Cavs set fire to record books
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7247
January 5, 2007

About an hour after Virginia’s shocking demolition of Gonzaga on Wednesday night, a fire alarm blared at excruciating decibels inside of John Paul Jones Arena.

Everyone still in the building - reporters, school personnel and maintenance staff - was instructed by a recorded voice to exit immediately.

Obviously, the alarm came way too late.

Virginia had already torched JPJA with a shooting performance that will probably be talked about for years to come.

In its 108-87 victory, UVa drained 18 3-pointers - a new school record.

For the game, Virginia shot 51 percent from the field, including 53 percent from 3-point range.

However, the Cavaliers’ shooting in the first half was what had just about everyone shaking their heads.

Virginia (9-3) didn’t miss a shot until nearly five minutes had elapsed. UVa was 19 of 32 from the field (59 percent), including a mind-boggling 12 of 20 (60 percent) from 3-point range.

“The thing about a good shooter is that you’re surprised when they miss,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao. “That’s what it kind of looked like [tonight] - where if we didn’t make a shot, it was like, ‘Why didn’t it go in?’ We all had that feeling.”

It wasn’t as if Virginia was doing it against a slouch. Gonzaga (9-6) had previously beaten North Carolina and Texas.

Sean Singletary set the tone with a career-high 37 points, but every Virginia player seemed to get into the act. Five players hit at least two 3-pointers.

“You can talk about it individually where a guy gets hot or gets in the zone,” said Leitao, whose team plays host to Stanford on Sunday, “but there aren’t many times you can talk about it with a team - where everybody feels like they can make shots.

“I can’t depend on that night-by-night, but hopefully there will be more nights like this where our shots do fall.”

Sophomore Mamadi Diane, who was 4 of 4 from 3-point range and had 22 points, said the team’s astounding shooting started in practice.

“We had a great week [of practice],” he said. “We had a really good shootaround [Wednesday morning] and Sean even made a joke about how everything was too perfect - something couldn’t be right because the shootaround was too perfect.”

Leitao had another explanation as to why his team shot the lights out and had fire trucks racing to JPJA for what turned out to be a false alarm.

“As I said before, when we play defense, we make more shots,” he said. “It’s directly connected.”

Tat back

Solomon Tat made his return to the lineup after being out with a groin injury since the season opener. The freshman managed to dish out five assists in just eight minutes of action.

Leitao said Tat has a ways to go before he is at full strength. However, he said Tat brings intangibles to the team.

“He’s a spiritual leader with those guys on the court and in the locker room,” Leitao said. “They like to cheer for him. To see him out there is a feel-good story for those guys. He’s not nearly where he needs to be health- or rhythm-wise. He’s been away from basketball too long. It’s going to take him awhile, but I think having him out there uplifts everybody.”

Lars improving

One of the unsung heroes from the win was Lars Mikalauskas. The sophomore big man, who got his first start of the year, sparked the Cavs early with his defense and hustle.

The Lithuanian, who has battled ankle injuries since the preseason, seems as healthy as he’s been in a long time. In the first half, after some good defense by Singletary, Mikalauskas raced out in transition, received a nice feed from J.R. Reynolds and went in for a two-hand dunk that got the crowd juiced.

Mikalauskas finished with three points, one rebound and a blocked shot in 22 minutes.

“I think it was a combination of him feeling better, and he had a chance to start today,” said Leitao, when asked about Mikalauskas’ effort. “It was an opportunity where he could compete. He played through a mistake or two and I think that was good for him.”

Tucker shines

Freshman Jamil Tucker had his best performance of the year in the win, scoring a career-high 12 points and grabbing five rebounds in 20 minutes.

“He can make open shots with the best of them,” Leitao said. “He [also] has the ability to put the ball on the floor and make a play.

“As I told him after the game, if and when he starts to play defense, he can play for longer stretches.”

 

Focus on defense lifts Cavs
After poor showing in Puerto Rico, renewed effort has led to routs
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Jan 5, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- In each of its past two games -- one-sided victories over American and Gonzaga -- the University of Virginia men's basketball team shot about 50 percent from the floor.

