The Roanoke Times | File February

Minus three underclassmen from last year, Virginia coach Dave Leitao brings his squad to Canada for three exhibition games.

The UVa men's basketball team will be without three 2007-2008 underclassmen when it takes the floor for a three-game exhibition series in Canada this weekend, but at least one of them will be available for the official start of practice.

Mamadi Diane, the team's lone scholarship senior following the dismissal of Lauris Mikalauskas, is in the eighth or ninth week of rehabilitation following surgery on his left foot.

"He's walking without a limp," coach Dave Leitao said. "He's doing some exercises. Probably [by] the end of next week he'll start to jog on it. One thing about Mo that I think has helped him in the three years he's been here is that conditioning has not been a problem for him."

The Cavaliers earlier had lost Mikalauskas and Will Harris, who transferred to Albany after two seasons. Mikalauskas has said he will make an appeal to the school, which indicates that his dismissal has an academic component.

Around the ACC

Delaware's visit to Maryland on Saturday marks the first game in 60 years between the schools from adjoining states, and Terps' coach Ralph Friedgen is wary of the Blue Hens, whose ninth-ranked Division I-AA team has 13 Division I-A transfers.

"I've played them in the past at other schools," Friedgen said. "They won't be awed. They beat Navy last year. We know what we're in for."

Delaware has three transfers from Notre Dame -- two from Connecticut and one each from Syracuse, Washington State, Navy, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Temple and Michigan State. The Blue Hens even have a transfer from VMI, sophomore tight end Ryan Stratis.

>> Steven Threet, who signed with Georgia Tech out of high school, is competing for the starting quarterback job at Michigan. Threet graduated early from high school in Adrian, Mich., enrolled at Tech in January 2007 and was gone before the start of preseason practice.

Connections

D.J. Thomas, a running back from Patrick Henry in Ashland who signed with Virginia Tech in 2007, has surfaced at West Virginia. Thomas did not meet NCAA eligibility requirements out of high school and suffered a knee injury in the 2007 Virginia High School Coaches' Association all-star game.

Thomas attended Hargrave Military Academy in 2007-2008 but did not play football. A scholarship opened at WVU when J.J. Dorsey, a quarterback from Handley High School in Winchester, left the program. Dorsey was rated the No. 39 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times.

Another quarterback, Central of Woodstock graduate Joe Bauserman, is competing for playing time at Ohio State after playing professional baseball for three seasons.

'Teits' remembered

Sportswriter Bob Teitlebaum's first year at the afternoon Roanoke World News coincided with Frankie Allen's final season (1970-71) as a basketball player at Roanoke College, where he remains the program's all-time leading scorer.

"I think he liked me because I'd give the reporter for the morning paper one set of quotes and then come up with a whole new set for the afternoon paper," Allen said. "Teits was like part of the team, traveling with us and playing cards with us on the road."

Teitlebaum's death last week followed a rough summer for Allen, the new head coach at Maryland-Eastern Shore. Allen buried his 90-year-old mother earlier this month and his wife's 89-year-old uncle, George Rogers, died in Roanoke last week in a case that police are treating as a homicide.

Local updates

All-Timesland running back Jonathan Clemo and longtime Salem High School teammate Harrison Hudson are both working out at running back under new Washington and Lee offensive coordinator Scott Abell, previously the head coach at Amherst County.

Hudson rushed for 162 yards and scored three touchdowns in Salem's 48-35 loss to Amherst County last year in the Group AA Division 4 semifinals.

n Former William Byrd standout Chris Collins has transferred to Roanoke College from Carson-Newman, where he was a two-year starter on the men's soccer team. Collins was a first-team all-state selection at Byrd.