Cavs' slide continues
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
January 31, 2008

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Having blown leads of nine points or more in their last three losses, the University of Virginia men’s basketball team took a different tack on Wednesday night at the Comcast Center.

It went something like this: 1) Get behind by a ton of points early. 2) Slowly peck away at the deficit. 3) Try and steal a win at the end.

Well, the Cavaliers were 2 for 3.

Maryland, behind 25 points from Greivis Vasquez and 17 points and nine rebounds from James Gist, defeated Virginia 85-75 in front of a crowd of 17,950.

Wahoo Nation can officially hit the panic button. Virginia (11-8, 1-5 ACC) has now lost three straight and six of its last seven.

UVa’s 1-5 league record is its worst since a 1-7 start in 2004-05.

“I thought the first 35 minutes of the game we played back on our heels with some errors that we made from a preparation standpoint that really, really cost us and gave them confidence,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao, whose team plays at Virginia Tech on Saturday. “When you give a team confidence, especially when they’re at home, it’s a difficult situation to get out of.”

Against the Terrapins, the Cavaliers offered very little evidence that they will be able to turn things around anytime soon. They seemed to be in a stupor from the opening tip.

“Most of the other [losses] could have went either way, but tonight from the jump we came out slow,” said Virginia senior Adrian Joseph. “They were converting and making shots, right down to the last possession of the game.

“We picked it up in the second half, but it wasn’t enough - too little, too late.”

For the second straight game, the Cavaliers allowed their opponent to shoot over 50 percent from the field. And, as was expected, Gist and fellow senior Bambale Osby dominated Virginia inside. The duo combined for 28 points, 15 rebounds and five blocked shots.

“What Bambale does really well is give us energy,” said Maryland coach Gary Williams. “[He] is also gaining confidence in his offense which has been a big help because it gives us another threat besides [Gist] on the blocks.”

The game started miserably for Virginia. UVa committed turnovers on three of its first four possessions.

Meanwhile, Maryland hit its first six shots to go up 15-5.

The Terrapins, who shot 53 percent from the field, led by as many as 13.

“It was very frustrating that we came out with no energy,” said Virginia senior Sean Singletary. “Playing in the ACC, you have to bring what you’re about every night and we haven’t been bringing it for 40 minutes at all.”

With about six minutes remaining in the half, Virginia made a slight push. Mamadi Diane scored on a jumper and an offensive rebound, Calvin Baker stroked a 3-pointer and Mike Scott converted on a fast-break layup to make it a 39-32 game.

However, the Cavaliers scored just one point over the final three-plus minutes as Maryland took a 43-33 lead into the locker room.

Maryland (13-8, 3-3) led by as many as 17 in the second half before Virginia started to get its act together.

Sean Singletary (23 points), Baker (17) and Diane keyed a late surge. Diane drove baseline and threw down a vicious two-handed jam to make it 76-71 with two minutes to play.

After Vasquez split a pair of free throws, Singletary launched a 3-pointer that could have trimmed the deficit to three. However, the ball rimmed out and Maryland pulled away away for good.

“We’ve put ourselves in a deep hole,” Leitao said. “I think the things that other teams see now when they us on tape or see our record - it allows them to have confidence and relieve some of the apprehension at the start of games. It just adds to some of the things we have to deal with.”

Singletary said losing to Maryland was just as painful as the previous defeats in which they blew the big leads.

“All losses are tough,” Singletary said. “A loss is a loss. It’s not good for anybody and I hate losing. All we can do is try and turn it around.”

Dunks

Virginia freshman Jeff Jones was booed loudly when he checked into the game. Jones verbally committed to Maryland before having a change of heart and signing with UVa. Jones had no points, an assist and a turnover in three minutes. … Virginia junior Lars Mikalauskas did not make the trip to College Park.

 

Cavs have no defense for loss
Breakdowns relegate U.Va. to more time in conference cellar
By JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The pillars of Dave Leitao's coaching philosophy are defense and rebounding. Breakdowns in both areas resulted in another loss for Leitao's struggling basketball team last night.

After sleepwalking through the game's first 33 minutes, Virginia, trailing Maryland by 14 points, finally snapped to life at Comcast Center. U.Va. cut its deficit to 11 and then to nine and then to seven, and suddenly the Terrapins didn't look invincible.

"Everybody had a jolt of energy," Virginia freshman Mike Scott said. "We thought, 'They're dead, we got them on their backs, we got them on their heels,' and we thought we were going to come out with a win."

But when the Cavaliers desperately needed to get the ball back without allowing any points, they failed to do so. The Terrapins scored at least one point on each of their final 11 possessions and pulled away for an 85-75 win.