U.Va. held its opponent to about 40 percent accuracy in each of those blowouts.

The numbers are related, according to coach Dave Leitao. And after a game in which junior guard Sean Singletary's 37-point masterpiece dazzled the crowd at John Paul Jones Arena and an ESPN2 audience, Virginia's second-year coach spoke at length about his favorite subject: defense.

"As I've said to you guys before, when we play 'D,' we make more shots," Leitao told reporters late Wednesday night after the Cavaliers crushed Gonzaga 108-87 to avenge last season's loss in Spokane, Wash.

"It's directly connected, and I think once we started getting back in the gym [after Christmas] and talking about defense more than anything else, the other things that make the game important come back to you. So it's no coincidence that we are making more shots, making more free throws, making more plays on offense."

U.Va. (9-3) hosts Stanford (8-4) on Sunday night.

The Wahoos played atrocious defense on their visit last month to Puerto Rico, where they won one of three games at the San Juan Shootout. Appalachian State made 13 of 26 shots from 3-point range in an 80-69 win over U.Va. A day later, Utah went 11 of 21 from long range and romped 94-74.

Overall, the Mountaineers shot 54.2 percent against Virginia; the Runnin' Utes 62.3.

When the Cavaliers reconvened on Christmas Day, Leitao made it clear to his players that such defensive efforts were unacceptable.

"I talked to them about it from the time we got [back] to practice and am going to continue to talk about it every single day," Leitao said. "And our practices are geared more on that end than anything else."

Against American, U.Va. led 42-19 at halftime. Against Gonzaga, U.Va. led 60-26 at the break. In each game, the Cavs' defensive intensity, not unexpectedly, later waned. The Eagles scored 50 in the second half.

Perfect pacing
Sean Singletary made the most of the 25 minutes he played in UVa's 21-point victory over Gonzaga.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Reporters weren't sure they had heard Dave Leitao correctly when he said in November that he would like to limit junior point guard Sean Singletary to 25 minutes per game.

Maybe Wednesday night's performance was what the Virginia men's basketball coach had in mind.

Singletary made his first five 3-point attempts and finished with a career-high 37 points as the Cavaliers blasted Gonzaga 108-87 at John Paul Jones Arena.

Singletary, who underwent offseason hip surgery, played 25 minutes in what was his shortest stint of the season.

"Someone asked me a question right after the game, 'Why didn't you leave him in to get 40?'" Leitao said. "I didn't even think of it, obviously, but to have a performance like that and only play 25 minutes, it just shows what kind of heart he has.

"I've been around a number of very, very good players. What makes him so special is what he has inside of him. He has a desire and a will and a competitive spirit like no other. And he can back it up with skill and speed and quickness."

The work he's putting in is paying off as well. An hour before the game, Singletary was draining 3-pointers from the left wing as if they were free throws.

"You get up a thousand of shots during the week and the games come easy," he said.

Virginia (9-3) had a turnover on its first possession Wednesday; Singletary hit 3-pointers on the next three Cavaliers possessions, stepping further from the basket on each attempt.

"He always sets the tone," Gonzaga coach Mark Few said. "He's a terrific player. We saw that he had been shooting the ball well coming into this thing and we tried to get our guys ready for that, but, obviously, it didn't show."

Singletary's early barrage enabled Virginia to take a 16-4 lead before Few called a timeout with just over 3 minutes elapsed. The Cavaliers led 60-26 at the half.

"I didn't have a 34-point-lead speech planned." said Leitao, observing that Gonzaga had been in position to beat 21st-ranked Nevada before dropping its previous game, 82-74. "I couldn't have imagined this after watching [the Bulldogs] on film."

Virginia had given Gonzaga a good game last year, when Singletary scored 35 points in an 80-69 loss in Spokane, Wash.

"We went over the scouting report and we knew that defense was not something that they're real concerned with," said Singletary, admittedly surprised that he didn't see a box-and-one at some point. "That's not one of their main priorities. They're concerned with outscoring you."

That was evident in the second half, when the Bulldogs (9-6) scored 61 points. Junior guard Derek Raivio, plagued by foul problems in the first half, scored 18 points in a 5 minute, 59 second span. He finished with 26 points, including 23 in the second half.

