Coaches are catching more grief than ever before and it seems many of them are dishing out some of it, particularly toward the men who wear the striped shirts.

Virginia coach Pete Gillen has been widely criticized during his team's recent three-game losing streak, including upset losses at Clemson and Virginia Tech. The Cavaliers, who appeared more disciplined in their upset win over 17th-ranked Wake Forest on Thursday, took some of the heat off their coach with the victory.

Gillen said in conversation after the game that while losing isn't good, it isn't the end of the world.

"I had people telling me which bridge to jump off," said Gillen. "They were going to drive me to the bridge. I was going to take the Brooklyn Bridge since I'm a New York City guy."

North Carolina State fans have been even more brutal toward Coach Herb Sendek, who may have gotten back in the good graces of Wolfpack followers after knocking off Duke on Wednesday.

Prior to that win, one caller to Sendek's radio show bluntly asked the coach: "What would it take to buy out your contract?"

You have to give Sendek credit for a quick comeback.

"Are you putting up the money?" Sendek snapped back.

N.C. State fans, much like UVa fans, fear that each program may have to settle for another NIT appearance this year if things don't pick up. UVa has played in the NIT two of the last three years and lost in the first round both times. N.C. State has played in the NIT in four of Sendek's six years prior to this season.

Then there's Matt Doherty at Carolina. He has his own set of problems. Doherty is fighting rumors that he and his players just can't get along.

After a newspaper ran a story in which Raymond Felton's father said that his son and Doherty had argued in several practices he had attended and Rashad McCants' father said he had no comment about his son's happiness at Carolina, Doherty became defensive.

"I just want you to know that I'm making a public statement that my relationship with Raymond is very good," said Doherty. "And I encourage you to ask our players about me and my relationship with them. A lot's been said. Ask them. Ask them.

"It's not to say we don't disagree on things at times," said Doherty. "That's coaching. I push and prod, but there's respect there."

Whistle blowers

It has been years since so many ACC coaches have lashed out with public comments about officiating.

Gillen apologized after complaining after UVa's loss at N.C. State a couple of weeks ago. So did Maryland's Gary Williams, who was infuriated after one official called a technical foul on one of his players, then told the player, "I'll see you next week."

That official was reprimanded by the league.

It's only a matter of time before Georgia Tech's Paul Hewitt gets a phone call from the commish after recent comments about the zebras.

Official Ted Valentine, who won the heart of Bobby Knight a few years back, was the subject of Hewitt's complaint. Tech coaches thought Wake's Jamaal Levy should have been called for an offensive goaltend in the Jackets' loss to the Deacons recently.

Valentine told the coaches that the ball was six inches outside the cylinder, then told Hewitt, "I'm tired of you hollering back and forth."

Hewitt turned to the press table and said of the officiating: "All this money, and this is what we get? Unbelievable."

Paul, is that the phone ringing?

Free throws … Gillen said that there should be a clause in every ACC coach's contract that their team doesn't have to play another game for two weeks after playing at Duke because it is so draining. …Two streaks are on the line Sunday in Florida State's game at Wake: the Seminoles have dropped 10 straight league road games and the Deacs have won 11 in a row at home. …Georgia Tech is the ACC's worst free throw shooting team, only 63.5 percent. …Virginia, losers of 11 of its last 12 overall road games and eight straight ACC road losses, isn't the only team in the league having road woes. Georgia Tech is now 6-18 away from home in Hewitt's three seasons as coach. …Finishing third in the voting for preseason ACC Player of the Year, Wake's Josh Howard may be outplaying the two guys who finished ahead of him, Duke's Chris Duhon and UVa's Travis Watson. …You've heard about how intense UNC's Matt Doherty can be. Listen to what Doherty said about being the stepchild to Notre Dame's football program while he was basketball coach of the Irish for one year: "At Notre Dame I had to get the band to come out to a game," said Doherty. "They were practicing for a football game. I had to get them to come out to our basketball game and it was the preseason NIT. I was out there screaming at the band director, 'You either show up the day of the game and be there when we come out for warmups or I don't want to see you.'"

Reeling in a three-game nosedive, the Cavaliers needed a hero. On a bitterly cold winter's night and hot Wake Forest invading University Hall, the beleaguered Mapp answered the bell.