Maryland (3-3 ACC, 13-8) got 40 points and 12 assists from its starting guards, Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes, and 28 points and 15 rebounds from starting big men Bambale Osby and James Gist.

"I've taken a lot of pride in rebounding and defense, and those are the two things, more than anything, that are failing us right now," said Leitao, Virginia's third-year coach.

And so the Wahoos (1-5, 11-8) remain stuck in the ACC cellar, with a trip to Virginia Tech (4-3, 13-8) looming. Virginia has lost three straight and six of its past seven games.

Don't be fooled by the final rebounding numbers -- 31 for Virginia, 30 for Maryland. When it mattered most, the Terrapins owned the backboards, in part, perhaps, because U.Va.'s leading rebounder, Adrian Joseph, was on the bench.

Leitao, unhappy with Joseph's effort from the start, sat the senior forward down for good with 10:33 remaining. In the final 8 minutes, the Terps grabbed five offensive rebounds and turned them into nine points.

"You work so hard to get stops in a critical time in the game, and they're getting second chances with offensive rebounds," said U.Va. center Ryan Pettinella, who in 18 minutes off the bench had five fouls and zero boards. "We're missing box-out assignments, and everyone was really guilty of that."

Especially damaging for the Cavaliers were three Maryland possessions in the final 3:30. On the first, Terrapins small forward Landon Milbourne's stickback made it 73-64. On the second, Milbourne rebounded another Gist miss and scored to make it 75-66 with 2:38 left.

Finally, after Virginia had closed to 78-73 on two free throws by guard Sean Singletary, Osby grabbed an offensive rebound and scored with 53 seconds left. A 6-8, 250-pound senior who starred at Benedictine High, Osby finished with 11 points, six rebounds and three blocked shots.

Singletary, coming off two subpar games, showed why he's twice been named to the all-ACC first team. The 6-0 senior finished with 23 points, three assists and no turnovers and gave the crowd of 17,950 several anxious moments late in the game.

With 1:30 left, Singletary launched a 3-pointer from the left wing. It went in and then came out, and Maryland grabbed the rebound. Had Singletary's shot dropped, the Terps' lead would have been cut to three.

On a night when Joseph, the team's No. 2 scorer, contributed only two points, Singletary got help from sophomore guard Calvin Baker (17 points), junior forward Mamadi Diane (16 points) and the 6-8 Scott, who had six points and a game-high 12 rebounds in 24 minutes. But the story of this game was U.Va.'s defense, or lack thereof.

Concerned about the interior prowess of Osby and Gist, Virginia abandoned its trademark man-to-man defense in the first half and came out in a 2-3 zone. The stat sheet suggested this was a wise move for U.Va. -- Maryland came in shooting 31.8 percent from 3-point range -- but the game proved otherwise. The Terrapins hit their first six shots, including three treys.

 

UVa's woes continue
Struggling on the boards and on defense, the Cavs lose for the sixth time in seven games.
By Doug Doughty doug.doughty@roanoke.com 981-3129

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- There was no double-digit lead for Virginia to squander Wednesday night.

This time it was host Maryland that took an early 10-point lead and handed the Cavaliers their sixth loss in the last seven games, 85-75, at Comcast Center.

Virginia (11-8, 1-5 ACC) trailed by as many as 15 points in the second half but staged a late rally that allowed it to get as close as 76-71 in the closing minutes.

Sean Singletary took a 3-pointer from the left wing that could have made it a three-point game, but he missed and the Terrapins (13-8, 3-3) got the rebound with 1:32 left.

In fact, Maryland seemed to get every rebound down the stretch, particularly at its offensive end. The Terps scored on each of their last 11 possessions, four times after grabbing offensive rebounds.

"We've taken a lot of pride in rebounding and defense and those are the two things that are failing us right now," UVa coach Dave Leitao said.

The Cavaliers scrapped their customary man-to-man defense in favor of a 2-3 zone that turned the ACC's least prolific 3-point unit into a firing squad.

Maryland made its first six shots from the field, including three 3-pointers, in racing to a 15-5 lead. The Terps scored 30 points in the first 8:50.

"We've put ourselves in a deep hole," said Leitao, whose team already has lost as many regular-season ACC games as it did during the 2006-2007 season, when the Cavaliers finished in a first-place tie at 11-5.

"The thing is, other teams see us play on tape and look at our record, and it allows them to get confidence and relieve some of the apprehension you have at the start of games."

Leitao said he went with the zone defense, because the Cavaliers had not been successful at "protecting the paint." They ended up outrebounding the Terrapins 31-30 and even had a 12-8 margin in offensive rebounds, which was surprising, given Maryland's late success.

