Virginia’s near-miss comes calling
By Whitey Reid
Published: January 13, 2009

When it comes to recruiting, almost every college basketball coach can lament about “the one that got away.” Even the Coach K’s and the Billy Donovans miss out on some of the best high school talent.
Still, when Ed Davis chose North Carolina over Virginia two summers ago, it was a particularly harsh blow to UVa coach Dave Leitao and his staff.
Davis, an in-state product — he played at Richmond’s Benedictine High — had been one of their top targets from the time they replaced former Virginia coach Pete Gillen four years ago.
“[It] was obviously disappointing,” Leitao said, “but at the same point in time — if you’re going to try to be the best in this business, you have to forget about it in all of about 10 seconds. You have to move on, and that’s what we did.”
But on Thursday night at John Paul Jones Arena, the staff will likely experience the kind of stinging pain that one feels after bumping into a good-looking ex-girlfriend — Davis and North Carolina will be in town.
This season, Davis — thanks to an injury to freshman 7-footer Tyler Zeller — has played more than expected. The 6-foot-10, 215-pound left-hander is leading the team in rebounding (7.8) and blocks (1.8).
Davis, who has started twice, is averaging 7.3 points in just over 20 minutes per game.
“He’s done a nice job for us,” said North Carolina coach Roy Williams, whose team is 0-2 in the ACC after a 92-89 loss to Wake Forest on Sunday night. “He’s been asked to step up and play a lot of minutes as a freshman and has really done a nice job defensively and rebounding-wise.
“We’ve got to work with him and he’s got to work to get more efficient on the offensive end, but we like what we have.”
Davis has been pretty much what Leitao and his staff envisioned.
“The few times I’ve gotten to see him play, he’s fit in really well,” Leitao said. “Everybody, including myself, expects him to have a terrific career. He’s a terrific prospect.”
Williams said he didn’t zero in on Davis until the spring of his sophomore year. It was then that he went to see him play in person. Williams liked Davis’ shot-blocking and rebounding prowess. He also liked his demeanor on the court.
“He didn’t get caught up in a lot of theatrics,” Williams recalled.
The more Williams watched, the more he liked.
“It was a great match for us,” Williams said, “because of the things he could do on the court and the kind of character he has.”
Since Williams and North Carolina didn’t become enamored until relatively late in the game, the Virginia staff thought they might have an edge since they had been recruiting Davis the longest.
Wahoo fans could practically see Davis, rated by one recruiting service as the second-best player in the country, in a Virginia uniform (along with Elliot Williams, a 5-star point guard who would later choose Duke over UVa).
But what nobody predicted was the influence of Ed’s father, Terry Davis, a former NBA player who had played his college ball at Virginia Union. Apparently, it had always been Terry’s dream to play for a program like UNC.
In addition, one of Terry’s good friends, Larry Drew, a former NBA player, was already sending his son to UNC.
“[Ed] liked Carolina from Day One. I liked Carolina from Day One,” Terry Davis told the Daily Progress last spring. “We’ve always liked the program and the tradition there.
“What really kind of put the icing on the cake [was] Larry Drew.”
By all accounts, Ed Davis certainly has the potential to follow in his father’s footsteps and play in the NBA. Most believe that Ed is much more talented than Terry, who played for four teams in a 10-year career.
Leitao, however, has to put those kinds of thoughts in the back of his mind. The way back.
“Over 20, 25 years you celebrate the guys that you get and you quickly forget about the ones that you don’t,” said Leitao, who has signed Tristan Spurlock (Woodbridge,) and Jontel Evans (Hampton) for his 2009 class. “Every coach in America can have an all ‘What-if team’ that would be as good as there is in the country.”
Some schools, however, seem to have far more “What-ifs” than others.

 

Angry Tar Heels coming to Virginia
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: January 14, 2009

