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What you can expect to see in '03
Return of several starters favors Ohio St. next year
GREGG DOYEL
 

You thought Ohio State was great this season? You thought wrong. The Buckeyes were good this season -- greatness comes next year, when they return their entire offense, most of their defense, and the 2003 Heisman Trophy winner in tailback Maurice Clarett, assuming he can transfer all of that energy from his mouth to his feet.

That's the prediction from here, although we don't do crystal balls. That whole sportswriter-and-crystal-ball trick is a cliché, and we don't do cliché. What a difference a year makes, huh?

We gazed instead into a crystal sphere to come up with the fate of the 2003 college football season, and here's a tip: If leagues were stocks, we'd urge you to invest heavily in the ACC.

How good will the ACC be in 2003? Three ACC teams will be in the top 10, and Florida State won't be one of them.

(SEC fans, the garbage can is under the desk. Newsprint is tricky, so try not to smudge your fingers.)

One word of caution: The ACC won't have three teams finish 2003 in the Top 10, because the ACC isn't in that box of leagues (the SEC, Big 12, Big Ten and Pac-10) that can get away with such things, and pollsters aren't much for out-of-the-box thinking.

Virginia, Maryland and N.C. State can't all go undefeated in league play, and they might all lose a game or two after they're done beating on each other. But make no mistake, they will be among the 10 best teams in the country next season, and at one time or another all three will enter the top 10.

Virginia returns ACC Player of the Year Matt Schaub and almost everyone else from the team that owned West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl. (P.S.: Virginia pep band, grow up. West Virginia fans, shut up.)

Maryland has to replace its top two linemen and All-American linebacker E.J. Henderson, but most others return -- and for the first time Terps coach Ralph Friedgen will have a quarterback (Scott McBrien) and tailback (Bruce Perry) who know his system. Look out.

N.C. State loses more starters than the Terps and Cavaliers, but quarterback Philip Rivers and tailback T.A. McLendon return, and the Wolfpack's newcomers will be as good as Virginia's were this season.

Here, finally, is what The Observer knows to be true about the 2003 season:

National title game: Ohio State vs. Oklahoma.

Rounding out the Top 10: No. 3 Georgia, No. 4 Virginia, No. 5 Miami, No. 6 Michigan, No. 7 Maryland, No. 8 Virginia Tech, No. 9 N.C. State, No. 10 Texas.

Sleepers: Texas A&M, Pittsburgh, Florida State.

Slippers: Southern California, Iowa, Notre Dame.

ACC: No. 1 Virginia, No. 2 Maryland, No. 3 N.C. State, No. 4 Florida State, No. 5 Clemson, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 7 Georgia Tech, No. 8 Wake Forest, No. 9 Duke.

 

 

Strike up band, or not at U.Va.
Officials to discuss group's future
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 04, 2003

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Has the University of Virginia's pep band performed for the last time at a U.Va. football game?

According to Athletic Director Craig Littlepage, it's too early to say. But Virginia officials will meet in the next month, Littlepage said, to address the future of the controversial pep band, whose halftime show at last weekend's Continental Tire Bowl angered West Virginians and prompted an apology Thursday from U.Va. President John T. Casteen III.

U.Va. officials must decide, Littlepage said yesterday, whether "there is a need at this point to consider a different format or a different group that could provide entertainment at football games."

Making a timely decision is "a priority because everything is still fresh in everyone's minds from last week," Littlepage said.

However, he added, these "sorts of discussions and, ultimately, decisions don't happen overnight. But it's at least an opportunity for us to evaluate where we are and, more specifically, where we want to be in the future."

When West Virginia and U.Va. met in football at Scott Stadium on Nov. 2, 1985, the pep band performed a halftime skit - a takeoff of the TV game show "Family Feud" - that offended many West Virginians, including A. James Manchin, who then was that state's treasurer. In a letter to then-U.Va. President Robert O'Neil, Manchin demanded a public apology for what he called the band's "shameful and shabby" portrayal of his state.

Some 17 years later, U.Va.'s student-run pep band ignited another controversy with its performance in Charlotte, N.C., where the Cavaliers pounded the West Virginia Mountaineers 48-22 at Ericsson Stadium. The band's skit, a takeoff on the TV show "The Bachelor," included a young woman, purportedly from WVU, wearing pigtails and overalls. She performed a square dance and talked of her desire to live in Beverly Hills, a reference to "The Beverly Hillbillies."

West Virginia fans booed throughout the band's performance, and the state's governor, Bob Wise, wrote a letter Monday to Casteen. Wise called the show "a classless act" and said this "type of performance merely perpetuates the unfounded stereotypes that we in West Virginia are fighting so hard to overcome."