"It was extremely frustrating," said 6-foot-9, 249-pound Ryan Pettinella, who fouled out without collecting a rebound in 18 minutes. "You work so hard at getting defensive stops, but when they get the offensive rebounds, what does it matter? Everyone was guilty of not boxing out."

Senior Adrian Joseph leads the Cavaliers in rebounding with more than 7.5 per game, but all he could do was watch from the bench after being pulled by Leitao with 10:33 left. Joseph was 0-for-4 from the field and finished with a season-low two points.

"Watching from the bench hurts," Joseph said. "Man, it's tough. I definitely hurt us."

The Cavaliers repeatedly sent Maryland to the free-throw line and the Terps made them pay, hitting 15 of their first 16 attempts.

Sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez had a game-high 25 points, as all five Maryland starters scored in double figures.

"As a team, we really struggled against the zone early in the year, so it was very gratifying tonight," Maryland coach Gary Williams said.

Singletary finished with a game-high 23 points, including 15 in the final 9:42. He was coming off back-to-back 11-point outings and continues to nurse a hip pointer.

"I initially wasn't going to play tonight, but they need me out there," said Singletary, who had three assists and, for the first time in 75 games, did not commit a turnover.

"We didn't talk very much at all," said Leitao of his pregame discussions with Singletary. "I didn't know up till 45 minutes before game time that he was going to play. He continues to amaze me."

Leitao used 12 players in the first half alone as he tried to light a fire under his slumping team, which visits Virginia Tech at 1 p.m. Saturday.

"The problem is not just with Adrian," said Leitao, who used Jamil Tucker for three minutes after Tucker had scored 13 points in his previous outing. "The problem is getting them all to play at a higher level emotionally. We just can't have this emotional roller-coaster."

 

Cavaliers need more heart
Aaron McFarling

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The reigning ACC coach of the year is stumped. You can see it in the way he stalks the sidelines, the way he cocks his head with his hands on his hips, the way he shouts another question to a player as he holds his palms to the sky.

You could hear it in his voice after Tuesday 85-75 loss at Maryland. He called his team "extremely disjointed," and it is. The Virginia men's basketball team is extremely disjointed right now. And if there's one thing Dave Leitao can't stand, it's disorder -- or even worse, utter aimlessness.

If Leitao had his way, I'm pretty sure the Cavaliers would be practicing as you read this. And it doesn't matter whether you're reading it at 8 a.m. or noon or 11 p.m. The Cavaliers clearly need work, and most of it is between the ears.

That's the way this Jim Calhoun disciple does things: he drills it into you as you donate sweat, forces you to pound on your teammates until you start thinking like he does.

And here are the two things Leitao thinks about:

1. Rebounding.

2. Defense.

That's pretty much it.

"And those are the two things that are failing us right now," said Leitao, who added that those two things are more a product of attitude than raw ability. "Just because you ask a guy to do something doesn't mean he's going to do it."

There are only so many hours Leitao can keep lashing his banged-up team in practice, only so many different ways he can try to get his message through. It's clear what he wants. He wants a dozen Sean Singletarys. Not so much the slashing and shooting and scooping and scoring Singletary brings -- heck, every team in the nation wants more of that -- but the desire. The toughness.

The heart.

Against a dozen Sean Singletarys, there's no way Maryland's James Gist collects a rebound while lying flat on his back, as he did in the first half Wednesday night. There's no way the Terrapins, who rank eighth in the ACC in field-goal percentage, shoot 52 percent from the field. There's no way they score on 11 straight possessions, as they did late in the second half as the Cavaliers tried to mount a comeback.

Leitao had a rough night tactically, too. He tried a zone defense in the first half -- a seemingly rational move for a team with a thin post game -- but the Cavaliers did not look comfortable in it at all. The Terps torched it for seven 3-pointers in the first half. A mere 10 minutes into the game, before most of the fans at the Comcast Center had found their seats, the Terps led by 13 and were on pace to score 120 points.

That's the way things go when you've lost six out of seven games and are playing on the road against a team that is starting to realize its potential. Every move you make seems to backfire. And Leitao knows that each tally in the league loss column (it's now five and counting) gives future opponents confidence, starting with Virginia Tech, which beat the Cavaliers in Charlottesville and will try to complete the sweep Saturday in Blacksburg.

The Cavaliers are staring up a mountain, and they shouldn't even bother trying to see the top. The view from the bottom of the ACC reveals only Florida States and Wake Forests and N.C. States and maybe a couple of others, beatable teams that the Cavaliers are talented enough to step over.

