CHARLOTTESVILLE – Tucked away on a picturesque campus about 15 miles from John Paul Jones Arena is a basketball player whom Dave Leitao would love to add to his roster for 2010-11.

Mychal Parker, a 6-6, 180-pound swingman, is in his first year at the Miller School in western Albemarle County.

Parker, who’s from Little Washington, N.C., is a boarding student at Miller, where he’s a junior.  He’s ranked No. 76 in the Class of 2010 by Rivals.com, and his stock is rising.

Others Virginia is pursuing in the 11th-grade class include Travis McKie, a 6-6 forward whom Rivals.com ranks No. 78.  McKie attends Community High in Richmond but plays for John Marshall High.

The NCAA’s latest evaluation period opened last Tuesday, and Leitao was at Miller to check out Parker, with whom he’s formed a strong relationship.  Parker plays AAU ball for Tony Squire’s Richmond-based program.

Other schools interested in Parker include Virginia Tech and Florida, Miller coach Fred Wawner said.

Parker is likely to play shooting guard for Miller, but he “potentially could play point for us,” Wawner said.  “He handles the ball better than I thought he would.”

Also at Miller is senior Marshawn Powell, who was seriously interested in U.Va. but ultimately decided to commit to Arkansas.  All parties agreed, Wawner said, that Arkansas is a better fit academically for Powell, a 6-7 forward from Newport News.

SWITCHING SPORTS .... These results struck me on my way home from Hartford, Conn., as I considered the current plight of Al Groh’s football team:

*In 2004, U.Va. beat Temple 44-14.

*In 2005, U.Va. beat Temple 51-3.

*In 2008, Temple, now coached by former U.Va. defensive coordinator Al Golden, took Connecticut to overtime before losing.  A week later, U.Va. was embarrassed 45-10 to UConn in a game that was 28-0 after the Huskies’ first four possessions.

It’s dangerous to compare scores, I realize, and the Temple-UConn game was played in absolutely wretched conditions on Sept. 6, courtesy of Tropical Storm Hanna.

Still, it seems entirely reasonable to think that U.Va. would struggle with Temple, which as recently as 2006 was one of the nation’s worst teams.  And that’s a sobering thought for Virginia fans.

—30—