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Cavs will try to cool off streaking Devils
By Bill Cole
JOURNAL REPORTER
 

The ACC race is again shaping up as Duke against everybody else.

Right now, everybody else isn't doing very well.

Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke is quick to point out that the conference season has barely started. But Duke is the last undefeated team in the country. Duke is scheduled to play again today, with Virginia getting the chance to slow down Duke's growing head of steam.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game will be on ESPN.

"I don't know if we've reloaded," Krzyzewski said. "I think we've done a good job thus far. I don't think we're a dominant basketball team. I think we're a good basketball team. We're hoping to become a really good one."

Coach Pete Gillen of the Cavaliers might argue Krzyzewski's point. Duke is 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the conference and manhandled Wake Forest on Sunday.

The Cavaliers are 10-3 and 1-1. They haven't won at Duke since Jan. 14, 1995 and they needed two overtimes to win 91-88. Road teams have been battered in the season's early going, winning only twice in 16 games. That would seem to make Virginia's assignment all the more demanding.

And for Gillen, there's no place as distracting and unnerving as Cameron Indoor Stadium. He hasn't coached in every gym in America, but he said he can't think of one in which the visiting team has a more difficult time winning.

"It's an inferno," Gillen said. "It's an inferno or a piranha-fish feeding frenzy where they're just eating at the porpoise. It's just a frenzy."

Virginia played at Rutgers on Dec. 21 in front of a nasty crowd angered by the return of guard Todd Billet, who transferred from Rutgers to Virginia. And as mean as that crowd was, it was no preparation for Duke, according to Gillen.

"There's nothing you can really prepare for Duke's atmosphere," Gillen said. "Rutgers is a very, very difficult place to play but it's not Cameron Indoor Stadium. Rutgers has a very, very good team but they're not a great team like Duke is. This is certainly a much higher level.

"You can't put into words what it is playing there. 'There's strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.' That's a poem I heard. There's strange things that happen, they're crazy. The students are going nuts.

"We have like a little rope ladder our guys exercise with and last year the Duke students were running in the rope ladder. They were doing stretching with us. That doesn't happen at every place, where you've got people stretching with your team."

Once Gillen gets his mind on the game, he'll try to slow down a team that has won 20 consecutive games at home. Duke has led by at least 15 points in the second halves of all this season's games. Only three times - against Davidson, Clemson and Georgetown - has Duke not managed a 20-point lead after halftime.

Out of 440 minutes played this season, the Blue Devils have trailed for only 43:08.

Krzyzewski keeps changing the Blue Devils' lineup, looking for the best fit on a particular night, and he keeps hitting the right combinations. The Blue Devils always have a strong bench no matter which players start. Dahntay Jones has charged back into the starting lineup after spending three games among the reserves, becoming the team's leading scorer.

Jones is averaging 16.1 points a game and is one of five Duke players to average at least 9.5 points a game.

"He's got to be one of the main options for us; not the only option but one of the main options because he does have the ability to score," Krzyzewski said. "When you're counting the categories where a kid can have an impact offensively on a game, he really hits each one. And therefore he should be a really consistent scorer and impact player for us.

"At times he'll put on a streak ... because he can do it from different spots on the floor. Our system allows him to go to those places and he's taken advantage of it thus far. Hopefully he'll continue to do that."

 

 

Cameron turning up the heat
By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Jan 14, 2003 : 11:38 pm ET

In classic Pete Gillen fashion, the vivacious Virginia coach said that mere words couldn’t adequately describe the challenge of facing No. 1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

Then Gillen went about giving an adequate — and entertaining — description of Duke’s homecourt advantage, citing everything from poetry to porpoises.

"It’s an inferno," said Gillen, whose Cavaliers (10-3, 1-1 ACC) face the fire tonight. "It’s a piranha fish feeding frenzy, where they’re just eating the porpoise.

"You can’t put it to words what it is to play there. ‘There’s strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold,’ — that’s a poem I learned. Strange things happen there — they’re crazy.

"The students are going nuts. We have a little rope ladder that our guys use to exercise [in pregame warmups]; last year, the Duke students were running in the rope ladder — they were stretching with us. It doesn’t happen every place that you have people stretching with your team."

While Gillen can categorize why Cameron Indoor Stadium and other ACC venues are so tough to tame, and can’t fully explain why his Cavaliers seem to fail on the road more than most teams of their talent level. Including their loss 10 days ago at N.C. State, Virginia is 8-25 in ACC roads games in Gillen’s four-plus seasons. At home, the Cavs are 21-11.

