Close not good enough as Cavs lose 4th in row
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 24, 2003

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Virginia played with the desperation of a team trying to salvage its season Sunday night.
For more than 38 minutes, the Cavaliers played first-place Wake Forest to a standstill at Lawrence Joel Coliseum. In the 39th minute, however, the Deacons showed some desperation of their own.

With the shot clock running down, freshman Justin Gray tossed up a leaning, one-handed 3-pointer from the left side. It banked in, giving Wake a lead it would never relinquish on the way to a 75-71 win.

''I just put it up there,” Gray said. “That’s why you pray at night.” Gray had played up to that point wearing a mask to protect his jaw, which was broken by an elbow from Duke’s Dahntay Jones last month.

During a timeout before his 3-point heave, he tossed the mask aside.

''I wasn’t shooting well, and I thought it was the mask,” he said. ''I guess you won’t be seeing that anymore.” Gray’s 3-pointer gave Wake (19-4, 9-3) a 71-68 lead with 1:40 left. Virginia cut it to one on a Todd Billet free throw with 1:25 left. Gray turned the ball over on the next possession. Virginia had a final chance, and ran a play for Billet.

He slipped while dribbling around a screen, losing the ball. Wake’s Vytas Danelius and Virginia’s Elton Brown pounced on the floor and each got a piece of it. The possession arrow pointed Wake Forest’s way.

The Deacons hit four free throws in the final 19.3 seconds to secure the win.

The loss was the Cavaliers’ fourth straight and drops them to seventh place in the ACC. Virginia fell to 14-11 overall, 5-8 in the conference.

''We had our backs against the wall,” point guard Majestic Mapp said. ''They’re the hot team. We’re not very hot at the moment.”

Virginia was hot in the first half, shooting 55 percent and canning six of nine 3-pointers to take a 35-30 lead. Wake closed the gap early in the second half, and the teams were within a basket or two the rest of the way.

''When it came down to winning time, I guess we just wanted it a little more,” Wake Forest’s Josh Howard said.

Howard, who finished with a game-high 28 points, had 17 in the second half. ''Josh had a stretch where he wouldn’t allow us to lose contact with Virginia,” Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. ''That allowed Justin’s shot to be a difference-maker.”

An unlikely difference-maker. Gray made a similar shot against Duke Feb. 13.

This one was even tougher, because the 6-foot-1 freshman tossed in the shot over Virginia’s 6-8 Jason Clark.

''And I didn’t even call glass,” he said.

Gillen said he didn’t think the shot was good. When it fell, ''You think that sometimes it’s meant to be,” he said. ''You take your hat off to him.” Gillen praised his team’s effort.

''We did not get the win, but I thought we played like winners,’’ he said. ''I can live with losing if we play like that in a tough environment.” Billet led Virginia with 25. Brown had 16, 14 in the second half, and Devin Smith had 18.

The team’s leading scorer, center Travis Watson, finished with just three points. He didn’t start because he missed a class last week, Gillen said.

The loss severely damaged Virginia’s already-fading NCAA tournament hopes. The Cavaliers have four regular season games remaining, beginning Wednesday at Ohio University.

''We did too many good things to not take something out of this,” Billet said.

 

Deacons' Gray is last man standing
Justin Gray connects on an improbable 3-pointer down the stretch to help Wake Forest hand Virginia its fourth straight loss.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The finish to the Virginia-Wake Forest men's basketball game was straight out of a Western movie, complete with a masked man as the hero or - take your choice - villain.
Virginia was successful in unmasking Deacons freshman Justin Gray, but the ending was all too familiar for the Cavaliers as 10th-ranked Wake prevailed 75-71 at Lawrence Joel Memorial Coliseum.

It was the fourth straight loss for Virginia, which shot 52 percent from the field and led by as many as eight points early in the second half and was on top 68-64 with under 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

It was 68-68, with three seconds left on the shot clock, when Gray inbounded the ball from in front of the Wake bench, got it back and heaved a 25-footer that went in off the backboard with 1:40 left. The Deacons never trailed again.

"That's why you pray at night - shots like that," said Gray, who launched the shot from behind his right ear. "I knew I got it off in time, but I didn't know it was going in. And, I didn't call 'glass.'"

