Veterans' play on list of UVa's concerns
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 13, 2004

After his team’s 93-71 loss against No. 2 Duke on Sunday, Virginia coach Pete Gillen had a laundry list of woes at his disposal to discuss the defeat.

There was the fact that the Cavaliers had allowed an opponent to shoot better than 50 percent from the field for the fourth time in five games.

There was rebounding - another continual ailment like the defense - as Duke beat the Cavaliers 43-30 on the boards.

Then there was the offense that was unable to make or create shots consistently against the Duke defense.

While Gillen touched on each of these subjects, he seemed most upset with the performances of his veteran players.

“We needed some of our veterans to give us a boost. … We needed something more from our experienced guys,” Gillen claimed.

Other than junior swingman Devin Smith’s 19 points, most of Virginia’s upperclassmen struggled against the Blue Devils.

Sophomore Derrick Byars had zero points and was plagued with foul trouble most of the game. Senior guard Todd Billet had four points and was 1 of 5 from the floor and failed to make a 3-pointer for the first time in 24 games. Junior center Elton Brown had 13 points but committed three turnovers and had trouble finishing shots around the basket.

“Our older guys weren’t in sync. Maybe they were too juiced for the game,” Gillen said.

Byars’ performance Sunday continued essentially a slump for the 6-foot-7 swingman. In his last three games, Byars has just seven points and is 3 for 19 from the field. Byars went through a similar period at this point last year during his freshman season.

“I did talk to him but it didn’t do much good. He was in foul trouble. We tried to get him uncorked. When he gets into a funk, he gets frustrated,” Gillen said. “He’s a terrific player and we have to get him playing the way he’s capable of.”

Billet, as has often been the case this season, was unable to find many open looks at the basket and was unable to shake a tight Duke defense.

“They have great athletes and they can smother him. We tried to get Todd off the ball a little and we still couldn’t get him shots. He didn’t get many looks and the ones he did get were rushed a little,” Gillen said. “We have to look at the film and figure out how we can get him some better shots.”

If the contributions from the veterans were lacking, the play of the team’s five freshmen was one of the few bright spots for the Cavaliers.

Led by Donte Minter’s 12 points, the freshmen combined for 35 points, 13 rebounds and nine assists. For long stretches, four of the freshmen played on the floor together and all five were on the court for the game’s waning minutes.

“We wanted to get them some experience. They’re playing well and some of the other guys didn’t have it tonight. … They gave us some good minutes on national television,” Gillen said. “Jason Cain did a nice job and Donte Minter was terrific.”

Note. Gillen said Monday that 6-6 Vince Redd, a member of the UVa football team, could join the team as early as Thursday’s game at Georgia Tech.

Redd, a linebacker, redshirted this season.

Redd was an all-state selection at Elizabethton High School in Tennessee, where he averaged 15 points and 12 rebounds a contest.

 

Bradshaw commits to Virginia
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
January 13, 2004

Defensive back Ahmad Bradshaw, ranked the No. 8 prospect in the state by The Daily Progress’ Gold List, has committed to the University of Virginia.

The 5-foot-10, 185-pound prospect from Bluefield’s Graham High School, chose the Cavaliers over West Virginia and Virginia Tech.

“I’m going to Virginia,” Bradshaw told Mike Farrell, the East Coast recruiting analyst for Rivals.com. “I told the Tech and West Virginia coaches already. They were my other two offers.”

Bradshaw told Farrell, who writes a weekly recruiting column for The Progress, that “it just came down to feeling more comfortable at Virginia and feeling I could fit in well with that community. They want me as a safety or cornerback.”

He holds a three-star ranking by Rivals, which rates him as the No. 27 cornerback in the nation and one of UVa’s top 10 recruiting targets. Bradshaw has 4.5 speed and is the first Bluefield recruit by the Cavaliers since right offensive tackle Mike Mullins, who graduated in 2002.

According to Bradshaw, UVa recruiting coordinator Mike London is scheduled to visit Bradshaw’s home on Thursday. The Graham recruit said his commitment was delayed because his main recruiter, former UVa running backs coach Kevin Ross, left to become the offensive coordinator at Army for his father, Bobby Ross.