Leitao was the ACC coach of the year last season for good reason. But the next month will tell us a lot about his ability to reach a diverse -- and very different -- group of players. Can he get them to buy in and start mushing up the mountain? Or will they set up camp at the bottom and pass around the thermos of cocoa?

Leitao's stumped, but he's no quitter.

You can bet he'll be mushing all the way till March.
 

Cavs can't stop Terps down stretch
Sean Singletary scores 23 points for Virginia, but Maryland scores on its final 11 possessions to put the game away.
By MELINDA WALDROP | Daily Press
11:08 PM EST, January 30, 2008
 

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - One stop.

It was all Virginia needed, and more than it could manage.

Maryland scored on its final 11 possessions, including three crucial buckets after offensive rebounds, to hold off the Cavaliers for an 85-75 victory on Wednesday night.

Virginia trailed by as many as 15 points with 8:27 to play, but pulled within five twice in the final two minutes. Each time, though, the Terrapins had an answer -- the most devastating coming on Bambale Osby's tip-in off Greivis Vasquez's off-target 3-pointer. That pushed Maryland's lead to 80-73 with 52 seconds left and helped send the Cavs (11-8, 1-5 ACC) to their third straight conference loss.

"I've taken a lot of pride in rebounding and defense, and those are the two things, more than anything, that are failing us right now," U.Va. coach Dave Leitao said. "I've always thought that defense is an attitude, that rebounding is an attitude, and I'm not sure, at that moment in time and over the course of the games that we've been playing, that we've had the proper attitude to grab those rebounds and make those stops."

Virginia's leading rebounder wasn't even in the game for the final 10 minutes. Senior forward Adrian Joseph, averaging 7.7 rebounds per game, was benched after having a shot rejected by Osby midway through the second half.

"I definitely wanted to go back in the game, but coach made a decision that I wasn't playing the way I was supposed to be playing," said Joseph, who had three rebounds and just two points on a pair of second-half free throws.

Maryland (13-8, 3-3 ACC) built their largest lead at 66-51 on James Gist's long jumper with 8:27 to play. The Terps shot 71 percent during the game's first 10 minutes and made seven of 17 first-half 3-pointers after coming into the game averaging an ACC-worst 4.9 threes made per game. The threes stopped falling in the second half, but the Terps' lead wasn't threatened until Sean Singletary's driving layup pulled the Cavs within single digits for the first time since it was 41-32 with 2:11 to play in the first half.

Freshman forward Mike Scott then grabbed one of his game-high 12 rebounds, and Calvin Baker's 19-footer made it 67-60 with 5:22 to play. But after Vasquez -- who scored a game-best 25 points -- missed a 3-pointer, Osby got the rebound, was fouled and made both free throws.

Scott's dunk got the Cavs back within seven, but Landon Milbourne came up with the first of his two offensive rebounds and buckets for the Terps in less than a minute.

"It's tough when you play a good defensive stretch and they get an offensive rebound and putback, especially that late in the game," U.Va. junior guard Mamadi Diane said. 'That's something that's really unacceptable and something that will really kill us, as it did today."

Diane's baseline jam pulled U.Va. within 76-71 with 1:58 to play, and Singletary, who led the Cavs with 23 points, made it a 78-73 game with two free throws with 1:26 left -- seconds after his 3-point try, which would have made it a three-point game, rimmed out.

That's when Osby tipped in Vasquez's miss to take the fight out of the Cavs, who matched their ACC loss total from last year, when they shared the regular season title.

"You have to bring what you're about every night, and we haven't been bringing that for 40 minutes at all," Singletary said.

 

UIVa's slump deepens
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
January 31, 2008

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The opportunities were there. All the Cavaliers needed was one defensive stop, one turnover, one measly rebound to prevent Maryland from clinging to a fragile lead in the second half Wednesday night.
Eleven times the Terrapins crossed midcourt with the ball in the final five minutes. Eleven straight times they scored, holding on for an 85-75 win at Comcast Center against a reeling Virginia, which has lost six of seven.

Greivis Vasquez scored a game-high 25 points, one of five players in double figures for the Terps (13-8, 3-3 ACC), who have won three of four.

Virginia (11-8) is heading in the opposite direction, off to a 1-5 start in conference play, the same mark Pete Gillen had in the 2004-05 season, his last in Charlottesville.

"You've got to be optimistic," said UVa guard Sean Singletary, who turned in a valiant 23-point effort after almost not playing because of a bothersome hip pointer. "You don't want to throw your season in the trash even though we're struggling. It's not over."

The Cavaliers whittled a 17-point deficit to as little as six in the second half, but could chip away no further. Maryland never blinked when the game was on the line. If the Terps failed to get to the free throw line, where they went 12-for-16 down the stretch, they hammered UVa on the offensive glass.