Gray, who played at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia, recently had missed eight games with a broken jaw and had been wearing a mask until he re-entered the game with 4:31 remaining.

"It was frustrating," said Gray, who scored nine points off the bench. "You know how good shooters say, 'It's never the shooter?' I thought it was the mask, so I was like, 'Let me get rid of this mask.' I think you won't be seeing that for a while."

The Demon Deacons (19-4, 9-3 ACC) were able to increase their lead in the ACC standings to a half-game over Maryland and Duke, primarily as the result of their 69.6-percent shooting from the field in the second half.

Wake finished with 10 turnovers, compared to 18 for Virginia. None of the Cavaliers' turnovers was more harmful than the last one, which followed a timeout with 28.1 seconds on the game clock and 11 seconds on the shot clock.

UVa coach Pete Gillen diagrammed a play in which the Cavaliers were to set a screen for Todd Billet, after which Billet was supposed to step back and take a jump shot, but not necessarily a 3-pointer with the Deacs ahead 71-69.

As soon as Billet started to drive from near midcourt, he dribbled the ball off his shin, after which there was a held ball. The possession arrow gave the ball to the Deacons.

"I didn't know which way the arrow was going," Billet said, "but after seeing [Gray's] shot go in, I would have bet it was going their way."

It was the game-high fifth turnover for Billet, who was one of the big reasons Virginia was in the game after hitting five 3-pointers and finishing with 25 points.

"I don't know exactly what happened," Billet said. "I may have lost my footing, but I don't have any excuses."

Devin Smith had 18 points for the Cavaliers (14-11, 5-8) and fellow sophomore Elton Brown contributed 16 points, including 14 in the second half, but preseason All-ACC choice Travis Watson was no factor.

Watson was held out of the starting lineup because he missed a class, as well as another unspecified commitment, according to Gillen. Watson, who did not make his first appearance until 9:58 remained in the first half, had three points and four rebounds in 19 minutes.

It brought an end to Watson's streak of eight straight games with at least 10 rebounds, but he did find time to commit four turnovers, giving him a team-high 74 for the season.

Wake Forest got a game-high 28 points from the ACC's leading scorer, Josh Howard, who was limited to 14 minutes in the first half but scored 17 points without picking up his fourth foul in the second half. Howard hit back-to-back pull-up jumpers in the lane after Wake had fallen behind 66-62.

"We decided that we was going to put our foot down and finish the game off," Howard said. "Virginia played a tough game. They pounded the glass, they executed their offense, they played defense. When it came down to winning time, we just wanted it a lot more."

No one was faulting the Cavaliers' effort. Not Gillen and not his longtime former assistant, Wake coach Skip Prosser.

"If I'm Coach [Gillen], I'm dying with that one," Prosser said.


 

U.Va. can't hold Wake
Guard scores 25, but Cavs lose 4th in row
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 24, 2003

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - With Virginia seemingly poised to steal a season-reviving victory over 10th-ranked Wake Forest, guard Justin Gray shot down the slumping Cavaliers last night.

Gray's desperation 3-pointer - the 6-2 freshman, covered by 6-8 Jason Clark, leaned in and launched a one-handed 22-footer - banked off the glass as the shot clock expired to give the Demon Deacons a 71-68 lead with 1:39 left. Wake went on to win 75-71, its 15th straight victory at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

"I just put it up there. That's why you pray at night," said a smiling Gray, who missed Wake's loss at Virginia last month with a fractured jaw.

Moments earlier, Wake's All-America candidate, 6-6 senior Josh Howard, had found himself double-teamed along the sideline and called a timeout with 3 seconds on the shot clock. When play started again, Gray, who had shed the protective mask he had worn all game, inbounded the ball to 6-9 freshman Eric Williams, who quickly gave it back.

"I knew I got it off in time, but I wasn't sure it was going in," said Gray, who hit a similar 3-pointer Feb. 13 in a double-overtime win over Duke. "And I didn't even call 'glass.'"

