Virginia finds itself in early 'must win' game
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
January 18, 2004

The term must win is one of the more overused ones in sports and frequently players and coaches even admit that, saying every game is indeed a must win.

Well, the debate over clichés and usage and reference can be left to the English teachers but it’s fairly certain that Virginia’s contest with Florida State today would have to be in the have-to-win category. Just ask UVa coach Pete Gillen, a former English teacher himself.

“It’s a must-win [today], yes. It’s a giant game. Every game’s a giant game,” Gillen said after Thursday’s 75-57 loss at Georgia Tech.

Virginia has lost four of its last six games and currently stands 0-3 in the ACC. It’s the first time since Gillen’s initial season in 1998-99 that Virginia has begun league play 0-3. That season, the Cavaliers started 0-5 in the ACC.

An 0-3 start is an 0-3 start no matter how one dissects it. Yet, there is a difference from an 0-3 when a team loses three competitive games and another 0-3 when a team is rarely competitive in any of the setbacks.

Virginia’s plight is the latter. The Cavaliers have lost their league contests by 18, 22 and 18 points, respectively. While those contests were all relatively close midway through the first half, none were in the second half. Each game also featured a late first-half collapse that crippled Virginia’s efforts to win the contest.

On Thursday against the Yellow Jackets, Virginia trailed just 30-29 with just over five minutes. The Cavaliers had four chances to take the lead but misfired each time. Georgia Tech responded with an 11-1 run as Virginia missed its last nine shots from the floor. That was essentially game, set and match. It was also practically a carbon-copy of last Sunday’s loss to Duke in which the Cavaliers actually led with five minutes remaining in the first half only to watch the Blue Devils end the half on a 16-6 run.

“It’s a game of spurts, and talented teams like Duke and Georgia Tech go on spurts, and we get caught up in it. When they get a lead, then we get a little flustered, a little bit individual and then the spurt gets bigger,” Gillen said.

Added junior center Elton Brown: “We have to put two halves together. … At halftime, we got to dig ourselves out of a hole, and I think we’re kind of young right now. We got to learn how to get a jump on people and have a lead at halftime or be close enough where we can play.”

As for the large margin of defeats, senior guard Todd Billet said that is definitely worry No. 1 at the moment.

“That is a concern. You have to be able to get a win, to be able to steal a couple on the road. We were an underdog tonight, and you have to play a certain way,” Billet said. “We have to be a little bit scrappy on D and really get after teams and give us a chance to win.”

Starring at a possible 0-4 ACC start and given those margins of defeat, Gillen was asked Thursday if he felt the season was getting away from him and his team. He vehemently denied that assertion.

“No. We played three league games, three killer teams ... N.C. State’s undefeated at home. It’s not getting away from us. We’re struggling, yes, we lost two in a row. But we just have to regroup,” Gillen said. “We just got to go day by day. We’re 10-4, 0-3 in the league, we just got to regroup. I think we’re capable of doing it, and it’s my job to get us going again.”

 

Top prospect may again come from Rockbridge
Sintim breaks leg, contemplates plans
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Fridays

Rockbridge County lineman Jon Kirchner received six Division I-A scholarship offers before committing to Virginia last summer, and coach Billy Mills thinks he has a similar talent in 6-6 1/2, 225-pound junior Aaron Clark.

Clark, who runs a consistent 4.8 for 40 yards, had 24 tackles for loss and six sacks this past season. Mills thinks he compares favorably with Kirchner and All-Region II nose guard Brad Carter, a 6-foot, 280-pound senior.

Clark, who had a 2.86 grade-point average at last look, was the only junior to make first-team All-Region II.

"Aaron has Jon's size (6 foot 5, 264 pounds) and Brad's technique and is a pretty good tight end as well," Mills wrote. "He will garner a lot of interest."

Miles said a position change and a rib injury kept down Kirchner's numbers. Kirchner, the most-highly recruited senior in Timesland, finished with 37 total tackles and eight tackles for loss.

“He naturally drew a lot of attention and was double-teamed almost every play," Mills said. “He really had a good second half of the year."

Mills said that even Kirchner would admit that Carter has been a more polished high-school player, but he doesn't have the kind of speed that would offset his relatively short stature (6-0, 280).

Carter has been invited to walk on at VMI, Liberty, Western Carolina and James Madison.

“I would not be surprised to see him go to Bridgewater," said Mills, who said that Ferrum also has been recruiting Carter. "His recruitment has been kind of frustrating because, even though he is a very good player, colleges are leery of him because of his size."

Carter is rated the No. 73 prospect in the state by The Roanoke Times. The No. 72 player on that list, Lynchburg Christian fullback Tyler Tipton, is visiting Pittsburgh in hopes of receiving a scholarship offer from the Panthers.

TO READ THE Virginia site on rivals.com, you’d learn that nobody has recruited Olu Hall harder than UVa assistant Al Golden and that Hall likes the idea of playing outside linebacker.

