ACC: Teams continue to struggle on road
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 12, 2003

This month in the ACC, the road claimed a couple more.
Duke, then ranked No. 5 in the nation, fell 75-70 at Florida State. That’s last-place Florida State. Lost-to-Boston University Florida State.

Sunday, Maryland fell at Georgia Tech. Even in a season in which ACC road wins have been harder to come by than Zen-like calm from Dick Vitale, Duke and Maryland’s losses stood out as final proof that no team is immune from the road rash sweeping the ACC.

In a typical year, like last season, home teams win about two-thirds of the games. But this season, the road is swallowing teams whole. In conference play, Duke is 5-0 at home, 1-3 away from Cameron Indoor Stadium. Georgia Tech is 5-0, and 0-4. N.C. State and Virginia are both 4-0, 1-4.

Through Sunday, road teams were 8-32 in ACC play. The top six had won just 27 percent of their away contests, a sharp drop from last year, when they finished at .500. A year earlier, that same group went 25-23.

Everyone — coaches, players, fans, media — is talking about how difficult it is to win on the road. Perhaps, some professionals suggest, that’s part of the problem.

“It can very quickly become a self-fulfilling prophecy,” said Brenna Chirby, a sports psychologist in private practice in Falls Church. “Teams get in this mind-set that they can’t win on the road. It’s very difficult to break that.”

Just ask Virginia. In recent years, no team has more typified the conference’s bipolar personality. On Jan. 29, the Cavaliers calmly dispatched No. 17 Wake Forest 85-75 at home, and looked like they could compete with any team in the nation.

Two days earlier, Virginia had looked like a team that couldn’t compete at all, falling apart in a loss at Virginia Tech. A week after the Wake win, the Cavaliers came unglued at Georgia Tech.

Virginia’s split personality has been a theme of the Pete Gillen era. Two years ago, Virginia lost at Duke by 42 points, then upset the Blue Devils at home a few weeks later. The same year, Virginia beat Maryland by 25 at home, and fell by 35 on the road.

Virginia’s road losing streak stood at 10 before the Cavaliers broke through with a win at Maryland last Thursday. It was their first ACC road win in nearly 13 months.

“I don’t know why, when we get on the road, that suddenly we can’t handle the ball,” forward Jason Clark said after the Georgia Tech game.

Jeff Janssen has an idea why. Janssen is an author and “peak performance consultant” based in Cary, N.C. Last year he wrote an article for the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association entitled, “The psychology of winning on the road.”

“While physical factors contribute to making winning on the road a difficult challenge, my contention is that many of the perceived problems are largely mental in nature,” Janssen wrote.

Janssen pointed to a study of ACC basketball teams in the 1980s that concluded that teams struggled on the road not because the home team played exceptionally well, but because the visiting team often performed poorly. “Perhaps the phenomenon should be renamed from the Home Court/Field Advantage to the Visiting Team disadvantage,” Janssen wrote.

Virginia, for example, averages 14.2 turnovers at home, but 18.2 on the road. Georgia Tech shoots 50 percent from 3-point range at home, and 25.6 percent on the road.

Why do teams struggle on the road? The rims are still 10 feet high, the court is still 94 feet long.

“There isn’t any research out there that shows any new or less-than-obvious reasons,” said Chirby, who formerly worked at Virginia Tech.

The obvious reasons are the ones often cited: hostile crowds, strange hotel rooms, fatigue, a break in the routine. Those distractions are typically tougher on younger players. And as coaches have pointed out, most ACC teams are relying heavily on freshmen and sophomores this season.

What can be done to help teams — even young ones — perform better away from home? Deidre Connelly, a sports psychologist at William and Mary, says it helps to take a pro-active approach, and use something people in her field call “anticipatory coping.”

“It’s always helpful to talk about things ahead of time,” she said. “It’s not a jinx to bring up, 'What if things go wrong.’ ”

It helps to attune yourself to the environment, something virtually all teams do by having a shoot around the morning of a game, or even a practice the day before.

