U.VA. NOTES
Tuesday, Jan 29, 2008 - 12:07 AM

Singletary joins elite ACC group
A quartet became a quintet Sunday. Virginia point guard Sean Singletary had eight assists against Georgia Tech to become the fifth player in ACC men's basketball history with at least 1,500 points, 500 assists and 400 rebounds in a career.

The others: Johnny Dawkins and Danny Ferry of Duke, and Brian Oliver and Tony Akins of Georgia Tech.

Singletary, a four-year starter, has totaled 1,751 points, 505 assists and 436 rebounds for the Cavaliers. But as he enters the final stretch of his college career, he's dealing with a hip pointer that has kept him out of practice and affected his shot.

In U.Va.'s 69-67 loss at Florida State last week, Singletary was 4 for 11 from the floor. In Virginia's 92-82 loss to Georgia Tech at John Paul Jones Arena, he was 5 for 19. He scored only 11 points in each game.

"He played 41 out of 45 [minutes against the Yellow Jackets], and he probably right now should be at about 25," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

Singletary has little time to rest. U.Va. (1-4, 11-7) plays tomorrow at Maryland (2-3, 12-8). The Cavaliers have lost five of their past six games.

Long repeats team awards
Highlights of the football team's annual banquet Saturday night included the award presentations.

For the second straight year, end Chris Long received the Ned McDonald and Colonel F.C. McCue awards as the team's outstanding defensive player and its outstanding interior lineman.

The Joe Palumbo Award, for self-sacrifice, dedication and enthusiasm, went to tight end Tom Santi. Fullback and special teams standout Josh Zidenberg, a former walk-on, received the John Polzer Award for ability, sportsmanship and character.

Co-recipients of the Speed Elliot Award, presented annually to U.Va.'s most improved player, were center Jordy Lipsey and safety Nate Lyles. The George Welsh Special Teams Award went to kicking specialist Chris Gould.

Long, Santi, Zidenberg, Lipsey, Lyles and Gould were seniors in 2007.

Quarterback Jameel Sewell and tailback Mikell Simpson, redshirt sophomores in 2007, were co-recipients of the Ben Wilson Award as Virginia's top offensive players. Finally, cornerback Ras-I Dowling was named Virginia's top first-year player and so received the Bill Dudley Award.

Saliba returns to hoops roots
Yes, that was Ethan Saliba on the U.Va. bench Sunday. Saliba, Virginia's associate athletic director for sports medicine, has rejoined the basketball team, which has been beset by injuries this season.

Saliba will serve as Leitao's trainer for the rest of the season, with help from Bill Parente.

Before becoming head athletic trainer for football, a position he still holds at U.Va., Saliba worked with men's basketball under coaches Terry Holland, Jeff Jones and, briefly, Pete Gillen.

Prospect presents U.Va. connections
The state's ninthand 10th-grade classes are loaded with basketball players who figure to end up at Division I programs. One such prospect is John Manning, a 6-10 freshman at Chantilly High in Northern Virginia whom The Washington Post recently profiled.

Manning's parents are U.Va. graduates, and he's attended a game at the JPJ this season.

Two scrimmages set for lacrosse team
The men's lacrosse team will play two scrimmages before its Feb. 17 opener at Drexel. The first is Saturday afternoon at the University Hall Turf Field.

U.Va. meets Navy at 1 p.m. Admission is $2 for children and $4 for adults. Virginia's second scrimmage is Feb. 9 at Georgetown.

Midfielders Jack Riley and Steve Giannone are injured and won't play Saturday for the Cavaliers. Coach Dom Starsia said he hasn't settled on a first midfield, but in one group - call it 1A or 1B - freshmen Rhamel and Shamel Bratton and running with senior Peter Lamade, a transfer from Duke who's been a mentor to the celebrated twins from Long Island, N.Y.

On another middie line are sophomores Brian Carroll, Max Pomper and George Huguely. - Jeff White

 

Farrakhan makes his way back
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
January 29, 2008

When Mustapha Farrakhan peeled off his warm-ups and prepared to check into Sunday’s game against Georgia Tech, someone along press row said, “Who’s that?”

The remark was somewhat understandable considering the Virginia freshman had not played in the team’s previous three games. Heading into Sunday, Farrakhan had appeared in just 13 of UVa’s 18 contests, averaging 5.7 minutes.

Against Georgia Tech, Farrakhan had three points on 1-of-5 shooting. He also had an assist and a rebound in his six minutes off the bench.

“It feels good to be part of the rotation,” said Farrakhan, following Virginia’s 92-82 overtime loss. “I just have to continue to play hard and try to fit into the scheme of things.”