The outcome delighted Deacons coach Skip Prosser, whose team leads the ACC. Still, Prosser couldn't help empathizing with his mentor, Virginia's Pete Gillen, when Gray's prayer was answered. The loss was the latest blow for a U.Va. team whose hopes of making the NCAA tournament are fading.

"If I'm Coach [Gillen], I'm dy- ing with that one," Prosser said.

Gray's shot sent the crowd of 13,682 into a frenzy, but Virginia (5-8, 14-11) still had a chance. Junior guard Todd Billet hit 1 of 2 free throws to make it 71-69 with 1:26 left, then Wake turned the ball over. But the Wahoos' next, critical possession went awry.

Billet slipped and dribbled off his knee, and a scramble for the ball ensued. Neither Wake's Vytas Danelius nor U.Va.'s Elton Brown could pull the ball away from the other, and the possession arrow pointed to the Deacons. The turnover was Billet's fifth.

Wake (9-3, 19-4) got the ball with 19.3 seconds left, and Virginia had to foul. Danelius, a 6-8 sophomore, and Howard each made two free throws to seal the victory. Howard led the Deacons with 28 points, and Danelius tied his career high with 21.

"When it came down to winning time, I guess we just wanted it more," Howard said.

Maybe so, but Virginia's effort was beyond reproach, not always the case this season. On a night when co-captain Travis Watson, the team's leading rebounder and scorer, was benched for violating team rules, U.Va. turned in one of its grittiest efforts. The Cavaliers shot 52 percent from the floor and edged the Deacons, the nation's top rebounding tream, 31-28 on the boards.

"We did not win, but I was proud of our kids," Gillen said. "I thought we played like winners."

Watson, who missed a class and "another commitment," Gillen said, didn't enter the game until the 9:58 mark of the first half. In 19 minutes, the 6-8, 255-pound senior totaled three points, four rebounds, three assists and four turnovers.

Billet, coming off a miserable shooting night against Clemson, made 5 of 8 attempts from beyond the arc and led the Cavs with 25 points. Point guard Majestic Mapp came off the bench to play 33 minutes, his longest stint since returning from a knee injury, and had four assists, three points, three rebounds and one steal.

Sophomore swingman Devin Smith added 18 points, and 6-9 sophomore Elton Brown, in perhaps his most impressive performance as a Cavalier, contributed 16 points, nine rebounds and two assists. Brown scored all but two of his points in the second half.

"I thought he was great tonight," Gillen said. "He played with a big heart against a good big guy."

Brown scored off a pass from Billet to put Virginia ahead 68-64 with 3:29 left, but Howard answered to make it a two-point game. Then Billet's 3-point attempt from the left corner went in and out. Wake rebounded, and Gray made a short jumper for a 68-68 tie with 2:38 remaining.
 

For Virginia, it still goes in the loss column
BB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Feb 24, 2003
Contact Bob Lipper at (804) 649-6555 or e-mail blipper@timesdispatch.com

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. First, here's the positive spin: Virginia's Cavaliers played their fannies off last night. They played hard, they played tough, they played resilient. They busted it on defense. They played muscleball on the glass. They played smart on offense. They played the country's 10th-ranked basketball squad to a standstill.

Now here's reality.

They lost.

They lost 75-71 to Wake Forest, and even though this was a hold-your-heads-high loss as opposed to their hangdog defeats of late, the Cavs headed home with their fourth straight setback, a 14-11 record and a bleak future.

Such is life when you're tailspinning toward oblivion. Both coaches praise your effort? Doesn't matter. You outrebound the nation's No. 1 team in that department? Doesn't matter. You nail 52 percent of your shots and get envi able production inside and out? Doesn't matter.

What matters - the only thing that matters - is you lost. Or, as Todd Billet put it, "Even though we didn't like the outcome, we left everything out on the court, which makes it a little easier to take - but not much."

This is when you know it might be your night: Elton Brown loses control of the ball as he drives the baseline, gathers it before it skitters out of bounds and flings it blindly toward midcourt where it lands in Travis Watson's mitts. And Watson passes to Billet, who drains a 3-pointer that makes it 62-all with just under six minutes to go.