Once on site, the goal is for players to narrow their focus to the task at hand, Connelly said. That’s harder to do on the road because of the number of distractions.

When things do go wrong, players need to be able to fall back on physical or mental cues that have helped them through difficult times. In the maelstrom of a close game, it’s easy to forget, Chirby said.

“Players start talking to themselves differently in their heads,” she said. “They stop using basic cues they’ve always used, like 'three dribbles, then shoot’ on a free throw.”

Chirby worked with teams at Tech that had trouble winning away from home, though she declined to say which ones. She says talking about the problem can help “de-mystify” it.

“One of the first things I would do particularly with individuals but also with a team is an assessment of where and how a person is losing focus,” Chirby said.

Janssen, who is not a psychologist, has a list of seven ways for teams to become mentally tougher away from home. It includes things like letting players know what to expect, establishing a consistent routine, “enjoying the battle” and creating an “us-against-the-world” mentality.

Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser, whose team is 2-2 in conference road games, says teams need to execute their way out of trouble, not simply try to shoot their way out.

Then again, a hot hand can take a team a long way on the road. Virginia’s Devin Smith hit 6 of 7 3-pointers at Maryland. Virginia’s confidence swelled, and the Cavaliers road slide was history.

“It was just our night,” Gillen said. “When we’re hitting 3s like that.” Sometimes, that’s all the explanation you need.
 

Tar Heels a work in progress
Doherty notes improvement in young team
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published February 12, 2003

Last year, to put it simply, was miserable. North Carolina's basketball program had never been through a winter like it, not in 92 seasons of competition. With jerseys honoring Jordan, Perkins and Worthy hanging from the rafters and Dean Smith still visible around town, the Tar Heels won eight and lost 20.

Anything would be an improvement, and a year later UNC indeed is a better team. Carolina jumped to 12th in the national polls after winning the preseason NIT in November. The Tar Heels have rising stars like sophomore Jawad Williams and freshmen Rashad McCants and Raymond Felton.

But UNC is not even close to its glory days. Going into tonight's home game against Virginia, Carolina (12-10, 3-6) has lost twice as many ACC games as it has won and is sixth in the conference standings. And it's come to this: The Tar Heels were positively giddy after a one-point win vs. Florida State in the Dean Dome on Saturday that snapped a five-game losing streak.

"It was definitely a relief," UNC coach Matt Doherty said. "Our kids have been working very hard, and I think it's about time they were rewarded. It just shows that, hey, if you keep working, keep plugging away, you'll have an opportunity to win some games.

"This league is such a brutal league. Anybody can beat anybody on any given night. There are a lot of good teams and a lot of good coaches, so it's certainly a grind."

And the truth is, at least now, Doherty doesn't have the experience or firepower. He has played six freshmen this year, starting as many as three together. Sean May's broken foot on Dec. 27 left the Tar Heels with no inside presence, which helps explain why UNC is last in the league in rebounding margin.

After starting 5-0, the Tar Heels have lost 10 of 17 games. The two conference victories have come against Clemson and FSU, the only teams behind UNC in the ACC standings.

"Our goal is always to win a national championship, to get into the NCAA tournament," Doherty said. "That in some years is more realistic than others."

There is promise. Facing the nation's third-toughest schedule, UNC has victories against Kansas, Connecticut and Stanford. McCants, a sweet-shooting guard, led the league in scoring into January. Felton has nearly a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. May was a tough assignment for anybody in the post. And Williams has blossomed into one of the league's better players.

"Before we lost Sean, we were certainly headed down the right path," Doherty said. "And I think we still are - It's just that we took a little hit. Next year we're going to be a year older and a year wiser. That's really going to help us."

There have been, excuse the cliché, growing pains. Though McCants still leads the team in scoring at 17.1 points a game, his lack of intensity on defense - at least in Doherty's eyes - has landed him on the bench. In UNC's last two games, he played 37 minutes and went 1-of-15 from the field. He told reporters last week that his confidence, at least on the offensive end, is kaput.

