‘Home’ crowd may see more of Harper

By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer

After four years of living in Central Virginia, UVa freshman guard Jermaine Harper is not completely ready to trade in his California roots for a transplant Virginian label.
“I still get homesick a lot and wish I could sometimes just go home for a couple of days,” said Harper, a native of the Los Angeles suburb of Gardena, Calif. “I wish I could have a private jet so I could just fly home for a day but I am so used to it here now that it’s not really a problem or anything.”
The 6-foot-3 Harper, who jokingly maintains there is an adjustment to the nuisances of this region such as the dialects and, in particular, the weather, first arrived to the Blue Ridge School in the fall of 1998.
After playing his freshman year at Gardena High School, Harper’s AAU coach Mark Mayemura discussed the possibility of Harper transferring to another school where he could better concentrate on both academics and basketball. Mayemura had previously had a relationship with Blue Ridge coach Bill Ramsey after sending another one of his players to the St. George-based school. So, Harper left the sun and bustle of southern California for the relative isolation of Greene County.
“I met with Coach Ramsey and just made a split decision and left real fast,” Harper said.
What followed was a basic re-writing of the Blue Ridge’s basketball record book. In his three years at Blue Ridge, Harper finished as the school’s leader in points (1,658), rebounds (551), assists (433) and 3-pointers (102). He was a three-time All-Central Virginia selection, and after averaging 21.2 points, 5.7 rebounds and 4.3 assists as a senior, he was named the 2001 Central Virginia Player of the Year.
“Of course, he does hold just about every career record here,” Ramsey said. “He has a great attitude and then that coupled with his God-given talents, makes him a good player.”
Last November, just prior to his senior season at Blue Ridge, Harper decided to commit to nearby Virginia, a school that had been keeping tabs on the “local” product since his sophomore season. Of course, Harper never truly believed he would end up playing college basketball in Virginia, too.
“I figured that I’d end up at one of the California schools but I felt real comfortable here and always wanted to play in the ACC,” Harper said.
Right now, Harper is playing a lot in the ACC. Even before an injury to starting guard Adam Hall, Harper’s minutes began to increase. Harper averages nearly 14 minutes and 4.8 points a contest. Harper scored a career-high 12 points against Grambling on Dec. 30 and scored 10 points in Virginia’s 86-74 win over No. 14 Wake Forest on Tuesday. Defensively, he may have made UVa’s biggest defensive play of the season last Saturday in UVa’s victory at North Carolina. With 41.1 seconds remaining, Harper raced down the court and stole a pass on a UNC fast break that allowed UVa to hold on for the win.
Gillen had a lot of praise for Harper and his fellow freshmen — point guard Keith Jenifer and forwards Elton Brown and Jason Clark — after they all played significant roles in the win over Wake.
“These freshmen have big hearts. All we want out of them right now is good defense and any offense is a bonus,” Gillen said after the Wake Forest game. “I certainly didn’t expect Jermaine to score 10 points tonight. ... He’s not afraid.”
Harper, a slashing scorer by trade, also has emerged as a much-needed long-range shooting threat. Harper has made seven of his 19 3-point attempts on the season (37 percent) and has made four of his last nine from beyond the arc. With the propensity of teams playing a zone against the Cavaliers, they have been seeking a consistent third shooter, in addition to Roger Mason Jr. and Chris Williams, to hit shots from the perimeter to loosen those zones. It appears that Harper is emerging as the main candidate for that role.
“I know there is a little pressure on me to do that. Defenses tend to key on Roger and Chris because they’re good shooters. Sometimes that leaves me open against the zone and I know I have to make those shots,” Harper said.
It’s a role that Ramsey believes his former player can handle even though it is not necessarily his forte.
“In high school, people tried to take away his 3-pointer and he usually just beat them of the dribble and got a better shot,” Ramsey said. “With Virginia, the way everyone is packing in the zone against them, they’re daring Jermaine to shoot and he has to do that and I think he can do it.”
While Harper is trying to fill the void left by 3-point specialist Keith Friel, in terms of pure style it would be hard to ever confuse the two in terms of mechanics. Friel had a text-book jumper that was almost always a set shot. Harper’s jumper has few of the similar aesthetics of Friel’s as his comes with an awkward-looking hitch. That is something Harper is attempting to remove at the moment.
“It’s kind of weird. I don’t know how it popped in my shot because it wasn’t there during my first year at Blue Ridge,” Harper said. “I looked at some old tapes and I didn’t have that hitch. My dad and I were watching it and we’re like, ‘Where did that come from?’ I’m going to try my best to get rid of it.”
If Harper complains of homesickness at times and maintains his California roots, he does admit that this area is becoming at least something of a second home for him. He still talks with and visits Ramsey and his teammates regularly and even attended Blue Ridge’s game at Covenant on Thursday.
Ramsey, a Charlottesville native, also makes the effort to attend as many UVa home games as possible.
“We come to as many as we can get tickets for,” Ramsey joked. “We always have people that want to go but some of these games are hard to get tickets for. Everyone is rooting hard for him. His old teammates and our faculty and support staff, just everyone wants to go see him.”
Still, every now and then Harper has to remind people he’s not from here.
“Sometimes people will come up to me and talk about me playing at Blue Ridge and ask me what part of Virginia I’m from and I have to tell them I’m really from Los Angeles and just went to school at Blue Ridge,” Harper said.