Maryland forward Landon Milbourne (13 points) beat Mamadi Diane for an offensive rebound on two straight possessions, getting layups that kept the Terrapins' lead at nine.

Calvin Baker (17 points), Diane (16 points) and Singletary kept UVa within reach. Singletary, whose status was up in the air as close as 45 minutes to game time, scored 23 points on 9-of-17 shooting, with three assists and no turnovers.

"He continues to amaze me," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "I can't come close to naming somebody that I've ever been around that has the kind of heart that he does."

He drained a 3-pointer with 2:29 left, and, after missing a good look at an open 3 that would have cut the Maryland lead to three, sank two free throws with 1:26 to go that made it 78-73.

The Cavaliers appeared to get the break they needed at the other end when Vasquez missed a 3. But Bambale Osby out-hustled center Ryan Pettinella for the rebound, laying it in for an easy basket that made it a seven-point game with under a minute to play.

"Myself and the whole team failed in that area tonight," Pettinella said of the rebounding. "There's really no excuse you can give for that."

Virginia's leading rebounder - forward Adrian Joseph - sat on the bench for the last 10:22 after an anemic two-point effort in which he went 0-for-4 from the field and never seemed in sync.

Mike Scott grabbed a team-high 12 rebounds in 24 minutes, but Pettinella and Jerome Meyinsse combined for zero rebounds at the center position in 27 combined minutes.

"I've taken a lot of pride in rebounding and defense, and those are the two things that more than anything are failing us right now," Leitao said.

"I've always thought that defense is an attitude. And rebounding is an attitude. I'm not sure that over the course of the games we've played that we've had the proper attitude to have those rebounds or make those stops."

The Cavaliers didn't stop anything early on. Leitao employed a 2-3 zone to start the game, hoping to shore up a short-handed interior defense that was still missing Tunji Soroye and Lars Mikalauskas, who remained in street clothes due to injuries.

The goal was to limit Maryland's senior frontcourt of Gist (17 points, 9 rebounds) and Osby (11 points, 6 rebounds). What it did was open up things for Maryland from the outside.

The Terps, who were last in the ACC, making fewer than five 3-pointers a game, repeatedly got wide open looks and sank seven 3s in the first half. Vasquez and Eric Hayes made three apiece as Maryland raced to a 13-point lead by the 11-minute mark and went into halftime with a 43-33 lead.

That lead grew to 17 before the first TV timeout of the second half, giving Virginia little margin of error for the remainder of the game.

"You're forced into situations where you have to make plays," Leitao said. "The ball has to go in the basket. You have to rebound. Especially on the road, that's not any way to live."

 

Late second-half surge not enough for Cavs to nab win
Virginia cuts lead to 5 points with two minutes left but falls short of victory
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

By Paul Montana Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- When the Virginia men's basketball team cut a double-digit, second-half deficit to 5 with less than two minutes remaining, it appeared that the Cavaliers would avenge their blown leads of late by robbing Maryland in College Park. Virginia was unable to get stops down the stretch, however, and the Terrapins finished off the Cavaliers 85-75, for Virginia's sixth loss in seven games.

A drive and a two-handed dunk by junior guard Mamadi Diane cut the lead to 5 just past the two-minute mark. After senior forward James Gist hit one of two free throws on the other end, senior guard Sean Singletary had a chance to cut the lead to 3 with an open three, but the shot rimmed out with 45 seconds on the clock, and the Cavaliers' fate was all but sealed.

"We just waited too long to turn it around," Singletary said.

Virginia (11-8, 1-5 ACC) elected to play a 2-3 zone for much of the game in an effort to neutralize the talented Maryland frontcourt of senior forward Bambale Osby and Gist, but the Terrapins were unfazed, shooting 51.9 percent from the field for the game. Osby and Gist finished with a combined 28 points and 15 rebounds, and five Terrapins finished in double digits, led by sophomore guard Greivis Vasquez, who finished with 25 points on eight for 19 shooting.

"We have not been so far this year good at protecting the paint," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "I thought [playing zone] was a better way to protect the paint."

After going into halftime with a 43-33 score in favor of Maryland (13-8, 3-3 ACC), the two teams battled to an essential standstill in the second half, when the Terrapin lead hovered between 10 and 17 points for the first 13 minutes. Virginia finally brought the lead into single digits at the 6:25 mark of the second half on a Singletary floater in the lane, and sophomore guard Calvin Baker followed with a long two to cut the lead to 7.

In the closing minutes, however, the Cavaliers were unable to keep the Terrapins off the glass -- Maryland scored 8 points off five offensive rebounds in the last five minutes.