"The emphasis Coach Doherty has put on defense has kind of evaporated my offense," he said.

Of course, run-ins aren't new to Doherty. After last season, several players asked him to tone down his in-your-face style (Doherty agreed). Now, some of the players are seeking advice from former Tar Heel All-American and assistant coach Phil Ford, who now works as a UNC fundraiser, and who many believe Doherty should have retained on his staff.

In this age of Internet gossip, some would have you believe Doherty's job is on the line. That, given UNC's history and that Doherty is "family," seems unlikely.

"We've got one of the hardest schedules in the country and these guys are competing," UNC athletics director Dick Baddour told the Charlotte Observer last week. "That's what I want to see. I am tremendously encouraged and upbeat about it."

Success Breeds Confidence
A team with self-esteem Cavaliers surge by beating Terps and Wolfpack
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 12, 2003
U.VA. AT UNC
TODAY: 7 p.m. ON THE AIR: TV - ESPN; radio - WRVA (1140), 6:30

University of Virginia football coach Al Groh has said it time and again since returning to his alma mater: Confidence is the result of demonstrated performance.

He'll get no disagreement from the U.Va. men's basketball team. Coach Pete Gillen's Cavaliers finally demonstrated Thursday night that they could win an ACC road game, stunning then-No. 8 Maryland 86-78 in College Park. They expect the confidence gained at the Comcast Center, where they erased a 12-point second-half deficit, to help them tonight in Chapel Hill, N.C.

"It was a big-time win," point guard Majestic Mapp said. "It lets us know we can play on the road against a big-time team. . . . So this just lets us know that North Carolina should be no different."

This time last week, the Cavaliers were coming off a 20-point defeat at Georgia Tech in which they had unraveled in the second half. That was the ninth straight ACC road loss for U.Va., which looked very much like a team headed back to the NIT.

"You really have to have a short memory in college basketball to be a successful team," junior guard Todd Billet said. "You can't live on your last win, and you can't stay mired in your last loss. It's not going to help you with the game you're playing on that day."

Since losing in Atlanta, the Wahoos (5-4, 14-7) have turned their season around. Sophomore point guard Keith Jenifer was suspended indefinitely from the team Feb. 3, but his absence didn't keep Virginia from knocking off defending NCAA champion Maryland. Three days later, U.Va. edged N.C. State at University Hall and now finds itself tied for fourth in the ACC heading into its game with North Carolina (3-6, 12-10).

The Cavaliers won at the Dean Smith Center last season and see no reason they can't make it two in a row there.

"We're just playing with some heart as a team, and we're maturing," Mapp said. "Nobody's being babies. Everybody's coming with the same attitude every day, and attitude wins ballgames."

A month ago in Charlottesville, Virginia frittered away much of an 18-point halftime lead against UNC, which trailed by only six with a minute remaining. But the Cavaliers steadied themselves and prevailed 79-72 in a game that marked the return of Mapp, who played for the first time since hurting his right knee in August 2000.

Mapp doesn't start, and he's averaging only 12.7 minutes, but his role has grown since Jenifer's suspension. The former McDonald's All-American played a season-high 21 minutes against N.C. State and had five points, three assists and two rebounds. Gillen kept Mapp on the court at the end of each of the past two games.

"Slowly but surely he's regaining confidence in me, and slowly but surely the team is getting confidence in me," Mapp said. "It doesn't matter who starts or who plays more minutes. My confidence has gone up, because the confidence the coaches are showing in me has gone up."

At North Carolina, UNC coach Matt Doherty is showing similar faith in freshman forward David Noel, a 6-6, 216-pound walk-on who will go on scholarship in the fall. In the Tar Heels' first game against the Cavaliers, Noel played four minutes and failed to score. Now he starts in place of 6-4 freshman Rashad McCants, who has struggled with a bad back and a loss of confidence.

In his past three games, Noel has shot 52.9 percent from the floor and averaged 14.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3 steals.