By ERIC SWENSEN
Daily Progress staff writer

Twenty-three University of Virginia students have been expelled or left school admitting guilt in plagiarism cases brought by a physics professor, according to statistics released last week by the university’s Honor Committee.
Louis A. Bloomfield attracted international attention last spring when he referred 122 students on plagiarism and other charges after developing a computer program to examine term papers electronically submitted to a web site for his popular “How Things Work” physics course.
He developed the program, which searched the papers for identical strings of six or more words, after a student claimed some of her sorority friends turned in papers from a sorority paper file. The number of cases has grown to 156, mostly because of refinements Bloomfield made to the program.
The latest refinement, Honor Committee Chairman Thomas Hall said, allows Bloomfield to compare a term paper with those written in the same semester as well as with papers submitted in other semesters.
Sixteen of the 23 students left UVa admitting guilt before coming to trial, a figure Hall said is unusual.
“I guess people have had some time to think about [their cases] and look at what’s going on,” Hall said. “I guess they’re looking at the statistics and seeing that their chances at a trial aren’t good. … So they’re deciding it’s just not worth the hassle and are deciding to move on.”
Of the eight students who have gone to trial, seven have been convicted. Another 22 await trial.
UVa students accused of lying, cheating or stealing are tried by fellow students according to the tenets of the student-run honor system. The only sanction for convicted students is expulsion.
Investigations have been completed in 116 of the 156 cases, Hall said, with 65 cases having been dropped. More cases have been dismissed than sent to trial, Hall said, because many of the papers used as sources for plagiarism were written by more than one student. Copying papers, Hall said, was more of an individual act.
The pace of investigations slowed during the fall as some accused students refused to cooperate with the Honor Committee, but Hall said that “has become less of a factor” as the committee used its power to block non-cooperative students from registering for classes or receiving copies of their transcripts.
“We’ve seen some good results with that,” Hall said. “Of the 40 cases left to investigate, three or four or five of those folks are uncooperative in some way.”
Hall still expects to have the bulk of the trials completed by spring break in early March. He said the committee has been helped in meeting that goal by the decisions of some accused students to withdraw before trial.
“A lot of the students leaving school admitting guilt have been less than cooperative,” Hall said.