Virginia's backcourt had struggled in road losses at Clemson and Virginia Tech. The Cavalier guards were ineffective in spoon-feeding the ACC's largest frontline. We've all heard that old axiom about cutting off the monster's head and the body dies. Well it's true, particularly when the supply line is to a monster like Travis Watson when defenses build a wall around him.

Late in the first half on Thursday night, UVa trailed 31-23 in a game it couldn't afford to lose against the 17th-ranked Deacs.

Enter Majestic Mapp.

Scripted service

Hollywood couldn't have produced a better script. The injury-plagued junior from Harlem, one of college basketball's most heart-warming stories this season, was in a position to make a difference for the first time in three years.

He had made cameo appearances against North Carolina and Virginia Tech totaling eight minutes. While it was great to have him back, it would even be better to have him contribute. Mapp had one assist and one 3-pointer against Tech.

If a team ever needed some inspiration, this was it and Mapp was just the right guy.

Fresh off the bench, he drilled a 3-pointer to cut Wake's lead to five, then proceeded to slice and dice the Deacs' defense with his passing skills. But Mapp brought more than statistics onto the floor. He brought GAME.

New York play

Mapp sees the floor, manages the game, doesn't turn it over. He even gets the crowd juiced up. He also distributes the ball the way you would expect a New York City point guard to do.

"He gives you energy, emotion and fire," said a relieved UVa coach Pete Gillen as the Cavaliers took a convincing 85-75 win over the Deacs to go 11-6 overall, 2-3 in the ACC. "I told his parents after the game, the fact that he got on the court was a gift from God."

Indeed. After the promising young star blew out his knee the first time during a summer workout prior to his sophomore season, a year when he was projected as UVa's starter, things didn't look good. When he required more surgeries that sidelined him for back-to-back seasons, it looked even worse.

"We once thought it was over," said Gillen. "[Mapp] was ready to cash in the chips."

Even now, Gillen treads gingerly when it comes to sending Mapp into the fray.

The point guard didn't score again, but he had four big-time assists and only one turnover.

More importantly, perhaps, he brought leadership to a team that desperately needed such an infusion.

Wake coach Skip Prosser had noticed that Mapp had played well in UVa's loss in Blacksburg and thought that he might even start against the Deacs.

"He's a great assists-to-turnover ratio guy," said Prosser. "He's a heady player. I think he'll help them out as time goes on."

Mapp played a solid 17 minutes, much more than Gillen expected and played better than the coach anticipated, which could mean more PT for Mapp and more of what a player described as "a throwback guard who passes first and shoots later," can bring to a team.

"We thought in practices that he started doing more and more. He's a confident player and we needed him," said Gillen. "Our guys like playing with him because he finds them ... he's a good passer."

Mapp said that even though Gillen worries about the knee, that he hasn't had any setbacks. He has been practicing for two-and-a-half hours for four or five weeks without having to come out for rest. In fact, he has been working with the second unit, playing against fellow guards Keith Jenifer and Todd Billet, so that he can get more practice time and regain his wind.

"Hopefully, I'll get a little further along each time," said Mapp afterward. "I'm trying to run the team and get everybody the ball, but not do too much."

Rather, he's allowing the game to come back to him slowly. While on the court, he's scouring the defense like a starving eagle searching for prey. A bundle of energy, he waves his arms to get the crowd involved. Even when he's on the sidelines, he doesn't sit.

It's not the knee thing, he insisted, but the fact that his legs stiffen up. After the games, he feels no pain.

"I'm going to have to ice my knee every day for the rest of my life but my knee doesn't hurt," said Mapp.

The ice is maintenance and a bit of pain in the kazoo. But it's better than the alternative, particularly after spending two years to get back to the hardwood.

Even as focused as he is, Mapp hears the cheers every time he comes in, goes out, makes a shot, makes a pass.

"I hear it a lot and I appreciate it," he said.

Especially last night.

"The energy in the building was lacking and I just tried to get the building back alive," said Mapp. "There's 9,000 fans [only 7,600 on this evening] and with so many ACC games down the stretch, we're going to need every win we can get and we can't do it without the fans behind us."

He brings so much to the court.

"Majestic has a presence about him," said backcourt mate Billet. "He's playing with confidence ... a lot of confidence and I think he'll be a great help to us the rest of the season."

Mapp, who believes he can play 17 minutes or more every game but admits it's not his decision, also believes it's his job to keep this team together during adversity such as the past week has heaped upon them.