Virginia’s series with Duke is even more striking. The Cavs have lost seven straight times at Cameron Indoor Stadium, yet they’ve beaten Duke two straight times in Charlottesville.

Of course, no one — except Duke — is winning in Cameron Indoor Stadium these days. The Blue Devils (11-0, 2-0) have won 20 straight games at home and have lost just four times at home over the last four-plus seasons.

Still, the Cameron Crazies aren’t taking success at home for granted, as evidence by Duke’s last two victories.

"It’s like a renaissance or a renewal," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said following Sunday’s 74-55 victory over Wake Forest. "There’s a spirit there that is outstanding. I saw it last game [against Georgetown], and I saw it again tonight.

"Whatever they’re doing, they need to keep doing because it helps us tremendously."

If the Cavaliers could somehow overcome their stage fright, they have the talent to compete against just about anybody. Post player Travis Watson is averaging a double-double, and guard Todd Billet — who played one season with Duke senior Dahntay Jones at Rutgers — was named ACC co-player of the week after draining six 3-pointers Saturday against UNC.

Actually, the Cavaliers are showing some signs of learning to win away from home. Virginia posted a 14-point victory over Kentucky away from Charlottesville early in the season — in Maui — and they did manage a narrow road victory at always rowdy Rutgers.

Those situations, however, don’t compare to Cameron.

"It’s going to take a great, great effort, but I think we’re capable of doing it," Gillen said. "If we don’t play well, they can blow us out the door."

NOTES — Gillen claimed that Duke’s ability to reload rendered him speechless. It didn’t. "It’s like a Fortune 500 company ... they’ve got everything," he said. "For them to lose those three great players — [Mike] Dunleavy, Jason Williams and [Carlos] Boozer — three unbelievable college players on one team ... and to still be No. 1 in the country — that’s mind-boggling. I’m speechless, and I could talk to a stop sign." ... Duke freshman J.J. Redick, who is from Roanoke, said he likely would have gone to Virginia if Duke hadn’t recruited him. Redick said that would make tonight’s game special, as would his reunion with Virginia post players Elton Brown and Jason Clark. The three were teammates on an AAU national-title team, and Redick said they still talk to each other at least once a week.

Krzyzewski defends Duke’s schedule

Duke has taken a lot of heat this year for its schedule, but Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski doesn’t think it is justified.

"We feel our schedule, year in and year out, is one of the top schedules in the country," Krzyzewski said. "It think if you look at how it’s rated this year at this point, it’s one of the top 20 schedules."

A top 20 schedule?

As hard as it is to believe, the numbers bear that out. According to ESPN’s RPI listings, Duke’s schedule strength ranks No. 12 nationally. Jerry Palm’s RPI site crunches the numbers slightly differently, but still ranks the Blue Devils’ schedule No. 15 nationally.

A closer look at the numbers shows that Duke has repaired its schedule strength by playing a succession of solid but not top teams.

Dayton (No. 16) is the highest ranked Duke opponent in the RPI; Wake Forest (No. 42) is next. Other Duke victims include No. 49 Georgetown, No. 51 Ohio State, No. 52 Clemson, No. 68 Michigan, No. 95 Fairfield and No. 112 Davidson. Only UCLA (No. 181), Army (No. 307) and North Carolina A&T (No. 317) are not ranked in the top half of the Division I RPI rankings.

Duke’s schedule is second among ACC schools, behind only UNC — which boasts the nation’s No. 4 schedule. The Blue Devils’ schedule will be helped by upcoming games against No. 36 Virginia and No. 39 Maryland.

"We play a hell of a schedule every year, and we’re doing that this year," Krzyzewski said.

In the next two months, every ACC team ought to be helped by playing within the league because all nine ACC teams are ranked in the top 100 of the RPI.

 

 

Road-Wary Cavaliers Begin Trip at No. 1 Duke
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Wednesday, January 15, 2003; Page D06

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Jan. 14 -- Virginia has lost 17 of its past 19 games at Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium and has regularly struggled elsewhere on the road. The Cavaliers hope to change both trends with a flourish Wednesday night, when they travel to take on the No. 1 Blue Devils in the first of three straight road games.

In order to avoid a sixth straight double-digit loss in Durham, N.C., Virginia (10-3, 1-1 ACC), which next makes stops at Clemson and Virginia Tech, must take care of the ball against the high-pressure man-to-man defense of Duke (11-0, 2-0). The Blue Devils have forced an ACC-best 20.5 turnovers per game.