This is when you know it definitely is not your night: You play D like banshees and force Wake to take a timeout with 3 seconds on the shot clock. And Justin Gray inbounds the ball to Eric Williams and gets it back, with Jason Clark - 6 inches taller at 6-8 - shadowing him. And Gray takes a dribble and lifts off and contorts his body and launches a prayer from beyond the arc that ricochets off glass and somehow finds net for a 71-68 lead 1:40 from the end.

And Wake stays on top the rest of the way.

And Virginia has an L, which in the grand scheme of things looks no different from the L it collected for a 14-point burial at North Carolina or the L it got for its no-show effort at home against Clemson. When things aren't going your way - when you're not in the habit of putting yourself in position to make things go your way - this is what happens.

"The way he shot it, we'll take our chances," said U.Va. guard Majestic Mapp. "I guess it was lucky, but he's a good player."

U.Va. began this outing with more bad vibes than a third-grade percussion section. Watson is a senior, a tri-captain, the player coach Pete Gillen keeps praising for his resolve. But he normally looks as invested in the product as a booster who writes checks from two time zones away. He was pulled from the starting lineup for missing a class and "another commitment." Not a good omen.

The early going was equally messy for the Cavs. Gillen ordered a timeout 2½ minutes into a 2-all scrum, and Brown responded with a disgusted frown as he approached the bench. Nick Vander Laan saw the need to mouth off to Wake students seated near U.Va.'s bench. Yanked after a dopey 3-point try, Watson muttered and pointedly shook his head after Gillen barked a few words into his ear at the sideline.

And yet, against that grain, U.Va. hung tough against an outfit that's 14-0 at home. It got 25 points - but five turnovers, including a killer at crunch time - from Billet. It got 16 points and nine rebounds from Brown. It got oh, so close.

"Our kids played like winners," Gillen said.

But they lost.

In the end, that's all that counts.

 

Deacs deny Cavs' upset
Howard scores 28 points, Danelius adds 21 for Wake Forest-- Virginia held to just three points over final six possessions
By Dan Collins
JOURNAL REPORTER

Wake Forest dug in defensively over the final 3 1/2 minutes last night and pried loose a stubborn 75-71 decision over desperate Virginia at Joel Coliseum.

Josh Howard scored 28 points, Vytas Danelius contributed 21 and Justin Gray put the 10th-ranked Deacons ahead to stay with a prayer that was answered at the end of the shot clock. Yet to win, and remain in first place in the ACC, Wake Forest still had to stop a Virginia attack that appeared all but unstoppable over the game's first 361/2 minutes.

"We decided we were going to put our foot down and go out there and finish the game off," Howard said. "Virginia fought a hard game. They pounded the glass, they executed on offense, they played defense.

"But when it came down to winning time, we just wanted it a whole lot more I guess."

The Cavaliers, after scoring on eight of 10 possessions to take a 68-64 lead with 31/2 minutes left, managed just a free throw and a field goal over the last six times they had the ball. And the field goal, by Todd Billet, was an uncontested layup with only six seconds remaining.

On the other four possessions, which decided the game, Billet missed a 3-pointer from the left corner, Devin Smith missed a short jumper in traffic, Billet lost his dribble near midcourt and turned the ball over and Billet missed a rushed 3-pointer that hit nothing. Wake Forest countered with Gray's circus 3-pointer over 6-8 Jason Clark with 1:40 remaining, and two free throws each from Danelius and Howard to improve to 14-0 this season at Joel Coliseum.

The Deacons are now 19-4 overall and 9-3 in conference play, maintaining their half-game lead over Duke and Maryland with four games remaining in the regular season. Virginia tumbled to 14-11 and 5-8 with its fourth straight loss.

"We came out real slow," freshman Eric Williams of the Deacons said. "I kind of felt that way the first half and for a little bit in the second half. And I don't know why.

"But we just buckled down. We just realized, I guess, at that point how much first place really meant to us and how much we wanted to show people that we're really good."

Virginia, sparked by 25 points from Billet, 18 points from Smith and 16 points and nine rebounds from Elton Brown, shot 55 percent in the first half, 50 percent in the second and 52 percent for the game. But the Deacons, after making only 10 of 31 first-half field goals (32.3 percent) warmed up in time to shoot 69.6 percent after halftime.