Littlepage, who attended the game, said he caught only part of the band's halftime show, a modified script of which had been approved by U.Va. officials. But he's heard plenty about it since returning home.

"I would say in general the reaction has been one of dislike for the performance, both by people who call themselves University of Virginia fans as well as those who are West Virginia fans," Littlepage said.

The pep band played Thursday night at University Hall during the Virginia-Wofford men's basketball game, and its role at hoops games isn't likely to change any time soon, Littlepage said. But its future at football games is uncertain.

Asked if U.Va. might opt to replace the scramble band with a more traditional marching band, Littlepage said that "everything's a possibility right now."

In recent years, bands from other schools - such as Ohio University's renowned "Marching 110" - have performed at U.Va. football games.

"We seem to have gotten very favorable reaction over the years when we've either brought in very traditional marching bands or bands that are flashy and showy in their presentation, as well as high school bands," Littlepage said. "A large number of people who follow the team are just very eager for quality entertainment."
 

 

 

Rumors target U.Va.'s men
Letter: Players harassed passers-by
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 04, 2003

Rumblings about off-court misbehavior by University of Virginia men's basketball players have been widespread since late last season, and many of the reports, whether true or not, have made their way to Craig Littlepage's office in the McCue Center.

Littlepage, U.Va.'s athletic director, said yesterday that he met with the basketball team in late November, with its coaches present, and spoke to the players "as a group about matters related to conduct and decorum. I would say that's not unusual for me to do, but I felt that, particularly given a lot of things that come up on Internet sites that people tell me about, this would be a timely topic."

A month after Littlepage met with the players, Charlottesville's Daily Progress published a critical letter from a U.Va. alumna who described herself as a devoted fan of the basketball team.

In the letter, which ran Dec. 22, Kara Finnegan Irving of Baltimore said that, following the Sept. 21 homecoming football game against Akron, she and her husband, along with another couple, watched in disbelief as members of the men's basketball team cursed, harassed and insulted passers-by - including her group - on the Corner near the U.Va. campus.

Irving singled out one player in particular as the chief culprit.

Littlepage said yesterday that he knew nothing of this incident until he read Irving's letter in the newspaper. Given that the letter appeared a month after he met with the team, Littlepage said, it "would be my feeling that, as bad as this assertion sounded, this is something that we've let the team know of my expectations."

Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen has "further informed the guys what their expectations are," Littlepage said. "I don't think that we're going to be having to deal with these sort of assertions in the future. At least I'd hope that."

Gillen, asked about the letter yesterday, said he spoke about the alleged incident to the player identified by Irving.

"He denied it," Gillen said. "I believe him. It's sad that something's got to be put in the paper three months later."

Gillen strongly defended his players.

"Maybe they were fooling around, maybe there was some vulgarity, but our guys are not just going to stand on the Corner and curse at fans," he said. "That's just not true."
 

 

U.Va. enters ACC play seeking consistency
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published January 5, 2003

In terms of wins and losses, Virginia coach Pete Gillen couldn't have expected much more out of this young and restructured team. With four newcomers starting a combined 30 games, the Cavaliers are 9-2 with quality victories against Kentucky, Georgetown and Rutgers. Both losses came on the road against ranked teams.

Yet Gillen, in his fifth season as Virginia's head coach, is understandably reserved. Last season, his team started 9-0 but ended up in the NIT. The year before, the Cavs won their first 10 games but lost three of their first four ACC games.

"We're trying to build momentum," said Gillen, whose team has won six straight since losing Dec. 4 at Michigan State. "We're trying to get our act together. We're a team still trying to emerge and play to our full potential. I think 9-2 is a good record, but the beast of our season is certainly ACC play."

Which starts today as Virginia visits N.C. State (7-2) in the RBC Center for a 5:30 p.m. tipoff. Formerly the Entertainment and Sports Arena, it hasn't been the friendliest of buildings for Gillen. The Cavs are 0-4 in the arena and have lost their last five games in Raleigh. Overall, State has won four in a row in the series, including a 92-72 rout in the ACC tournament.

This season, Virginia has been a difficult read. Though they have one of the league's five wins against a ranked team (Kentucky), the Cavaliers struggled at home against Long Island, East Tennessee State and Gardner-Webb.

Consistency has lacked, even from senior Travis Watson. Guard Todd Billet has been hot and cold with his jumper. Junior-college transfer Devin Smith and freshman Derrick Byars have endured the expected growing pains.

In 11 games, Gillen has started nine different lineups. "We're really not a smooth-running unit," he said.

Gillen has seen some encouraging signs, most notably point guard Keith Jenifer. Booed by the home fans in mid-December, Jenifer has played four solid games in a row. He leads the team in minutes (33.8 a game) and has an assist-to-turnover ratio of nearly 2-to-1. After going 2-of-18 from the 3-point arc last year, he has hit seven of his last eight attempts this season.