"We've played pretty good defense all year, and some of that has to do with the fact that we have experience on the perimeter defensively," Blue Devils Coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "Defensively, [guards Chris Duhon, Daniel Ewing and Dahntay Jones] were sound players last year. Pretty much that's spread through the whole team."

Fortunately for Virginia Coach Pete Gillen, his guards have played some of their best basketball of the season in recent weeks. Sophomore point guard Keith Jenifer seems to be settling in after starting for half of his rookie season, and junior transfer Todd Billet had his best game in a Virginia uniform during Saturday's 79-72 win over North Carolina. Sophomore Jermaine Harper, the team's best perimeter defender, is back after a five-game suspension, and redshirt junior Majestic Mapp played Saturday after missing nearly three years because of a knee injury.

Billet's 24-point outburst against the Tar Heels came on 8-of-15 shooting -- his best percentage of the season -- and included six three-pointers on 11 attempts. It followed a tough month for the former Rutgers standout, who has scored 20-plus points four times and finished in single digits five times this season.

"A bunch of the games over the winter break, it hadn't been feeling right," said Billet, who shot a combined 27 percent against Georgetown, Liberty, Wofford and North Carolina State. "It felt very good today. . . . I was very aggressive. That's how I've got to play; that's when I think I'm at my best."

Tar Heels Coach Matt Doherty saw that kind of performance from Billet three years ago, when he scored 31 points for Rutgers against Doherty's Notre Dame team.

"He's a tough kid, a very good shooter," Doherty said recently. "I think [he is] just what this team needed: a guy who can shoot but also be a secondary point guard."

Billet got his recognition Monday, sharing ACC player of the week honors with Jones, his former Rutgers teammate, but the gradual improvement Jenifer has made this season has been just as important for the Cavaliers.

Jenifer averages 5.5 assists and 2.8 turnovers in a team-high 33.8 minutes per game. He is not a prime scorer -- he averages 6.8 points and takes fewer shots per minute than anyone else in the regular rotation -- but he has become at least an occasional threat from the outside.

After shooting 38 percent last season and 26 percent in the first five games this season, Jenifer has hit 43 percent in the past eight games. He started the season by missing his first six three-point attempts, but has made 9 of 12 since.

"Keith's playing very well," Gillen said. "When he's not in the game, we're not playing as effectively. . . . He's got to shoot. We beg him to shoot the ball. We've got to take him out if he doesn't shoot it sometimes -- we say that to him. We need him to be a threat."
 

 

 


OHSAA seeks data on LeBron's Hummer
01/14/03
Tim Rogers
Plain Dealer Reporter

OHSAA Commissioner Clair Muscaro has asked officials from St. Vincent-St. Mary to provide proof that the amateur status of basketball star LeBron James was not jeopardized when his mother acquired an extravagant Hummer H2 sports utility vehicle for him.

Muscaro said he did not request documented proof that the vehicle was obtained in a way that would safeguard the amateur standing of the player regarded as the best high school player in the country.

Muscaro, who has expressed concern that James' status might have been violated, said he spoke with SVSM headmaster David Raithz yesterday and expected the school to cooperate fully in any investigation the Ohio High School Athletic Association would conduct.

Sources close to the family said the car was a birthday gift to James from his mother, Gloria. Certain Hummer models, favored by professional athletes, can cost as much as $119,000.

Gloria James could not be reached for comment yesterday and did not return a telephone message from The Plain Dealer.

"I talked to the principal and asked him to check out this entire matter," Muscaro told The Plain Dealer. "He is very well aware of our amateur status rule.

"I expect that he will confirm the young man's eligibility."

OHSAA by-law 4-10-1 (c) says an athlete forfeits his or her amateur status by "capitalizing on athletic fame by receiving money or gifts of monetary value."

When asked whether he requested written proof that Gloria James had acquired the car through conventional methods, Muscaro said, "No, but I would assume the school would provide that and make sure things are in the proper place."

Raithz did not return calls from The Plain Dealer yesterday.

SVSM Athletic Director Grant Innocenzi said he and Raithz were reviewing the matter and he hoped it would be clarified by the end of the week. Innocenzi also said he was confident Gloria James would cooperate during any investigation.

Muscaro said his investigation would center on one question.

"It will come down to how the vehicle was obtained," he said. "We have parents buying their children cars all the time, and there is nothing wrong with that. We just need to know that everything was done properly."
 

