East backcourt next year BREW AND BANN.

Keep the horses coming!

sounds like a good mix- experienced guys filling out the roster while Dunton reloads with new kids every year. The makings of building a solid program.

getting excited about our prospects here

Thanks for the news. It sounds like we will have some lively practices in the backcourt this season.

Thats some great news. It will be great to have some acc experience out there.

BTW, what are the nuts and bolts concerning Bball transfers? Can a guy practice with the team while he sits out a year from competition when he transfers, or does he have to hone his skill set in solitude and not have any contact with team until he is eligible for NCAA games again?

He can do everything but play in a game. He'll help the team a great deal in practice alone this year while he spend his year waiting to play himself.

Cool...Thanks for the info, Sly.

yup that's what dwight did, last year from jan on

any info as to why TJ left. i had heard he was in leitao's doghouse, but i never thought htis would happen.

I would love to see UVA defections become a trend around campus. It would help us in our bid to improve across the board.

We're only 45 minutes away from UVA so honestly... if a kid is looking to transfer but wants to be close to his friends... he may look at LU in a real way especially if we become known for giving guys a solid shot for their final year or two. With the football transfers and now these basketball transfers from bigger programs... it won't take too many more of these before word is out that LU is a legit place to play if you want to stay close to UVA and your friends.

I'm not complaining but I'd rather see us not need these types on transfers or JUCO's for that matter (I know that part isn't likely). Getting a player for 1 year is just putting a band-aide on your bullet wound. They help you tread water but they're not going to take your program to where you want it to go. In other words we need good players that will be here and develope for more than 1-2 years.

TJ and coach leitao didn't get along very well, and he wants playing time in his senior year and that wasn't going to happen at UVA.

from the charlottesville fishwrap. there is more talk on UVA's messageboard thesabre.com

Bannister opts to transfer
Reserve point guard's minutes had fallen off due to injury

By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
August 15, 2006
Virginia point guard T.J. Bannister had as frustrating a season as a basketball player could possibly have during the 2005-06 campaign.

Apparently, Bannister has decided it’s time for a fresh start.

On Monday, a source told The Daily Progress that the Jacksonsville, Fla. native has decided to transfer.

“I can’t comment on that at this time,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, when reached by telephone Monday evening.

Bannister played in just 16 of Virginia’s 30 games this season, averaging 2.1 points and 2.3 assists.

The 5-foot-11, 175-pounder, who would have been a senior, was in and out of the lineup with a nagging sports hernia injury for much of the year. When he was healthy enough to get on the court, his playing time was sporadic because of rustiness.

The loss of Bannister, who couldn’t be reached for comment, is a blow to Virginia. Although he was only being counted on for spot duty off the bench, Bannister was arguably the team’s only pure point guard; and his decision to leave comes so late in the summer that Virginia cannot use his scholarship on another player.

Without Bannister, returning All-ACC First-Team guard Sean Singletary has no proven backup.

Leitao will most likely give shooting guard J.R. Reynolds more minutes at the point. Reynolds grew more comfortable at that spot as the season wore on last year, and logged major minutes there for a college touring team from New York that played in the Bahamas this summer.

Incoming freshman Solomon Tat, who played some point guard in high school, is another possibility.

Calvin Baker, a transfer from William and Mary, is a legitimate point guard. However, he won’t be eligible until the 2007-08 season.

Bannister, who was recruited by former coach Pete Gillen, told The Daily Progress in February that he was unhappy with the fact he hadn’t taken a medical redshirt that would have given him another year of eligibility.

“I went in and talked to Coach about it,” Bannister said, “but when I did, he told me it was too late because I had already played [too many] games.”

Bannister is the fourth player to leave the program under Leitao’s watch. Swingman Gary Forbes transferred to UMass last August. Post players Donte Minter (Appalachian State) and Sam Warren (destination unknown) left during the season. All four were recruited by Gillen.

Bannister’s best season was in 2004-05 when he started the last 10 games and averaged 4.3 points and 3.7 assists. On Jan. 5 of that season he hit a jumper in the lane with just 2.7 seconds left to beat Western Kentucky.