Farrakhan’s reemergence was triggered by good play in practice, Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

In addition, the struggles of freshman Jeff Jones likely had something to do with it. Jones, who has not hit a 3-pointer since nailing five in an upset win at Arizona on Nov. 17, is shooting just 38 percent from the field, including 22 percent from downtown.

Jones lost his spot in the starting lineup on Jan. 13 to walk-on Calvin Baker and has looked tentative for much of the season. Against the Yellow Jackets, he had zero points and three fouls in four minutes.

Conversely, there was nothing tentative-looking about Farrakhan on Sunday. He drained a 3-pointer from the wing just 18 seconds after checking into the game. The triple gave Virginia a 31-20 lead.

However, Farrakhan missed his next four shots.

“Not knowing when you’re going to play, you just have to be ready,” Farrakhan said. “I try and get a lot of shots up to be prepared in case my name is called.”

Farrakhan, whose grandfather is Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, says the physical play - including getting around screens - has been his biggest adjustment at the college level.

The 6-foot-4 Farrakhan, who only weighs 175 pounds, will likely be one of Virginia strength and conditioning coach Shaun Brown’s chief projects in the offseason.

Farrakhan said he would like to see the floor more, but it’s not up to him.

“It’s not in my hands,” he said. “It’s ultimately up to the coach. He’s the best knower. I just continue to play hard in practice.”

The Chicago native said his grandfather hopes to attend a game at some point this season. Gramps has been an excellent sounding board, Farrakhan said.

“He definitely follows [me] and gives suggestions here and there…just to remain positive and still be a good teammate - being a good supporter of the team and being ready all the time.”

 

Time off serves Tar Heels well
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Charlottesville Daily Progress
January 29, 2008

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if an eight-day break will give North Carolina the rest it needs to finish off the league when the Tar Heels return to action …

Standing at 19-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference, UNC coach Roy Williams said his team could use the layoff because Ty Lawson’s ankle is ailing and Marcus Ginyard is bothered by a number of nagging injuries.

Lawson first hurt his ankle in Las Vegas back in November, but reinjured it late in the Miami game.

Perhaps the most underrated player on the Carolina roster, Lawson is invaluable to Williams, who said that Lawson might be the best point guard he has coached in his 20-year career.

“I’ve always wanted to push the ball,” the UNC coach said. “I had some good guards at Kansas, but nobody I’ve ever had pushes the ball faster than Ty does. And, not only does he push it, he makes really good decisions when he gets down there. He has the ability to take it to the basket and score.”

Williams also believes the break with be good for center Tyler Hansbrough, whom the coach believes is pressing too much. The coach believes Hansbrough is trying to do too much and points to Hansbrough’s field goal percentage (40 percent in ACC games thus far). Williams noted that Hansbrough is a 54.5 percent career field goal shooter.

Hansbrough disagreed with his coach’s analysis about pressing, but still said he is thankful for some time off.

Timed out Tigers

North Carolina isn’t the only team that could use a break right now. Clemson, which is enjoying a five-day break and won’t play again until Saturday at home against Boston College, hopes that starting center Trevor Booker will recover from a high ankle sprain during the time off.

Booker hurt his ankle in Sunday’s 75-72 loss at Miami and is listed as questionable for Saturday’s game.

The sophomore is averaging 12 points and 8.2 rebounds per game and became the second Tiger to suffer an injury this season. Teammate James Mays is playing with a cast to protect his injured left hand. Mays, a senior forward, missed five games last month due to a sprained hip.

“We’re hoping Booker’s ankle comes around with rehab and that kind of thing to the point where he’s able to play,” said Clemson coach Oliver Purnell. “But right now we’re not sure about that.”

If Booker doesn’t make it back for the BC game, he should return in time for the Tigers’ trip to Virginia on Feb. 7.

Home of coaches

As noted by an accompanying graphic on this page, there were 53 former ACC players on NBA opening day rosters.

However, did you know there are 15 coaches who attended ACC schools in the NBA, including three head coaches?

Virginia’s Marc Iavaroni is head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies, while UNC’s George Karl heads up Milwaukee and N.C. State’s Nate McMillan leads Portland. Former Wahoo Rick Carlisle is no longer a head coach but could get back into the game.

There’s a bunch of ACC alumni that are assistants in the league, most of them from UNC, including: Phil Ford (Charlotte), Dave Hanners (Knicks), John Kuester (Cleveland), Bob McAdoo (Miami), Doug Moe (Denver), Mike O’Koren (Wizards), and Pat Sullivan (New Jersey).