Howard, saddled by three fouls in the first half, made five of seven shots in the second, including two clutch jumpers over the 6-0 Billet that kept the Deacons only two points down. After Gray's driving basket finally tied the game with 21/2 minutes left, Smith missed in traffic and Howard rebounded.

Wake Forest twice called timeout on the next possession, the last time when How-ard was trapped in the corner with only three seconds left on the shot clock. On the resumption of play, Gray looked inside to Howard, but settled for passing the ball to Williams.

Williams immediately threw the ball back to Gray who took a dribble, forced a shot over Clark's reach and watched it bank in for a 71-68 lead.

Afterward, Coach Skip Prosser of Wake Forest commiserated with Coach Pete Gillen of Virginia, for whom he was an assistant for eight years at Xavier. But Gillen just chalked the basket up to the breaks of the game.

"His bank shot was one hell of a shot," Gillen said. "It's a tough shot and it's just part of the game.

"We had our best defender on him and he still banked it in from about 23 feet."

Trailing 71-69 after a free throw by Billet, Virginia called its final timeout with 28.1 remaining. Gillen called for Billet to come off a screen at the top of the key, but Billet lost his dribble.

The ball caromed off Gray's foot and was pounced on by Danelius of Wake Forest and Brown of Virginia. The officials ruled a held ball, with the possession arrow pointed in the Deacons' favor.

Danelius, fouled on the inbounds play calmly made both free throws for a 73-69 lead with 19.3 seconds remaining.

"I want to praise our kids," Prosser said.

"While it was certainly not as well-played as we would have liked it, I thought our guys showed the grit to somehow, someway win the game."

Senior Travis Watson was disciplined for missing a class, did not start and had just three points in 19 minutes.

Even with Watson, the ACC's leading rebounder, getting only four rebounds, the Cavs still beat the Deacons 31-28 on the boards. It was only the second time this season a team has out-rebounded Wake Forest.

"He didn't start because he missed a class and he missed another commitment," Gillen said. "That's all I will say.

"We have rules and standards at Virginia. Other schools could care less, all right? We try to do things a different way, and that was it."

 

Wake Forest gets breaks, outlasts U.Va.
Despite strong effort, Cavaliers lose fourth straight
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published February 24, 2003

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Its best player essentially a no-show, Virginia shot 52 percent from the floor and outrebounded the nation's hardest-working team under the boards. All this on the road, where the Cavaliers usually are as competitive as bug spray.

But effort and guts weren't enough, not on this night. Wake Forest had Josh Howard, the possession arrow when it mattered and a pure stroke of luck, all of which enabled the 10th-ranked Demon Deacons to pull out a 75-71 victory Sunday in Lawrence Joel Coliseum.

Howard had 17 of his 28 points after halftime, but it was freshman Justin Gray's toss-it-up-and-hope-for-the-best 3-pointer with 1:40 remaining that broke a 68-all tie and finally sapped Virginia's spirit and extended its losing streak to four games. Wake (19-4, 9-3) held onto first place in the ACC standings; the Cavs (14-11, 5-8) slipped to seventh and now have no margin of error.

"We've had some good wins this season - we beat Kentucky, we beat Maryland," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "I'm as proud of our team tonight, even though we lost, as any game we've played. We played like winners."

They almost were. The Cavs led 68-64 at the game's 31/2-minute mark, but Howard answered with a 12-footer in the lane. U.Va. guard Todd Billet (25 points) then found himself open in the left corner, but what would have been his sixth 3-pointer rattled out. Gray than banked a runner at 2:38 to tie it.

Fast-forwarding almost a minute, we find Wake inbounding with three seconds left on the shot clock. The game still tied, Gray passed to forward Eric Williams, who sent it back to Gray. About 20 feet from the basket, right in front of the Demon Deacons' bench, Gray stepped around 6-foot-8 Jason Clark and did the only thing he could do - heave it. His heave kissed off the glass for Wake's fourth 3-pointer in 15 attempts.

"That's why you pray at night," Gray said.