Roy Williams isn’t making any excuses why his once No.1-ranked North Carolina basketball team is 0-2 in the ACC. He isn’t reaching for the panic button either.
The Tar Heels entered ACC play with a perfect 14-0 record and a winning margin of more than 25 points per game. Some observers had already anointed Carolina as the inevitable national champions and predicted the Heels would go unbeaten for the season, running the ACC gauntlet at 16-0.
Along came Boston College, which stunned UNC at the Dean Dome. National Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough was trying to work himself back into top-notch condition after rehabbing from some shin and ankle problems, and forward Marcus Ginyard was still suffering from offseason foot surgery.
Then, the Heels lost at Wake on Sunday night and you could see the wheels come off the bandwagon.
Finding the real UNC
Well, the real Carolina is probably somewhere in the middle of all that. The Heels could still win the ACC and still win the national title, but all that undefeated stuff wasn’t worth much in Williams’ opinion.
“Two or three weeks ago I didn’t think we were the greatest thing since sliced bread, and didn’t believe all the things people saying about us,” Williams said. “All that undefeated stuff and 50 points better than anyone else, I thought that was a bunch of hogwash.”
UNC’s plummet from the ACC’s penthouse to the outhouse for the first two weeks of the season isn’t quite as far a drop as some are making it out to be.
“I don’t think we’re as bad as some are saying right now,” Williams said a couple of days before Carolina’s next stop: Charlottesville’s John Paul Jones Arena. “I didn’t believe that 16-0 stuff any more than I think we’ll go 0-16.”
Trouble for Cavaliers?
When the Tar Heels arrive for Thursday night’s game, expect them to be in a bad mood — make that an angry mood — for their game against Virginia (7-6, 1-1).
“Obviously we’re mad right now about some things, but I think after these practices we’ll look forward to playing again,” said Hansbrough.
Williams says his team has been outplayed in the two conference games and points to several reasons why.
“We’re sitting here 0-2, having shot 36 percent in two conference games,” the UNC coach said. “Our opponents are shooting 46 percent. We haven’t done anything offensively or defensively in two conference games.
“We haven’t played worth a darn,” Williams added. “Other teams have guarded us better than we’ve guarded them. They’ve shot better than we have and taken care of the ball better than we have.”
He’s a bit concerned with his team’s ball movement and ball sharing. He pointed to the 24 assists compared to 33 turnovers in the two ACC outings as an example.
“For the University of North Carolina to play an 89-point game (Wake won, 92-89) and to have nine assists, tells you a lot right there,” Williams said. “I’m not saying we’re a selfish bunch — [just] maybe too confident at times. We’ve got to move the ball better and work together better.”
Ginyard’s absence in the past two games has been noticeable because he’s the Heels’ best defensive player and there hasn’t been anyone to step up and become the stopper that the senior forward has been for three years. Ginyard won’t play Thursday night against the Cavaliers.
Williams will hold Ginyard out of practices and games until the player shows improvement.
“We don’t have a set date, a week, two weeks, whatever,” the coach said. “We’ll get rehab on that foot so that he can get more explosiveness and get rid of some of the pain.”
BC’s Tyrese Rice and Wake’s Jeff Teague likely would not have romped through the Tar Heels’ defense with as much ease had Ginyard been available.
“Needless to say we could use [Ginyard’s defense] right now,” Williams said.
Virginia gave No. 5 Carolina a scare at JPJ last February before bowing by a single point, 75-74.
Williams will probably remind his Tar Heels about that game prior to their trip up from Chapel Hill later today. He won’t have to say a lot to get his team motivated. The 0-2 start has already taken care of that.
“I’m stunned,” said UNC point guard Ty Lawson. “I’m a competitor and I love to win. It’s hurting right now. We’ve got to change something.”
Forward Danny Green said he’s just as shocked as anyone about the 0-2 start.
“I think everybody’s shocked that we lost one game,” Green said. “Of course I’m upset. I hate to lose. Everybody on this team hates to lose.”
That, my friends, makes Virginia’s assignment on Thursday evening even tougher because it will take a monumental effort to to force Carolina to start 0-3 in the ACC.

 

Cavaliers relish underdog status
By Whitey Reid
Published: January 15, 2009

On the website Facebook, members have the option of filling in a section on their page that lets other members know precisely what they are doing or thinking at any particular moment.

To wit: John Smith is “ready for the weekend.” John Smith is “not feeling well today.” John Smith is “hungry.”

Recently, Virginia freshman Sylven Landesberg got a little deeper.

The Cavaliers’ star wrote, “Sylven Landesberg is ‘not cocky, just confident.’”

Landesberg’s distinction is important when you consider his mindset heading into tonight’s game versus fifth-ranked North Carolina at John Paul Jones Arena. When asked about going up against a team that many are predicting to win the national championship and features a number of future NBA players, the New York native didn’t seem the least bit intimidated.

“We’re ready to compete no matter who it is,” Landesberg said. “You could bring in the Lakers, the Celtics — we’re going to compete. I mean, it’s a challenge, but we’re all up for it and we just can’t wait for this game.”

Unfortunately for Landesberg and Virginia (7-6, 1-1 ACC), the feeling is mutual.

UNC is also chomping at the bit. In fact, UVa has probably run into UNC at the absolute worst time.

The Tar Heels (14-2, 0-2) have dropped their first two league games to Boston College and Wake Forest and sit behind Virginia in the ACC standings. The likelihood of UNC losing its third straight league contest — to a team that has nearly lost as many games as it has won — would seem remote.

But that, as they say, is why they play the games.

“They’re 0-2 in the league, so I’m sure things [haven’t been] so pleasant for them as they’ve prepared for us,” said Virginia coach Dave Leitao. “It will be a major, major challenge for us.”

In last year’s game in Charlottesville, UVa went toe-to-toe with UNC. The Cavaliers matched the Tar Heels’ intensity before losing, 75-74.

One of the reasons Virginia was able to hang tough was its defense on Hansbrough. Lars Mikalauskas, as he had done in previous meetings, was able to get in the head of “Psycho T,” muscling up on the Tar Heels’ All-American and drawing charges.

The onus for defending Hansbrough will fall on sophomore Mike Scott, freshman Assane Sene and possibly senior Tunji Soroye.

Of the three, Sene, who has averaged 2.2 blocks per game, has shown the most promise. His long arms have really bothered opponents.

In the loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday, Hokies forward Jeff Allen seemed to be looking over his shoulder and was held to a season low of three points.

“He’s a very good player,” said Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, referring to Sene. “He protects the front of the rim. He’s long and he plays hard. He’s active and hard to block out.”

Leitao has been very pleased with Sene’s development.

“He still needs some polish and some other things,” he said, “but his work ethic — his motor more than anything — has gotten us to the point where we’re a better team with him on the floor, and, as a result, it’s earned him the kind of playing time that he’s been getting.”