Singletary made the last of his seven 3-pointers with 5:02 remaining and was out of the game 5 seconds later, not to return. He said he didn't realized he had topped his previous scoring high.

"When I'm out there, I'm not thinking about nothing but the game," he said. "You want to act like you've been there before."

Afterwards, Singletary repeated Leitao's mantra that when a team plays good defense, shots will start falling.

Although information provided immediately after the game had to be corrected, it did not change the fact that Virginia set a school record by making 18 3-pointers in 34 attempts. The Cavaliers had made 15 3-pointers twice previously, first against North Carolina in 1990 and then against Hampton in 1998.

Since returning from Puerto Rico, where the Cavaliers finished seventh in the San Juan Shootout, Singletary is 12-for-21 on 3-pointers. He was 15-of-52 from behind the arc in UVa's first 10 games.

"When I watched him in our shootaround, he had fresh legs but a little bit less than the last game," Leitao said. "I was talking to [assistant] Rob Lanier and he stopped me in mid-sentence. He said, 'Sean lives for these games; don't worry about him.'

"He loves this atmosphere. He loves the big games. He loves the big shots. He has a long memory, too, and he didn't feel real good about losing to them last year."
 

UVa QB McCabe opts for transfer
With one season of eligibility left, the one-time starter is looking for playing time.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Quarterback Kevin McCabe, whose touchdown pass lifted Virginia to the only overtime victory in its football history, is unlikely to have any more Cavalier highlights.

McCabe said Thursday that he hopes to be playing elsewhere in 2007, most likely at the Division II level.

McCabe would have been eligible to return as a fifth-year senior for the Cavaliers, "but it was like I was erased from the team," he said.

After tossing the winning touchdown pass in Virginia's second game, a 13-12 victory over Wyoming, McCabe started the next week against Western Michigan. It turned out to be his final UVa appearance.

He led the Cavaliers on an early touchdown drive but was intercepted twice. The first set up a touchdown and the second was returned for a touchdown, after which he was greeted by offensive coordinator Mike Groh on his return to the bench.

"'You're done,' is what he told me," said McCabe, a 6-foot-2, 217-pounder from Wexford, Pa. "I didn't set foot on the field for the rest of the season."

He went from No. 1 to No. 3 on the depth chart in less than 48 hours.

"It's kind of hard to go through a whole season like that when no one says a word to you," said McCabe, who completed 71.9 percent (23-of-32) of his passes. "Obviously, you kind of have a clue. I think it would have been the respectful thing for someone to come up and tell me first-hand, rather than me have to figure it out."

McCabe said he did most of the talking in a postseason meeting with head coach Al Groh.

"He said, 'If I had the situation over again, that I probably wouldn't have it play out the same way,' " McCabe said, "and I said, 'Yeah, you're right.' I don't know anybody who would want this situation to happen. I just kind of spoke my mind and he kind of shook his head. That was it."

Groh did not push for McCabe to return.

"I don't know what he could have said that could have got me to return," McCabe said.

Many players in McCabe's position have opted to spend their fifth season in Division I-AA, but the NCAA has changed its rules and McCabe would have to graduate this spring in order to facilitate that move. It appears that he will need at least one summer session to get his UVa degree, which is a priority for him.

"I'm going to take something from the University of Virginia," he said. "It's going to be a degree. It's going to be a tough road, but I want to make sure I find my way out of it."

McCabe understands that perennial Division II power Grand Valley (Mich.) State has an interest but no conversations have been held.

"I can't talk to any coaches because I haven't gotten my release," he said, "but I don't want to sign my release paper until I make sure that I'll be let back in this school if I leave."

Groh said Thursday that he had not received notification of McCabe's transfer but found it admirable that he was pursuing a UVa degree.

"Obviously, it was a difficult year for Kevin," Groh said. "I told him, 'If football is in your heart, then [transferring would be] great. But you have a chance to have something valuable next to your name for the next 50 years. Don't pay too steep a price.'"

Freshman Jameel Sewell started the last eight games at quarterback last season. McCabe's departure would leave UVa without a second quarterback with any experience.