Arrington catalyzes Seminoles’ success

By JERRY RATCLIFFE
Daily Progress sports editor

When Florida State stunned No. 1 Duke a week ago, there were a couple of different reactions on the Tallahassee campus. One was, “Oh my gawd, look what our basketball team did.” The other was, “Oh my gawd, we have a basketball team here?”
Yes, Tallahassee is beginning to notice coach Steve Robinson’s Seminoles in the wake of perhaps the greatest week in the program’s recent history. FSU has knocked off tradition-rich Duke and North Carolina, raising a few eyebrows around the rest of the ACC.
One of the biggest reasons for Florida State’s sudden hoops success is senior point guard Delvon Arrington, who will be leading the Seminoles against Virginia in a 4 p.m. tipoff at University Hall today. Arrington, regarded as one of the toughest guards in the nation to defend and one of the ACC’s most experienced, is averaging 10.7
points and 7.3 assists per game going into the game.
Regardless of what happens today, Arrington will be savoring every moment of the experience because he could have just as easily not been a part of this Florida State team. He is the ACC’s first partial qualifier to earn a degree and earn back a year of eligibility, which he is obviously making the most of.
A product of coach Bob Hurley Sr.’s famed eastern New Jersey high school program, Arrington enrolled at FSU as a partial academic qualifier in 1997. Under rules, partial qualifiers are ineligible to play their first year in college but can practice with their teams. If they complete course requirements in four years, they are justly given back a year of eligibility by the NCAA.
While it may have been difficult for Arrington during his freshman year, the timing has actually worked out to both his and Florida State’s favor. Now, he is a mature, experienced player who has been surrounded with some of Robinson’s best recruiting efforts, making the Seminoles a force to be dealt with.
Arrington graduated last summer with a degree in sports management. Now, the 23-year-old is working toward another degree.
“Not playing that first year was hard for me but I worked my butt off in practice,” Arrington said before flying to Charlottesville. “My mentality was fighting for a spot back then even though I knew I couldn’t play that year. But that kept me mentally into it and made me better.”
Since then, he has worked hard on the court and in the classroom. Any less of an effort and Arrington said he would have regretted it for the rest of his life. He can’t imagine not being a part of this team and he’s not wasting a single moment of this final bonus year.
“You have to savor this moment because you’re never going to have it again,” said Arrington. “This is my last go round in college and I want it to be successful with no regrets. I want to leave everything out there on the floor.”
His leadership has been part of this season’s turnaround, which could have been a disaster after home losses to Western Carolina and American U.
“We had to look ourselves in the eyes, especially the seniors and ask ourselves if we were going to just give up and have the worst season ever or fight back,” said Arrington.
Since then, he said everyone on the team has accepted their roles, are playing true team basketball and intently listening to Robinson’s words of wisdom.
“If you do all those things and play team ball, you can play against anybody in the country,” said the FSU guard. “We’ve proven that in the past week. Now, the Virginia game is big for us. We need to keep our composure against them and stick with our game plan. We’ve been playing good at home and need to steal some away games.”
Beating Duke was a significant accomplishment for FSU, which has averaged only five ACC wins since 1993-94. The Noles haven’t had a winning season or gone to the NCAA tournament since Robinson’s first year, ’97-’98. Prior to the Duke game, an average of about 4,000 fans had showed up for Florida State home games. But 10,000 were on hand for the big upset and 7,000 more for the win over Carolina a few nights ago.
Students stormed the court at Leon County Civic Center after the shocker over the Blue Devils, another opportunity for Arrington to stop and smell the roses.
It was that kind of night for the senior as he broke FSU’s all-time assists record in the game, surpassing Otto Petty’s mark of 603. Arrington was spectacular against Duke’s pressure, scoring 13 points and adding 10 assists to the upset.
He was so impressive that former NBA guard Kenny Smith, now an analyst for the Fox basketball telecasts said: “In order to be successful against Duke, you need to have a point guard who can handle Duke’s pressure. That is what Delvon Arrington was able to do. There aren’t that many guards who can do that. You could see that Arrington took it personally that Duke thought it could pressure him and he wasn’t going to back down at all.”
“It was a great feeling beating them,” said Arrington. “But we can’t dwell on that one game. It’s a long season and a lot more to accomplish. If we’re satisfied with that, then no one might remember at the end of the season if we don’t build off of it.”
He said it is nice that basketball players are getting some notoriety around campus after the wins over Duke and UNC. There is some serious back-slapping going on for athletes who don’t wear a helmet.
“I think the fans see the hunger in our eyes,” said Arrington. “We thank them for their support but I can understand why they didn’t come to games before. You have to win. Fans want to see their team win.”
And excel personally, which is what Arrington is all about.
He has proven himself in the classroom and breaking Petty’s record was another special moment for the graduate. Petty was FSU’s point guard from 1971-73 and led the Seminoles to the NCAA national championship game in a loss to UCLA during that era.
“That record meant a lot to me,” said Arrington, who will likely become only the fifth player in ACC history to score 1,000 career points, 600 assists and 200 steals (along with Bobby Hurley, Chris Corchiani, Sidney Lowe and Travis Best).
“Especially breaking a record that had stood so long and with Otto Petty there. I was happy he was there. I had seen pictures of him but had never met him until then. To meet him and shake his hand was a pleasure. Having grown up watching Magic Johnson’s incredible passing, that is something I’ve always enjoyed, dishing the ball to my teammates.”
Robinson takes pride in observing what Arrington has done and hopes he is an inspiration to FSU’s two other partial qualifiers, junior Mike Mathews and sophomore J.D. Bracy.
“Delvon has certainly shown us a blueprint of how to get it done,” said Robinson. “He came into college basketball with a label. You’re a partial qualifier. And every time he plays on television or there’s a write-up, he has to hear it all over again. Now, I’m proud that he has another label. He’s a graduate.”
But Arrington said he is no longer bothered by the old label.
“I want everybody to know that being a partial qualifier doesn’t have to be all negative,” he said. “What I went through made me a better and stronger person.
“I want to be remembered as a hard worker who got things done on and off the court,” said Arrington. “I want to be one of those players that you hear people tell stories about years after they’re gone from college.”
If he continues to add chapters at this pace, they won’t have just stories. They’ll have to write a book.