"I take a lot of pride in rebounding and defense," Leitao said. "Those are the things that are, more than anything, failing us right now."

The Cavaliers were also hurt by fouls in the second half. The Terrapins reached the bonus at the 10-minute mark, and they hit 23 of 28 from the charity stripe to keep Virginia at bay.

Though the Cavaliers were afflicted by some defensive lapses in the second half, it was the hole they found themselves in early that was the difference in the game. At the outset, Maryland picked apart the Virginia zone as the Terrapins hit seven of their first eight field goals, including their first three 3-pointers, to open up a quick double-digit lead. Maryland sophomore guard Eric Hayes found himself open early and often and made Virginia pay with 13 points on five-for-six shooting in the opening period.

The Terrapins would cool off, scoring just 5 points in a 6.5 minute span in late in the first half. The Cavaliers were unable to take advantage, however; they put up just 8 points in a dry spell of their own in the same span.

"The first 35 minutes of the game, we played back on our heels with some errors that we made from a preparation standpoint that really cost us," Leitao said. "When you give a team -- especially at home -- confidence, it's a very difficult situation to get yourself out of."

The Cavaliers will look to pick up their first ACC road win of the season against Virginia Tech Saturday.
 

The pain of losing
Paul Montana

Is it frustrating to watch Virginia flush its NCAA Tournament dreams down the toilet with its 1-5 ACC start? Absolutely.

Is it even more deflating when the team continues to put itself in position to win in the second half time and again, only to collapse in the final minutes? Of course.

The most difficult part of this rough start by the Cavaliers, however, is watching senior Sean Singletary leave his heart on the floor game-in and game-out while playing through a hip pointer and seeing no results. Last night's 85-75 loss to Maryland was no different.

Type in the phrase "hip pointer," on Wikipedia, WebMD and a number of other sources, and the phrase "painful injury," seems to be the catch phrase for every site.

If you have to qualify an injury with the word "painful," then you know it's a tough injury to play through.

"When it gets touched, it's very sensitive," Singletary said. "There's a lot of swelling right now."

The only treatment? Several weeks of rest.

Singletary's treatment, however, is 34-plus minutes per game, twice a week.

And yet, he continues to perform. Last night, he put up 23 points and didn't turn the ball over a single time.

Maybe the hip is feeling better, I thought as I entered the Virginia locker room. But when I asked him, he sighed, chuckled and flatly said no. It turns out that he wasn't even planning on playing last night until right before tip-off.

"It just kills right now," he said.

This is the third straight game Singletary has been laboring through this hip pointer, and the third straight game that he's been the best player on the floor.

Sure, he didn't put up the same numbers in the last two games against Georgia Tech and Florida State, and this newspaper and others have been quick to point out Singletary's previous two 11-point nights.

But, scoring isn't everything, and the fact of the matter is that even when the scoring element is missing, he's still the best player on the floor for the Cavaliers every night. He is spoonfeeding shots to his teammates, averaging 6.7 assists per game and handling the ball for the majority of most possessions. All of this while being double and triple-teamed, trapped, denied and shadowed.

And, by the way, he spends a good deal of time guarding some of the most talented point guards in the country, effectively utilizing his quick hands to pick the pockets of the most savvy of opposing ball-handlers.

"He continues to amaze me," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "I can't come close to naming somebody that I've ever been around that has the kind of heart he does."

Yet, Singletary or no Singletary, heart or no heart, Virginia continues to disappoint. And let's be realistic. For the Cavs to make the tournament, a .500 ACC record would almost certainly be enough to get them in, and even a 7-9 finish might do it.

But, Virginia is 1-5 in the ACC, and is facing the most grueling part of its schedule in the next few weeks. Of the next six games, four of them are on the road, and the two home games are against Clemson and No. 4 North Carolina. What are the chances of making the tournament? Slim.

But don't blame it on Sean.

Blame it on injuries. As Leitao pointed out after the Georgia Tech loss, the Cavs are missing Tunji Soroye and Lars Mikalauskas from their frontcourt and only recently got back Will Harris. In lieu of these two, the team is forced to start an undersized freshman in Mike Scott at center and Adrian Joseph at power forward when he really ought to be playing small forward.

Or, blame the defense. No matter how many points Singletary or anyone else puts up, the Cavs can't win too many more games when they give up 51.9 percent shooting from the floor.

Or, just blame the way the ball has bounced. After all, the Cavs are in every game. A few rolls here, a few calls there, and maybe Virginia is 4-2 instead of 1-5.