Smith (11.2 ppg) and Byars (9.5) are looking more comfortable, big men Nick Vander Laan and Elton Brown are helping inside, and Watson shook a sprained ankle with a 21-point, 20-rebound performance Thursday against Wofford. Guard Jermaine Harper has averaged 6.8 points per game since returning on Dec. 17 from a five-game suspension.

"We have nine guys who are capable on any given night of getting double figures," Gillen said. "We have balance, and that's one of our strengths."

State, coming off a 68-56 loss at Massachusetts Thursday night, has started the same lineup in eight of its nine games. Swingman Julius Hodge (19.0 ppg) and forward Marcus Melvin (14.2) are the Wolfpack's primary threats. Off the bench, only Levi Watkins is averaging more than 3.5 points per game.

Though Duke (8-0) is ranked third in the nation, the ACC appears wide open. Three conference teams are unbeaten - the ACC is the only league that can make that claim - but nobody has distinguished itself.

The Blue Devils' only victory over a ranked team came at then-No. 14 UCLA, which is now 3-5. Clemson (9-0) and Wake Forest (9-0) have faced suspect competition, though the Tigers stunned Cincinnati and the Demon Deacons won at Wisconsin.

In today's other conference game, Duke visits Clemson in the Tigers' first game at Littlejohn Coliseum this season. Clemson played its home games in nearby Anderson, S.C., while Littlejohn underwent a $31 million renovation.
 

 

 

UVa coach shows support for Jenifer
Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen says an alleged incident involving Keith Jenifer on Sept. 22 is being blown out of proportion.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Virginia men's basketball coach Pete Gillen, whose concerns with Keith Jenifer's on-court performance have subsided, now finds himself defending Jenifer's off-court persona.
Jenifer was the target of a letter to the editor of the Daily Progress in Charlottesville in which writer Kara Finnegan Irving said she had observed Jenifer among a group that was cursing at passers-by following the Cavaliers football homecoming game Sept.22 with Akron.

Irving, a Virginia alumna from Baltimore, said she had been a big UVa basketball fan since 1994-95 but would not watch the team this season.

Gillen said Friday that he had addressed the matter with Jenifer, a sophomore from Baltimore, and that Jenifer had denied his involvement in an incident of that nature.

"It was three months ago," Gillen said Friday in a teleconference called in connection with the Cavaliers' ACC opener today at 5:30 p.m. at North Carolina State. "It was Sept.22 and it was in the paper Dec.22. Three months ago.

"He denied it. I believe him. Maybe guys were fooling around. There may have been some vulgarity. It's sad that something's got to be put in the paper three months from the date. That upsets me.

"Our whole team visited the children's medical center at Kluge Hospital last Friday. That would never, ever be in the paper. Were the guys having fun and fooling around? Maybe. Were they saying, 'Are you a fan and cursing at them?' I definitely don't believe that."

Jenifer was a target of fans' boos after some inconsistent play early in the season, but he has played under control in recent games, with a 63-32 assist-turnover differential and seven 3-point field goals in his last eight attempts.

Jenifer, expected to battle injured Majestic Mapp and shooting specialist Todd Billet for playing time, leads the team in minutes played.

"We just play better when he's out there," Gillen said. "I think he's maturing. Our kids are far from perfect, but when Keith Jenifer brought an inner-city kid up to our camp last summer and played with him, nobody put that in the paper.

"He comes from Baltimore, where he sees some crazy things, I'm sure, so he's adjusting. I think he's a terrific kid. It seems like, right here, we're in a fishbowl. Every time our guys burp, people want to throw eggs at us."

 

 

Cavaliers searching for good ACC start
 By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
Jan 4, 2003
 
When the subject of a good start to the ACC season arises, there are few in Virginia's program that can relate.

The Cavaliers have lost their last seven ACC openers, meaning no one on this year's squad, either coaches or players, has ever known what it's like to be 1-0 in the ACC.

Virginia's best ACC start in recent memory was in the 1994-95 season when the Cavaliers won their first four conference games en route to a 12-4 league mark and a first-place, regular-season tie.

Last season, Virginia's futility in ACC openers hit its peak as the Cavaliers, 9-0 and No. 4 in the country at the time, lost to N.C. State at University Hall.

It was the first of three losses to the Wolfpack, the last of which in the ACC quarterfinals likely knocked the Cavaliers out of the NCAA tournament.

When the Cavaliers enter the RBC Center today in Raleigh, a place that's been a mini house of horrors for them, they will try to end several streaks.

