UVa's "Mr. Efficient" Mike Scott will be a problem for the Gators
Thursday, March 15, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Men's Tennis, Chris Harry
OMAHA, Neb. -- Last season, Virginia forward Mike Scott helped his team to a 7-3 start by averaging nearly 16 points and more than 10 rebounds per game.
Then down he went with a season-ending ankle injury.
“Someone told me my injury was a blessing in disguise,” Scott said Thursday. “I couldn't see it then.”
His vision is better now.
Scott's words came from the interview podium at the NCAA West Region at CenturyLink Center, where the Cavaliers (22-9) will face the 25th-ranked Florida Gators (23-10) in opening-round play Friday at 2:10 p.m. EST. The game will mark UVa's first NCAA appearance since 2007, the year before Scott arrived.
In the five seasons since, the 6-foot-8, 237-pounder has been the consummate worker and teammate. Last season's injury came early enough for Scott to receive a medical red-shirt and a second senior year.
Fifteen months later, he's the ACC's leading active scorer (1,523 points) and rebounder (938), not to mention a considerable problem for the Gators if they want to advance to the Round of 32.
“He's great,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “And he can do a little bit of everything.”
That's how Scott got the nickname “Mr Efficient.”
Donovan recalls seeing Scott play on recruiting stops after the standpoint from Chesapeake, Va., opted to go to Hargrave (Va.) Military Academy for some fine-tuning. There, Scott played alongside future NBA player Jordan Crawford (Xavier then Washington Wizards), along with Jeff Allen and Dorenzo Hudson (Virginia Tech), and Jeremy Jacob (Oregon). The team went 25-5 and reach the semifinals of the national prep school tournament.
Five years later, Donovan said Scott, runner-up to North Carolina's Tyler Zeller for ACC Player of the Year, would be one of the best players in the Southeastern Conference, also.Donovan compared Scott to Mississippi State's All-SEC forward Arnett Moultrie. Not necessarily as players -- the two have different builds, with Scott stocky and strong versus Moultrie, who is wiry and long -- but how they impact a game.
“There's not necessarily one way he does it,” Donovan said. “When you break him down, he gets three or four points on offensive rebounds, three or four points from the free-throw line, three or four points from post-ups, three or four from jump shots and three or four from drives. Before you know it, the guy's got 18 [points] and 10 [rebounds].
“It's not like you sit there and say, 'OK, this guy just plays at the low post and that's where all his points come from.' He's all over the place. They can move him around because he can create his own shot in a lot of ways.”
UF center Patric Young was asked his thoughts on Scott.
“I think I want a jumpshot like his one day,” Young said of Scott, who's made 56.2 percent for the season to go with 52.1 for his career. “He's really skilled and really talented. This guy has been been around. He knows the game. Knows how to get a shot. Doesn't do anything dumb or anything outside his game. It's going to be tough.”