 

 

Mapp charts his long return
UVa guard back after three-year injury
By BARRY SVRLUGA, Staff Writer

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- It wasn't much -- only two minutes of playing time Saturday against North Carolina -- but it was enough to draw a standing ovation for a player who had not appeared in a game in two years, nine months and 27 days.

Virginia guard Majestic Mapp was back. It had taken only four major knee operations and numerous other procedures.

"I just thought it would be a quick six to nine months and everything would be OK," Mapp said. "But as everybody knows, it's been a long haul for me."

The next small step in a process that has seemed interminable will be taken tonight against top-ranked Duke in Durham. By now, the former McDonald's All-America has learned to take what he can get.

"I learned that the game of basketball is just like the game of life," Mapp said. "You just got to be patient in everything you do. Be patient when you're on the court. Be patient when you're off the court. Patience is the key to everything -- running a play, overcoming an injury, just the key to everything."

He also learned to watch. After suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during a pickup game in August 2000 back home in New York, Mapp chose to hang around his team, traveling to all of the Cavs' games and attending all of the practices. He watched as much basketball as he could on TV, the NBA, college games, "just anything I could watch to get better even though I wasn't out there."

When he was finally ready to get back out there in October practices, though, the knee didn't feel right. The long haul got longer.

"That was my bottom, I think," the 6-foot-2 junior said. "I didn't really go into the tank until after that first week. My knee just got to the point where I was like, 'I'm tired. I don't want to do this anymore. I'm not going to kill myself. I'll do it whenever I'm ready.'"

He took a week off, saw still more doctors and wondered what would happen.

"It was so hard on him," said center Travis Watson, who arrived in the same recruiting class as Mapp but is now finishing his outstanding career. "But I don't think he ever gave up. If he did, he wouldn't be here."

The doctors told Mapp that he had a choice: Remain on the shelf and let the knee stiffen or work through the frustration and fatigue to build strength. Mapp returned to the court.

"After that, I just got back into it," he said.

Mapp says he's a different person than the one who arrived at UVa. Yes, he stayed close to basketball, but he needed more to get through the hard times. Alone, he would put on his headphones and listen to Nas or DMX or Alicia Keys. And then he'd pick up a pad and a pen and write poetry.

"Even if it doesn't come out a poem," Mapp said, "I write something. I'm not saying that I wasn't agitated or aggravated with the situation, but just reading and writing a little bit helped me get through. Listening to that music and writing just kept my mind off the things that were going wrong."

Now, he hopes things will start going right. Listed as a redshirt junior, he wants to play this year and next, and then apply for a medical redshirt season. But he is majoring in economics, "so hopefully, I can make a million whether I play basketball or not."

In Mapp's mind, his feel-good story didn't end when he played those two minutes in the victory over Carolina.

"I don't want to come back and be mediocre," Mapp said. "I want to come back and be the best. If you're not the best at what you do, there's no reason to be doing it -- classroom, basketball. I know I got a long way to go.

"I think God always takes care of his children, so I knew I'd be able to get back out there sooner or later. But it's just a matter of trying not to prove to anybody else that I can play, but to prove to myself that I can play. That's all I want to do."


 

Duke provides formidable task
 By ANDREW JOYNER / Daily Progress staff writer
Jan 15, 2003
 
A little over three weeks ago, Virginia played in what could be described as a hostile if not nasty environment at Rutgers.

As Virginia coach Pete Gillen acknowledges, what his team will face tonight against No. 1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium may make Rutgers look mild.

"There is nothing you can really do to prepare for Duke's atmosphere. Rutgers is a very, very difficult place to play but it's not Cameron Indoor Stadium," Gillen said. "Rutgers has a good team but they're not a great team and Duke is. … The game at Rutgers got us a little more battle-tested but you can't put in words what it's like playing there."

Gillen, an English Literature major at Fairfield University and a former English teacher, did actually try to put it into words by quoting Robert W. Service's poem, The Cremation of Sam McGee.

"There are strange things done 'neath the midnight sun by men who moil for gold," Gillen stated. "There are strange things happening. The students are going nuts. Last year, we had a little rope ladder that our kids exercise on [in warmups] and supposedly the Duke students ran out and were running on the rope ladder. That doesn't happen at every place."

When asked about such literary prowess, Gillen fell back to one of his one-liners.

"That's just a little poetry you probably didn't have. … I was a frustrated English teacher. I got a D in English and they dropped the major for a couple of years," Gillen said.

Gillen hopes his illusion to a cremation does not come to fruition tonight.

