2/23/02 - Fool's Gold

By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer

There are must-wins and then there are must must-win games. No. 22 Virginia’s contest with Georgia Tech today would fall into that latter category.
Any scenario for Virginia to receive an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament would have to include winning two of their final three regular season games. With their final two contests against No. 3 Duke and No. 2 Maryland, earning a win today is that much more magnified. A loss today, and an uphill battle gets even steeper.
“We have three tough games left and we have to go day by day and try to win the next one,” said UVa coach Pete Gillen after Wednesday’s 66-59 loss at Florida State. “We are 6-7 in the league right now. We have to try to win the next game on Saturday. I think we’re capable.”
Georgia Tech will be present Virginia, which has lost six of its last eight games, a near identical situation as Wednesday’s game. One could argue that the game certainly means more to UVa and that likely will cause the Jackets to be the losing team today. Furthermore, the Jackets (12-15, 4-9 ACC) have already proven this week that the “spoiler” role fits them just fine as they knocked off N.C. State 65-59 in Atlanta on Wednesday. Of course, a late-season push could lift the Jackets conceivably into the NIT after an 0-7 start in league play. So perhaps today’s game could be best described as a battle between which team wants to go to the NIT and which team wants to avoid it.
“I expect it will be a hard-fought game,” said Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt. “Virginia has had some struggles. I think both teams are in a situation where they need to win. … It’s one of those games that both teams have to have.”
In many ways, Hewitt and the Jackets started a trend last season that has continued to plague the Cavaliers this season. Hewitt implemented a zone defense against the Cavs last season and it worked perfectly as the Jackets defeated the Cavs three times. Everyone now seems to be following Hewitt’s lead as the Cavaliers have seen primarily zone from nearly every opponent. Of course, the strategy has been working.
Against Florida State, which played 40 minutes of a 2-3 zone Wednesday, the Cavaliers shot just 40 percent from the field. Their other performances against the zone this season have yielded similar if not worse shooting percentages. It’s almost a certainty that the Cavaliers will see it again today and at this point, the UVa players almost expect it.
“We’ve seen it all season and it’s nothing new to us at this point,” said junior guard Roger Mason Jr., who was 5 for 18 from the field against the Seminoles. “We’re very athletic so if teams play us man [to-man defense], it’s a mismatch. Teams are going to challenge us and we have to knock down shots and I have to knock down the open looks I get. We need to play like we’re capable of playing.”
To that end, the UVa players apparently held a players only team meeting Thursday, according to sources.
Senior swingman Adam Hall, who returned to action Wednesday after missing 10 of the last 11 games, might have the best assesment of Virginia’s current state after the Florida State game.
“We’re struggling right now and we need to get ‘W’s.’ We need wins and we have to come out and play hard,” Hall said. “It’s never too late [to turn it around]. We have three big games and we have to keep our mindset on winning games. … We’ve put ourselves in a little hole and we have to come out fighting. We can’t sit back. We’ve come out fighting but we haven’t come out fighting hard enough.”

By JOHN GALINSKY
Daily Progress staff writer

The Virginia men’s lacrosse team will open the 2002 season without two of its top players.
All-American defenseman Mark Koontz has a broken wrist and attackman Ian Shure has mononucleosis. Neither senior will play in Sunday’s opener against Drexel at the University Hall Turf Field. The game begins at 1 p.m.
Shure was UVa’s third-leading scorer last season with 29 points (14 goals, 15 assists). It will probably be another two weeks before he is cleared to practice, according to Virginia coach Dom Starsia.
Koontz’s status is less certain. Nine weeks ago, in the last team activity of the fall practice period, Koontz made what Starsia called “an unbelievable touchdown catch” during a touch football game. When he fell, he tore ligaments and broke the navicular bone in his right wrist. The injury has healed very slowly and Koontz has not been able to practice the entire preseason.
“I think what this is going to come down to is Mark, his family and the doctors making a decision about what Mark will do,” Starsia said. “Mark really wants to play. The doctor that did the surgery would really like for him not to play.
“I really don’t know if or when we’re going to get him back. If we get him back in any capacity at any point in the season, it would be a bonus for us.”
A three-year starter and tri-captain, Koontz is one of the best defensemen in school history. He was a first-team All-American as a junior and a second-team selection as a sophomore. Not only did he clamp down on opposing attackmen, he often initiated Virginia’s offense by picking up ground balls and making pinpoint passes. He led ACC long sticks in ground balls the past two season.
Starsia had planned on expanding Koontz’s role this season, using him as a wingman on faceoffs. If Koontz returns, he likely will wear a cast on his wrist all season.
“I’d take him with a cast and be happy with him,” Starsia said. “He’s got such great feet, anyway, he could do a lot of things for us if we can get him back.”
Even without Koontz, Starsia said the strength of his 10th team at Virginia should be its defense. Sophomore goalie Tillman Johnson, the 2001 ACC rookie of the year, was named a preseason second-team All-American by Face-off Yearbook. Brett Hughes, a sophomore, and junior Ned Bowen started along with Koontz at close defense last season.
Another junior, David Burman, has moved from long-stick midfielder to close defense and “has been a revelation,” Starsia said. “He was our most improved player in the fall, no question about it.”
The Cavaliers were solid on defense in winning all four of their preseason scrimmages, but they will be tested early in the season. Syracuse and Princeton, last year’s NCAA finalists, come to Charlottesville for games on March 2 and 9, respectively. The Face-off Yearbook coaches’ poll ranks Virginia fifth, Syracuse second and Princeton first. UVa also will play No. 3 Johns Hopkins, No. 4 Towson and No. 6 Maryland in March.
By then, Starsia hopes to have both Koontz and Shure on the field. For now, freshmen John Christmas and Joe Yevoli will start at attack with senior Conor Gill, a two-time first-team All-American. Christmas, a three-time high school All-American, was considered the top recruit in the country.
The midfield, led by Chris Rotelli, “is a little deeper, a little more athletic and a little more talented than last year,” Starsia said.
The Cavaliers went 7-7 last season, their worst record in 14 years.
A.J. Shannon moves from the attack to the first midfield, where he will be joined by fellow juniors Rotelli and Billy Glading. Rotelli led the team with 28 goals last season. The second unit consists of freshman Jared Little and seniors Brenndan Mohler and Eric Leibowitz. Also likely to see action in the midfield are senior Nick Russo, freshman Nathan Kenney, sophomore Ted Lamade and junior Andrew Faraone.
Another freshman, Jack deVilliers, and junior Calvin Sullivan will split time facing off. They will try to replace David Jenkins, one of the top faceoff specialists in school history.
“Going into the season, the single biggest question is: Can we face off effectively?” Starsia said. “In our fall tournament, we got hammered facing off. So far in the preseason, we’ve been very good. We need to prove when we play for real that we can win key faceoffs.”

