Virginia ready to zig with the Zags
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
January 3, 2007

Bye bye Adam Morrison. So long J.P. Batista.

You’d think those two sentences would have college basketball coaches smiling like actors in Crest Whitestrips ads.

Last season, the since-departed Gonzaga duo combined for more than 47 points per game.

However, Virginia coach Dave Leitao said the Zags may be an even bigger pain in the neck this season.

“Those guys were Option 1 and Option 2,” said Leitao, whose team lost to Gonzaga, 80-69, last winter. “This year, [Derek] Raivio is their leading scorer, but on any given occasion it could be anybody who steps up for them. They’re much more balanced, and I’ve said this to the team … more dangerous than they were a year ago.

“Obviously they don’t have the out-pitch that Morrison can bring to the table as one of the best -if not the best - player in the country, but other guys who maybe didn’t feel as comfortable offensively in what they were doing feel a sense of comfort with this team.”

Translation: If Virginia (8-3) plays defense tonight like it did in Puerto Rico two weeks ago, boo birds could come out for the first time in the history of John Paul Jones Arena.

Gonzaga, despite a three-game losing streak, has no real weak links.

The Zags (9-5) have strong guards in the senior Raivio, and sophomore Jeremy Pargo, the younger brother of NBA player Jannero Pargo.

They also have something Virginia doesn’t have - a strong inside presence in 6-foot-11 Josh Heytvelt.

And they have a stud freshman who is already being talked about as the next great Gonzaga player - Matt Bouldin.

All of this could create quite a challenge for a team that had trouble stopping guys named Williset Del Valle and Omar Velasquez in Puerto Rico.

In San Juan, Virginia continually gave up open 3-pointers - a result of Appalachian State and Utah both having low-post players who commanded double-teams.

The Zags’ Heytvelt is another such player.

“He’s established himself as a very skilled and effective offensive player who is multi-dimensional,” Leitao said. “He can post up and come out on the outside all the way out to [3-point range] and make some shots [or] put it on the floor.

“He plays the center position, but I wouldn’t qualify him as a center for them. He’s multi-dimensional. He has long arms, can block shots and is very active. Because he has four other offensive players around him, I think that makes him that much better.”

Virginia’s defense improved, to an extent, in its 91-70 win over American. But that was American.

Gonzaga, despite being unranked, can play with anybody in the country. In the last few years, the Zags have completely shed their “mid-major” label.

The current three-game losing streak is their first since the 2000 season - and it’s not exactly your typical losing streak.

Gonzaga, whose losses have come against Nevada, Duke and Georgia, has one of the toughest non-conference schedules in the nation. Already this season, the Zags have logged 15,865 miles - a byproduct of nobody wanting to come and play them in their deafening digs in Spokane, Wash.

They’ll come into tonight’s game battle-tested, having already played the likes of North Carolina and Duke, with whom they split.

With the exception of its season-opening win over Arizona, a road loss at Purdue and a win against a pretty blah N.C. State squad, Virginia hasn’t played anyone of consequence.

UVa, like last season, has also struggled to find a consistent scoring complement to guards Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds.

Now the Cavaliers face a team that sounds like a version of how Leitao eventually wants his own squad to be able to play.

“It’s about the team,” Leitao said, “and what they are trying to do as opposed to, ‘Let’s go to Option 1 or Option 2.’”

Dunks

Sean Singletary was named ACC Co-Player of the Week after posting game-high totals of 33 points and six assists in the win over American last week. He was 9 for 16 from the field, including 5 for 9 from 3-point range, and he made all 10 of his free-throw attempts. He also had two rebounds and one steal while playing 32 minutes in the game. ... This will be the third all-time meeting between the schools. In addition to winning last year’s game in Spokane, Gonzaga knocked off Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2001. … Freshman Solomon Tat (groin injury) is questionable for the game. “It will depend on how he feels [tonight] when it gets closer to game time,” Leitao said, adding that Tat will probably be very rusty whenever he does return. … Leitao said he hasn’t lost faith in Jason Cain, despite the fact Cain’s minutes and production have been down in the last few games. “He’s been through this kind of thing before,” said Leitao, when asked about Cain’s slump. “Even before I got here he went through some highs and lows. It may be for a game or so that I put someone else in there because I don’t feel like he’s playing at his best, but that doesn’t mean I’ve lost complete confidence in his abilities. … I still believe he has the ability and has proven himself. He can do a lot to help us. [Tonight] is as good of a day as any to break out of that and play the way he’s capable of.”

 

Virginia gains another commitment
From staff reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
January 3, 2007

The Virginia football team is putting together one of its best recruiting classes in recent memory, and it just keeps getting stronger.

Head coach Al Groh picked up the 23rd commitment of this year's class when Matt Conrath picked Virginia on Tuesday, according to several sources.