Of course, defending Hansbrough is just one of many challenges Virginia will face. UNC point guard Ty Lawson is considered one of the fastest players in the country, and UVa’s Sammy Zeglinski will have to work hard to stay in front of him. Meanwhile, Landesberg — Virginia’s leading scorer — will have the likes of Wayne Ellington, Danny Green and Bobby Frasor draped all over him.

“They’re a great team,” Landesberg said. “We just have to really be ready for them because they have a lot of weapons and we have to be able to hold some of them down.”

Dunks

North Carolina leads the all-time series 122-48 (42-30 in Charlottesville) … Virginia’s last win in the series came in coach Dave Leitao’s first season — a 72-68 win at University Hall. … UNC guard Marcus Ginyard is out with a foot injury. Tar Heel coach Roy Williams said the Alexandria native will be missed. “He gives us a guy who’s going to take a charge, who’s going to get an offensive rebound, who’s going to get a key steal, who can bother people with what he’s doing as a total basketball player,” Williams said. “And needless to say, we could use that right now.”… Virginia sophomore Jeff Jones, due to the emergence of Mustapha Farrakhan, had his second DNP of the season against Virginia Tech. … Dick Vitale’s shunning of John Paul Jones Arena will continue. ESPN’s Mike Patrick and Bill Raftery will call the game. Vitale has yet to work a game at JPJ.

 

Hungry Heels visit U.Va. in ACC home opener
Landesberg continues to fuel Virginia offense as conference slate carries on tonight at JPJ
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
Published: Thursday, January 15 2009

Freshman guard Sylven Landesberg puts up a reverse lay-up against Xavier Jan. 3. Despite the athleticism of ACC opponents and the attention defenses paid him, Landesberg put up 26 points in an 88-84 overtime win against Georgia Tech Dec. 28 and 20 points in a 78-75 loss to Virginia Tech Jan. 10. “We’ve got to be hungry.”

That’s what North Carolina junior forward Wayne Ellington told reporters Tuesday, two days after the Tar Heels lost to Wake Forest 92-89 in Winston-Salem. The preseason No. 1 team in the nation has shocked itself and the country by opening the conference season 0-2, as the loss to the Demon Deacons followed an even more stunning 85-78 loss in Chapel Hill to Boston College, picked by the ACC media preseason to finish 11th — ahead of only Virginia.

That means tonight at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia will have to contend with a North Carolina roster that is not only full of NBA prospects but also angry.

Tonight’s matchup with the struggling Tar Heels is Virginia’s ACC home debut after the team split its first two conference games on the road to Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech. This game is the first of a home-and-home with North Carolina, as Virginia makes the return trip Feb. 7.

“Everybody has to be looking forward to [tonight’s game],” freshman guard Sylven Landesberg said. “It’s gonna be a challenge, and I love challenges.”

As the conference season has started, Landesberg has quieted any Virginia followers who questioned whether he could continue to find lanes to the basket against ACC opponents. The New York City native continues to lead the Cavaliers in scoring and sits at fourth in the conference with 18.5 points per game. He has exceeded that mark in each of the team’s two ACC contests, pouring in 26 against Georgia Tech and 20 at Virginia Tech. Landesberg was named ACC Rookie of the Week Tuesday primarily for his effort against Virginia Tech, the fifth time he has received the award this season. He is just the fourth player in Virginia history to win the award at least five times; Cavalier greats Ralph Sampson (1979-80) and Sean Singletary (2004-05) each won the award five times, while Bryant Stith (1988-89) was given the honor on a Virginia-record six occasions.

Another common thread to Virginia’s first two ACC contests has been playing well from behind. Against the Hokies, Virginia trailed by 15 with 5:23 left in regulation, before sophomore guard Mustapha Farrakhan drained four threes in a row to bring Virginia as close as 2 with under a minute remaining before Hokie senior A.D. Vassallo answered with a bucket to put Virginia away. In Atlanta, a 3-point shot from junior forward Jamil Tucker and some big missed free throws from Georgia Tech ultimately sent the game to overtime, when Virginia took its first lead since the 14:29 mark of the second half en route to an 88-84 victory.

“We seem to do this a lot — we start to play harder when the game is starting to get away from us,” Landesberg said. “We’ve gotta find a way to just play like that the whole game.”

One thing that hindered Virginia against the Hokies that could potentially cost Virginia coach Dave Leitao even more tonight is foul trouble in the frontcourt, particularly for 7-foot freshman center Assane Sene. Sene picked up his fourth foul with Virginia trailing by 10 at the 6:38 mark of the second half, and Virginia Tech built the lead to its largest margin of 15 with Sene on the bench.

Sene averages 1.5 blocks per game this season and has the ability to alter shots more than any Cavalier center in recent memory. His size and length makes him the most able to bother North Carolina’s Tyler Hansbrough, but Sene has had trouble keeping himself on the floor on several occasions this season. Considering Hansbrough’s physical style and his deft ability to get to the foul line, keeping Sene on the floor has to be a concern for Leitao, who noted that while foul trouble was certainly a factor in Blacksburg, it was less of an issue against the perimeter-oriented Hokies.

“You have to make a judgment when a guy has three [fouls] or is in any foul trouble,” Leitao said. “Can you manage with them out? Can you manage with them in foul trouble? Or, you can dip them in and out.”