He is UVa’s 14th commitment and the first in more than a month.
 

Thursday, January 8, 2004
By Andy Katz
ESPN.com

The major realignment that affects seven conferences will take place in 2005-06 -- and not in the fall of 2004 -- because conference commissioners failed to produce a financial resolution to pay Conference USA to move up the process by a year.

Big East commissioner Mike Tranghese told ESPN.com that he informed his schools' presidents that he was shutting down negotiations with Conference USA. He had been trying to speed the transition of C-USA members Cincinnati, Louisville, Marquette, DePaul and South Florida to the Big East. Those schools will replace replace Miami, Virginia Tech and Boston College, which are leaving for the ACC.

As a result, Miami and Virginia Tech will be the only major conference teams that will switch conferences in 2004-05. Those two schools met a June 30, 2003, deadline to leave the Big East and join the ACC, with Boston College invited after the deadline. Tranghese said the Eagles will play in the Big East in all sports for the 2004-05 season before leaving for the ACC in 2005-06.

Conference commissioners of the affected leagues -- the Big East, Conference USA, ACC, WAC, MAC, Atlantic 10 and Sun Belt -- met Friday at the NCAA convention in Nashville and couldn't reach a deal to accelerate the process.

C-USA commissioner Britton Banowsky asked for $6 million to $8 million from the Big East and nearly $10 million overall to replace lost revenue if the five schools left C-USA a year early. Banowsky said the money would replace NCAA Tournament basketball units that the schools would have earned as well as the projected revenue loss from a diluted television contract.

"It [realignment] won't happen until 2005,'' Banowsky told ESPN.com.

Conference USA is adding Marshall (MAC), Central Florida (MAC/Atlantic Sun), SMU (WAC), Tulsa (WAC) and Rice (WAC) to replace the five schools that are leaving. C-USA also may lose TCU if the Horned Frogs get an invitation from the Mountain West.

"Britton was looking to us to help him with the loss of his teams a year early,'' Tranghese said. "He laid out a plan. But we couldn't make it work. It's too big a financial step to take. That's why we're shutting it down. The ACC will be 12 in football and have a championship game in 2005. That's when we'll be 16 (in the Big East), too.''

Tranghese said the Big East had two contingency plans -- one for a 16-team conference in 2004-05 and one for 16 teams in 2005-06. Speeding up realignment by a year would have caused some chaos with football and television scheduling.

Meanwhile, the decision Monday helps with Boston College's scheduling issues. BC has a return football game at Wake Forest as well as a return home game against Clemson in 2004-05. The Eagles weren't sure the games would occur if they were members of the ACC. Now that issue is moot. Both will be played as nonconference games in the fall.

C-USA also is losing Charlotte and Saint Louis to the Atlantic 10 in 2005-06.

The WAC is adding Big West members Utah State and New Mexico State. Army's departure from C-USA to independent in football will occur next season. Moves by Troy State (independent in football/Atlantic Sun in other sports) and Florida Atlantic (Atlantic Sun) to the Sun Belt for next season are unaffected by Monday's decision.

Other moves that still could occur: Boise State from the WAC to the Mountain West; Louisiana Tech (WAC) or Temple (A-10) to Conference USA; North Texas (Sun Belt) to the WAC or C-USA; and Idaho (Big West/Sun Belt) to the WAC.

 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Jan 13, 2004

HAPPY ENDING: The NCAA's Division I Management Council has restored the eligibility of Diego Romero, a junior-college transfer who enrolled at Florida State last summer.

The 6-10, 240-pound Romero, who's from Argentina, had signed two professional contracts in that country before moving to the United States more than two years ago. The NCAA had ruled he was ineligible to play in Division I.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton said yesterday he's not sure if Romero, who has missed 15 games, will play this season. Redshirting is an option. Florida State (1-1, 12-3) plays at Clemson (0-2, 7-6) tonight, then visits Virginia (0-2, 10-3) on Sunday afternoon.

"He wants to play this year, and we wanted him to play this year," Hamilton said. "What we don't want to do now is get caught up in the emotional part of what's happened and make a decision that's not in his best interest. I'm just not going to rush right now. I want him to think about it, and I want to visit a little more with his parents."

