Beyond the Academical Village: JR Reynolds

A part of the dynamic duo that led Virginia to capturing a share of the regular season ACC title in 2007, JR Reynold meant more to the program than he got credit for while he was a student. Together with Sean Singletary, they were arguably the best backcourt in the nation. But Sean got most of that credit.

Since graduating, JR worked out with a number of NBA teams, including the local Washington Wizards, in hopes of snagging that one golden opportunity to seal the deal and get a contract. When his chances of joining the NBA continued to shrink, JR went across the pond, and has spent the past two years playing for an Italian league over there, with the idea in mind that one day, the NBA will notice him again.

Without a doubt, he was a raging success in Italy. You're obviously a success when you have a highlight reel under your name. I don't know what they're saying or what the captions are, but the clips are of him draining 3s, so I assume it must be a good thing (surely it's not, "Drain a 3 if you hate freedom!").

The clip, however, misses this little gem. A half-court shot to win the game. At least one coach is excited and has decided to do the airplane in the middle of the court. Otherwise, apparently it's a regular occurrence over there, as no one else seems to share the enthusiasm.

So what is he up to now? Unfortunately, the NBA did not notice him. Reynolds recently terminated his contract because, ""Some stuff happened — they didn’t live up to my contract, so I got out of it," Reynolds said. Reynolds says that the silver lining is that he will have time in the meanwhile to rest the plantar fascitis in his foot. This Spanish website says that Reynolds terminated his contract for economic reasons.

The Roanoke native recently spent practice with Head Coach Tony Bennett and the new Cavalier squad.