After getting through the Wagon Online, you’d think that Virginia has a great shot at Hall, a defensive end from Robinson High School in Fairfax who is rated the No. 1 prospect in the state.

On the other hand, the Virginia Tech site on rivals said that Hall had "a blast" on his visit to Blacksburg and "loves" the Hokies.

From the Hokie Haven site, you'd swear that the Hokies are the team to beat for Hall.

In reading the reports on the different boards, it seems that prospects are telling interviewers what they want to hear. If the call is from a Tech-oriented or a UVa-oriented site, generally that is the team that the player highlights.

GARFIELD HIGH SCHOOL defensive end Clint Sintim, rated the No. 8 prospect in Virginia by The Roanoke Times, was examined by a doctor Friday after suffering a broken leg Tuesday night in a basketball game.

Sintim took an official visit to Virginia in early December and canceled a trip to Maryland. He said he has narrowed his choice to UVa and Tech but admits it might be difficult to fit in a trip to Blacksburg. Of the top uncommitted prospects in the state, Sintim might be the closest to committing to UVa.

The prospect (No. 13) closest to committing to the Hokies is Lake Taylor linebacker Purnell Sturdivant, whose coach wants him to visit N.C. State, although Sturdivant has made no secret of his intentions. The Hokies are holding a scholarship for him.

THE TIMING OF visits could be crucial at this point. Westfield wide receiver and Group AAA player of the year Eddie Royal is going to UVa this weekend but still has a visit set up to Tech. Hall has been to Tech but will be at UVa on the 23rd. Kecoughtan linebacker Jerod Mayo has been at UVa but won't go to Tech until the 23rd.
 

Virginia entering tough exam time
Florida State first of many make-or-break games for Cavaliers
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 18, 2004

Mid-January seems awfully early to be talking about "must-win" games, especially for a basketball team that has more than three-quarters of its ACC schedule remaining.

But a reporter raised the subject Thursday night in Atlanta after Virginia's blowout loss to 12th-ranked Georgia Tech, and Pete Gillen didn't blink. Asked about his team's date with Florida State at University Hall, the Cavaliers' embattled coach replied, "It's a must-win Sunday, yes. It's a giant game."

U.Va. (0-3, 10-4) plays host to FSU (1-2, 12-4) today at 1 p.m. Next comes a Tuesday night visit from Clemson, another second-tier team in the ACC. U.Va. follows that, however, with games against, in order, North Carolina, Wake Forest, N.C. State, Duke and Georgia Tech.

"The league is Murder Incorporated," Gillen said.

The Cavaliers are off to their worst start in ACC play since 1998-99, when they dropped their first five conference games. Gillen had only six healthy scholarship players that season, his first at Virginia, yet his team showed remarkable resilience and exceeded expectations.

There's no shortage of scholarship players on this season's roster, but the Cavaliers often have looked inept in their ACC games. They lost by 17 at N.C. State, by 22 at home against second-ranked Duke and by 18 at Georgia Tech.

"We've got to put two halves together," junior center Elton Brown said.

U.Va. might want to work on its first-half finishes, too.

With 1:30 left in the opening half against State, the Cavaliers trailed by one. They went into the break down five. With 2:10 left against Duke, they trailed by three. They went into the break down eight. With 3:35 left against Georgia Tech, they trailed by one. They went into the break down 11.

"It's a game of spurts," Gillen said, "and talented teams like Duke and Georgia Tech go on spurts, and we get caught up in it. When they get a lead, then we get a little flustered, a little bit individual, and then the spurt gets bigger."

After making 7 of its first 8 attempts from 3-point range Thursday night, U.Va. missed its final 13. Virginia shot only 34.8 percent from the floor, but that didn't bother Gillen as much as his team's lack of fight. His displeasure was apparent during several timeouts in which he yelled at his players to raise their intensity.

"We've just got to be more physical, got to be more aggressive," Gillen said. "That's something that we're capable of doing. That's a choice. You choose to be aggressive."

Jason Clark, in his second game of the season, supplied some much-needed toughness off the bench. The 6-8, 235-pound junior only scored two points, but he had three rebounds, two blocked shots, a steal and an assist in 15 minutes. Overall, though, the Yellow Jackets outrebounded the Cavs 36-33 and outscored them 34-16 in the paint.

Brown said he believes a lot of his teammates are discouraged. Gillen insisted the season isn't slipping away from the Cavaliers.

"We're struggling, yes, we lost two in a row, but we just have to regroup," Gillen said. "I think we're capable of doing it, and it's my job to get us going again."

Virginia has numerous concerns today, but stopping 6-10, 240-pound junior Diego Romero isn't one of them. The NCAA last weekend restored the eligibility of Romero, a touted junior-college transfer who has yet to play for Florida State. But after consulting with his family, Romero decided to redshirt this season. He'll have two years of eligibility starting in 2004-05.

"We are always going to wonder what we could have been or where we would be at this point had we had a guy with his skills on our team," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said in a statement. "He absolutely could have made us better. But at this particular point, we can't look in the past - we have to look forward."