Ten days earlier, Gray had done the same thing, from virtually the very same spot, in a victory over Duke. That occurred to Cavalier guard Majestic Mapp when he saw Gray put it up.

"Half of me was thinking it would go in the stands somewhere," he said, "and half of me was thinking it would go in."

Virginia still had a shot. With Wake ahead 71-69 and less than a minute left, Gray turned it over. After calling timeout at :28.1, the Cavs tried to get Billet free off a ball screen at the top of the key. But Billet lost the ball, and Demon Deacon forward Vytas Danelius tied him up. Possession arrow: Wake Forest.

"We were extremely fortuitous," Wake coach Skip Prosser said.

That Virginia was even close was something of a shocker. Travis Watson, the Cavaliers' leading scorer and rebounder, was benched and played only 19 ineffective minutes, finishing with three points and four rebounds.

"He missed a class and he missed another commitment," Gillen said. "And that's all I'll say."

Yet Virginia did something only one other team this season has done: It outrebounded the Demon Deacons (31-28).

"They're a good rebounding team," said forward Elton Brown, who was excellent with 16 points and nine boards. "But when we come out to play, we're a good rebounding team."

With four regular-season games remaining, the Cavaliers probably must sweep them to stand a realistic shot at making the NCAA tournament. What they need, starting with Wednesday night at Ohio, is more nights like this.

"This was definitely one of our better efforts," Mapp said. "We played the way Virginia is capable of playing. We just have to bring that intensity, that effort, every night."

 

Face it: Gray, Deacs win

ROB DANIELS, Staff Writer
News & Record

WINSTON-SALEM -- The mask was tossed in disdain, the 3-pointer in desperation. But Justin Gray's two heaves helped Wake Forest hold on to something even more precious -- the ACC lead.

Gray's one-handed shot-put from 20 feet barely beat the shot clock and did beat Virginia, breaking the game's final tie with 1:40 left and ultimately lifting the 10th-ranked Demon Deacons to a 75-71 victory Sunday.

"I just put it up there," said Gray, who discarded the mask with 4:31 left with his surgeon's permission. "That's why you pray at night. And I didn't even call glass."

Just to make sure, Gray stuck his nose and his jaw into a melee to create a held ball and kill the Cavaliers' last chance to tie with 19.3 seconds to play. UVa got one inconsequential field goal in the final 3:30.

"I'm really proud of our players for what they've done this year to this point, given the vagaries of a schedule and the difficulty of the league," Wake coach Skip Prosser said. "They're Rooster Cogburn. They really play with some true grit."

Wake (9-3 ACC, 19-4), which hasn't won the ACC's regular-season title outright since 1962, owns a one-half game lead on Maryland and Duke, both 9-4. Josh Howard led the way with 9-of-14 shooting and 28 points, and his jumpers on consecutive late possessions cut Cavaliers leads to two points.

"Maybe we were a little lucky," offered Vytas Danelius, who added 21 points of his own.

But if so, they did create a lot of their good fortune.

The Cavaliers (5-8, 14-11), who lost their fourth straight, gave the Deacs a tough run in a second half that featured 10 lead changes. Starting center Travis Watson was limited to 19 minutes because, coach Pete Gillen said, he skipped a class on Friday and "another commitment."

In Watson's relative absence, the Cavs went 9-for-17 from the 3-point line, getting 25 points from Todd Billet, 18 out of Devin Smith and 16 from backup big man Elton Brown.

After losing an eight-point lead, the Cavs scored on five of six possessions to take a 68-64 lead on Brown's layup with 3:30 to play.

"We had such a hard time stopping them," Danelius said. "We had tried to be tough, to have an edge defensively."

Howard's second straight hoop, hit over the 6-foot Billet at the top of a 3-2 zone, kept his team close and helped set the stage for the night's biggest play.

With the score tied at 68, the shot clock at three seconds and the game clock at 1:44, Prosser called timeout. He called for "Hale," a play named for former North Carolina Tar Heel Steve Hale and initiated by Dean Smith. It became a Hail Mary.