Virginia's closest game at Cameron in recent memory was last season when it fell to the then-No. 1 Blue Devils, 94-81. The four games prior to that, Virginia lost by margins of 42, 20, 46 and 44. Additionally, Virginia entered last season's game tied at 42 at the half and while that might have been a ray of optimism, Gillen is not stressing it this week.

"It's a 40-minute game. Our kids hung in there and we had a lot of young players and I thought we played exceedingly well. … We did a good job in the frenzy but Duke turned it up a notch and we didn't respond," Gillen said. "We have a good team and it will take a great, great effort but I think we're capable of doing it. If we don't play well, they can blow us out the door."

Duke again sits on its perch as the nation's No. 1 team, a feat it has reached for at least one week in each of the past six seasons. The Blue Devils lost three underclassmen - Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer - to the NBA last year but still are the nation's elite team after an 11-0 start. An increased performance from forward Dahntay Jones and a strong recruiting class has Duke's "rebuilding" year looking nothing like that.

Their ability to reload astounds other ACC coaches.

"The tradition of that program is to replace great players with other great players. The one constant has been outstanding talent and the other constant is Coach Krzyzewski. They are not going to go away and certainly no one in the league expected that to happen," said Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, whose previously unbeaten Demon Deacons lost 74-55 at Cameron on Sunday.

One of those other great players to which Prosser referred may be freshman guard J.J. Redick. Redick, a native of Roanoke who led Cave Spring to the Group AAA state title last season, was recruited heavily by UVa. Instead, Redick always wanted to play at Duke and then committed there during his junior season. He is currently averaging 15.5 points a game for the Blue Devils.

"His dream school had always been Duke. We recruited him as soon as we got here [UVa]. Our only hope was if Duke didn't want him. Duke does a great job. They watched him and watched him and said 'we want you' and it was done," Gillen said.

Today begins a three-game road trip for the Cavaliers. They will travel to Clemson on Saturday and then go to Blacksburg next Tuesday. For their part or maybe to their credit, the Virginia players are not too daunted by the task this evening.

"I'm excited. Any time you can play in a hostile environment, it's always exciting. You can have fun with this and I think that the team is looking forward to this. We are just going to let it all hang out against a very good team," said junior guard Todd Billet.

 

 

Reloaded Devils dazzling
 By JERRY RATCLIFFE / Daily Progress sports editor
Jan 15, 2003
 
Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if the Cavaliers can break a seven-year drought in Durham tonight …

Virginia has beaten Duke the last two meetings in Charlottesville, but the Cavs haven't come close in Cameron Indoor Stadium. In fact, UVa often becomes unglued at the toughest place to play in college basketball.

It is almost unbelievable what coach Mike Krzyzewski has been able to do with the Duke program, having lost three guys to the NBA out of his starting lineup last season and still maintaining the nation's No. 1 ranking.

They used to say this about North Carolina when Dean Smith roamed Tobacco Road: "the Tar Heels don't rebuild, they just reload." Well, that's what Coach K is doing.

Asked how he does it, Krzyzewski said Wednesday:

"We have good talent, there's no question about that. For the most part, we have stayed away from serious injury over the years," said K. "The other thing is we have a system of offense and defense that is ongoing. We change it somewhat but not the physical habits kids have. The older guys can teach the younger guys.

"I don't know if we've reloaded. We're not a dominant basketball team. We're a good basketball team and we hope to become a really good one."

Wake coach Skip Prosser, whose Deacs were pummeled by K's good team on Sunday, said he had difficulty telling any difference between last year's team and this year's version after the whupping.

"When their big kids play like they did against us, they're hard to beat," said Prosser.

It didn't hurt that Duke hit half of its attempts from bonusphere either.

Crying Foul

First it was UVa's Pete Gillen, then Georgetown's Craig Esherick, complaining about how their big men were getting mugged by opponents while their own guys were called for every ticky-tack foul imaginable.

Now Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt has chimed in about his center, Luke Schenscher, not the most physical guy playing the position.

"People have been awfully physical with him," complained Hewitt on Wednesday. "And no whistles have been blown. He's only gone to the line four times this season. Luke is a kid who doesn't show a lot of emotion but a couple of times, I've had to get on him to keep his head. I'm concerned enough that I don't mind speaking out about it."

Majestic salute

UNC coach Matt Doherty said Wednesday that what has happened to Virginia point guard Majestic Mapp should be a lesson to kids everywhere.

"Here's a kid who went to Virginia for more than just basketball," said Doherty. "We all know that Virginia is a place where you're going to get a great education and [Mapp] will take advantage of that. At some point, basketball is going to end for [everyone] and sometimes a lot sooner than you would like. That's why you go to college, to get a degree."