With a victory, the Cavaliers could win for the first time at N.C. State since 1997, end a four-game slide to the Wolfpack, and perhaps first and foremost, get to that elusive 1-0 mark in ACC play.

"It certainly will be a big game and a killer game," said Virginia coach Pete Gillen. "For Virginia, all 16 ACC games are killer games."

Added senior forward Travis Watson: "We know what happened last year [with N.C. State] and we're not going to live on that. … They are first on our schedule and we are motivated for that."

As for getting off to a good ACC start, Watson said it's a streak the Cavaliers simply must change.

"We're going to try to do that. We just can't talk about it," Watson said.

Virginia enters today's game having won six straight while the Wolfpack is coming off a loss at Massachusetts on Thursday. In that game both guard Clifford Crawford (back) and forward Jordan Collins (groin) suffered injuries. Crawford is questionable, while Collins is doubtful for this evening's game.

The Wolfpack opened the season 5-0 but has lost two of its last four.

Using a phrase that Gillen has uttered frequently in the past weeks, N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said his team is "a work in progress."

"This is a young basketball team that is still growing and is very much a work in progress. It's a team that's battling through some injuries," Sendek said.

In its recent success against Virginia, Sendek's teams have forced UVa into halfcourt games where they subsequently "carved us up," as Gillen has said after nearly every loss to the Wolfpack.

This season, Virginia is not the up-tempo team it was in the past and is becoming better in halfcourt situations. That's something Sendek certainly noticed when reviewing tape for today's game.

"I have great respect for what they're doing right now. They're really playing well on both ends of the floor. In typical Virginia fashion, their defense can still create offense for them," Sendek said. "They have some great shooters and when you put them around Watson, that's a great attack to have."

 

 

UVa frowns on attempts at humor
 By BOB GIBSON / Daily Progress staff writer
Jan 5, 2003
 
The University of Virginia can brag of a student-run honor system but isn't too sure about tolerating a student-run humor system.

When I attended UVa in the late 1960s into the early '70s, the football team was pretty bad and the Pep Band was funny on occasion.

That was before football got big and before humor, at least the variety that poked parody at others, got one banned.

Actually, the football team did enjoy one good year, going 7-3 in the fall of 1968 with a starting lineup that sounded at times like a Pennsylvania team, and the basketball team recruited enough Pennsylvania talent to start making Virginia a respected name in that sport.

The Pep Band was led for a year or two by a young clarinet player from Henrico County named Jim Gilmore. As leader, he kept the band in its seats.

Gilmore, a minimalist Republican, did not try to set the tone for very dry Wahoo humor for decades to come.

Making Maryland mad

UVa students generally agreed that the Pep Band was quite funny, on occasion, for years. The free-floating musicians even got themselves banned from Maryland for irritating Free Staters with a skit that featured a governor Marvin Mandel character clad in stripes and lugging around a ball and chain, not long after the real Mandel inhabited a prison cell.

Tennessee, and even that state of being known as a Hokie High, have taken umbrage at skits lampooning Elvis impersonators and outhouses this side of the West Virginia line.

But if you can't insult Maryland by poking a wee bit of humor at the truth of its politics, you surely can't get anywhere near West Virginia.

That state's politicians work themselves into a dither at the mere mention of their beloved state - a beautiful little place of ups and downs - in the same sentence with the words "bare feet," "family tree that don't fork," "hick," "hayseed," "holler," "satellite-dish-as-state-flower," "Pillsbury-as-state-flower," "senator-in-a-klan," "unsophisticated," or the score "48-22."

If life itself is ups and downs, West Virginia is life intensified, a three-dimensional image of uplifting country living. It's no accident that "Almost heaven, West Virginia" floats forever as a descriptive lyric.

Much in common

Truth be told, West "By Gawd" Virginia is as close a cousin, or offspring, as this state has. We share a beautiful transecting Interstate highway (64), an illegal state drink (moonshine), a historic state Byrd (the short, white-tufted, gravel-throated senator), and a debilitating social disease (succumbing to flattery as the highest, or only, form of truth).

West Virginia and UVa also have a shared new pastime, almost old enough to be a tradition. It's called "Hanging the Pep Band Out to Dry."

The waifish musicians are fun-seeking college students who also seek to entertain by not being the vestige or handmaiden of State-U-ism. Sure, the humor, well, call it mocking parody, is a bit sophomoric. Duh. A bunch of them can't walk a straight line and are sophomores. Good thing, actually. If they tried senior humor, Virginia could be at war with neighboring states.

The administrators and bowl officials crying foul over the West Virginia skit are some of the same folks who approved the script. They backtracked by saying the band never mentioned that the skit would include - gasp - square dancing, mock fighting, bare feet or overalls.