But Singletary is not the guy to pin it on. As hard as it is to remain loyal to a losing team, he needs the support of fans now more than ever. As much as the fans are frustrated by this string of crushing losses, you can bet that Singletary is doubly heartbroken.

"You don't want to throw your season in the trash even though we're struggling," he said. "But it's not over. We still can put some things together."

Singletary's not quitting on Virginia. The fans shouldn't quit on him either.

 

terps shredCav defense
January 31, 2008 12:15 am
BY TAFT COGHILL JR.
COLLEGE PARK, Md.--

When Dave Leitao was hired to coach the Virginia men's basketball team in April 2005, he said the Cavaliers' foundation would be defense and rebounding.

But 19 games into Leitao's third season, that foundation is crumbling.

What was supposed to be a trademark has become the Cavaliers' biggest weakness.

It was exposed again last night in their sixth loss in the past seven games: an 85-75 setback to Maryland in front of 17,950 at Comcast Center.

"We've taken a lot of pride in our defense and rebounding," Leitao said. "Those two things are failing us right now."

The Cavaliers (11-8, 1-5, Atlantic Coast Conference) did get a strong performance out of senior point guard Sean Singletary, who bounced back from two subpar showings with 23 points and no turnovers. Sophomore guard Calvin Baker added 17 points and Mamadi Diane had 16.

"We just waited too long to turn things around," Singletary said. "When you get down the stretch and you need stops, you've got to get those stops. Teams have been able to do that against us. It's no reason why we shouldn't be able to do it."

But they didn't last night, mostly because of an inability to secure defensive rebounds late in the game.

Virginia actually out-rebounded the Terrapins 31-30, but it gave up three crucial offensive boards for scores in the final four minutes as Maryland (13-8, 3-3) held on after building a 17-point second-half lead.

The Cavaliers' defense allowed the Terrapins to shoot 52 percent from the floor. They opened the game in a zone defense--a rarity for the Cavaliers--but Maryland took advantage by connecting on seven 3-pointers in the first half as they raced to a 43-33 halftime lead.

"We did a great job against the zone," Maryland head coach Gary Williams said. "We did a really good job running our offense and getting open looks as well."

Leitao went to the zone with hopes of combating Maryland's inside duo of James Gist and Bambale Osby.

But he didn't expect Maryland guards Greivis Vasquez and Eric Hayes to combine for 26 points and six 3s in the first half.

Vasquez finished with 25 points, while Hayes had 15 and nine assists. Gist and Osby still combined for 28 points and 15 rebounds.

"I was surprised they started out in a zone," Hayes said. "Fortunately, Greivis and I were able to make some shots."

Osby came through with one of the biggest shots of the night when he gathered an offensive rebound and scored to give his team an 80-73 lead with 52 seconds remaining, essentially ending the Cavaliers' hopes of a comeback.

Just two minutes earlier Maryland sophomore forward Landon Milbourne had back-to-back put-backs, leaving Cavaliers' leading rebounder Adrian Joseph upset he was on the bench during the final 10 minutes.

Leitao said Joseph wasn't emotionally involved enough in the game.

"Being the leading rebounder on the team, it definitely hurt watching my team battling and I'm not out there," Joseph said.

Cavaliers' senior center Ryan Pettinella said team breakdowns were responsible for their late struggles on the boards.

"The onus lays on every one of us," he said. "Every one of us was missing box-out assignments and they were just killing us with offensive rebounds."

The Cavaliers must regroup in a hurry. They visit Virginia Tech on Saturday. They're in last place in the ACC, which comes as a surprise to the players because they started the season 10-2.

Leitao described his squad as "extremely disjointed," but Singletary remains confident.

"I know we're going to turn it around," Singletary said. "I'm not even worried. I know a lot of people are counting us out right now, but crazier things have happened."
 

UVa class travels under radar
By Jay Jenkins / jjenkins@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
January 31, 2008

After making a major splash in recruiting in 2002 and 2003, Virginia’s football classes have failed to finish in the top five in the league since, at least in the eyes of the top recruiting service.

The current crop of could-be Cavaliers appears to be headed in the same direction, narrowly ranking ahead of only one league foe, Duke, in the latest ranking released by Rivals.com.

Sure, Virginia could make a splash in the days leading up to Wednesday’s National Signing Day, as a handful of talented recruits are currently visiting (WR Randall Dunn and LB Steve Greer) or planning to attend this weekend, but time is running out.

As has become the trend the past two years, and partly due to the current restraints placed on the coaching staff, Virginia was forced to place a stronger effort on finding recruits that will be the right fit in the classroom and inside the program.

That led to greater numbers of redshirted players, which increased firepower on scout teams and should ultimately give the coaching staff added flexibility moving forward.