Doherty watched last Saturday as Mapp returned to

action for the first time since the 2000 season, having missed the last two campaigns with knee problems.

"I really admire the kid for persevering," said Doherty.

Injury report. Wake Forest freshman point guard Justin Gray has undergone surgery for a fractured jaw suffered against Duke on Sunday.

According to Deacs coach Skip Prosser, Gray "should miss a considerable amount of time." Prosser said the recovery is a question of weeks, not days.

Image change. Clemson, which has been criticized by African-American athletes for the lack of cultural opportunities, is trying to change its image.

Last August, an NCAA committee also questioned the school's commitment to minority opportunities and minority hiring, giving the school one year to address the situation.

Basketball coach Larry Shyatt has felt some heat for the poor graduation rate of black players. Tony Christie is the only black player recruited by Shyatt or former coach Rick Barnes, who has graduated from Clemson.

Shyatt has made an attempt to change those perceptions, having played Morris Brown, a historically all-black school, last Saturday as a pre-Martin Luther King holiday celebration. Clemson celebrated with a 75-52 win.

"I want our community, university and team to understand why we chose to play this game during this time of year," said Shyatt. "We were accommodated by the ACC with an off weekend and that's why we slipped this game in here."

Craig Mobley, the first black scholarship athlete at Clemson in 1969, was invited to toss the ceremonial opening tip. Mobley now owns a construction company in L.A.

Free throws. Virginia recruit Keenan Carter, whom coach Al Groh referred to as his "B-52 Bomber," has qualified academically and should be eligible to enroll at UVa this summer or fall. The Fork Union recruit once ballooned to 380 pounds but is reportedly down to 320. …

Thanks to a Continental Tire Bowl win, Virginia's athletic program is currently ranked No. 18 in the final fall standings of the annual Sears Directors' Cup standings (the Cavs finished 27th last year). …

Sports Illustrated wowed Wahoo fans in its post-bowl issue by picking the Cavaliers in its predicted top 10 for the 2003 season, three places behind rival Virginia Tech (picked No. 7). Not only that, but SI named UVa freshman tailback Wali Lundy, the MVP of the Tire Bowl, to its All-Bowl team for his performance that included four TDs, two rushing and two receiving. …

Two UNC football recruits, linebacker Melik Brown of Camden, N.J., and running back Ronnie McGill of Clover, S.C., have enrolled at mid-term in order to participate in the winter workout program and spring practice, a growing trend in college football. …

UVa offensive coordinator Bill Musgrave, who was courted by UCLA and Kentucky, is back in the news for reportedly having interviewed for the coordinator's job with the NFL's Arizona Cardinals.

 




Duke still king
Stream of talent keeps Devils on top
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 15, 2003

The Chicago Bulls grabbed Jay Williams with the second pick in last year's NBA draft. Mike Dunleavy went third, to the Golden State Warriors. The Cleveland Cavaliers chose Carlos Boozer early in the second round.

Life goes on in Durham, N.C.

The team for which Williams, Dunleavy and Boozer starred as juniors last season - Duke - seemingly has been unfazed by their early departures. The Blue Devils are the nation's last unbeaten team and, for the sixth straight season, have ascended to the No. 1 spot in The Associated Press poll.

"They lost some great players," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said, "but as is the tradition of their program, they replaced them with other great players."

Of the six recruits who joined Mike Krzyzewski's program this season, two start: 6-4 guard J.J. Redick (15.5 ppg) and 6-9 center Shelden Williams (7.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg). Another newcomer, 6-10 forward Shavlik Randolph, had 15 points and seven rebounds in 24 min- utes Sunday night in a 74-55 rout of previously unbeaten Wake.

"They're young, but they're great again," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said.

Gillen's proteges include Prosser, whose club paid its annual visit to Cameron Indoor Stadium over the weekend. It's the Cavaliers' turn tonight. Duke (2-0, 11-0) plays host to ACC rival U.Va. (1-1, 10-3) in a 7 o'clock game ESPN will televise.

The Blue Devils have won 20 straight at home. The Cavaliers have lost seven straight at Cameron since winning in double overtime there Jan. 14, 1995.

"We know the odds are great against us, but we're looking forward to this challenge," Gillen said.

When the teams met at Cameron last season, it was 42-42 at the break, and Virginia scored the first basket of the second half. But the Wahoos' best post player, Travis Watson, picked up his fourth foul 61 seconds in the second half, and Duke blew open the game with a 17-4 run. Final score: Duke 94, Virginia 81.