Conrath, a 6-foot-7, 250-pound lineman from Chicago St. Rita High School, chose UVa over Stanford, Purdue and Miami of Ohio, among others.

"I'm excited about it and feel both elation and relief," Conrath told Rivals.com, which currently has Virginia's recruiting class ranked among the top 15 in the nation. "It was a tough decision to make. But I'm 100 percent committed to Virginia and I'm happy the process is over."

The next big decision will come from the coaches as they try to decide what position Conrath will play. He could help the Cavs as both an offensive tackle or a defensive end.

Conrath tallied 124 tackles and 13 sacks in helping St. Rita to a state title.

Also a standout in the classroom, Conrath maintains a 4.3 GPA and has scored 29 on the ACT.

Conrath is actually only the 22nd "official" commitment for Virginia in this class. Orange County's Asa Chapman committed last year, but decided to take a postgrad year at Fork Union to improve his grades. His status with Virginia is unclear.

 

Cavaliers on the road to recovery
Puerto Rico debacle shifts Virginia's focus back to defense, basics
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 3, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- After returning from a disastrous trip to Puerto Rico, University of Virginia senior guard J.R. Reynolds drove to Roanoke to celebrate Christmas with his family.

His hometown didn't see much of him.

"I didn't even go out of the house sometimes," Reynolds said yesterday, "because everywhere I went, people were like, 'What happened against Appalachian State? What happened against Utah? What happened in San Juan?'"

What happened, of course, was this: In a tournament many ex pected the Cavaliers to win, they got blown out by Appalachian State and Utah and then struggled to beat Division II Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in the San Juan Shootout's seventh-place game.

"We're a totally different team now," said Reynolds, the Cavaliers' second-leading scorer, "and our focus has gotten back to defense."

In their first game after the San Juan debacle, the Wahoos whipped American 91-70 at John Paul Jones Arena. Now comes a more formidable opponent. U.Va. (8-3) hosts Gonzaga (9-5) tonight in a non-conference matchup that ESPN2 will televise.

A season ago in Spokane, Wash., the Bulldogs got 27 points from All-American Adam Morrison and 17 from J.P. Batista and rallied to beat the Cavaliers 80-69.

Morrison and Batista are no longer at Gonzaga, but point guard Sean Singletary, who scored a career-high 35 points in that game, and Reynolds still star for U.Va., which is 7-0 in its new arena.

"It's going to be a big game for us, especially with them coming in with a three-game losing streak," Reynolds said. "We had a struggle just like they did, and I know how determined we were to get a win."

This marks only the second time in Mark Few's eight seasons as the Zags' head coach that they've dropped three games in a row. They haven't lost four straight since the 1996-97 season.

In 6-3, 177-pound senior Derek Raivio (18.7 ppg) and 6-2, 219-pound sophomore Jeremy Pargo (12.3 ppg), the Bulldogs have superb guards, and 6-11, 238-pound sophomore Josh Heytvelt averages 16.1 points, 7.4 points and 1.3 blocks.

Raivio is an exceptional 3-point shooter whose accuracy from long range -- he's 43 for 91 this season -- could pose problems for a U.Va. team that played abysmal perimeter defense in Puerto Rico.

"He knocks down almost every shot that's open," said Dave Leitao, Virginia's second-year coach.

Injuries to numerous players have limited Leitao's options this season. Junior center Ryan Pettinella had surgery on his left knee Friday and is expected to miss at least three weeks.

Better news for Virginia is that freshman swingman Solomon Tat, who's been sidelined with a groin problem since the season-opening upset of Arizona, is practicing again and could play tonight.

"We'll see," Leitao said.

Whether big man Jason Cain will play is less of a mystery. What's unclear, though, is how well he'll play. Cain, who had 22 points and eight rebounds Nov. 26 against Maryland-Eastern Shore, has scored in double figures only once since.

He's averaging 7.4 points and 6.1 rebounds, and the Cavs almost certainly will need more production from him if they are to reach the NCAA tournament.

"Right now he's going through something, but I think he's slowly getting his confidence back," Reynolds said. "It's something that everybody goes through."

The 6-10 senior's struggles notwithstanding, Leitao said yesterday that he still believes in Cain.

Today "is as good as any for him to break out of that and get back to the way he can play," Leitao said.

NOTE: Singletary and Duke sophomore Josh McRoberts yesterday were named co-ACC players of the week. Singletary, a junior from Philadelphia, had 33 points and six assists in U.Va.'s 91-70 win over American last Wednesday. He made 9 of 16 shots from the floor and 10 for 10 from the line.

The ACC rookie of the week, for the fourth time this season, is North Carolina freshman Brandon Wright.