Someone in UVa's administration is so tired of apologizing for the humor that comes from student self-governance that the adults who count the money want to ensure the band never again tries to amuse or entertain with words or skits.

Never again should West Virginia be the subject of a sophomoric student parody skit, for fear of activating the hair-trigger on an inferiority meter some Mountain State elected leaders are quick to display.

A typical administrative solution would be to put the band members back in their seats and let them blow sweet nothings that couldn't possibly offend a nun, a Mountaineer, a Heel or a Vol, a lawyer, a donor or a humorless administrator.

Instead of instituting a real marching band or hiring high school talent, UVa administrators vexed by what they refer to in double-secret-probation memos as the persistent PBP (Pep Band Problem) could try any of the following.

Solution No 10: Teach humor in the music department.

Solution No. 9: Allow only self-parody. (Whatever happened to self-parody? It tends to be funnier, anyway.) Find Thomas Jefferson and Edgar Allen Poe lookalikes and teach them to play the jug.

Solution No. 8: Lend or find West Virginia University a new mascot. This buckskin-clad mountaineer guy with a chew and a rifle invites Pep Band insults such as those never to be repeated from 1985 and 2002. It also lends truth as a slander defense.

Solution No. 7: Revive dueling as the traditional means of settling interstate disputes of honor and give President John T. Casteen III a crash NRA pistol course.

Solution No. 6: Teach the Pep Band to play banjo-pickin', toe-tappin' tunes while marching in just enough of a formation to clearly depict the numbers 48 and 22. Every time a West Virginia pol pokes back at the band, the unit can remind all of the Continental Tire Bowl score.

Solution No. 5: Clone the Mountaineer mascot and teach the neat little buckskin-clad cloned offspring to parody Jefferson and Poe.

Solution No. 4: Schedule West Virginia every year until they've had enough. Let them win the halftime show.

Solution No. 3: Pay the Pep Band according to crowd laughter.

Solution No. 2: Bench them for crowd silence.

Solution No. 1: Strike the band and invite Gilmore back to play The Good Old Song on untaxed car horns.

 

 

UVa begins ACC season today with game at State
 By Kelly Villiers / The News & Advance
Jan 5, 2003
 
It's January, so you know what this means in the world of college basketball: time to let the fun and games begin.

No more Woffords. No more Gardner-Webbs. It begins for real this evening for the Virginia Cavaliers, who open Atlantic Coast Conference play at North Carolina State this evening. Tipoff is set for 5:30 p.m. in the RBC Center in Raleigh, N.C., and the game can be seen on Comcast (cable channel 43).

"We've got 16 killer games in the ACC, and when you throw games at Virginia Tech and Ohio University, that's 18 killer games left," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said on Friday. "We're going to be challenged dramatically."

While at least Virginia (9-2) doesn't have the misfortune of opening ACC play on the road, say, like at Cameron Indoor Stadium against Duke, tonight's game will be big measuring stick to see how far this outfit has come. The Cavaliers are on a six-game winning streak and have beaten the likes of Kentucky, Georgetown and Rutgers in the pre-ACC schedule, while losing to Indiana and Michigan State.

Thursday night, Travis Watson became the first Virginia player since 1983 to record a double-double with 21 points and 20 rebounds in an 87-65 win over Wofford.

"They're playing really well right now," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "Certainly, Travis Watson is an attention grabber, coming of a game in which he had 21 points and 20 rebounds. You know how hard it is to get 20 rebounds in a game? That's an incredible number. He leads the ACC in career double-doubles among active players with the better part of his senior year still to be played. It seems like he's been at Virginia forever."

But Gillen knew he would need more than just Watson to be competitive in the ACC. He had hoped some of his young players, like sophomore forward Elton Brown, junior guard Todd Billet, JUCO transfer Devin Smith and freshman Derrick Byars would be able to step up and deliver. Each has shown flashes of brilliance.

"We've had some good games, and we've been challenged," Gillen said. "But we've got a long way to go. I think we're improving. I think we have room to grow, especially with Derrick Byars and Devin Smith adjusting to high Division I basketball."

While Watson has been recovering from turf toe and a sprained right ankle, and Brown has been recovering from a sprained left ankle, N.C. State (7-2) has injury woes of its own. Starting guard Cliff Crawford is questionable due to a back injury, while backup center Jordan Collins may be out due to a groin injury. The Wolfpack, ranked 24th, stumbled in a 68-56 loss Thursday night at Massachusetts.

"We're playing without some guys, so others have to step up," Sendek said. "We don't have the luxury of having anyone who's ready to play for us not to be striving to do that."

One who will probably step is sophomore forward Julius Hodge, averaging 19 points and 6.2 rebounds a game. He was a key figure for N.C. State last season as they swept Virginia in the regular season, then beat the Cavaliers again in the ACC tournament.

