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July 19, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE – University of Virginia men’s head basketball coach Pete Gillen has announced that three individuals have committed to attend Virginia and play basketball for the Cavaliers. The three individuals are 5-11 guard T. J. Bannister from Jacksonville, Fla.; 6-9 forward Jason Cain of Philadelphia, Pa.; and 6-8 forward/center Donte Minter of Salisbury, N.C.
Bannister, a four-year starter at Arlington Country Day, averaged 21 points, 11 assists, five rebounds and four steals as a senior during the 2002-03 season. He shot 51 percent from the field, including 43 percent from three-point range.
He was the Division I-A Player of the Year in Florida and a first-team All-State selection. He finished third in the voting for the state’s Mr. Basketball Award.
Bannister averaged 17.5 points a game as a junior and 14 points a game as a sophomore, and averaged double figures in assists both seasons.
Bannister scored over 2,000 points and shot 84 percent from the free throw line during his high school career. He shot 91.7 percent (144-157) from the free throw line as a junior.
He earned All-State and All-Conference honors three times during his career. He also played with the South Team in the USA Junior Olympics in Colorado Springs, Colo., in the summer of 2002 and he was the Player of the Year in Jacksonville as a sophomore.
Cain averaged 14 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and five blocked shots a game as a senior for John Bartram High School during the 2002-03 season. John Bartram finished the season with an overall record of 24-4 and won the Philadelphia Public League Championship. Cain was the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the Philadelphia Public League championship game, earned first-team All-City honors and was the MVP of the Public League All-Star Game.
Cain averaged 12 points and 12 rebounds a game as a junior and earned All-Public League honors.
Minter averaged over 20 points and 10 rebounds a game at Fork Union Military Academy during the 2002-03 season.
During his senior season at West Rowan High School the team went 30-0 and won the North Carolina AAA State Championship. Minter scored 29 points in the championship game. He was the Most Valuable Player of the State Championship, the West Regional, the county and the North Piedmont Conference as a senior. He was also selected Player of the Year by the Charlotte Observer and was a second-team All-State selection.
West Rowan compiled an overall record of 109-11 during his four years on the team and he finished his high school career as the second-leading scorer in school and county history. He scored over 2,100 points during his high school career and also had over 1,000 rebounds and over 500 blocked shots.
Minter was an All-South Piedmont Conference selection for three years and an All-North Piedmont Conference selection as a senior. He was the Player of the Year in the South Piedmont Conference as a junior. He also earned All-County honors four times. Minter was the Piedmont Player of the Year as selected by the Charlotte Observer as a junior, and he earned All-West Regional honors as a freshman and a sophomore.
He was a McDonald’s All-America nominee, and participated in North Carolina’s East-West All-Star game and in the North Carolina-South Carolina All-Star game after his senior season in high school. He participated in the National Sports Festival in Colorado Springs, Colo., after his junior year.
Scooter Sherrill of North Carolina State was a teammate of Minter’s at West Rowan High School for two seasons.
Five student-athletes have now committed to join the Virginia men’s basketball program for the 2003-04 academic year. Gary Forbes, a 6-6 guard/forward from Brooklyn, N.Y., and J.R. Reynolds, a 6-3 guard from Roanoke, Va., committed in November.