And, of course, to the dismay of Virginia fans, the Tar Heels likely will not take for granted this game against the preseason pick for last in the ACC.

“Sometimes we go out there and just expect to win instead of realizing that nobody’s going to roll over for us,” Ellington told reporters after the loss to Wake Forest. “We’ve got a target on our back.”

 

Tar Heels looking for the solution
By JACK DALY : The Herald-Sun
jdaly@heraldsun.com; 419-6672
Jan 15, 2009

CHAPEL HILL -- The way Roy Williams sees it, North Carolina has the scrap paper and pencil out, grinding away on what should be a straight-forward problem.

Try as they might, the Tar Heels can't get their answer to match one of the four multiple-choice options.

"A guy that tries hard in a math test and adds two and two and gets five -- he still made a mistake," UNC's coach said. "So we've got to add our brain to that part of it. I think that is more of the problem than our effort.

"I don't think anybody that watched our kids the last two games said, 'Oh, they're just dogging it.' I really don't believe that. We haven't played very hard with intelligence."

With losses in their first two ACC games, the No. 5 Tar Heels have spent the days since Sunday's 92-89 loss to No. 2 Wake Forest exploring what the team needs to change so that 2+2=4. UNC will travel to Virginia (7-6, 1-1) tonight looking to avoid its first 0-3 start in the ACC since the 1996-97 season (9 p.m., ESPN).

The Tar Heels (14-2, 0-2) had a four-hour practice Tuesday that included an unusual two-hour segment dedicated to digesting the entire game tape of the loss to the Demon Deacons.

Even before that session, UNC's players had a pretty good idea of what the tape was going to reveal. The Tar Heels had watched the gory replay on the ride home from Winston-Salem, after all.

"We need everybody on the same page, and I feel like not everybody's on the same page and not everybody's clicking," senior guard Danny Green said. "A lot of times, you're not going to have everybody clicking. But it helps when everybody's on the same page. ... I think last game, we got a little frustrated with each other, and not everybody shot well."

Green's being kind, possibly because he was the only UNC player to have a solid shooting night. The other four starters combined to make only 14 of their 50 shot attempts.

In addition to their dismal shooting percentage in their two league games (36.7 percent), the Tar Heels have 24 assists and 33 turnovers.

"For the University of North Carolina to play an 89-point game and to have nine assists -- that tells you a lot of the story right there," Williams said. "I'm not going to say we're a selfish bunch -- we're maybe too confident at times and think, 'I can just beat my man.' In this league, you're not going to do that."

Especially if teammates aren't there to make life easier.

"Their screening wasn't crisp," ESPN analyst Jay Bilas said. "There were a lot of times they went to set a screen and they really never got set, never screened a man. They're so good offensively that they still scored 90 points. It kind of shows that even when you're as good as they are, you can't afford to have any slippage in their game."

All of which brings us to sunny point No. 2: While the Tar Heels have had some unusual hiccups offensively (unusual because UNC still is No. 2 in the nation in scoring offense, which is where it finished the 2007-08 season), they're still the same defensive team that's prompted Williams to bring up defense at just about every news conference during the past two years.

By now, the success of opposing point guards is so well established -- Boston College's Tyrese Rice had 25 points, Wake Forest's Jeff Teague 34 -- that it is almost like saying Tyler Hansbrough plays hard or Ty Lawson's fast.

"Not that my opinion matters, but I think if North Carolina makes stopping their opponent their No. 1 priority, everything else will fall into line for them," Bilas said. "With any running team, the only way that you can get out in run is by defending. The best running teams also happen to be the best defensive teams."

If defense will be good for UNC's legs, there's also the matter of tending to its brain.

Williams was particularly disappointed the Tar Heels had to burn two timeouts against Wake Forest on inbound plays.

If UNC had a timeout when Teague missed a free throw with 3.3 seconds remaining, the Tar Heels might have gotten a better shot than Will Graves' desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer.

"I think we've got to pay more attention to detail," senior Bobby Frasor said. "We've had so many careless mistakes and little things -- just not executing our plays well. ...

"We've just got to be more -- I don't know what the word is. We've just to pay more attention."
 

From 'oh, wow!' to 0-2
Virginia will try to keep the suddenly struggling Heels winless in the ACC.
By Norm Wood | 247-4642
January 15, 2009

Though North Carolina coach Roy Williams never bought in to all the preseason hype about his team, he didn't think its start to the Atlantic Coast Conference slate would be this rocky.

Several numbers make Williams cringe when he thinks about UNC's 0-2 start in the conference. He shudders when he ponders his team's 36.7 field-goal percentage in conference games, second-worst in the ACC. In his opinion, there are no excuses for finishing the two games with totals of 24 assists and 33 turnovers. Boston College and Wake Forest shot a combined 46.6 percent against No. 5 UNC (14-2 overall), another number that makes Williams queasy.

As his team prepares to play at Virginia (7-6, 1-1) tonight, Williams isn't happy with just calling it a mere bump in the road.

"Three weeks ago, everybody was saying 'undefeated' and '50 points better than anybody else,' " Williams said. "I thought it was a bunch of hogwash. Now, when we're sitting here 0-2, I really don't think we're going to go 0-16 in the league either. The bottom line is we haven't played worth a darn, and the other teams have had a great deal to do with that, so I'm not just one of those guys that thinks it's just how we play. ... I think if you say it's a lull, and it's going to happen, that's accepting it. I don't think we want to do that."