Making the grade
Arrington excels academically and athetically

VIRGINIA NOTES

By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, January 20, 2002; Page D11

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Jan. 19 -- Halfway through his junior season, Virginia center Travis Watson has established himself as one of the ACC's best post players. He made the all-ACC second team and shared the Cavaliers' MVP award last season after being one of the conference's top freshmen the season before.

Having increased his scoring and rebounding averages each season, he enters Sunday's game against Florida State leading the conference with 10.5 rebounds per game and also contributing 13.2 points.

Watson has accomplished all this despite a host of nagging injuries: bruised ribs, a hip pointer, sprained ankles and a slight cartilage tear in his right knee. Two weeks ago, he endured cramping in his right calf that lasted for several games.

Watson has learned pains and bruises are part of the game, especially for a 6-foot-8, 255-pound center who often goes up against taller and heavier opponents.

Watson's injuries are not the result of getting picked on; he dishes out about as much punishment as he takes, despite the slight size disadvantage. The injuries come, Watson theorizes, because of the ferocity with which he attacks the game, no matter how big his opponent.

"Most of the injuries come from the effort I put out on the court," said Watson, a Dallas native who moved to Brookneal, Va., after his freshman year of high school. "If I didn't go as hard I do, I probably wouldn't get hurt. It comes with the territory."

Watson doesn't know any other way to play basketball. Since leading Oak Hill Academy to the unofficial national title as a high school senior and arriving at Virginia as a top 20 recruit, he has worked to develop his post moves and his jump shot. But the foundation of his game remains his willingness to flex his muscles in the paint.

"You have to be physical," Watson said. "I'm going against guys [who are] almost 6-10, night in and night out. It is a big part of my game. I try to be as physical as I can on the floor."