Early-season starter Christian Olsen saw playing time in one game after Sewell took over as starter. McCabe never got the sense that he would inherit the No. 2 role.

"I guess they just really wanted me out of there," he said.

Not really, according to Groh.

"It certainly would have been a competitive situation," said Groh of the No. 2 job, "but Kevin feels he's a starting quarterback. I wanted to be honest with him. It's a one-player position. It's not like tailback.

"We have a returnee [Sewell] who started more games and won more games than any other quarterback. At the time he went from No. 1 to No. 3, we basically told them, 'This is the way it stacks up.' You want to give direct feedback. But, you don't want to rub salt in the wounds."

McCabe understands that he isn't the first starter to lose a job or the first veteran to be passed by an underclassmen.

"They wanted to start a freshman," he said. "That was their whole mind-set at the beginning of the year. That's the way I'm trying to interpret it because I don't think I did a terrible job. It's just the nature of the beast."
 

UVa bandwagon could make reappearance
Singletary show comes before eight NBA scouts
By Doug Doughty

I can’t remember what basketball game I was watching in November when ESPN analyst Jimmy Dykes described Virginia as “a sleeper Final Four team.”

When the Cavaliers were losing two of three games in the San Juan Shootout, that statement couldn’t have sounded more farcical.

Then, Virginia goes out and buries Gonzaga in the first half Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena and who was doing commentary on the game for ESPN2?

You got it. Jimmy Dykes.

I didn’t have access to the ESPN2 feed, but I can’t imagine that Virginia was any less impressive Wednesday night than it was when Dykes was prompted to offer his original remark.

A sleeper Final Four team? The Cavaliers would have to make the field first.

A victory over Stanford on Sunday would put Virginia at 10-3 and give them quality non-conference wins over Arizona, Gonzaga and Stanford, but all of those wins would have come at home, where UVa is 8-0.

Virginia still hasn’t shown it can win on the road and, in many cases, the Cavaliers are barely competitive when they get away from Charlottesville. In Dave Leitao’s two seasons as head coach, Virginia is 19-3 at home and 2-12 on the road.

I don’t see that changing unless junior point guard Sean Singletary makes it change. To this point, Singletary has been brilliant at home, averaging more than 30 points over the last three games, and mediocre on the road.

Leitao often has praised Singletary’s will and did so again Wednesday night. Singletary has seldom looked better, which was both good and bad for Virginia. There were eight NBA scouts on the pregame media seating chart and they couldn’t all have been looking at Gonzaga’s 6-foot-11, 238-pound Josh Heytvelt, who went scoreless from the field.

One of those scouts said beforehand that there isn’t much interest in 5-foot-11 guards, but that was before Singletary put on his best Allen Iverson imitation. And, unlike Iverson, his former fellow Philadelphian, Singletary likes to practice.

In one of his most famous rants, Iverson questioned the value of practice, “but he was joking,” said Singletary, who has played in pick-up games with the Denver Nuggets’ prize early season acquisition. “He was just getting y’all [in the media] psyched up. You know, he definitely practices.”

Singletary said before the season that he intended to remain at Virginia for four years and his play over the first month did not spark any speculation along those lines. However, if he were to continue his recent strong play, which he attributes to an ability to get in the gym and practice his shooting, it would have to open some eyes.

If you look at Virginia’s game last week with American, in which Singletary and J.R. Reynolds combined for 59 points in a 91-70, it just serves to emphasize the kind of rebuilding job UVa would face next year if it had to replace both of them (Reynolds is a senior).

With or without Singletary next year, it will be interesting to see what kind of player the Cavaliers have in Sammy Zeglinski, Singletary’s successor at point guard at Penn Charter in Philadelphia and his heir apparent since committing to the Cavaliers as a junior.

Zeglinski continues to be downgraded by publications like Prep Stars, which does not list him among the top 250 seniors in the country, but just from listening to the way Leitao talks about Zeglinski, it’s obvious he feels he has something.

 

Addition of Minter has ASU on winning streak
Fancher says UVa transfer is 'like winning the lottery'

Donte Minter couldn't help but stand out during an Appalachian State practice session earlier this week. Minter ran up and down the court in a pair of shoes with bright orange stripes, an unintentional reminder of his playing days with Virginia.