UNC will try to avoid its first 0-3 start in the ACC since the 1996-97 season at U.Va., the team that handed the Tar Heels their third ACC loss to start the '96-97 season. While U.Va. has lost four consecutive games to UNC, and six of the last seven meetings, the Cavaliers have to be encouraged by what they've seen from the Tar Heels' defense early on. In the last two games, against Brown and Virginia Tech, U.Va. shot 49.6 percent from the floor.

"There's a couple big keys for us," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "One is to get that ball below the foul line in a lot of different ways, and two ... is how well did we execute at some of the small things, timing and those kind of things? We continue to be a work in progress as far as the timing of your offense or even when you do certain things and managing yourself through that. That continues to be a day-by-day challenge — getting everybody to understand when to push and when to pull."

Despite its recent troubles, UNC will bring three of the ACC's top 20 scorers to Charlottesville — scoring-average leader Tyler Hansbrough (22.4 points and 7.5 rebounds per game), Ty Lawson (14.8 ppg) and Danny Green (13.3 ppg). Tar Heels freshman forward Ed Davis, a Richmond native whom Leitao coveted on the recruiting trail, is averaging 7.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game — team highs in rebounding and blocks.

U.Va., coming off last Saturday's 78-75 loss at Virginia Tech, will counter with guard Sylven Landesberg, whose 18.5 points per game and penchant for drawing fouls near the basket demonstrates what Leitao meant about getting the ball below the foul line. Forward Mike Scott, who is averaging 11.7 points and nine rebounds per game, has scored in double figures in the Cavaliers' last five games.

 

U.VA. NOTES: Ginyard out indefinitely
Published: January 14, 2009

Ginyard out indefinitely
The North Carolina men's basketball team has plenty of other weapons, but Virginia isn't likely to face senior Marcus Ginyard tomorrow night at John Paul Jones Arena.

Ginyard, a 6-5 swingman from Alexandria, has struggled to recover from an early October operation to repair a stress fracture in his left foot. He's played in only three games this season and may not play again for awhile.

"We've decided to shut him down with the basketball practices, basketball games," UNC coach Roy Williams said Monday. "We don't have a set date - a week, two weeks, whatever. We're trying to just get more rehab on that foot, see if we can get some more of his explosiveness back, some more of his quickness back, and get rid of some of that pain."

Had Ginyard been available Sunday night, Wake Forest guard Jeff Teague might not have torched UNC for a career-high 34 points. Ginyard, a Bishop O'Connell graduate, is not a prolific scorer, but he's a shut-down defender.

"He gives us a guy who's going to take a charge, who's going to get an offensive rebound, who's going to get a key steal, who can bother people with what he's doing as a total basketball player," Williams said. "And needless to say, we could use that right now."

ESPN will televise the 9 p.m. game between U.Va. (1-1, 7-6) and fifth-ranked Carolina (0-2, 14-2).

Sene impresses
Assane Sene is averaging 2.2 blocked shots, but until he's played in 75 percent of U.Va.'s games, the 7-foot freshman won't appear among the ACC's leaders in that category.

If he were eligible now, Sene, who missed the first four games, would rank second in the ACC, behind only Clemson's Trevor Booker (2.8).

In Virginia's loss at Virginia Tech on Saturday, Sene was limited to 25 minutes because of foul trouble, but still contributed six points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

"He protects the front of the rim," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said. "He's long and he plays hard. He's active, he's hard to block out. He did a couple more things offensively than I thought he would do. . . . He's an outstanding prospect."

4 Cavs in all-star game
Four former U.Va. football stars have accepted invitations to play in the Jan. 24 Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala. - offensive tackle Eugene Monroe, tailback Cedric Peerman, tight end John Phillips and linebacker Clint Sintim.

The game will start at 7 p.m. and be televised by the NFL Network.

Groh in need of one
Since the end of the 2008 season, Al Groh has hired an offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach (Gregg Brandon), a wide receivers coach (Latrell Scott) and a strength-and-conditioning coach (Brandon Hourigan).

Groh has one vacancy left on his staff - defensive-line coach - and a possibility is Chad Wilt.

A former graduate assistant at U.Va., Wilt has been on Danny Rocco's staff at Liberty for the past three seasons. Rocco, who has quickly built a dominant program at Liberty, is a former Virginia assistant.

Wilt coaches the Flames' defensive line and their special teams. Like Virginia's, Liberty's base defense is the 3-4. Wilt, who has a master's from U.Va., also has been an assistant at Central Connecticut State, Taylor and William and Mary.

India eyes Devvarman
To say the tennis community in his native India has high hopes for Somdev Devvarman is an understatement.

Devvarman, who won two NCAA singles titles at U.Va., is on the ATP world tour, and he reached the final of the Chennai Open before losing Sunday.

After the tournament, an article by the Press Trust of India said that there "was a sense of relief in the Indian tennis fraternity as now they have found a messiah in Somdev Devvarman who, they believe, possesses the grit and gumption to change the landscape of the game in the country."

In the latest ATP rankings for singles, Devvarman is No.154. He graduated from U.Va. last year. - Jeff White

 

The Cav who got away

UNC AT U.VA.

