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By Leaps And Bounds Athletic Forward Darion Atkins Has Improved Greatly In His Second Season D By Whitelaw Reid arion Atkins' Virginia career got off to a rocky start last season when he was suspended for the first three games for violating a team rule. However, ever since then the Clinton, Md., native has been maturing at a rapid pace — both on and off the court. This season, the 6-8, 222-pound second-year forward has been one of Virginia's most improved players and was a main reason why the Cavaliers jumped out to an 11-5 start. Through 16 games, Atkins was averaging career highs in points (6.9) and blocked shots (1.6), as well as 4.3 rebounds per contest. "As of right now, my confidence is pretty high," said Atkins, who ranked seventh in the ACC in blocks through Jan. 13. "It's just about having patience and knowing when I can and can't score in the post. "For me personally, I'm not surprised at the success I've had. I worked hard throughout the whole offseason and it's coming together." Atkins' coming-out party occurred in Virginia's 60-54 upset win over Wisconsin in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge Nov. 28. Atkins scored 14 points, grabbed seven rebounds and, along with teammate Akil Mitchell, held Wisconsin's leading scorer, Jared Berggren, in check. "I knew he was a big guy who could shoot the ball," Atkins said, "so when he got the ball out on the perimeter, I just put my hands up. I feel like I was quick enough to run around screens and chase him. I feel like I bothered him in my own way. I was just playing simple defense." Whatever Atkins was doing, he was doing it well, according to Wisconsin head coach Bo Ryan. "Those guys ought to get stars like we did in kindergarten when we did something right," said Ryan, referring to Atkins and Mitchell. "On the glass and how tenacious they were defensively — those guys played extremely well. "You know [Joe] Harris and [Evan] Nolte and [Paul] Jesperson can shoot it, but I just thought those two guys willed their team to win." During UVa's six-game win streak from Nov. 20 to Dec. 19, Atkins averaged 11.7 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per outing.