"They still have a tremendous team," Gillen said. "Hodge had the great game against us last season. They've got good players and they're a lot like us in a lot of ways. It's going to be a tough game."

 

 

Duke, N.C. State to begin ACC play
Blue Devils go on the road against Clemson -- Wolfpack is home against Virginia

By Bill Cole
JOURNAL REPORTER
 

Duke and N.C. State have waited until almost the last possible day to begin ACC play, but they'll christen their seasons today in demanding fashion.

Duke will hit the road to play Clemson in a showdown of two of the country's last remaining unbeaten teams. N.C. State could be without guard Clifford Crawford and center Jordan Collins, trying to rebound from a loss and solve its offensive woes by playing Virginia at home.

Crawford, a senior from Winston-Salem, has been slowed by back spasms and is questionable, according to Coach Herb Sendek of N.C. State. Collins, a 6-10 sophomore reserve, has a torn muscle and is doubtful.

Both games will be televised by the Fox Sports Network. Duke's game is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. at renovated Littlejohn Coliseum and N.C. State will start at 5:30 at the RBC Center.

The Blue Devils (8-0) will start their defense of the 2002 ACC championship. The Tigers (9-0) will play their first home game after being forced to play eight times in the Anderson (S.C.) Civic Center while Littlejohn repairs were completed.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke said he wishes that he had a more experienced team to begin ACC play away from home.

"We think we've played good teams and different systems," Krzyzewski said. "Overall I think our team has done a very good job. Are we an outstanding team? I don't think so. I know we're not an outstanding team.

"We're a good team that wants to get a lot better. And the only way you get better is to play games like the one on Sunday. Maybe we'll grow up a lot down there."

The Blue Devils are winning by an average of 23 points a game, but haven't had a dominating performance, not of the kind that Krzyzewski's recent teams have had. Inconsistent play and the addition of six freshmen to the program have created vulnerability and led to the perception that the conference race will be wide open after six years of Duke dominance.

In Duke's last game, Fairfield shot 36 percent from the field in the first half, missed six of seven 3-point shots and had 13 turnovers and five shots blocked, and with 37 seconds left before halftime trailed by only 40-31. Senior center Casey Sanders said he's hopeful that the hostile road conditions will draw out the team's strongest performance of the season.

"Are we where other (Duke) teams were (to start ACC play)? Not really, not yet," Sanders said. "We're still very young in terms of the time it takes to build that kind of maturity amongst a team.

"There's no way you can make up for that kind of time. And that's going to take time, but I think we are progressing as good as we did my freshman year. The want and the will is there."

Point guard Chris Duhon said he wasn't satisfied with the team's progress. Duhon will head into a crucial matchup with point guard Ed Scott of Clemson in a shooting slump.

Duhon has made only three of his past 20 shots. He has missed his last eight 3-point attempts. Several shots that Duhon took against Dayton were three or four feet behind the 3-point arc and were off almost the instant they left his hands.

His passing is still sharp. His 10 assists against Fairfield gave him 17 in the past two games. And he's still a menace on defense, especially in the half-court press, with four steals in the past two games. His pressure on the ball helps Duke's defense become smothering.

"I've just got to keep shooting," Duhon said. "I won't make them unless I keep shooting. Guys still have confidence in me. No one is worried about my shot. They know I'll keep working hard to get it there.

"I've just got to keep continuing to lead my team. We're still winning and that's the main thing. My shot will come but that's not what I'm focused on; I'm focused on running this team. In a couple of days those shots are going to go in."

N.C. State will be back at the place where it has the most success. Both of its losses have come on the road.

Sendek won't know until game time if Crawford will be able to play. Crawford is the team's only senior and Sendek doesn't want to go into an ACC game with his most experienced player sitting on the bench.

"This is a young basketball team and it's still growing," Sendek said. "It's still very much a work in progress. It's a team that is having to battle through some injuries that have changed our basketball team."

All the psychological advantages rest with Virginia. State (7-2) beat Virginia (9-2) three times last season, and the last decision was a 92-72 rout in the ACC Tournament.

The game will match the ACC's leading scorer, Julius Hodge of N.C. State, who is averaging 19 points, against the top rebounder, Travis Watson of Virginia, who is averaging 10.5. Watson scored 21 points and had 20 rebounds in his last game.

"Do you know how hard it is to get 20 rebounds in a game?" Sendek said. "That's an incredible number. He's an awesome player. It seems like he's been at Virginia now for six years, not four. It seems like he's been there forever. He's a force to be reckoned with."

