UVa. misses out on two recruits
From Staff Reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
January 15, 2004

Wednesday proved to be a tough day for the UVa football team’s coaching staff as the Cavaliers lost out on two highly-touted recruits - Andrew Bowman and Trimaine Goodard.

While Bowman verbally committed to Virginia Tech, Goodard elected to commit to North Carolina.

Bowman, an All-Metro linebacker from Richmond Hermitage, will play collegiately for the Hokies.

Bruce Bowen, Hermitage’s athletic director, confirmed Wednesday that Bowman had orally committed to sign with Tech next month.

The 6-1, 230-pound Bowman had 99 tackles, 11 of them for losses, for Hermitage in 2003. He becomes the 16th member of the Hokies’ current recruiting class.

Bowman is ranked as the state’s No. 8 prospect by The Daily Progress Gold List.

Goodard, a 5-foot-10, 175-pound cornerback from Robersville, N.C., picked the Tar Heels over Virginia.

“I have committed to UNC,” Goodard said, who made over 100 tackles this year. “Monday night, I was just sitting there thinking about it and it just came to me. It was really tough choosing UNC over UVa, but it was just a gut feeling.”

Recruiting fans can track the commitments of Virginia’s top 50 prospects throughout the recruiting process by checking out The Daily Progress Web site (www.dailyprogress.com) and looking for the Gold List, listed under web events on the main page or simply call up sports on the site and look for the Gold List label.
 

Virginia hopes to end skid
Cavaliers are 2-9 against Georgia Tech under Gillen
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 15, 2004

Quick. What are the ACC teams Virginia has struggled most against under Pete Gillen.

There may be one obvious answer off the top of everyone’s heads but the other may not be quite as easy to get.

Against Duke, the obvious one, Gillen’s squads are 2-11. The Cavaliers, however, have struggled equally against Georgia Tech, a team despite its success this season has not quite been at the same level as the Blue Devils.

Entering tonight’s contest in Atlanta, Virginia is 2-9 under Gillen against the Yellow Jackets.

Continuing with the pop quiz, the two wins against the Yellow Jackets might escape many while the two wins over Duke (2001 and 2002) were quite memorable.

Give up? Well, Virginia beat Georgia Tech 83-65 at University Hall on Jan. 8, 2000, during Bobby Cremins’ last season. The Cavaliers then won 69-65 in Atlanta on Jan. 22, 2002.

None of that history will aid the Cavaliers tonight as they try to avoid a 0-3 start in the ACC. Throw in the fact Virginia has lost 13 of its last 14 ACC road games and it looks, in a word, worse.

“Georgia Tech is a great team and this is a great league,” Gillen said. “It’s important for us to get that first league win. Every stat is magnified in our league and we need to get off the snide.”

The Yellow Jackets began the season 12-0 with victories over No. 1 Connecticut and Texas Tech en route to winning the Preseason NIT. Just two weeks ago, the Jackets rose to as high as No. 3 in the AP rankings.

Recently, however, they have fallen from those lofty heights.

First was an 83-80 double-overtime loss to a mediocre Georgia team on Jan. 3. Then, after a week layoff, the Yellow Jackets fell at North Carolina, 103-88, on Sunday.

“We’re disappointed [in the last two games] because we’re better than we’ve shown,” Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. “We haven’t given ourselves a chance to win these last two games. [The players] know that they have not played their best in the last couple of games. We played very hard. We gave a good effort physically, but mentally, we did not.”

Of course, the Cavaliers are far from coming into this game with any kind of momentum, either.

Virginia has lost two of its last three games, including a 22-point setback against Duke at U-Hall on Sunday.

“We have to prepare for that game [against Georgia Tech]. We have to find out what we are doing wrong and take it one game at a time,” said UVa junior Devin Smith. “We can’t let this Duke game beat us again [today].”
 

Yellow Jackets loom
Virginia faces a team that is playing much better than projected
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 15, 2004

The team picked to finish seventh in the ACC men's basketball race won its first 12 games this season - the best start in school history - and climbed into the top five of both major polls.

Unlike many observers, the team's coach wasn't stunned.

Yes, Georgia Tech had to replace ACC rookie of the year Chris Bosh, the graceful 6-10 forward who bolted to the NBA after one year in Atlanta. But even without Bosh, Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt knew his team possessed something valuable.

"Good, veteran players," He- witt said yesterday.

One of those veterans is second-year point guard Jarrett Jack, who started every game last season.

"Even though he's a sophomore," Hewitt said, "he got a couple years' worth of experience last year playing as many minutes as he did."

Another is senior guard Marvin Lewis, who assured reporters in late October that Georgia Tech, a disappointing 16-15 in 2002-03, would field a formidable team this season. Lewis wasn't bluffing.

Despite not having 6-9, 230-pound sophomore Theodis Tarver, who was sidelined with a dislocated kneecap, the Jackets stormed to the Preseason NIT title. They beat Connecticut and Texas Tech along the way.

UConn's roster includes 6-8 Ed Nelson, a former ACC rookie of the year who's sitting out this season after transferring from Georgia Tech. But Nelson's departure didn't especially concern Hewitt as this season approached.

"The only loss was Chris," Hewitt said.

Tech plays its ACC home opener tonight against Virginia (0-2, 10-3), and the game looms large for both teams. The Cavaliers haven't started 0-3 in ACC play since 1998-99, when they had only six healthy scholarship players. That was Pete Gillen's first season as Virginia's coach.

The Yellow Jackets (0-1, 12-2), after their historic start, have dropped two straight, both away from Alexander Memorial Coliseum. Hewitt's club, now ranked No. 12, fell in double-overtime at Georgia and then lost 103-88 at North Carolina on Sunday.

"We have a lot to prove," he said. "We haven't played well the last two games. I haven't been pleased with our effort."

His players aren't happy, either.

"I think more than anything else, they are really disappointed in their effort," Hewitt said. "Not to take anything away from Georgia or North Carolina, but I don't think we got beat. We did not play to our capabilities, and we just got taken advantage of."

Virginia's players and coaches voiced similar comments Sunday night after the Cavaliers lost 93-71 to second-ranked Duke at University Hall.

"We really didn't execute," said junior forward Devin Smith, who led U.Va. with 19 points. "We didn't defend that well. We didn't come out and play our game for 40 minutes."

The Cavaliers have lost 13 of their past 14 ACC road games. They return home to face Florida State (1-2, 12-4) in a Sunday matinee and then entertain Clemson (1-2, 8-6) on Tuesday night.

The Yellow Jackets won't get as much rest between games. They play host to Maryland on Saturday night.

"Winning is funny," Hewitt said. "Winning has a way of giving you energy. If we're able to [beat U.Va.], believe me, we won't have any trouble finding the energy to play Maryland on Saturday."