It appeared Gillen might get tossed at the end of last season.

Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage conducted a review of the program at the end of last season after six years that have seen the Cavaliers go 104-78 under Gillen with one NCAA Tournament appearance and four National Invitation Tournament appearances.

He announced April 1 that Gillen would return for his seventh year.

The Cavaliers were 18-13 last season, losing in the second round of the NIT, but beat three ranked teams in the final month of the regular season before losing to Duke in the ACC Tournament.

"It was a tough year," Gillen said. "I thought we were doing a good job, but the school, like many schools, has great expectations. They evaluated the program and said, 'You're doing a good job.' We want you to continue."

Gillen, who posted a 202-75 record as the head coach at Xavier from 1985-94, has found winning difficult in the Atlantic Coast Conference, where the expectations and the competition are more difficult than any place he's ever coached.

"It's part of the business," Gillen said. "We went to the postseason five years in a row and we've averaged 18 wins the last five years. We're winning. The school just wants to win more."

Because of Virginia's academic requirements, Gillen said the pool of recruits from which he can choose is smaller. But he said he knew that when he accepted the job.

"I don't think it's a negative at all," Gillen said. "You have to find a kid who can play in the ACC, can do the work academically at Virginia and is also a good citizen. But that's the way it should be."

Gillen said he followed XU's drive to the Elite Eight last season and thought the Musketeers were headed to the Final Four.

"I was excited for them," he said. "They had Duke beat. I'm supposed to root for the league, but I had to go for Xavier. I thought that was the best team they've ever had."

BIG EAST SCHEDULING: No decision has been reached yet on how the Big East will configure its basketball schedule when the revamped conference begins competition in 2005-06, but it's likely the 16-school league will opt for a 16-game league schedule rather than 18.

Basketball scheduling was one of the topics on the agenda when Big East officials gathered last week in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., for the first spring meetings that included the new members, including the University of Cincinnati.

"I don't think we can play 18 games," said UC athletic director Bob Goin. "I'm pushing for only playing 16. If you start playing 18, you're beating up on each other too much and hurting your chances of getting into the NCAA Tournament."

The most likely scenario at this point is for a one-division league with a schedule that would have each school play 14 of the other schools, with home-and-home games against two of those opponents.

ANDERSON TO MANHATTAN: C.J. Anderson, who, along with Robert Hite and DeForrest Riley, led Winton Woods to the 2002 state finals, will play his college basketball at Manhattan College under former Xavier assistant Bobby Gonzalez.

Anderson played last year at Laurinburg (N.C.) Prep Institute, the same school that produced current UC player Asrangue Souleymane, and Vincent Banks, who will join the Bearcats next season as a freshman.

"He had a great year for us," Laurinburg coach Chris Chaney of Anderson. "We had 10 guys sign with Division I schools on our team. At one time, we were ranked No. 1 in the country. He was, if not our best player, one of our best players."

Anderson, at 6 feet 5, 205 pounds, can play forward or guard. He averaged 15 points, six rebounds and four assists at Laurinburg.

Manhattan was 25-6 last season, losing by four points in the second round of the NCAA Tournament to Wake Forest. The Jaspers play in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference.

Chaney said Banks, a 6-3 shooting guard from Atlanta who led Laurinburg with an average of 18 points a game last season, should be able to help the Bearcats right away.

"He's going to do very well at Cincinnati," Chaney said. "He's one of those guys I think they've been missing the last couple of years. He's such a great scorer. He can score in a variety of ways. He's going to be a special player for them."

BACK TO WOODWARD: The Deveroes Summer League will move its Tuesday night games this year back to the gym where the league started in 1986.

Tentatively scheduled to run from June 15 to July 17, the league will continue to schedule weekend games at Oak Hills High School, but organizers decided to move the Tuesday games to Woodward, which hosted games through 1988, to give the league an East Side presence.

There's just one problem: The Woodward gym is not air-conditioned.

PILGRIM UPDATE: It won't be official until his grades are in from spring quarter, but it appears Mike Pilgrim will be part of the UC program next season.

Pilgrim, a 6-7 forward from Brewster Academy (N.H) and Purcell Marian High School, signed with UC as part of the Bearcats' 2003 recruiting class but was declared an academic non-qualifier and was thus ineligible to play as a freshman.

He was on the Enquirer's all-city first team in 2001-02 after averaging 17.9 points and 9.0 rebounds for Purcell Marian.

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E-mail bkoch@enquirer.com