DUNKS: Incoming freshman Solomon Tat, who battled visa problems before marrying his longtime girlfriend in the spring, has had his high school transcripts approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse. That’s good news for Wahoo Nation. The Nigerian has impressed teammates during pickup games this summer. “I don’t know how he does it, but he always gets [to the basket],” said junior forward Adrian Joseph said. “He’s strong when he finishes, so he can take the contact.”

I agree that these players aren't the long-term solution that we'd want in our program... but they do give us those shots in the arm. We have to remember where we are. Although we've been near the top of the Big South eating Winthrop's dust... we can't be pumped about that.. it's still the Big South. Liberty's goal is to become a national top 50 team. These transfers can give our program the caliber of player each year that it will take to compete. After a while we may begin to draw the higher quality players here for 4 years... but for now I don't see a problem. I'm not sure that anyone on this board felt that keeping last years team together for 10 years would have made much difference.

These transfers also bring in a swagger that our guys need as well as the confidence that "Whoa... someone from UVA WANTS to play here?" It will make our guys realize what they have here. In addition (we can only hope) it brings a work ethic. As these guys come from other programs... they are able to be examples of what it's like at larger schools. Just some thoughts.

I'm more in agreement about the JUCO's though... unless they are a Steve Francis...

TallyW wrote:I In addition (we can only hope) it brings a work ethic. As these guys come from other programs... they are able to be examples of what it's like at larger schools. Just some thoughts.

I'm more in agreement about the JUCO's though... unless they are a Steve Francis...

that is something that dwight and alex brought with them last year. and like you said, people started to follow. alex was in the gym working on his game almost every night, and he also lost alot of fat and gained alot of muscle

I thought it was pretty crazy, as a sabre.com regular, we here at flamefans broke the news first on this. They still haven't said over there where he was going, but we had the news dropped a whole day before they did! Great work guys!

I noticed they were way behind. They said somthing like, "these rumors have been going on for a half a day now" and we've been talking about it for like a week.

UVA confirms what was reported here days ago:

http://www.roanoke.com/sports/breaking/wb/wb/xp-78296
Bannister leaving UVa

By Doug Doughty

Virginia announced Tueday that 5-foot-10 1/2 T.J. Bannister, back-up point guard for the UVa men's basketball team for the past three seasons, has decided to transfer.

Bannister, from Jacksonville, Fla., started a total of 21 games in his first two seasons but was limited to 13 games this past season after undergoing September surgery for a sports hernia.

Bannister played in 16 games this past season and averaged a career-low 13 minutes per game. UVa's starting point guard, Sean Singletary, is coming off hip surgery.

J.R. Reynolds also received playing time at point guard last year but is the Cavaliers' regular shooting guard. Virginia does not have another point guard on its roster.

Bannister, from Jacksonville, Fla., started a total of 21 games in his first two seasons but was limited to 13 games this past season after undergoing September surgery for a sports hernia...Virginia does not have another point guard on its roster.

Moral of the story if you play the point guard position: Don't go to UVA.

Yes, UVa sent a press release out in response to Whitey's story in C'ville.

Nothing can be reported on a transfer to LU until I receive confirmation from either Dunton (who cannot comment until paperwork goes through) or T.J. (who is not answering his cell phone). Just in case you were wondering what we were doing with this ... waiting patiently. [/taps foot impatiently]

Chris, you don't have to worry about us questioning you being in the loop and breaking stories. That's what is so great about this board. We can get the official line (from the school), the legitimate outside perspective (Chris), the inside scoop (you posters know who you are) and the wild speculation. Once upon a time (2-3 years ago) our options were MUCH more limited.

They reported this story on the 6 o'clock news here in Richmond tonight. They mentioned Liberty very quickly. It mostly talked about TJ then the last line was "Bannister is Transferring to Liberty."

The way I understand it is that TJ may have not have achieved the grades that UVA poses on their student athletes. Correct me if I am wrong but I think UVA has a higher standard of their student athletes greater than the NCAA. I think that was one of the problems why Gillen had a hard time getting the players he wanted at UVA....?

Apparently TJ must have developed a strong realationship with Coach Sherard in the 2 years Sherard was on the staff at UVA. I am sure TJ had options, so that is great that TJ kept Sherard's # in his cell!

Spoke to T.J.'s father tonight ... there will be something in tomorrow's paper.

Can you link that article from the paper?