Men's Basketball Elects Familiar Team Captains

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Nov. 17, 1999

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — Senior Willie Dersch and junior Donald Hand have been elected captains of the 1999-2000 University of Virginia men’s basketball team by their teammates.

Dersch, a 6-6 forward/guard from Floral Park, N.Y., was a team captain for the Cavaliers last season when he lettered for the third time. He started 26 of the 30 games in which he played and received the team’s Michael McCann Leadership Award. Dersch averaged 10.2 points and 2.8 rebounds a game last season. He is the only senior on the 1999-2000 UVa team.

Hand, a 5-11 guard from Paterson, N.J., was also a team captain last season when he lettered for the second time. He started all 30 games for Virginia and was the co-recipient of the Bill Gibson Cavalier of the Year Award as the team’s most valuable player. Hand led the Cavaliers in scoring (17.1 ppg.), assists (123, 4.1 apg.), steals (57), free throw shooting (86.2 percent, 162-188) and three-point field goals (50). He was the top free throw shooter in the Atlantic Coast Conference last season. His 41 points in Virginia’s 82-79 overtime victory over North Carolina State last February are a UVa sophomore record and the most points scored by a Virginia player since Barry Parkhill established a school record with 51 points against Baldwin-Wallace during the 1971-72 season.

Virginia opens its 1999-2000 season at home against Elon College on Friday, Nov. 19. The game is scheduled to begin at 7:30 p.m.