 

 

Wolfpack back in comfort zone
By AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com
Jan 4, 2003 : 11:59 pm ET

RALEIGH -- N.C. State basketball coach Herb Sendek can only hope the friendly confines of the RBC Center will cure his team’s offensive woes when the Wolfpack (7-2) opens its ACC season today at 5:30 p.m. against Virginia (9-2).

"It’s always good to be at home, but that doesn’t assure you of anything," Sendek said. "It so happens that the two times we were not in our building, we haven’t performed to our offensive capabilities."

That’s putting it mildly. In seven homecourt wins (six in the RBC Center, one in Reynolds Coliseum), N.C. State has averaged 83.3 points and has shot 51.0 percent from the field. In two away losses, the Pack has averaged 58.0 points and shot 32.2 percent from the floor.

The latest road disaster came Thursday night, when N.C. State missed 35 of 57 shots in a 68-56 loss at Massachusetts.

"I thought we were very well prepared going into the game," Sendek said. "So our performance wasn’t anticipated. We didn’t do as good a job as we needed to do in recognizing situations. Secondly, we failed to connect on some point-blank shots. If we had hit some of those, it might have been a different situation."

N.C. State also missed the services of senior point guard Clifford Crawford, who aggravated a sore back early in the UMass game and played sparingly the rest of the way.

"He had complained a little bit [about his back] last week, but it was just a mild discomfort — nothing major," Sendek said. "In the first few minutes of the game, he was out on a breakaway layup and when he planted to take off, he jammed something and aggravated the problem."

Crawford, who was coming off a career performance in his previous game, scored just two points against UMass. He is listed as questionable for the Virginia game.

That’s not all. Sophomore center Jordan Collins, recovering from a preseason broken wrist, suffered a muscle tear at UMass and is listed as doubtful for the Virginia game.

That could be critical against Virginia, which boasts excellent size.

"Their frontcourt is very deep," Sendek said. "Under the present circumstances, with our health as it is, that’s a concern."

N.C. State has had considerable success against the Cavaliers in recent years. Sendek’s teams have won eight of the last 11 games with Virginia, including all three matchups with the Cavs last season.

Indeed, exactly one year ago today — Jan. 5, 2002 — the Pack scored a significant road victory in Charlottesville, knocking off No. 4 Virginia 81-74. That victory helped propel N.C. State to a 22-win season and a third-place ACC finish.

"This is a new team, a different team," Sendek said, avoiding any comparisons with last year. "This is still very much a work in progress. We’re still trying to battle through some injuries."

Sendek can only hope that the Pack’s homecourt magic can help make up for the team’s physical problems.

NOTES,/b> — Virginia hasn’t won in Raleigh since 1997, losing its last trip to Reynolds and all three visits to the RBC Center. ... The Pack is 2-4 in ACC openers under Sendek. Since joining the ACC, N.C. State is 25-24 in ACC openers. ... Sophomore Julius Hodge leads the Pack in scoring (19.0 points per game), rebounding (6.2), and his 36 assists are just three short of the team lead, held by Crawford. ... After the Virginia game, N.C. State gets six days off before traveling to Georgia Tech for a game Saturday.


 

 

Cavs can get revenge today
Opponent in ACC opener has won four in row vs. U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 05, 2003

No team tormented Virginia more in men's basketball last season than N.C. State.

The Wolfpack beat U.Va. in Charlottesville, in Raleigh, N.C., and, finally, in Charlotte, N.C. Virginia's faint hopes of sneaking into the NCAA tournament vanished with that third loss to State, a 92-72 whipping in the ACC tourney's first round.

"We know what happened last year," U.Va. star Travis Watson said, "but we're not going to [dwell] on that, because it's a new team."

And it's a new ACC season for both teams, starting tonight in Raleigh. At 5:30, Virginia (9-2) and N.C. State (7-2) meet at the RBC Center, formerly known as the Entertainment and Sports Arena.

By any name, the building hasn't been hospitable to the Cavaliers, who never have won there. U.Va., in fact, hasn't beaten State in any Raleigh gym since Feb. 19, 1997.

Virginia entered its 2001-02 ACC opener, also against N.C. State, unbeaten and ranked No. 4 nationally. This edition of the Cavaliers is less heralded but might have more long-term potential. Fifth-year coach Pete Gillen has four new players in his rotation - Division I transfers Todd Billet and Nick Vander Laan, junior-college transfer Devin Smith and freshman Derrick Byars - and has had others in and out of the lineup for various reasons.

Nonetheless, the Wahoos have fought through their rough spots admirably, losing only to top-20 teams Indiana and Michigan State, both away from University Hall. U.Va. has won six straight since falling Dec. 4 in East Lansing, Mich., and it played as well Thursday in an 87-65 rout of Wofford as it has all season.

"It was good to get a little momentum rather than back into" ACC play with a close win or a loss, said Gillen, whose club plays four of its next five games on the road.