Last season that physical play had its drawbacks: Watson spent the second half of the year beset by injuries and missed a lot of practice. But he played in all 29 games, averaging 12.3 points and 9.1 rebounds in 28.4 minutes. Only Ralph Sampson, a U-Va. legend and former No. 1 draft pick, had more rebounds in his first two varsity seasons at Virginia.

"Sometimes my team needs me, and I like to play, so I look at it as if I wasn't in college," said Watson, who was the Cavaliers' only true inside threat in his first two seasons. "If I was a kid, I'd play hurt with a sprained ankle and go back to the playground the next day. I don't want to be hurt, but things happen."

Virginia Coach Pete Gillen, who has produced several NBA big men in his 17 years as a college head coach, said Watson seems to be susceptible to injury partly because of his unusually tight muscles.

"He's still a great player, but he's been hurt," Gillen said. "He's just got to do more stretching, the trainers tell me, more exercises to try to improve his flexibility. That's just the way his muscles are and his body is built. We just hope we can keep him on the court, because we need him."

In the Cavaliers' 12-point win over No. 14 Wake Forest, Watson tied his career high with 20 points and set a new high with 17 rebounds, including eight offensive. The double-double was his eighth in the season's 13 games.

As Virginia guard Roger Mason said earlier this season, performances like that have become routine for Watson.

"I don't marvel; that's what I've come to expect from him," Mason said after Watson had 18 points and 15 rebounds against Rutgers on Dec. 23.

"Anything less, I'll say something and get on him about it. Big Bubba is an animal. When he plays like he can play, I think he's one of the best power forwards in the country."

When the No. 10 Cavaliers (11-2, 2-2 ACC) host Florida State (9-6, 2-2) Sunday at 4 p.m., Watson should be better than "90 percent" healthy. That's about as good as he's come to expect, but Gillen wishes for more.

"I would just love for him to be healthy for a good part of the year where he could practice at full strength and have his timing and conditioning," Gillen said. "I think he can be even better."