Today:9 p.m.
TV:ESPN
Radio:WRVA (1140), 8:30

By Jeff White
Published: January 15, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- If he weren't in baby blue, he'd be a'Hoo.

That's small consolation to University of Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao and his staff, who desperately wanted Ed Davis to be a regular at John Paul Jones Arena. The former Benedictine High star will play there tonight, but afterward Davis will head back to Chapel Hill with the North Carolina Tar Heels.

Leitao and his staff, led by assistant Steve Seymour, pursued Davis tirelessly. In the end, though, the lure of playing for one of college basketball's storied programs was too much for the Cavaliers to overcome.

"I felt bad for them, but I would have felt bad for Carolina [if Davis had picked Virginia]," Benedictine coach Sean McAloon said yesterday. "They both did a great job recruiting him."

Davis, a 6-10, 220-pound freshman, said in a phone interview this week that it won't be awkward seeing Leitao and Seymour tonight.

"I'm not really thinking about that," Davis said. "I'm just thinking about getting an ACC victory. That's the only thing that's on my mind right now."

Davis has great bloodlines -- his father, Terry, starred at Virginia Union and had a long NBA career -- and made the McDonald's All-American team as a Benedictine senior. Still, few expected him to play a prominent role for UNC as a freshman.

Roy Williams' pool of post players shrank, though, when 6-9 Alex Stepheson left Carolina after the 2007-08 school year. It got even smaller when 7-foot freshman Tyler Zeller fractured his left wrist Nov. 18 against Kentucky.

In the absence of Zeller, who's likely to miss the rest of the season, Davis has been the first big man off the bench for No. 5 UNC (0-2 ACC, 14-2), and he's capitalized on his opportunity. In about 20 minutes a game, Davis is averaging 7.3 points, 7.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. He's shooting 54.4 percent from the floor.

"It's a big difference from high school to college," Davis said, "but nothing I couldn't handle."

Said Leitao: "He's going to have a terrific career. He's a terrific prospect."

It hurt to lose such a coveted prospect, especially one from nearby Richmond, U.Va.'s fourth-year coach has acknowledged. But in his two-plus decades in coaching, Leitao said this week, he has learned that "you celebrate the guys that you get and you quickly forget about the ones that you don't. Every coach in America can have an 'all-what-if' team that would probably be as good a team as there is in the country. . . . You've got to forget about it in all of about 10 seconds. You've got to move on, and that's what we did."

Davis said he's adjusting well to life in Chapel Hill, where the basketball players are highly scrutinized public figures.

"Yeah, you live under a microscope," he said. "Everybody's always watching your moves, so you have to make smart decisions in everything you do."

Since August, Davis said, he's been home only once -- for Christmas. That's another reason he's looking forward to tonight's game.

"It should be fun," Davis said, "getting back to Virginia and seeing a few family members after the game."

If he plays well tonight, of course, his return may not be as fun for U.Va.

 

Singletary makes his return to Philadelphia
By Andy Jasner
Published: January 15, 2009

PHILADELPHIA — The date of Dec. 10, 2008 will go down as a landmark day for NBA rookie Sean Singletary.

For the former UVa star, being dealt to the Charlotte Bobcats was a true blessing.

“It was already the third time I had been traded in such a short amount of time,” Singletary said. “Some players might have been spinning, but I knew I was going to a team with a Hall of Fame coach in Larry Brown. Coach Brown has done amazing things with guards. I couldn’t wait to get started. Since I’ve been here, it’s just been great. He’s teaching me all the time. Even when I’m not playing, I’m trying to soak up everything.”

Singletary was dealt from the Phoenix Suns to the Bobcats along with Raja Bell and Boris Diaw for Jason Richardson, Jared Dudley and a second-round draft choice.

Since the trade, Singletary hasn’t minded the daily criticism from Brown, who has been known to be rough on point guards.

“If you look at coach Brown’s track record, look at how much better players get under his guidance,” Singletary said. “For me, I haven’t been truly coached in the role as a point guard. I learned a lot from past NBA coaches and from players like Steve Nash in Phoenix. I know coach Brown loves teaching in practice. My thing is that I’m so fortunate to be playing for him. If he teaches me something, I’m going to listen. How can you not?”

Brown has been equally impressed with Singletary dating to his high school days at the William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia.

“I saw him play in high school the first time, when I went to see [former Philadelphia 76ers coach] Randy Ayers’ son Ryan play for Germantown Academy,” said Brown, who’s coaching his NBA-record ninth team. “I knew Kansas was recruiting him and Kansas coach Bill Self asked me about him. I told him I didn’t think he’d get out of the city. He was a junior and he was too good.”

Singletary reveled in playing in the Wachovia Center against the Sixers last Friday, when he got his second NBA start and had two points and three assists in the Bobcats’ loss.

“It was my first time lacing up the sneakers here,” Singletary said. It was cool. “I played at the Spectrum and at the Palestra, but never here. There’s something special about this city in terms of basketball. Coming back here playing for the Bobcats was an unbelievable feeling. I won’t ever forget it.”

Virginia fans won’t ever forget Singletary after he became the first player in ACC history to complete his career with at least 2,000 points, 500 assists, 400 rebounds and 200 steals.