"I think a coach can give a player half the package, and the player has to come up with the other half," Doherty said. "I think by putting David in the starting lineup, I gave him that half, and he came up with the other half. His confidence obviously is very high right now."

 

ACC NOTES
Feb 12, 2003

HITTING THE WALL: Freshman wing Rashad McCants (17.1 points) still leads North Carolina in scoring, but he's lost his starting job and missed 14 of his past 15 field goal attempts.

In UNC's 61-60 win over Florida State on Saturday, McCants was 0 for 7 and played only 18 minutes, but not because of his nagging back injury, he told reporters.

"I don't have any kind of confidence as an offensive player," he said.

That was the third consecutive game McCants came off the bench and the third consecutive game in which his playing time was a season low. But McCants scored 16 points at Virginia last month, and Pete Gillen expects another strong performance from him when the teams meet tonight in Chapel Hill.

"We feel we'll get his best shot," said Gillen, U.Va.'s fifth-year coach.

Tar Heels coach Matt Doherty said yesterday that McCants on Monday had "as good a practice as he has had since he's been here. He looked very confident out there. His back looked better. That's certainly a step in the right direction. I'll be surprised if he doesn't play well [against U.Va.]."

NEARLY FLAWLESS: The top six teams in the conference are 26-1 in ACC home games. Of that group, only Maryland has stumbled at home in ACC play, losing last week to Virginia.

FANATICAL SUPPORT: An article in USA Today yesterday detailed the devotion of Richard and Cindy Blake. The parents of Steve Blake, a four-year starter at point guard for Maryland, drive from their home in Miami Lakes, Fla., to virtually all of their son's games.

It's about an 18-hour drive from Miami Lakes to College Park, Md.

"The good thing is, nobody accuses us of flying Steve's parents to the games," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "That's a positive."

MAJOR OBSTACLE: To remain atop the ACC, Wake Forest (6-2, 16-3) will have to do something it hasn't done since Jan. 11, 1996 - beat Duke (6-3, 16-3). The teams meet tomorrow night at Wake's Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

The Blue Devils have won 14 consecutive against the Demon Deacons. Four of those losses have come on second-year coach Skip Prosser's watch at Wake. Duke averaged 90.7 points in three wins over the Deacons last season and whipped them 74-55 in Durham last month.

"We have not been all that scintillating on defense against Duke since I've been here," Prosser said. "We may have to bring in Colin Powell to talk to our guys about defense, or Donald Rumsfeld."

STRONG PRAISE: Wake forward Josh Howard's fan club includes Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

"He's the best player in our league," Krzyzewski said. "He's a beautiful player to watch on both ends of the court. Everyone talks about his offense, but he'll guard whomever is hot on the other team. He's a great college basketball player, and hopefully he'll get the recognition nationally he deserves."

Not since Tim Duncan, who won the award in 1996 and'97, has a Deacon been named ACC player of the year. Howard, a 6-6 senior, leads the ACC in scoring (19.3 ppg) and ranks third in rebounding (8.5) and steals (2.3), fourth in blocked shots (1.4), fifth in free throw percentage (84.8) and sixth in field goal percentage (47.3).

CRITICAL GAME: N.C. State (5-4, 12-7) and Georgia Tech (5-4, 12-8) aspire to make the NCAA tournament, and neither can afford many more setbacks. That adds significance to their game in Raleigh, N.C., tonight.

The Yellow Jackets have won four consecutive over the Wolfpack but have yet to win on the road this season.

"Maybe we'll try some different things," Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said. "John Salley was at the game the other day, and he gave me some tips about loosening up on the road."

Salley, who was in Atlanta for the NBA All-Star Game festivities, stopped by his alma mater Sunday afternoon and watched the Jackets upset visiting Maryland. As for those "tips," Hewitt laughed and said, "John had some interesting ones," but declined to elaborate.

UNDER THE RADAR: After guard B.J. Elder scored 23 points against Maryland, Hewitt called him "college basketball's biggest secret."

Elder, a 6-4 sophomore, finished third in balloting for ACC rookie of the year last season. He's averaging 16.1 points and shooting an ACC-best 41.5 percent from 3-point range this season.