Romero might play tonight, Hamilton said, but that's "doubtful."

FINISHING WITH A FLOURISH: Duke point guard Chris Duhon, who arrived in Durham, N.C., to fanfare in 2000, struggled last season and might never become an All-American. But the 6-1 185-pounder from Slidell, La., is having a superb senior season.

In the Blue Devils' 93-71 rout of Virginia on Sunday night, Duhon totaled 15 points, eight assists, seven rebounds, three steals and only one turnover. He ranks second among ACC players in steals and third in assists.

"I felt that the play of Chris Duhon really was the turning factor for us [against U.Va.]," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said yesterday. "He's been our best player all year and had a great, great game [Sunday]. I'm just pleased that he's doing so well."

SAME OLD STORY: U.Va. ranks last in the ACC in scoring defense (74.2 ppg), field-goal percentage defense (43), 3-point field-goal percentage defense (35.9) and steals (6.92 per game).

"We've got to defend better," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said.

COACH'S DECISION: Reserve point guard Majestic Mapp, who averaged 18.8 minutes in Virginia's first six games, didn't play against Duke. Gillen used freshman T.J. Bannister to spell starter Todd Billet at the point. Bannister is much quicker than Mapp, who has a surgically repaired right knee.

Mapp is "going to play some," Gillen said yesterday, "we just felt it wasn't a great spot for him, with the quickness of the Duke guys. And Bannister did a good job. I felt badly [Mapp] didn't play, but we got to play what we feel are the best guys. T.J. does some things that Majestic doesn't do."

In 27 minutes, Bannister contributed five assists, four points, two rebounds and one steal. He turned the ball over twice.

HONORED: Sophomore center Sean May, dominant in North Carolina's wins over Miami (Fla.) and then-No. 8 Georgia Tech, has been named the ACC's player of the year. May had 23 points and 16 rebounds against the Hurricanes and scored a career-high 28 against the Yellow Jackets.

The ACC's co-rookies of the week are Wake Forest guard Chris Paul and Maryland guard Mike Jones. Paul scored a career-best 21 points in a win over Clemson. Jones went 11 for 12 from the line and finished with a career-high 25 points in the Terrapins' rout of Maryland-Eastern Shore.

GROWING UP: Clemson point guard Vern Hamilton "says he's really feeling less like a freshman every day, and that's great," said his coach, Oliver Purnell.

Hamilton, a graduate of Richmond's Benedictine High, has averaged 10.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5 assists in his past three games. He ranks sixth in the ACC in steals (2.2 per game).

NO RELATION: The last time coaches Gary Williams and Roy Williams squared off on March 30, 2002, the former's Maryland Terrapins beat the latter's Kansas Jayhawks 97-88 in an NCAA semifinal at Atlanta. Two nights later, Maryland beat Indiana for the national title.

Gary Williams reminded reporters before the season that he's the Williams with a national championship on his coaching resume, not that new guy at North Carolina.

"He is the one that does have a national-championship ring," Roy Williams said good-naturedly yesterday, "and I helped him get it."

Maryland (0-1, 9-3) entertains ninth-ranked UNC (1-1, 10-2) tomorrow night. ESPN will televise the 9 o'clock game. - Jeff White


 

ACC football playoff on hold until 200, the earliest Boston College can join
1-13-04
By Rob Daniels Staff Writer
News & Record

The ACC will compete with 11 members in 2004-05 and will have to wait until July 1, 2005 to welcome Boston College and conduct a championship football game, commissioner John Swofford said Monday night.

"That's pretty much what we've been expecting, but we had some hope that BC could come a year early. It's not a surprise at all," Swofford said upon returning from the NCAA convention in Nashville, Tenn.

At the convention, complex negotiations between Conference USA and the Big East, BC's current athletics home, failed to produce the financial settlement necessary to instigate nationwide conference realignment.

The move of Miami, Virginia Tech and ultimately BC to the ACC compelled the Big East to seek replacements, all five of which are current C-USA schools. The Big East's addition of all-sports members Louisville, Cincinnati and South Florida and non-football members Marquette and DePaul threw C-USA into its own search process.