"A couple of leftovers," Minter said, amused by the thought.

So far, Minter's days with ASU bear little resemblance to those he spent running the floor at UVa. For that, he is thankful.

So are his ASU coach and teammates.

Minter signed with ASU in 2003 while at West Rowan, a team he led to a Class 3-A state title as a senior. But he wound up at Fork Union Military Academy, and then on to expectedly bigger things at UVa.

He played in all 31 games, including three starts, and averaged 5.6 points and 2.6 rebounds as a freshman for the Cavaliers in the 2004-05 season. His playing time dwindled as an injured sophomore, however, and, with no sign that he would play more for new coach Dave Leitao, Minter decided to rethink his future. For that, he looked to the past.

"We welcomed him with open arms," Coach Houston Fancher of ASU said. "I told somebody it was like winning the lottery with half the money already spent, but it's winning the lottery nonetheless."

Minter, a 6-8, 250-pound junior from Salisbury, enrolled at ASU last summer and sat out two semesters in accordance with NCAA rules. He became eligible on Dec. 14 and has played a key role in ASU's six straight wins, including one against UVa. Minter is averaging 14 points and 5.5 rebounds a game and shooting 64 percent from the floor. He scored 17 of his team's final 20 points in the Mountaineers' last game, in which they came from 14 points behind to beat Virginia Commonwealth on the road.

"I feel like I'm blessed just to have a second chance at this," Minter said. "Things just didn't work out (at Virginia, and I needed a change. Coach Fancher is a great guy to give me a second chance."

Teammate Jeremy Clayton, who now has more freedom in the post because of Minter's presence, said: "The team loves him, I love him. Donte has just made it better for everybody."

Minter said he didn't know what to expect joining a team that returned every player from last season. "But they've accepted me more than I could have imagined," he said.

Results should certainly curtail complaints of reduced playing time by others, if any were contemplated. Minter has added a big body to the middle and more. He has the skills to score and is tough to stop once he gets the ball.

"You pass it to him, and he finishes," point guard D.J. Thompson said.

Minter's presence has helped open the perimeter for shooters and eased pressure on other post players.

"We're 6-0 since he started playing," Clayton said. "With the game on the line, you can feed it to him down low and he seems to get it in the basket. If they double-team him, I'm going to get easy points. He's made it easier for the guys out on the wing, and I know he's made it easier on me."

Minter said: "Jeremy has had a double-double just about every game lately. He's always right there for the rebound. I'm enjoying that."

Clayton and Minter, who has come off the bench to replace starting center Davis Bowne, have contrasting yet complementary styles.

"Donte is more of a powerful, physical player," Clayton said. "I'm more of a face-up guy, maybe a little more finesse, and defensively, with both of us in there, teams aren't getting as easy shots in the paint as they used to."

Bowne said: "Clayton's more of an athlete, and Donte is a big body that can pound and pound and pound. The players that we've gone up against haven't been able to match with him."

Fancher added: "We're not only scoring but we're also defending and rebounding inside."

Depth and inside play now appears to be a strength for the Mountaineers, who are 11-3 and one win away from their best record in 18 years. Fancher said that Minter is capable of playing even better than he already has.

"He's still not in great game shape yet, but he's making high levels of production in limited minutes," Fancher said. "Twenty-six minutes is the most he's played so far, but he's averaging 26 points a game our last couple of games."

Against VCU, Minter, Clayton and Bowne combined for 46 of the Mountaineers' 73 points.

"I think our frontcourt is stronger than it's been in a long, long time," Fancher said. He also said that Minter's presence could lead to the option of a bigger lineup as the season progresses, with the possibility of Doug McLaughlin-Williams, a long-range threat and, at 6-8, a match-up problem for wing defenders, moving from big forward to small forward.

"We're just glad to have Donte," Fancher said. "I told him after the VCU game that he should have been doing this three years ago, and he recognizes that himself. This change has been a great experience for him and has lit his fire again about playing college basketball. And it's obviously thrown a spark into our motor."