With due respect to freshman phenom Chris Bosh, Elder is "probably the best all-around player on the team," Hewitt said. "He can handle the ball. He can defend. . . . He can score off the dribble. He can post up. If he keeps it up and we win some more games, he'll begin to get some recognition." - Jeff White
 

Reynolds returns home to face old teammates J.R. Reynolds, who announced in April that he was transferring to Oak Hill, says he's eagerly anticipated this game.

By ROBERT ANDERSON
THE ROANOKE TIMES

   Every day J.R. Reynolds spent as a student at Roanoke Catholic, he looked across Interstate 581 at the Roanoke Civic Center.

    Tonight, he finally gets to play basketball there.

    Reynolds will lead Oak Hill Academy - 26-3 and ranked No.6 nationally by USA Today - against Catholic in a 6:30 p.m. tipoff as part of a doubleheader with the NBDL's Roanoke Dazzle. Not only will the game match Reynolds against his former school, it will be the 6-foot-2 guard's farewell to Roanoke as a high school player.

    Reynolds has played on ESPN against LeBron James. He's played in seven states this winter and suited up in Houston and Las Vegas. He's toured with the U.S. Junior team in Germany.

    However, the Virginia signee said he has circled today's date in bold ever since Oak Hill's transcontinental schedule was released.

    "Coming home and playing ... this has to be the biggest game for me this year," Reynolds said.

    Oak Hill coach Steve Smith, whose annual roster is made up exclusively of transfers from other schools, said the Warriors don't often schedule a game in one of his players' hometowns for obvious reasons.

    "We've done it in years past, but when you get a player you don't usually call the coach and say, 'Do you want to play us too?'" Smith said.

    Catholic coach Dick Wall eagerly sought out the matchup. Last year's scheduled game against Oak Hill in the SunTrust Classic was snowed out, and Wall is ready to welcome Reynolds back to town.

    "He's been part of the Roanoke Catholic family and the Wall family since the sixth grade, and I think that will continue ... even if we whip him," Wall said.

    Wall was not happy in April when Reynolds announced he was transferring to Oak Hill, a private school in Grayson County that has put 15 players in the NBA and many more into the NCAA Division I ranks in the last two decades. This year's Oak Hill roster includes two other Division I signees: 6-7 forward Ivan Harris (Ohio State) and 6-3 guard Marcus Williams (Connecticut).

    "I'm still disappointed." Wall said. "I think he made a mistake, but I also realize that's something reasonable people can disagree about. I feel one way. He feels another way. That's OK. We have a very close, personal relationship that I hope will continue through the years. He's just a good guy. I wish he was still here."

    Wall believes the coaching staff at Virginia should have encouraged Reynolds to remain in Roanoke.

    "I was disappointed they did not take a stronger stand to keep him here," the Catholic coach said. "They could have kept him here. I think he would have had a great senior year here. It's not like we play a soft schedule. He had all he needed right here, but he felt differently.

    "The way it played out, I would not say I'm bitter."

    Reynolds, who scored 2,237 points and led Catholic to three straight Virginia Independent Schools Division 2 championships in four years, followed the lead of former Roanoke prep stars George Lynch, Curtis Staples and Mark Ward in completing his career elsewhere.

    Wall said Reynolds' early departure won't taint the 18-year-old's local legacy.

    "He's one of the best players who ever played high school basketball in Roanoke," Wall said. "A lot of that plays out later on ... how well he does in Charlottesville."

    Reynolds, who plays the wing and shares the point with Williams in Oak Hill's three-guard offense, figures to have a role at UVa early.

    "He'll be a good player," said Smith, whose list of former players sent to UVa includes Roanoke Dazzle guard Cory Alexander. "He's got an opportunity to play there. He can help them right away because he's physically ready."

    Reynolds is displaying the same all-court game at Oak Hill he showed at Catholic. He's averaging 14.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game while shooting 40.6 percent from 3-point range and 81.6 percent from the foul line.