Duke has two: Bob Bender (Hawks) and Chip Engelland (Spurs), while N.C. State (Phil Weber-Suns), Florida State (Dave Cowens-Pistons), and Virginia Tech (Dell Curry-Charlotte) each have one.

Singletary one of five

When UVa’s Sean Singletary dished out his eight assists against Georgia Tech on Sunday, he became only the fifth player in ACC history to record 1,500 career points, 500 assists, and 400 rebounds.

The other four are Duke’s Johnny Dawkins and Danny Ferry, along with Georgia Tech’s Brian Oliver and Tony Akins.

Singletary, who leads the conference in assists, also holds the league’s longest active double-figures scoring streak with 40 straight games.

In terms of where the senior point guard stands on Virginia’s lists, Singletary is 10th on the Cavs’ career scoring list (1,751), fourth in assists (505), seventh in steals (173), and fifth in free throws made (477).

Duke mentality

Sometimes you get the feeling that Coach Mike Krzyzewski’s team just wills itself to win. That’s the kind of mental toughness that Dave Leitao has been trying to build at Virginia, but most of his players, other than Singletary, don’t seem to get it.

Take Duke’s comeback win Sunday night at Maryland, for example.

The Blue Devils trailed at halftime for the first time all season, played on the road and suffered from foul trouble. Yet they stiffened and beat Maryland 93-84.

“Our mindset was that we weren’t going to lose this game - no way possible,” said DeMarcus Nelson, who shared ACC Player of the Week honors after scoring a career-high 27 points. “We were going to will ourselves to win no matter what it took.

Hokie high

Virginia Tech has won its past two games without the services of its best player, freshman forward Jeff Allen, who returns from suspension for tonight’s home game against Florida State (9 p.m.).

Teammate Deron Washington, who was suspended last season for one game two seasons ago for kicking a Duke placer in the face, said that officials will probably be keeping a closer eye out for Allen, who was benched for two games after he bumped an official during a loss at Georgia Tech on Jan. 19.

“I thought about how it’s going to affect him and how the refs and everybody are going to look at him different, because I know the situation, because I get looked at different,” Washington said. “It’s going to be more of a spotlight on that person, on Jeff.”

Any takers?

When Maryland stunned North Carolina in Chapel Hill a couple of weeks ago, a Tar Heels fan tried to taunt Terrapin center Bambale Osby by shouting “Go back to the ghetto.”

Osby said he would be happy to go back, but invited the fan or anyone else that wanted to taunt him to go with him. So far, he hasn’t had any takers.

“It’s funny the amount of stuff you hear from the crowd,” Osby said. “People way up in the rafters yelling stuff and it’s like ‘Who is that guy?’ You hear all that stuff. They’re just mad. You got ignorance everywhere you go.

“It wouldn’t be nothing for me to go back to the ghetto,” said Osby, who said he grew up in a violent section of Richmond. “That’s where my mom lives, so if [the fan] wants to come on down, she can join me. It’s just ignorance. Going back to the ghetto, who knows where all of us are from? All of us could be from Alaska or something. How would she know? It’s not a big deal. But like I said, if she wanted to go back to my neighborhood, we can go. We can spend a night there and see how she feels.”

On guard

Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg was impressed with Hokies guards Hank Thorns and Malcolm Delaney in the win over Boston College last weekend.

“I think they made a huge step forward with what I call advantage, disadvantage, secondary, set,” Greenberg said during Monday’s ACC Coaches Teleconference. “What I mean by that is reading: Do we have an advantage or disadvantage if it’s a fast break? If we don’t have that, what can we get out of our secondary? If we don’t have that, what can we get in our half-court?”

The coach thought the guards did a better job of that against the Eagles.

“Hank is just Hank,” Greenberg said. “He’s not afraid. He’s learning on the job. He’s learning that you can’t play 100 miles per hour. He’s learning that the defense is going to try to speed you up. He’s learning that the shots he maybe took in high school, he can’t take here. On the other hand, I don’t want to hold him back because his quickness and his speed enable him to survive and deal with physical, bigger guards.”

Free throws …

…The lone Virginia football commit to earn SuperPrep All-America status is running back Torrey Mack (6-0, 195, 4.5) out of Statford, Conn. Mack is rated the No. 8 running back in the country by SuperPrep, and the No. 1 prospect from New England. Mack chose UVa over Virginia Tech, Boston College, UConn, Penn State, Iowa, Maryland and Syracuse. … Is N.C. State’s Wolfpack the basketball equivilent of Virginia’s football team for playing in so many close games? The Wolfies’ last three games have been decided by a total of eight points. … Don’t look now, but Virginia Tech’s somewhat unheralded freshman recruiting class is averaging 31.4 points, 16.5 rebounds and 8.3 assists per game.