C-USA has since continued the impending realignment by finding new schools, but it sought one-time financial compensation for the sudden loss of schools in major media markets.

The commissioners of the affected leagues met Saturday and Sunday in Nashville, Tenn., but never got terribly close to a deal, the commissioner of another Division I conference said. That meant the C-USA members couldn't move to the Big East, which was then obligated to hold Boston College for the 2004 football season in order to retain the six football members necessary for a BCS bowl spot.

In late June 2003, the ACC added Virginia Tech and Miami for membership effective July 1 of this year, but it couldn't come up with the political compromise necessary to take BC as well. The ACC's chief executive officers eventually forged consensus on Boston College, but that didn't come until October -- too late to ensure the school's membership this summer. The ACC and Boston College announced certain affiliation effective in 2005 but held out hope to move up the start date.

"It came down to what could be worked out between Conference USA and the Big East," Swofford said. "That has an effect on the Big East's ability to release BC a year sooner (than originally announced). My understanding is that they haven't been able to come to an agreement that was workable for them, meaning Conference USA and the Big East."

The failed negotiations, which leave Boston College as a lame-duck Big East member in 2004-05, did not stun observers.

"I was not encouraged by what I heard over the weekend," Wake Forest athletics director Ron Wellman said.

Also Sunday, an NCAA committee effectively killed the ACC's longshot petition to play the football title game with 11 members. The contest is expected to generate $7 million to $9 million for the league, but that revenue apparently won't be available for a while.

Expansion is expected to increase the value of the ACC's football television package in the 2004 and 2005 seasons, the final two years of the existing arrangement with ABC and ESPN, but the amount of any increase has not been set.

"We're trying to work through that now," Swofford said.

It's hard to predict the specific financial cost to the nine current schools. The new members will receive partial revenue shares in their first two years in the league.

When announcing BC's arrival on Oct. 17, the ACC said it will ultimately split into divisions for football. One division will have Maryland, Clemson, N.C. State, Wake Forest, Florida State and Boston College. Virginia, Georgia Tech, North Carolina, Duke, Miami and Virginia Tech will make up the other.

A decision on whether basketball will have a divisional format is pending.

The resolution of the Boston College matter means the ACC can begin finalizing its overdue 2004 football schedule.

 

Graham star U.Va.-bound
Bradshaw, Group AA's top player in 2002, likely to focus on defense
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 13, 2004

The University of Virginia assistant coach who recruited Ahmad Bradshaw for two years, Kevin Ross, recently moved to the U.S. Military Academy, but the Graham High football star is headed to Charlottesville anyway.

Bradshaw, a 5-10, 186-pound senior who was The Associated Press' Group AA player of the year in 2002, has committed to U.Va. A standout at tailback, safety and kick returner for the G-men, Bradshaw is likely to concentrate on defense as a Cavalier. Graham coach Glynn Carlock marveled at Bradshaw's punishing tackles.

"He will absolutely tear your jugular vein out," Carlock said.

The G-men advanced to the Region IV, Division 3 final in each of Bradshaw's four seasons on the varsity. In 2001, Graham lost to Harrisonburg in the state Group AA, Division 3 final. In 2003, Graham fell 34-22 to eventual state champion Gretna in a Group AA, Division 3 semifinal.

Gretna's record-setting quarterback, Vicqual Hall, was the AP's choice as Group AA player of the year in 2003. Hall, a junior, also has committed to U.Va.

On Sunday, the Virginia High School Coaches Association named Bradshaw to its all-Group AA first team at tailback and to the second team at defensive back and kick-returner. He twice made the AP's all-Group AA first team at tailback. Bradshaw, a high-scoring guard, also made the all-Group AA first team in basketball as a junior.

He finished his prep football career with 553 rushes for 5,265 yards and 66 touchdowns; 88 catches for 1,569 yards and 18 TDs; 45 punt returns for 1,019 yards and four TDs; and 44 kickoff returns for 993 yards and two TDs. On defense, he made 479 tackles and intercepted 10 passes, two of which he returned for TDs.

Bradshaw also had a scholarship offer from West Virginia, Carlock said.