    "He's so unselfish, and he's developed the last couple of years into a real scorer," Wall said. "He has a good feel for the game and he's made himself into a really good shooter. He makes other people better. That's probably one of the best things you can say about him."

    Wall isn't looking to spread the love tonight. Catholic (14-7) is out to atone for a 103-72 loss to Oak Hill two years ago in Bristol in which Reynolds scored 33 points and hit five 3-pointers for the Celtics.

    "I'm expecting a really good game," Wall said. "J.R. knows what he's in for Wednesday night. We're going to try to lay it to him."

    Oak Hill's three losses this year already are more than the program is accustomed to. The Warriors have lost to Mt. Zion (N.C.) Academy and Blue Ridge School of Charlottesville in addition the 64-45 beating at the hands of No.1 St. Vincent-St. Mary when James scored 31 points. Reynolds said he was skeptical of the hype surrounding James until Oak Hill played in Trenton, N.J., this weekend when James scored 52 points amid a media frenzy.

    "It was crazy with all those TV cameras," Reynolds said. "I saw him the other day when he shot that 50 and that did it for me."

    Unlike James, Reynolds said he doesn't have any throwback jerseys hanging in his closet. He won't get one hanging in the rafters at Catholic. When Reynolds, walks onto the floor tonight, he'll see an eighth-grader, DeAngelo Robinson, wearing his old jersey No.20.

    "There's a message in there," Wall said.

    Wall liked the message his team sent Sunday in a 66-64 win over Benedictine, a team led by Clemson-bound Vernon Hamilton. It was the first game the Celtics played this year without guard Matt Nowlin, an Elon recruit no longer in the program.

    "One thing I'm glad about, it's more like it's Roanoke Catholic basketball, not one person or two people," Wall said. "It's turned into a really good program, and we showed that."

First, Noel
By NEIL AMATO : The Herald-Sun
namato@heraldsun.com
Feb 11, 2003 : 11:26 pm ET

CHAPEL HILL -- David Noel never wanted to give up on his dream, but more than casual doubt crept into his head early in his freshman basketball season at UNC.

Maybe I should have played football, he thought. Maybe I’m not an ACC player.

Noel, who elected to walk on to the basketball team, missed short-range shots and had trouble catching the ball, odd considering he originally was going to be a pass-catcher for the UNC football team, which offered him a scholarship.

He was paying his own way this year to play for Coach Matt Doherty, but Noel’s minutes, his production and his confidence were sagging early in the season. He played 18 tentative minutes against Stanford and didn’t attempt a shot. His thoughts drifted to Kenan Stadium and to Kenny Browning, the football assistant who had recruited him.

He strongly considered making the call. "I was doubting myself, thinking, ‘I’ve bitten off more than I can chew,’ " he said.

He never called Browning or any other football coach. The Durham native sought the advice of his teammates and his family, and they told him the same thing: Stay true to yourself, true to what you love.

Noel loves basketball, so much so that he joked after UNC’s victory over Florida State that he would have paid to play all four years. He has been promised a scholarship for next season, but he’s providing scholarship-worthy play right now for the Tar Heels (12-10, 3-6), who host Virginia tonight (7 p.m., ESPN).

Noel said the decision was tough — football scholarship or basketball walk-on — coming out of Southern High. He heard the talk that he was NFL material, though lots of high school kids are told that. Noel, however, had the frame that most others did not — 6-5, 215 pounds and light on his feet. That’s big for a wide receiver; average for a forward.

Maybe Noel could have been a star in football, but he had a love for basketball, scholarship or not. His older sister, Sherricka Stanley, told him to go where his gut told him.

"She just said, ‘Do what David wants to do, not do what everyone else wants David to do,’ " Noel said. "I listened to her and followed my heart, and it took me to basketball."

Stanley herself made an unpopular decision coming out of high school. As a senior at Hillside, she was awarded the Morehead Scholarship, a full ride with perks, the highest academic honor at UNC. She turned it down in January, instead waiting for the N.C. Teaching Fellows Scholarship and attending North Carolina A&T.