Singletary ranks among the leaders on a number of Virginia career lists including the following: steals (second, 200); assists (third, 587), 3-pointers made (third, 222); free throws made (fourth, 573); points scored (fifth, 2,079) and field goals made (ninth, 642). He also finished his career tied for 27th on the ACC scoring list with former Duke stars Jason Williams and Gene Banks.

“Even though I left Philly, playing four years at the University of Virginia was an honor,” Singletary said. “It was the perfect fit for me. I grew so much as a player and a person. It was great. The coaches there helped prepare me for the next level. Now that I’m here and playing for a Hall of Famer, I feel like I can draw back on my college days.

“It all weaves together. To be where I am is unbelievable. It’s hard to describe because I’m living a dream playing in the NBA.”

 

Crunching the scholarship numbers (again)
Jeff White
Jan 12, 2009

CHARLOTTESVILLE – Whether it’s the result of academic suspensions or transfers or other reasons, more attrition will be necessary for U.Va.’s football team to fit under the NCAA cap of 85 scholarship players in 2009.

With signing day less a month away, Virginia has 24 commitments. (The recruiting class no longer includes Harrisonburg High tailback Alex Owah, who says he’s looking at other schools after being told he wouldn’t clear admissions at U.Va.). Of those 24, one (Hunter Steward) is likely to spend the 2009 season in Fork Union Military Academy’s postgraduate program, and at least one other has yet to meet NCAA eligibility standards.

At the same time, the Cavaliers continue to pursue several prospects in the Class of 2009. So let’s assume for the sake of this exercise that Al Groh adds 23 scholarship recruits for the coming season, including Will Hill, a freshman who’s supposed to start classes at U.Va. tomorrow.

In that case – or circumstance, as Groh might say— Virginia could have no more than 62 other scholarship players on the roster. And that would mean some of the players listed below would be leaving the program.

Here’s my count of the players currently at U.Va. who count toward its scholarship total and have eligibility remaining, with the class of each for the 2009 season:

1. Tory Allen (redshirt freshman)
2. Javaris Brown (redshirt freshman)
3. Steve Greer (redshirt freshman)
4. Torrey Mack (redshirt freshman)
5. Matt Mihalik (redshirt freshman)
6. Colter Phillips (redshirt freshman)
7. Mike Price (redshirt freshman)
8. Klinton Ruff (redshirt freshman)
9. Bill Schautz (redshirt freshman)
10. Riko Smalls (redshirt freshman)
11. Aaron Van Kuiken (redshirt freshman)
12. Ausar Walcott (redshirt freshman)
13. Devin Wallace (redshirt freshman)
14. Rod Wheeler (redshirt freshman)

15. Jimmy Howell (sophomore)
16. Cameron Johnson (sophomore)
17. Rodney McLeod (sophomore)
18. Austin Pasztor (sophomore)
19. Danny Aiken (junior)
20. Mark Ambrose (sophomore)
21. Landon Bradley (sophomore)
22. Kris Burd (sophomore)
23. Matt Conrath (sophomore)
24. Billy Cuffee (sophomore)
25. Andrew Devlin (sophomore)
26. Nick Jenkins (sophomore)
27. Dom Joseph (sophomore)
28. Anthony Mihota (sophomore)
29. Max Milien (sophomore)
30. Lamar Milstead (sophomore)
31. Chase Minnifield (sophomore)
32. Corey Mosley (sophomore)
33. Zane Parr (sophomore)
34. Aaron Taliaferro (sophomore)
35. Terence Fells-Danzer (sophomore)
36. Jared Green (sophomore)
37. Chris Hinkebein (sophomore)

38. Jared Detrick (junior)
39. Dontrelle Inman (junior)
40. Ras-I Dowling (junior)
41. Trey Womack (junior)
42. Keith Payne (junior)
43. Matt Leemhuis (junior)
44. Mike Parker (junior)
45. Darnell Carter (junior)
46. Marc Verica (junior)
47. Jack Shields (junior)
48. B.J. Cabbell (junior)
49, Joe Torchia (junior)
50. Isaac Cain (junior)
51. Staton Jobe (junior)
52. John-Kevin Dolce (junior)
53. Raynard Horne (junior)

54. Nate Collins (senior)

55. Will Barker (fifth-year senior)
56. Denzel Burrell (fifth-year senior)
57. Darren Childs (fifth-year senior)
58. Aaron Clark (fifth-year senior)
59. Hall Simmons (fifth-year senior)
60. Kevin Crawford (fifth-year senior)
61. Jameel Sewell (fifth-year senior)
62. Chris Cook (fifth-year senior)
63. Vic Hall (fifth-year senior)
64. Mikell Simpson (fifth-year senior)
65. Brandon Woods (fifth-year senior)
66. Rashawn Jackson (fifth-year senior)

A couple of notes:

*Cain is not on football scholarship at U.Va., but he receives financial aid from the school and so counts against the scholarship limit.

*I’m still not sure about the status of defensive end Sean Gottschalk, who missed last season for personal reasons. If Gottschalk has given up football, that might free a scholarship for 2009.

*Kickers Robert Randolph and Yannick Reyering were not on scholarship last season. Whether that might change this year, I don’t know.

*Groh recently told me Rico Bell planned to transfer and that offensive lineman Patrick Slebonick and defensive end Jason Fuller would not be invited back for their fifth years in the program. There may be more players who fall into one of those categories, as well as some who choose to move on or give up football.