"Our players aren't afraid," said Gillen, whose team upset Duke at University Hall last season. "That's the big thing."

Virginia survived a trip last month to Rutgers, where a rowdy crowd taunted guard Todd Billet and his teammates, especially 6-9 sophomore Elton Brown, from start to finish. Gillen said he hopes "that got us a little battle-tested," but he's realistic.

"Rutgers is a very, very difficult place to play, but it's not Cameron Indoor Stadium," he said.

The difference is not so much that the Cameron Crazies are more raucous or intimidating than Rutgers' fans, but that the Blue Devils are so much better than the Scarlet Knights.

In addition to such veterans as senior forward Dahntay Jones and junior guard Chris Duhon, the ACC's assists leader, Duke boasts a freshman class includes four players who were McDonald's All-Americans last season: Redick, Randolph, guard Sean Dockery and 6-10, 250-pound Michael Thompson. "That's unbelievable," Gillen said.

Redick, an extraordinary outside shooter, is from Roanoke, and Virginia pursued him hard. He liked U.Va., but even the most impassioned sales pitch wasn't going to turn Redick away from Coach K. He committed to the Blue Devils before his junior season at Cave Spring High.

"His dream school was Duke," Gillen said. "Our only hope was if Duke got another great player and passed on J.J. It was Duke and the rest of the world. He was a Virginia natural resource, but unfortunately we lost him."

Duke, of course, doesn't lose many recruiting battles, and it doesn't lose many games. Still, Krzyzewski isn't ready to proclaim this team as powerful as its immediate predecessor.

"I don't know if we've reloaded," he said. "I think we've done a good job so far. I don't think we're a dominant basketball team."

 

 

ACC NOTES
Jan 15, 2003

WHO'S HOT: N.C. State's Scooter Sherrill has made 33 straight free throws dating to last season. The junior guard puts his streak on the line tomorrow night against Boston College in Raleigh, N.C.

WHO'S NOT: North Carolina, which won its first five games, had dropped five of its past 10.

STAT OF THE DAY: Top-ranked Duke is 11-0 for the sixth time in Mike Krzyzewski's 23 seasons as its coach.

COSTLY DEFEAT: Wake Forest lost more than a game Sunday night when it got crushed by top-ranked Duke. Point guard Justin Gray, a 6-2 freshman, fractured his jaw in the Demon Deacons' loss.

A graduate of Oak Hill Academy, Gray had surgery Monday night, Wake coach Skip Prosser said yesterday, and "is expected to miss a considerable amount of time . . . I think it'll be a question of weeks as opposed to a question of days."

Gray is averaging 10.5 points, a team-high four assists and 1.4 steals.

Wake (0-1, 10-1) plays its first game without Gray tonight when Maryland (2-0, 9-3) visits Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

"It's very rare that you play the last two national championship teams within four days of each other," Prosser said, "which I think speaks to the quality of the league."

HITTING THE ROAD: Of its 12 games, defending NCAA champion Maryland has played 11 in College Park or nearby D.C. The exception: A Dec. 3 overtime loss to Indiana at Indianapolis in a rematch of last season's NCAA title game.

"It seems like a long time since we played out there in Indiana," Terrapins coach Gary Williams said, "and hopefully we learned something about going on the road."

VIRGINIA CONNECTION: Freshman Todd Galloway, Florida State's backup point guard, graduated from Notre Dame Academy in Middleburg. The 5-11 Galloway is averaging 7.3 points and 2.7 assists.

"Todd has been a very pleasant surprise for us," Leonard Hamilton, the Seminoles' first-year coach, said. "He's stepped in and accepted all the responsibility we've given him."

Galloway's teammates on the Baltimore Select AAU team included Keith Jenifer, now Virginia's starting point guard.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER: As a schoolboy star, Will Bynum considered Georgia Tech before signing with Arizona. But the Yellow Jackets finally got their man.

The 5-11 guard announced this week that he's transferring to Georgia Tech. He'll become eligible when first-semester exams end in December.

Bynum averaged 6.4 points for Arizona's Sweet 16 team last season. He played in eight games for the Wildcats this season - Bynum started two of them - and averaged 7.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists.

"We feel like he can bring more ballhandling and scoring and creativity on offense," Jackets coach Paul Hewitt said, "which is something I think we've been lacking."

PASSING FANCY: Clemson point guard Edward Scott is one of only three players in school history to record at least 500 career assists. Scott, a senior, entered last night's game at North Carolina with 505.