Her heart told her to go that way, even though the teaching grant didn’t have the prestige of the Morehead. Stanley had wanted to go to a historically black university and knew she would have to deal with naysayers.

So she understood when David had trouble picking a sport and later waffled when basketball wasn’t going so well.

"With me, everyone was like, ‘Are you crazy,’ " said Stanley, now married and living in Greensboro. "I knew exactly how [David] felt. I told him, ‘Ultimately, it’s your life. Don’t try to satisfy everyone else, or you’ll never get anything out of it.’ "

Noel has gotten more out of his court time lately, in part because he’s playing more minutes. Noel has started the past three games in place of injured and slumping Rashad McCants, averaging 15.7 points and 6.3 rebounds. Noel had four steals and the winning free throw against the Seminoles on Saturday, and his early struggles seem to have been flushed as easily as he dunks.

"I’ve talked about confidence, that a coach can give the player half the package, and the player has to give the other half," Doherty said. "By putting him in the starting lineup, I gave him half. He’s given the other half."

Noel said a clip of highlights from the Blue-White game, given to him by Doherty, helped his confidence.

"I was looking at it, saying, ‘That was me,’ " said Noel, who had 23 points and 14 rebounds in the scrimmage. "Those are some of the things I can do against great competition."

Noel was not a known commodity in high school basketball, drawing interest from Clemson, South Carolina and, early on, Wake Forest. He was much more recruited as a football player, although he seemed intent on going to UNC. Teammate Raymond Felton had not heard much about Noel in the recruiting process, but he had heard about his football skill.

Noel had 17 receiving touchdowns his senior year at Southern, where he also was The Herald-Sun’s All-Area player of the year in basketball.

"I knew he was a superb football player," Felton said. "A lot of people said, ‘He’s NFL bound,’ but he just didn’t love it. He told me he didn’t love football. He loved basketball. I told him, ‘That’s the first part of playing sports. If you’re not happy, you’re not going to do well.’ "

NOTES — Doherty said McCants, who has missed 14 of his past 15 shots the last two games, had one of his better practices Monday. "He looked comfortable," Doherty said. "His back looked better. I think that’s a step in the right direction. I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t play well." ... The Sean May injury update is … there’s no update. May, who told reporters on more than one occasion last week that he was due for a checkup Tuesday on his broken left foot, was "mixed up on his days," according to UNC officials. He will be re-examined Friday.


 

Photo of ref and LeBron James under investigation
Tuesday, February 11, 2003
By JEFF LINKOUS
ASSOCIATED PRESS

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - The postgame encounter was brief, just long enough for LeBron James to put his arm around a referee, lean in and smile for the camera.

Now, however, that seemingly innocent moment could hurt referee Tony Celantano, who faces possible sanctions for his actions following James' impressive comeback game on Saturday night.

The president of the central New Jersey chapter of the International Association of Approved Basketball Officials said the group is investigating whether Celantano broke any rules by posing with the 18-year-old high school basketball star.

"We're just trying to sort out all the facts," the association's president, Fred Dumont, said Tuesday.

Celantano posed with James after the senior scored a career-high 52 points to lead top-ranked St. Vincent-St. Mary of Akron, Ohio, to a 78-52 victory over Westchester of Los Angeles at the Prime Time Shootout in Trenton.

It was James' first game since a judge in Ohio restored his eligibility on Feb. 5, allowing him to resume playing. James, expected to be the No. 1 pick in the next NBA draft, was ruled ineligible for the rest of the season by the Ohio High School Athletic Association on Jan. 31 after he accepted two retro sports jerseys valued at $845 from a Cleveland clothing store. But the judge reduced James' punishment to two games; he's already missed one and will sit out the other later this month.

After Saturday night's game, James posed with his right arm around Celantano. James is grinning slightly.

While posing for pictures with a player doesn't violate any specific rules for referees, Dumont said Celantano spoke to him and conceded he used bad judgment.

Dumont added, however, that he was confident the game was called impartially.