Howard, who was supposed to receive a pass down low, wasn't open. So Gray, who had inbounded the ball to Eric Williams, got it back with 6-8 Jason Clark extending his arms in harassment. The toss to the basket seemingly came out of Gray's right ear. It beat the shot clock and went in at 1:40.

Would it have gone in with the mask? Gray, who had been 0-for-3 from the 3-point line with it on, didn't know. But he was glad he had hocked it.

"You know shooters," they said. "They always say, 'It's not the shooter.' So I thought it was the mask. I was frustrated. I guess you won't be seeing that for a while."

Down 71-69, Virginia had a chance to tie in the final 30 seconds. But when Billet lost control of his dribble, Gray dived in and knocked the ball to Danelius, who got tied up with Clark. The possession arrow rewarded Wake Forest.

"I didn't know which was the arrow was going," Billet said, "but after seeing (Gray's) shot go in, I would have bet it was going their way."

So are a lot of things these days.

Pack might follow Cavs’ unwanted precedent
By AL FEATHERSTON : The Herald-Sun
afeatherston@heraldsun.com
Feb 23, 2003 : 4:30 pm ET

RALEIGH -- N.C. State still can finish the regular season with a record that falls anywhere between 18-9 (11-5 ACC) and 14-13 (7-9 ACC).

Obviously, the former record would make the Wolfpack an easy pick for the NCAA selection committee. And just as obviously, the latter record would force the Pack to win the ACC Tournament to earn an NCAA bid.

But the reality is that N.C. State is unlikely to come in at either extreme. After Saturday’s 79-68 loss at No. 8 Duke, the Pack has four toss-up games left — starting with Tuesday’s trip to North Carolina. A home game with No. 13 Maryland, a trip to Clemson and a home game with No. 10 Wake Forest complete the regular-season schedule.

It’s much more likely that the Pack will finish 2-2, 3-1 or 1-3 in those games than 4-0 or 0-4.

That raises the specter of the 2000 Virginia Cavaliers, the only ACC team in more than 20 years to finish two games over .500 in the ACC and not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.

N.C. State (14-9, 7-5 ACC) appears to be following closely in the footsteps of that ill-fated Virginia team. If N.C. State splits its last four games, the Pack will finish the regular season at 16-11 (9-7 ACC) with a profile that’s hauntingly similar to the 2000 Cavaliers.

Normally, an ACC team that finishes 9-7 in the league (or 8-6 in the years before Florida State made it a nine-team conference) can count on an NCAA bid. In fact, since 1980, when the NCAA changed its rules to allow more than two teams per conference, 22 of 23 ACC teams that finished 8-6 or 9-7 in the league made the NCAA field. Two of those teams — N.C. State in 1983 and Georgia Tech in 1990 — got in by winning the ACC Tournament. The rest received at large bids.

There was outrage when Virginia was denied a bid after finishing third in the 2000 ACC race with a 19-10 (9-7 ACC) record. But a closer examination of the Cavalier record revealed the committee’s reasoning:

— Virginia’s RPI was 76, far beyond the range of most at large teams.

— Virginia’s strength of schedule was a very mediocre 109, hurt by the ACC’s ranking that season as the nation’s No. 7 conference.

— Virginia was 3-4 against top-50 RPI teams, including one win over No. 15 Maryland and two wins over No. 41 UNC.

— Virginia was 4-4 against teams from No. 51 to No. 100 in the RPI for a 7-8 record against top-100 teams.

— Virginia had three losses to teams outside the RPI top 100.

Now compare those numbers with N.C. State’s current status:

— N.C. State’s RPI is 67 — nine places better than 2000 Virginia, but still outside the normal range of at large teams.

— N.C. State’s strength of schedule is 67, helped by the ACC’s status as the nation’s third-strongest conference.

— N.C. State is 1-5 against top 50 RPI teams — the only win coming against No.7 Duke.

— N.C. State is 7-2 against teams ranked 51st-100th, giving the Pack an 8-7 record against the top 100. The Pack has been much stronger against the second 50 than the 2000 Cavs, but overall, just one game better against the top 100.

— N.C. State has two losses to teams outside the RPI top 100 — Massachusetts (No. 193) and Temple (No. 114). That’s one fewer bad loss than the 2000 Cavs.