ON THE LINE: The ACC's top two free throw shooters will be on the court at Cameron Indoor Stadium tomorrow night. Virginia junior guard Todd Billet leads the league at 93.3 percent, having made 42 of 45 attempts. Close behind is Duke freshman guard J.J. Redick (36 of 39, 92.3 percent). N.C. State's Scooter Sherrill, 10 for 10 this season, doesn't have enough attempts to qualify.

ROLE MODEL: North Carolina coach Matt Doherty believes young players should follow the example of point guard Majestic Mapp. Injuries have marred Mapp's career at Virginia, but the former McDonald's All-American nearly has finished work on his bachelor's degree in economics.

"That's part of the reason you go to college and get a good degree," Doherty said. "Because at some point basketball's going to end for you, and sometimes it's earlier than you'd like."

Mapp played briefly Saturday in U.Va.'s 79-72 win over UNC, his first appearance in nearly three years. -Jeff White
 

 

 

Duke freshman 2nd on team in scoring
Redick displays versatile game

J.J. Redick has scored in a variety of ways this season, but he is the second-best 3-point shooter in the ACC.

By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Once he had an opportunity to size up the opposition, Duke freshman J.J. Redick allowed himself to set some goals that he hopes one day to reveal.

    "If I accomplish them, I'll let you know," Redick said Tuesday after practice.

    It goes without saying that Redick will be a leading candidate for ACC Freshman of the Year. He is the No.2 scorer for the No.1 team in the country, as well as the second-leading 3-point shooter in the ACC.

    Nobody who watched Redick at Cave Spring High School in Roanoke would question his credentials as a shooter. He is pleased to know that a growing number of ACC basketball observers are commenting on his all-around game.

    "It gets kind of annoying after a while," said Redick, a 6-foot-5 guard, "but I'm used to it. When you do something well, people are going to label you.

    "Vince Carter will always be a great dunker. I'll always be a great shooter, I guess, but I've worked hard at the other things. I appreciate when people notice."

    Redick wasn't going to make it at Duke if shooting was all he could - or would - do. In a Duke freshman class brimming with high-school All-Americans, only Redick among the newcomers is averaging more than 20 minutes per game.

    In fact, Redick's 28.3 minutes per game are second behind point guard Chris Duhon's 33.9. Duhon has started all 11 games for the Blue Devils (11-0, 2-0 ACC) and nobody else has started more than eight.

    "Daniel Ewing is quote-unquote 'not starting' right now," Redick said, "but he played 26 minutes against Wake. Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] is just going to put players on the floor. It's who's playing well at the time. He doesn't have a set starting lineup and I don't think he ever will."

    Redick uses the adjective "exciting" to describe the Blue Devils' meeting tonight with visiting Virginia (10-3, 1-1). UVa was one of the schools Redick visited before he committed to Duke on Oct.24, 2000, before the first game of his junior year at Cave Spring.

    "His dream school was Duke," UVa coach Pete Gillen said Tuesday on an ACC coaches' teleconference. "Our only hope was if Duke got another great player and then they passed on him.

    "[At] Duke, they do a great job. They're thorough in every aspect. They watched, they watched, they watched him and said, 'Hey, we want you,' and it was done.

    "He'll be another great player; he'll be an All-American. He's a great kid from a great family. He was a Virginia natural resource. Unfortunately, we lost him, but Duke gets guys from all over the country."

    Redick was an AAU teammate of UVa sophomores Elton Brown and Jason Clark and says they're "two of my best friends in the world," but he can't ensure a warm reception for them tonight at Cameron.

    "The last two games, Cameron has been so energetic," said Redick, referring to games with Georgetown and Wake. "I never experienced anything like that, even as a fan at Cameron, watching some of the games I've seen over the years. To be on the floor while it's happening is really special."

    Few teams have been as hard hit by graduation as Duke, which lost a trio of first-team All-ACC selections - underclassmen Jason Williams, Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer - to the NBA Draft. Although some may have viewed Duke's preseason No.6 ranking as unrealistic, the Blue Devils were No.1 by the first week of January.

    "I knew we would be very competitive, simply for the fact that Coach is our coach," Redick said. "He's not going to let us have a down game."

    Duke frequently uses four guards and does not have a player averaging more than 5.6 rebounds per game. Redick has six rebounds in each of the past two games.

    "I've also been pleased with my consistency on the defensive end," Redick said. "I think I've really improved defensively. I don't think I'm a liability any more, like people used to say in high school."

    Now that he's put all the misconceptions to rest, only the goals are left.