"I was at the game. I don't have a problem with how the game was officiated," Dumont said.

Dumont declined to specify what sanctions that Celantano might face, but he said he expected his association to make a determination within a week. The organization that oversees scholastic sports in New Jersey will review the findings.

Celantano, a 27-year veteran, remains eligible to officiate, Dumont said.

"He's still free to be a referee and happens to be an outstanding referee," Dumont said. "He's a very professional person; he's an experienced official."

Celantano told The Times of Trenton that the photo was taken by a relative and was not for personal use. After officiating another high school game Sunday, Celantano told the newspaper he sought an autograph from James for a friend's child.

Celantano did not return several telephone messages left at his Hamilton home Tuesday by The Associated Press.

Jim Loper, associate director of the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association, saw the pose during television coverage of Saturday's Prime Time Shootout.

"I thought, 'Holy cow.' As officials, you want to stay in the middle," he said.

OHSAA director Bob Goldring said that if the same thing happened in Ohio, "we would deem it unethical, and we would have the authority to fine or suspend an official in that case."

Goldring said it would not affect James' playing status in Ohio.
 

Virginia faces tough road test against UNC
The Cavaliers have won four of five but face a Tar Heel squad that has beaten national powerhouses Kansas and Connecticut
J.d. Moss
Cavalier Daily Gameday Editor

Virginia will look for its fifth straight win over UNC when the Cavaliers travel to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels at 7 p.m. on ESPN.

Virginia (14-7, 5-4 ACC) has won six of the last seven against North Carolina (12-10, 3-6), including a 79-72 win at home Jan. 11. The Cavaliers have won at UNC two of the last three years.

The team's first meeting this season saw Virginia take a 48-30 halftime lead and withstand two second-half Heel rallies behind six three-pointers from junior guard Todd Billet. Three other Cavaliers scored in double figures as Virginia shot 49 percent from the floor.

The Cavaliers are coming off a 61-58 win over N.C. State Sunday. Virginia senior forward Travis Watson eclipsed 1000 career rebounds in the game, registering his eleventh double-double of the year with 15 points and 14 rebounds.

Last Thursday, Virginia got its first ACC road win, knocking off then-No. 8 Maryland 86-78. No other ACC team has won a conference game at one of the top six teams' home venues.

Against Maryland, Virginia used a balanced scoring attack, as seven players scored at least seven points.

"Virginia is a heck of a basketball team," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "They're deep and they have one of the country's premier basketball players in Travis Watson. He's just sensational."

In the last four games, Virginia has had seven different players score in double figures, which is a big advantage according to sophomore forward Elton Brown.

"Any guy on this team can start," Brown said. "Everybody on this team can play defense, everyone on this team can score. There's really no starting five -- there's a starting ten."

The key to Virginia's last two wins has been a much-improved defense. The Cavaliers did not allow the Wolfpack to score in the final 2:56 of Sunday's game. Against the Terps, Virginia did not allow a field goal from the nine minute mark until a last-second layup, securing an upset win and ending a nine-game ACC road losing streak.

The win against Maryland "has definitely given us some confidence," Virginia freshman forward Derrick Byars said. "We weren't trying to let the Maryland win get to us. We just tried to stay focused on playing well and we got a win [against N.C. State]. We'll focus in on UNC now. We're back on track to getting where we want to be."

The Tar Heels snapped a five-game skid with a 61-60 win over visiting Florida State Saturday. Freshman guard David Noel hit two free throws with 5.6 seconds left as the Heels overcame a 57-53 deficit with 4:53 left to win. Sophomore forward Jawad Williams led UNC with 20 points, his fourth straight game with at least 19. Williams scored 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the team's first meeting with the Cavaliers.

Florida State held freshman Rashad McCants scoreless for the first time in his collegiate career, as he sat out the final 9:39 with a sore back. McCants had 16 against Virginia in January and had been averaging 18 points per game.

The last time Virginia won five straight over UNC was 1920, so the Cavaliers will have their hands full tonight.