And despite some recent attrition, at least one committed recruit said a strong sense of unity remains within the program.

Colter Phillips, a tight end from Georgetown Prep in Maryland, said his official visit earlier this month created a calming feeling.

“I really saw that everyone on the team had a lot of respect for each other and they kind of watch out for each other outside of football,” Phillips said. “It really meant a lot to me that I could be a part of that the next few years, because it is hard being a college athlete.

“You have to have your teammates to help you through it.”

Phillips, merely a two-star by Rivals, is a prime example of how the rating system can miss some prospects.

“My dad was the main person that handled my recruiting and we didn’t play all the recruiting games,” Phillips said. “We didn’t go to any combines … to boost my grade or whatever. It really doesn’t matter at all to me.”

Phillips cited some of the hidden two-star gems that Virginia has developed into talented players, a group that includes former All-ACC standouts Branden Albert, Brad Butler and Heath Miller, and current tight end John Phillips and nose tackle Nate Collins.

It is likely that enormous pressure will not be placed on Phillips to perform, something he appreciates.

“I kind of like being a little underrated because I can come in and people don’t expect me to do too much,” he said. “I can come in without a spotlight on me. I can do my thing and not have to worry about what everyone else thinks.”

Virginia’s current commitment list includes 15 players, although the program is essentially re-recruiting offensive tackle Corey Lewis. The three-star recruit said he visited Penn State last week and will select between Illinois, Penn State and Virginia.

The Cavaliers’ recruiting coach, Bob Price, had an in-home visit with Lewis on Wednesday.

 

London makes adjustments to having new job
The new UR coach told his UVa recruits they should honor their commitments.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

Two weeks into his tenure as University of Richmond football coach, Mike London couldn't cut his ties to Virginia if he wanted.

London forged strong relationships with players and recruits in his latest two-year sojourn in Charlottesville, and the UVa program is feeling his absence.

London knew there was a possibility he would get the Richmond job, so one of his last acts as a Virginia assistant was to travel to suburban Maryland and talk to three players he had recruited.

"I told them, 'Look, you're going to hear some things,'" London said. "In all cases, I told them, 'The reasons you chose Virginia are still very valid.'"

Nevertheless, within days of Richmond's announcement, recruit Ugo Uzodinma told the Cavaliers that he was withdrawing his commitment and would sign with Illinois.

Uzodinma also said he was disappointed that London had not called him personally to inform him of his decision.

"I called his coach," London said. "I spoke to his mother. It's just one of those things. The kid and I had a great relationship. He picked Virginia because of me. That's the way it happens sometimes."

Of the first 16 players to commit to Virginia for 2008, eight were recruited by London. Many of the current UVa players either were recruited by London or had him as their defensive coordinator.

He was also the position coach for the defensive line, where he helped develop first-team All-American Chris Long, as well as Long's bookend defensive end, Jeffrey Fitzgerald, a rising star who ranked fourth on the team in tackles.

London has served as a confidant in recent times for Fitzgerald, who has been dealing with an undisclosed off-the-field issue that has jeopardized his UVa future.

"I understand that he has an appeal in process," London said, "but this has hit them really, really hard as a family. All I can really do is provide emotional support at a time like this.

"If it happens [that Fitzgerald leaves], it's a loss not only in terms of athletic ability but in leadership, too. He's a great kid who's a real presence in that locker room."

Virginia is in position to lose the entire front line of its 3-4 defense, including Long's fellow senior, nose tackle Allen Billyk. Holdovers include 2007 backups Nate Collins, Alex Field and Sean Gottschalk.

The X-factor might be redshirt nose tackle Nick Jenkins, one of the highest-rated recruits in Virginia's 2007 signing class.

"It's going to be his time," London said. "He's a real buzz saw. ... Nick's class is a really talented class. Plus, [cornerback] Mike Brown is coming back."

Another cornerback, two-year starter Chris Cook, joins quarterback Jameel Sewell and two other scholarship players who are not enrolled this semester.

That makes at least five players with remaining eligibility who will not be available in 2008, including first-team All-ACC offensive guard Branden Albert, who applied for the NFL Draft.

Moreover, Uzodinma might not be the only London recruit to renege.

Corey Lewis, an all-state offensive lineman from Pennsylvania, took an official visit to Penn State following London's departure.

"Had this opportunity not come along, I would still be there," said London, a University of Richmond graduate. "I understand they're going through some tough times.

"You know me, I'm emotional about everything I do. I laugh, I hug, I cry. The relationship part with those guys was huge. It's unfortunate what's happened with Sewell and Fitz, but I've had to tell myself, 'There's hardly ever a right time to leave.'"