	Posted on Sun, Jan. 20, 2002
	Distractions aren't holding back Seminoles By Michael Wallace DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER When Florida State coach Steve Robinson broke the news moments after the North Carolina game that much-publicized guard Adrian McPherson had left the team to focus on football, the reaction of senior Delvon Arrington spoke volumes. Arrington, sitting two seats down from Robinson at the postgame press conference, raised his eyebrows, shrugged his shoulders and lowered his head. In a matter of seconds, FSU's veteran point guard and captain had turned the page. Yet another potential distraction and case of adversity had been dealt with and dispatched just that quickly. “You have to put those types of things aside as soon as you can,” said Arrington, who will lead the team into today's game at No. 10 Virginia. “We've had to learn how to do that this season. We know we have a good thing going for us, and we don't want to mess that up in any kind of way.” FSU (9-6, 2-2 in the ACC) has won five of its past six games entering the critical conference matchup against the Cavaliers (11-2, 2-2), who are coming off a pair of double-digit-margin victories over North Carolina and Wake Forest. The Seminoles have managed to modestly turn their season around despite coping with a number of setbacks that could have made for a more difficult start to the season. First, there were the injuries. Just six games into the season, the Seminoles were already forced to play without their best shooter in Andrew Wilson and backup point guard Ryan Lowery. Both had suffered season-ending knee problems and left FSU with huge voids at two of the team's most critical roles. FSU suffered from a lack of consistent perimeter shooting and a lack of depth at the point. Then came the stunning losses. The Seminoles found themselves sitting at 4-5 on the season after having lost at home to Western Carolina and American. The team was forced to play under a constant cloud of speculation regarding Robinson's job security for a second straight season, and FSU's blend of veterans and newcomers were struggling to establish cohesion. All this took place as Robinson began to hand out suspensions as if they were practice jerseys. Three different players, all key in FSU's nine-man rotation, has served at least a one-game suspension this season. Still, the Seminoles have managed to keep pressing forward. Robinson credits his team's senior leadership for its perseverance. Arrington has managed to pace himself during games, shooting guard Monte Cummings has emerged as one of the ACC's leading scorers since Christmas, and small forward Antwuan Dixon has had a steady impact on both ends of the court. A road win over South Florida on Jan. 2, followed by consecutive home wins over top-ranked Duke and North Carolina recently have the Seminoles thinking more about what they can do this season. The Seminoles will begin a new bonding process with sophomore guard J.D. Bracy, who returns to the lineup for the Virginia game after serving a five-game suspension for a conduct-related violation of team rules. It was the longest suspension Robinson has ever handed out in seven seasons as a head coach. “Because of the so-called distractions, we understand even more what the word 'commitment' means and what it takes to be a winner,” Robinson said. “Some of those things tend to bring you closer together and make you bond. We've also been fortunate enough to have depth in some of the areas that's been affected. Our guys have really responded.” TODAY'S GAME: FSU MEN at No. 10 VIRGINIA Where/When: University Hall/4 p.m. TV/Radio: Sunshine (cable 28)/WFLA (1270 AM). Records: FSU is 9-6, 2-2 in the ACC; Virginia is 11-2, 2-2. Series: Virginia leads 12-8. Coaches: Steve Robinson is 60-73 in his fifth season at FSU; Pete Gillen is 64-39 in his fourth season at Virginia FSU probable starters: 5-11 Sr. PG Delvon Arrington (10.7 ppg., 7.2 apg.); 6-4 Sr. SG Monte Cummings (14.9 ppg., 4.4 rpg.); 6-5 Sr. Antwuan Dixon (10.5 ppg., 4.4 rpg.); 6-7 So. PF Michael Joiner (8.1 ppg., 5.2 rpg.); 6-10 Jr. C Nigel Dixon (8.3 ppg., 6.3 rpg.). Virginia probable starters: 6-5 Jr. PG Roger Mason Jr. (18.8 ppg., 5.0 apg.); 6-5 Sr. SG Adam Hall (9.8 ppg., 5.1 rpg.); 6-7 Sr. SF Chris Williams (14.5 ppg., 6.1 rpg.); 6-8 So. PF J.C. Mathis (5.5 ppg., 4.2 rpg.); 6-8 Jr. C Travis Watson (13.2 ppg., 10.5 rpg.). Noteworthy: Today's game represents a homecoming of sorts for FSU coach Steve Robinson, who grew up in nearby Roanoke and attended Radford University . . . Monte Cummings has scored in double figures in nine consecutive games . . . FSU is looking for its first road ACC win of the season.

Seminole Uprising?
Florida State Preview
Brett Wood, Special to TheSabre.Com, January 19th, 2002.

Repeat after me: "Florida State beat Duke." Keep repeating it over and over until it sinks in. Yes, the 'Noles are 9 - 6. Yes, the 'Noles have lost to Western Carolina and American University. But, they beat Duke and even on a bad night for Duke, that is a daunting task.

Actually, Florida State has beaten both Duke and Carolina and is tied with the Cavs at 2 - 2 in conference play. When I looked at this team in the preseason, I expected them to be much improved over recent renditions. This team has the talent to compete in the ACC but is terribly inconsistent. Steve Robinson's squads always seem to struggle in out of conference play, suffering unconscionable losses to a couple of mid to low majors. Then, once conference play begins, the 'Noles steal a few games from teams that should handle them. The Cavs certainly haven't dominated Florida State in recent years. FSU always seems to give the Hoos all they can handle and I don't expect Sunday's contest to be any different.

Steve Robinson's job security is the drop at the end of a hungry dog's drool. It won't hang there much longer unless something dramatic happens. Even victories against Duke and the Heels won't save his job if the Seminoles don't participate in post season play in March. It's possible. Robinson has the most talent available to him since his arrival in Tallahassee five years ago. The 'Noles have an athletic squad with good size in the paint and the ACC's most underrated point guard to feed them. The 'Noles always appear to play hard, they just don't always play well.