 

Something to look forward to
Eric Strow

Attention, depressed Cavalier fans: If fall and winter sports have got you down, I have some news that I hope will cheer up any Virginia supporter. Our spring season teams are looking very, very good.

January truly is a month to forget. It started awfully and is ending pretty badly as well. I know the Gator Bowl defeat and the loss of five players have you depressed about football. I felt the same way for days. I'm also aware of our men's basketball team's recent struggles -- thanks to the help of many ACC-hating friends back home. (I should note, though, that the women's team is doing quite well.) If it helps, Virginia still finished 14th among Division I schools in the Directors' Cup standings after all the fall sports concluded ... somehow.

But, as we head into February, the tide is about to turn for Virginia athletics. A recent check of preseason rankings for baseball, men's and women's lacrosse and men's tennis (which is already in season) left me excited and eager to watch some quality outdoor sports. Here's why:

The Virginia baseball team was tabbed as the No. 17 team in the country by Baseball America, a reputable source for all things baseball. The Cavaliers are led by junior Jacob Thompson, a Louisville Slugger First-Team All-American pitcher who went 11-0 with a 1.50 ERA last year. The offense is loaded with talent, including third-team All-American David Adams, a junior infielder who had a .372 batting average and .522 slugging percentage last year.

Junior infielder Greg Miclat also returns after missing 16 games -- including the entire postseason -- last season because of injury. Miclat stole 32 bases in 45 games, setting a school record, and his presence in the lineup will undoubtedly energize the Virginia attack. The baseball season starts Feb. 22 against Lehigh, and I hope you will all join me at Davenport Field for opening day.

The Virginia men's lacrosse team opens the season Feb. 17 at Drexel with the No. 2 ranking from Lacrosse Magazine. After landing one of the best recruiting classes in the country for the Class of 2011, the Cavaliers are primed for another national title run. Many fans have been talking for months about the arrival of freshmen midfielders Rhamel and Shamel Bratton, regarded as two of the best players in the country while in high school.

The Bratton twins, along with team leader and senior attacker Ben Rubeor, might hog the headlines early in the year, but there is good reason for that. Rubeor was one of five finalists for the Tewaaraton Trophy last year, given to the best player in college lacrosse, and even has a Wikipedia page dedicated to him. (The Web site needs some sprucing up, though, so if that's your thing, get on it.)

The women's lacrosse team also begins the 2008 campaign as the No. 2 team in the country, according to Lacrosse Magazine. Senior co-captains Claire Bordley and Megan O'Malley look to lead the defending ACC champions to another conference title and will try to rebound after last year's loss in the NCAA Championship game. This year's freshman class is full of potential -- and also full of women named Molly: Everett, McClintic, and Millard. Senior goalkeeper Kendall McBrearty returns after a stellar 2007 season in which she started all 23 games.Also, Virginia head coach Julie Myers was named the FieldTurf Tarkett National Coach of the Year after last season's performance. The season starts Feb. 20 at Virginia Tech.

As far as men's tennis goes, all I need to do is give you the numbers for you to see just how good the Cavaliers are. Team rank: No. 1 by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. National ranks, singles: senior Somdev Devvarman -- No. 1; junior Dominic Inglot -- No. 3; senior Treat Huey -- No. 12; sophomore Houston Barrick -- No. 83. National ranks, doubles: Devvarman/Huey -- No. 1; sophomore Lee Singer/senior Ted Angelinos -- No. 17; Inglot/Barrick -- No. 25; freshmen Sanam Singh/Michael Shabaz -- No. 28.

Enough numbers for you? The season started Jan. 20 with a win against No. 43 William & Mary, and the Cavaliers are3-0 after also defeating No. 8 Illinois and No. 12 Notre Dame, both on the road. Ladies and gentlemen, this team is for real.

The baseball, lacrosse and tennis teams all should make runs deep into the postseason this year after last year's postseason performances left a bitter taste all around. The baseball team was one game away from a trip to Omaha for the College World Series before being bounced by defending champion Oregon State (which won its second consecutive title). The men's lacrosse team got upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament by Delaware; the women lost the championship game to Northwestern (which won its third consecutive title); and the men's tennis team lost to eventual-champion Georgia in the tournament semifinals. Look for all of these Cavalier teams to avenge last season's losses and take Virginia to multiple promised lands.