CHARLOTTESVILLE - "It was like fool's gold."

So said Virginia basketball coach Pete Gillen about the 19-3 lead his team grabbed Feb. 12 against North Carolina, which stormed back and nearly won at University Hall. But Gillen could have been talking about the Cavaliers' start this season.

With four regulars back from a 20-9 team, U.Va. began the season ranked No. 11 nationally. It cracked the top 10 by the end of November, and all seemed well in Hooville. The Cavaliers won their first nine games and, while other teams picked up losses, climbed No. 4 in the polls.

Critics around the country, citing U.Va.'s less-than-grueling nonconference schedule, called Gillen's club overrated, and clearly they were correct. Still, Virginia was 14-2 heading into its Jan. 27 game at Duke and looked like, if not an NCAA title contender, a solid candidate for the Sweet Sixteen.

Less than a month later, the No. 22 Cavaliers are 6-7 in the ACC, 16-8 overall and on the verge of dropping out of the top 25. They were No. 49 in the Rating Percentage Index rankings updated yesterday morning and have beaten only one member of the RPI's top 50: No. 22 Wake Forest. They probably have to beat Georgia Tech today and then upset second-ranked Maryland or third-ranked Duke in the next 10 days - if not both - to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament.

What happened to a season that began with such promise?

Had U.Va. lost before Christmas - and it needed major comebacks to beat Virginia Tech, Auburn and Rutgers - expectations would have been more realistic. But the Cavs' fast start obscured flaws that have since become readily apparent:

They lack a proven point guard.

Projected starter Majestic Mapp had season-ending knee surgery in October, forcing Gillen to alternate junior Roger Mason Jr., a natural shooting guard, and erratic freshman Keith Jenifer at the point. Mason carries an enormous burden that grows heavier when he has to run the offense, and Jenifer's reluctance to attempt - and inability to make - 3-pointers allows opponents to sit back in zones that seem to confound the Cavaliers.

They're not as quick as Gillen's previous teams.

For the first time in his four seasons at U.Va., Gillen has started two true post players. That, combined with the extended absence of 6-5 senior Adam Hall, a superior athlete and two-time member of the ACC's all-defensive team, has made the Cavaliers slower and their trademark fullcourt pressure less effective.

They lack depth on the perimeter.

Attrition hasn't been limited to Mapp. Maurice Young, who began the season as the backup small forward, left the program after two games and later transferred to St. Bonaventure. Hall missed 10 games with an injured right foot and didn't return until Wednesday night.

Chris Williams' move to small forward hasn't gone as well as expected.

A two-time all-ACC pick, the 6-7 Williams totaled four points in road losses to Clemson, N.C. State and Wake Forest. After making his reputation as an undersized but effective power forward, Williams has played primarily on the wing this season. His scoring average is down to a career-low 13.5, and he's attempted only 58 3-pointers after putting up 120 as a freshman, 93 as a sophomore and 81 last season. His lack of assertiveness has allowed foes to focus on shutting down Mason and junior center Travis Watson.

Their outside shooting scares no one.

In 2000-01, U.Va. made an average of seven 3-pointers. It's averaging 5.4 this season. Led by then-senior Keith Friel, four Cavaliers hit at least 32 treys last season. With three regular-season games left, only Mason, who's 68 for 184, has made more than 20 treys.

Their defense remains suspect.

Lowly Florida State shot 51.1 percent from the floor Wednesday, the third time in five games an opponent has topped the 50-percent mark against Virginia. Wake Forest's layup drill last weekend produced 57.9-percent accuracy.

They've had to rely too heavily on freshmen.

U.Va. started the school year with 12 scholarship players, but Mapp's surgery, Young's departure and Hall's injury left Gillen with nine for much of the season, including seldom-used junior center Jason Rogers. That meant the freshmen - Jenifer, shooting guard Jermaine Harper and post players Elton Brown and Jason Clark - made up half of the rotation. That's not an ideal mix for a team with NCAA tourney aspirations.