Delvon Arrington (10.7 points, 7.3 assists, 2.1 steals) has been a thorn in Virginia's side for four years. The lightning-quick point man always seems to have big games against the Hoos. His quickness makes him a difficult match up for Roger Mason, Jr., and his strength and experience will translate into a schooling for Cav frosh Keith Jenifer and Jermaine Harper. Getting a handle on Arrington will be Pete Gillen's number one strategic problem for Sunday's game.

Senior Monte Cummings (14.9 points, .573 FG%, .438 3PT%) came to Tallahassee last year from junior college with a big reputation as a scorer. He had more downs than ups last season, but he appears to have made the adjustment to ACC play and has become a dynamic offensive weapon. Note his shooting percentages. Adam Hall's absence will be felt Sunday.

The third guard in Robinson's three-guard lineup is another senior, Antwuan Dixon (10.5 points, .500 FG%, .388 3PT%). I watched Dixon sink three consecutive treys against Carolina the other night, two of them from 25 feet. Arrington, Cummings, and Dixon provide Florida State with a great deal of experience, quickness, and perimeter firepower. Don't expect the press to be effective against this group.

The front line is less experienced but talented as well. Nigel "Big Jelly" Dixon (8.3 points, 6.3 rebounds) has trimmed down to a svelte 330 pounds. While he won't finish many transition opportunities he does have excellent hands and is tough to keep away from the basket. You can always tell the seniors from the freshmen when Big Jelly is heading to the basket. The seniors head to the bench to discuss strategy with the coach, the frosh try to take the charge. Sophomore forward Michael Joiner (8.1 points, 5.2 rebounds) is having a decent campaign but he hasn't progressed as much this season as his play promised as a freshman.

The 'Noles' bench is young but capable. Freshman Anthony Richardson (9.1 points, 4.3 rebounds) was on many top 50 lists as a high school senior at the wing. So was J. D. Bracey (4.3 points) two years ago but a year out of the game for academics seems to have left him rusty. Shot blocking junior Mike Mathews (4.1 points, 2.3 rebounds) at 6' 10", freshman Adam Waleskowski (3.4 points, 2.7 rebounds) at 6' 8", and juco transfer Trevor Harvey (3.6 points, 2.3 rebounds) at 6' 11" give Florida State lots of size off the bench. Their individual stats aren't overwhelming but as a group they provide 11.1 points and 7.3 rebounds off the bench each game.

I should just copy the next sentence so I don't have to rewrite it for every game. The (insert opponent's name here) will likely press the Cavs' guards to test their ball handling and then fall back into a zone or possibly a box and one on Mason, Jr. The 'Noles' perimeter quickness gives them an opportunity to make the press effective. Virginia must take care of the ball and prove that they can shoot from the perimeter. Somehow Pete Gillen has to get Chris Williams back in the groove with his shot from the arc. Roger Mason, Jr., can't carry the whole load. Jermaine Harper may get another opportunity to show that he can take on part of the scoring burden from the perimeter.

Florida State has been an excellent rebounding team this season averaging an 8.5 advantage per game. Travis Watson will be asked to go to war once again to keep the Cavs at least even on the glass. Virginia's offensive rebounding has compensated for a lot of deficiencies in victories this season. The Hoos can't count on second-chance opportunities against the taller teams in the conference like the 'Noles.

Defensively, the Cavs must contend with a FSU team that has several players that can stretch out the defense with three-point shooting and then attack the basket. Perimeter defense will be a big key.

Every game is now huge for Virginia. The losses to Clemson and North Carolina State have removed any margin for error the Hoos may have had entering conference play. Florida State shouldn't be taken lightly. They are playing with confidence and, in case you've forgotten already, they did beat Duke.

Sunday's game is an excellent time to get to University Hall early and be very loud in the support of our team. You never know who might be there and a good impression could generate major dividends for Virginia athletics.