 

January 14, 2009
Athletes and Colleges Feel a Recruiting Pinch
By MARK VIERA/New York Times

Morgan Moses is one of the top-rated high school offensive linemen in the country. He is 6 feet 7 inches, weighs nearly 350 pounds and has scholarship offers from colleges like Alabama, Tennessee, Ohio State, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

But the economy has begun to factor into his family’s discussions about how far he will go from their home in Richmond, Va. While his mother, Marion, said she wanted her son to choose the right university for him, she said the family’s ability to watch him play would “make a big impact on the decision.”

“I can tell you already,” Marion Moses said in a telephone interview, “I am not going to be able to make every game that he would have if he would go to California.”

The economy has affected college sports programs across the nation, and recruiting is another area that is starting to be touched by tightening budgets of universities and the prospects they are seeking.

Some smaller universities have scaled back on recruiting trips or found new ways to identify talent. Coaches have had to answer tough questions about the financial assistance available to nonscholarship athletes. Some high school recruits and their families are considering the costs associated with living far from home.

Still, some of the most prominent programs have not yet cut recruiting efforts. U.C.L.A., for instance, is looking to trim costs in some areas, though not in its recruiting budget, said Dan Guerrero, the university’s athletic director. And Notre Dame has commitments from 17 highly rated prospects from across the country.

Dick Baddour, the North Carolina athletic director, described recruiting as the lifeblood of a program. “You’ve got to be careful if you’re cutting back on recruiting,” he said. “That would be a major issue for us.”

But other programs have had to rethink their approach to finding athletes.

Colorado College, a private institution of about 1,900 students, consistently fields one of the country’s top N.C.A.A. Division I men’s hockey teams. To stay within its budget, the program has reduced its recruiting reach in talent-rich areas like the Northeast and Canada. Coaches at the college typically make one stop in the Northeast to watch the prep school hockey tournaments around Christmas and make four trips to Canada, spending up to five days there for each visit. This season, they have skipped the prep school tournaments and will make one fewer trip to Canada.

“I think we have to be a little more selective in determining our trips these days because things are costlier,” Coach Scott Owens said. “And it’s not just airfare, but hotels have been more expensive, and then rental cars and gas and those things. I think the answer to the question is we have to be a little bit wiser with our recruiting dollars.”

At Amherst College, coaches have been asked to be more selective when sending out a bulk of recruiting letters and encouraged to send e-mail messages to recruits instead of worrying about telephone bills.

Amherst, a Division III college in Massachusetts, is mobilizing its alumni in an effort to have select graduates monitor their local newspapers and academic honor roll announcements to identify potential recruits. The college’s athletic director, Suzanne R. Coffey, said the alumni recruiters might meet on conference calls with coaches to discuss their findings.

“Before the financial crisis occurred, we were talking about ways to identify prospects outside our normal channels,” Coffey said. “Then in the past couple of months, we said this is the type of thing that will make even more sense with financial constraints even more prevalent.”

Another area of concern for administrators includes the relative uncertainty of financial aid availability for nonscholarship athletes.

Certain government loan programs have been protected through legislation, but some prospective students have had difficulty obtaining private loans because of the credit crunch.

“The biggest place we are seeing an impact is actually with families’ and parents’ credit ratings,” said Christopher Penn, the chief media officer for the Student Loan Network, which provides loans and related information to students and families. “We’ve seen a huge drop-off in people who don’t meet the credit credentials. You’re going to need every last point on your credit score you can.”

The issue of financial aid has typically been felt at Division III colleges, which do not award athletic scholarships. But now, it can also affect athletes at the Division I level.

For a private university like Wake Forest, which costs nearly $50,000 a year to attend, the difficulty associated with obtaining certain financial aid can pose problems for recruits not receiving athletic scholarships.

Although the university said its full-time students with need received an average of $30,300 in the 2008-9 academic year, the Demon Deacons’ men’s soccer coach, Jay Vidovich, said prospects’ parents had shown an increased awareness of how the economic package factored into the decision.

“I’m not a financial analyst or anything, so I can’t make any sweeping statements, but it’s always been a major hurdle for us anyway,” Vidovich said. “I don’t know how it’s going to shake out. It’s not like, ‘Yeah, what a great opportunity.’ It’s like, ‘Yeah, that’s a very nice opportunity; I hope we can afford it.’ I’m hoping we can still stay very competitive.”

To enable their parents to watch games in person and to reduce travel costs to and from campus, athletes may decide to stay closer to home, said Tom Lemming, a national football recruiting analyst.

It has largely not happened yet — for Moses, the lineman from Virginia, it has just entered into the discussion — but it could be around the corner.

Programs like Southern California or Florida will continue to draw talent from a national base, Lemming said, but those a step or two down may have to look closer to home.

“For most of the country, it will be more regionalized,” Lemming said. “They’ll have to recruit within a 300-mile radius more than they have in the past.”

That has rung true at Alabama State, a historically black university in Montgomery, Ala. Its football program has outlined parameters for recruitment, although its campus is near deep talent pools in Florida and Georgia.

“We find that we can sell the student-athletes if they’re 300 miles or less to Montgomery, Ala.,” Ron Dickerson, the university’s interim athletic director, said in a telephone interview before his retirement Jan. 1. “And we’re hoping it’s not going to last for a long time. We’re hoping that the downside is just for a year or two.”