"I've got to be a captain and a leader if I play four minutes or 40 minutes," said Mapp.

Mapp to the rescue.

Simply Majestic.

On Tuesday night after its 73-55 loss at Virginia Tech, the journey seemed a lot longer for the Virginia men's basketball team.

"It was real quiet. Usually, we're laughing and joking around and stuff like that but it was just quiet. Really, really quiet," said sophomore forward Jason Clark.

Added junior guard Majestic Mapp: "It wasn't too cool. We were trying to keep it together and the only real talking was about not having those letdowns as a team."

In analyzing Virginia's 85-75 victory over No. 17 Wake Forest on Thursday night, several components are quickly visible. Firstly, the Cavaliers always seem to play as a different and better team at University Hall. Secondly, Mapp's three points and four assists in 17 minutes gave his team a lift and showed from now on his appearances won't be ceremonial or token. Lastly, Virginia played one of its best defensive halves of the season, as it limited the Deacons to just 34.9 percent shooting in the final 20 minutes.

Any sort of checklist would have included those items. The top item on that list? That was the most visible thing on Thursday night.

Virginia played with an intensity and desperation that eluded it Tuesday night in Blacksburg. Perhaps that was something discussed on that bus trip. A one-point loss at Clemson might not cause a team to refocus itself, but an 18-point shellacking probably will.

According to guard Todd Billet, who had a game-high 23 points, this was a situation that was beneficial that the Cavaliers had a quick turnaround.

"We knew that we could do better and the great thing about basketball is that you don't have to wait a week to play. We waited one day. We were able to get on the court tonight and show we were a better team," Billet said. "To be able to bounce back quickly and play at home was a big advantage for us."

Added Mapp: "A game like that definitely helps you to refocus on what you are doing. Not to take anything away from Virginia Tech, but that's not a game we're supposed to lose. We didn't play Virginia basketball. We needed to get back to playing with positive energy and I think that we stepped it up tonight and just played with a lot more energy."

Of course, Mapp was one of the primary reasons for that.

Mapp entered the game with 6:24 left in the first half and Virginia trailing by eight. His entrance certainly sparked the U-Hall crowd and his teammates as well. He connected on a 3-pointer and then delivered two perfectly placed passes that were converted into baskets by teammates. The second one set up Todd Billet for a 3-pointer just before halftime that gave UVa a 43-41 lead.

"He has great instincts. He's doing a great job. He really will be a key factor the rest of the season," Billet said. "He brings a lot of maturity and passing skills as well. There is a presence about him on the court. He's playing with a lot of confidence and gives us a lot of confidence when we're out there."

Added junior center Nick Vander Laan: "I've never been around a guy that worked that hard and has that kind of passion for the game. It's great seeing him get more time out there. You guys got to see for yourself what he brings to this team when he's out there. … For this team, winning and losing is going to come down to intangibles and he's just an intangible point guard."

Gary Forbes, a signee to the University of Virginia, leads BBA from his small forward/shooting guard position. Rivals.com ranks Forbes as a four-star recruit and as the No. 12 prospect in the country at his position.

The 6-foot-6, 190-pound senior had averages of 28.4 points, 15.6 rebounds and 5.3 assists in the Warriors' first 12 games this season. Banneker is 16-4.

Of course, Blue Ridge has some experience with defeating Warriors this season. The Barons upset perennial powerhouse Oak Hill Academy, ranked No. 2 in the nation, 76-73 on Jan. 15. The game was played at George Wythe High School, a neutral site, but Oak Hill uses the gym for many of its high profile matchups in the southern part of the state.

The Barons have a balanced roster that makes them a tough guard for many opponents. In their first 10 games, four players averaging in double figures. Jermone Day led the way at 12.9 points per game, while Derrick Hankins (12.2), Laurynas Mikalauskas (11.3) and Brandon Freeman (11.2) also were capable scorers. Jelani Lawrence came in just under 10 points at 9.0 ppg.

As solid as the offense is, Blue Ridge's defense creates even more problems. The Barons can generate a wealth of steals with their pressure and that leads to easy points. In the first 10 games, Freeman averaged 3.9 steals, while Day (3.4) and Hankins (2.5) were above two per game as well. As a team, Blue Ridge had 128 steals in its first 10 games.

Saturday's game has an admission cost of $6 for adults and $3 for children under 12. Tickets are available at U-Hall's main entrance beginning at 2 p.m.