UVA Basketball Players Reveal Their Proudest Moments – In the Classroom

For many players, there is a moment that occurs after they have arrived from high school that makes them feel like they belong in college basketball.

Maybe it’s a drive to the hoop that culminates with a dunk. Or a rebound in traffic over a bigger player. Or a defensive stop against a more experienced opponent.

But what are those moments when it comes to the academic setting?

The transition from being a high school student to a student at one of the most competitive universities in the world can be challenging for any students – whether they play sports or not.

With this in mind, and with final exams just around the corner – the last day of classes is next Friday – UVA Today asked six members of the University of Virginia men’s basketball team what their proudest academic accomplishments have been during their time at UVA.

Casey Morsell

“My philosophy in technology class I took in the summer was a tough class,” said Morsell, a first-year student from Fort Washington, Maryland. “The class mainly talked about artificial intelligence in society.

“I had a long paper that I didn’t have too much time to write and I got an A-minus.”

Justin McKoy

“I got a 98 on one of my papers in African American studies,” said McKoy, a first-year student from Cary, North Carolina. “I just felt like the topic was perfect for me. I knew everything that I needed to do and was able to manage my time really well.

“It was about how [African American] people were portrayed throughout history in the media and movies.”

UVA second-year student Kihei Clark had an interesting assignment for a media studies class. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Athletics)

Kihei Clark

“Over the summer, I got an A on one of my papers, so I was pretty happy about that,” said Clark, a second-year student from Woodland Hills, California. “It was for a journalism news writing class. I had to analyze an article about a murder.”

Kadin Shedrick

“Getting a 94 on my econ mid-term,” said Shedrick, a first-year student from Raleigh, North Carolina. “That was a big deal. The test was on production and possibility frontiers.”

UVA fourth-year Jay Huff will always remember a paper from his creative writing class. (Photo by Matt Riley, University Athletics)

Chase Coleman

“I just did a paper for a writing class that I got an A on,” said Coleman, a first-year student from Norfolk. “It made me happy, made me feel like I can actually do the work, that I don’t need help, that I can do it by myself.

“The paper was about cross-cultural communication and what can be done and how to limit the barriers that come with that. I talked about being a citizen of the world – letting other people just do what they do and accepting them for them.”

Jay Huff

“In my first semester of my first year, I was in a creative writing class and I completely forgot that I had a story to turn in,” Huff said. “I had no story. The professor sent me an email and was like, ‘Hey, you had a story to turn in today.’ I was like, ‘Oh, I guess I did.’

“So I proceeded to write seven or eight pages of a story where I traveled back in time. It was a story about me traveling back in time to turn in my paper on time.

“The professor liked it, but I got a B because it was late.”