The Cavaliers' record notwithstanding, they're still a work in progress, as Gillen likes to say. Point guard Majestic Mapp has yet to play this season - he could return tonight or next weekend against North Carolina - and Watson has battled nagging injuries. Sophomore guard Jermaine Harper was suspended for the first five games, and Billet and Vander Laan have struggled at times to readjust to the pace of Division I ball.

"We're still trying to come together," Gillen said. "I think we have room to grow."

Billet, the team's second-leading scorer, agreed.

"Everyone's happy, but at the same time I don't think we've reached our potential or shown this team clicking on all cylinders," Billet said. "A lot of guys have shown spurts of what they can do, and I think when everyone starts putting it together and getting used to each other, it should be a team that keeps improving as the year goes on.

"It seems like every night there's a new way to win, and that's good, because a lot of teams only have one or two, and if he's not playing well, they're going to lose."

Watson, Billet, Smith, Byars and 6-9 sophomore Elton Brown each have paced the Cavs in scoring at least once. Watson led the ACC in rebounding last season, but Smith and Vander Laan each have had at least one game in which they grabbed the most boards of any Cavalier.

"I think we have good balance," Gillen said. "We have one great player in Travis Watson" and numerous good players.

And that might be enough to carry U.Va., which tied for fifth in the ACC last season, to an upper-division finish.

"Now, Duke might still be the cræme de la cræme," Gillen said, "but what I see now is great balance."

N.C. State has won four straight over Virginia. That's the Cavaliers' longest current losing streak against an ACC foe.

 

 

Danny Wells
Buckeyes, interference calls, Harrick, Virginia’s band
 

Quote of the New Year: “We’ve always had the best damn band in the country. Now we have the best damn team in the country.’’

No, that wasn’t Al Groh, head coach of Virginia, talking after his Wahoos embarrassed West Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl. It was Jim Tressel, head coach of Ohio State after the Buckeyes won a national championship in a classic overtime.

While Ken Dorsey certainly deserves heaps of credit for guiding the Hurricanes through a remarkable victory stretch, Miami would have won the Fiesta Bowl handily Friday night if it had another quarterback, say Byron Leftwich of Marshall.

(I mention Leftwich only because he was constantly rated below Dorsey in the Heisman hype.)

Dorsey had two interceptions and a fumble against OSU.

And speaking of Marshall, the national title game should put to rest any notion that an official shouldn’t make a pass interference call at a critical point in the closing seconds that could decide the game’s outcome.

Miami players thought they had the game won when a defender knocked down an Ohio State pass in the end zone on fourth down in the first overtime period. But an interference call gave the Buckeyes another opportunity to keep playing, and they made the most of it.

It was another Miami team that was cited for interference in the end zone that allowed Marshall to pull out a victory over the RedHawks from Ohio.

The referee who made the call in Friday’s game, Terry Porter, admitted he hesitated before making the call.

“I replayed it in my mind,’’ Porter said after the game. “I wanted to make double-sure that it was the right call.’’

Porter brings new meaning to the term instant replay. The NFL does it with oodles of dollars worth of camera equipment. Porter does it in his mind. Neither is instant.

After Ohio State showed that this mighty Miami team was not invincible, it makes me wonder how Georgia would have done against the Hurricanes and/or Ohio State. Those Dawgs were tough, and a single loss kept them out of the championship picture.

And while we’re talking about Georgia, let’s hear it for Jim Harrick and his basketball team’s big win over Pittsburgh earlier in the week. Pitt was ranked No. 2 at the time.

As he has done everywhere he’s coached, Harrick will have his Bulldogs ready to make a nice tournament run come March, the madness month.

Back to the Tire Bowl and the halftime band crisis: While Our Boys were unable to show any toughness on the football field, we sure showed those Jefferson-loving Virginians just how menacing West Virginians can be once the game is over.

First, an announcer for a statewide talk show browbeat a UVa official into submission for more than an hour last Monday. The poor Virginia gentleman apologized for nearly everything that has affected West Virginia in a poor way during the last 100 years.

The radio man then in vintage West Virginia hicksville thinking turned his attack from Virginia to Marshall after a caller suggested that WVU supporters should make some apologies of their own for the way the fans have behaved at home football games.

Only in West Virginia could you hear a radio man defend the state’s already horrible image by berating the state’s second largest university.

At least in our neighboring state, Virginia plays Virginia Tech in the most spirited game of the season for both schools.

And all that leads to the obvious point that the Virginia band indeed took it easy on us. They stuck with the basics. Bib overalls, pigtails, Beverly Hillbillies.

Let us rejoice that no mention was made of governors going to jail, overweight coal trucks and nervous sheep.