 

Center unsung pillar of '72 team
Ex-Virginia center Scott McCandlish died Saturday from multiple sclerosis.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Although Virginia has had a men's basketball team for more than 100 years, the program never really took off until the Cavaliers won 18 of their first 19 games and finished 21-7 in 1971-72.

That team was so closely identified with its star player, Barry Parkhill, that other good players like Scott McCandlish sometimes went overlooked.

McCandlish, who had suffered from multiple sclerosis before his death Saturday at 56, ended his career in 1972 as Virginia's all-time leading rebounder.

McCandlish subsequently had dropped to ninth on that list, but his 9.6 career rebounding average is tied for second at UVa behind three-time NCAA player of the year Ralph Sampson.

"Scott and the guys in his class formed a foundation that was very special," Parkhill said. "When things really got turned around, he was there."

Parkhill singled out McCandlish and fellow 1968 recruits Frank Dewitt, Tim Rash and Chip Miller for their support of coach Bill Gibson, who later took the Cavaliers to their first postseason tournament, the NIT, in 1973.

"They were there when [Virginia] had a player revolt," Parkhill said. "Freshmen couldn't play at the time, but they were 100 percent behind Coach Gibson.

"You look at centers who have played at center, [McCandlish] was one of the best. He was a smart player, a pretty good shooter. He wasn't just a rebounder. He scored over 1,000 points [1,026]."

And, as teammate Jim Hobgood pointed out, that was a time when freshmen weren't eligible. McCandlish played in 79 varsity games, averaging 13 points and 9.6 rebounds.

After graduation, McCandlish coached for five years at South Florida under Chip Conner, a former UVa player and assistant, and later served as the head coach at Charlottesville High School.

He also taught in high school before he was forced to go on disability. Still, he often could be seen in a wheelchair at UVa basketball games.

"He always just, flat-out cared," Parkhill said. "As he progressively went downhill, he would come as much as he could. Sometimes, that meant once a year."

McCandlish, originally from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., moved back to his home state in 2004.

"He wasn't getting around," said Parkhill, who visited McCandlish in August, "but he and his wife would get on the Internet and listen to football games and listened to basketball games whenever he couldn't watch. He was always there in spirit."

Hobgood roomed with McCandlish for a year and remembers him for his sharp mind and as an outstanding student.

"He and Chip Miller and I formed maybe the greatest three-man softball team of all time," said Hobgood, the analyst on UVa's radio network. "I realize that MS is just one of many diseases for which it would be nice to have a cure, but, the poor guy, he suffered for maybe 30 years.

"It's been a couple of years since I last saw him, but even then, it broke your heart."
 

Travel-weary Gonzaga offers latest test for U.Va.
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© January 3, 2007

Meet Gonzaga, the team brought to you by the American Society of Travel Agents.

The Bulldogs come across country for the third time in six weeks tonight to face Virginia at the John Paul Jones Arena. By the time they return to Spokane, Wash., Thursday morning, they'll have logged 15,865 air miles since Nov. 21.

The road has taken its toll. Gonzaga, which hasn't played at home since Dec. 9, has dropped three straight for the first time since 2000. In Dave Leitao's opinion, the losing streak makes Gonzaga, which has already beaten North Carolina and Texas this season, even more of a concern.

"I know they'll come in here with a mind-set that it's going to be about playing well, and basics, and playing together," the Virginia coach said Tuesday.

Five players average at least 7.9 points per game for Gonzaga (9-5), led by point guard Derek Raivio, at 18.7, and forward Josh Heytvelt, at 16.1.

"They may be, as a result of being more balanced, more dangerous than a year ago," Leitao said.

Even with five losses, Gonzaga ranks 24th in the latest RPI, largely because of a schedule rated the nation's fourth-toughest. The Bulldogs load up on challenging games early to offset a weak West Coast Conference slate.

Virginia is not as battle-tested, with a schedule that ranks 154th. Seven of the Cavaliers' eight wins have come at home.

After getting off to a 6-1 start, Virginia dropped consecutive games to Appalachian State and Utah at the San Juan Shootout two weeks ago, before rebounding with a home win against American on Dec. 28. Tonight's game kicks off perhaps the toughest stretch of Virginia's schedule, with Stanford visiting Sunday and trips to North Carolina and Boston College next week.

The Cavaliers will be without center Ryan Pettinella, out with a knee injury. Several other players, including point guard Sean Singletary - who is still recovering from off-season hip surgery - are nursing injuries.

Singletary was one of several players who shot poorly in Puerto Rico, but Leitao's bigger concern was on defens e. The Cavaliers allowed Appalachian State to shoot 54 percent, including 50 percent from 3-point range. Utah shot 62 percent overall, 52.3 percent from 3-point range.

Leitao called Virginia's troubles a "neck up" problem, rather than a physical one.

"You don't change strategy as much as you change attitudes," he said.

Gonzaga will provide an attitude check tonight.