Of course, to get to 9-7 in the ACC, N.C. State will have to add at least one more top-50 victory (UNC, Maryland and Wake Forest are all in the top 50) and a second top-100 victory (Clemson is No. 64). Two more top-100 wins (and two more top-100 losses) would improve the Pack’s RPI by maybe as much as 10 places.

The Pack also could help its cause with a first-round ACC Tournament win — something that Herb Sendek has managed in five of his first six years. Of course, N.C. State could simply win three of its last four and avoid all the worry. No ACC team has finished four games over .500 in the league and failed to get an NCAA bid.

But it’s likely that the Wolfpack will remain firmly on the NCAA "bubble."

"I don’t pay much attention to that," Wolfpack sophomore Julius Hodge said after the Duke loss. "I’m focused on us winning games right now. That bubble-team nonsense doesn’t mean much. We have two tough games coming up , starting with the Tar Heels and we have to be ready to play. If we’re not, it’s going to be another moral victory ... and we don’t need any more of those. We have to starting winning games."

A year ago, Jerry Palm, who operates the collegerpi.com Web site, correctly predicted all 34 at-large teams taken by the NCAA selection committee. Last week, he projected the field and listed N.C. State as the 35th at-large pick — the last team left out of the field.

Palm will update his projections as the tournament grows closer, but "bubble-team nonsense" or not, it’s hard to escape the conclusion that N.C. State’s NCAA chances are about as tenuous as it can be at this point.


 

Wake: Quantity, Not Quality
By Jim Reedy
Special to The Washington Post
Monday, February 24, 2003; Page D04


WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Feb. 23 -- It wasn't anyone's idea of a quality shot, but it was all Wake Forest's Justin Gray could manage with the shot clock about to expire. Tied at 68 with less than two minutes remaining, 10th-ranked Wake Forest needed a basket to stave off Virginia's upset bid, so Gray rose up beyond the three-point line and heaved the ball over defender Jason Clark and toward the basket with his right hand.

The ball slammed off the backboard, then through the net, giving the Demon Deacons a 71-68 lead. One minute 40 seconds later, Wake Forest had a 75-71 win that kept them atop the ACC standings. Virginia, whose NCAA tournament hopes are quickly fading, slipped to seventh place with its fourth consecutive loss.

"I knew we had three seconds so we had to get a shot," said Gray, a freshman guard who hit a similar desperation shot in Wake Forest's 94-80 double-overtime win against Duke 10 days ago. "I just put it up there. That's why you pray at night."

The Cavaliers (14-11, 5-8) cut one point off the lead with a free throw by Todd Billet, who led Virginia with 25 points, giving them a chance to tie the game or win it with a three-pointer when they called timeout with 28 seconds left to set up an offensive play.

Billet began the play by coming off a screen at the top of the key, but he slipped and fumbled the ball away. Wake Forest's Vytas Danelius (21 points) and Virginia's Elton Brown (16 points) corralled the loose ball at the same time, and the possession arrow favored the Demon Deacons (19-4, 9-3).

Down two with 19 seconds left, the Cavaliers had to foul and Danelius and ACC scoring leader Josh Howard (game-high 28 points), Wake Forest's leaders all night, came through with four straight free throws to clinch the game.

"We did not win the game, but I thought we played like winners," Cavaliers Coach Pete Gillen said. "I can live with losing if we play like that in this tough environment. I think we're a good team and we played like a good team."

The game was tight throughout, with 11 ties and 17 lead changes.

Virginia will need to win its final three ACC games to finish with a .500 conference record. After Wednesday's nonconference game at Ohio, the Cavaliers visit last-place Florida State (12-12, 3-10) on Saturday before closing the regular season with home games against Georgia Tech (12-11, 5-7) and 13th-ranked Maryland (17-7, 9-4).

Gillen benched senior forward Travis Watson, who missed a class on Friday, for the opening 10 minutes and went with his 14th different starting lineup of the season: Billet, Brown, Devin Smith, Jason Clark and Nick Vander Laan. Watson played only 19 minutes tonight, though he was on the floor down the stretch.

Virginia seized a 38-30 lead when Smith (18 points) hits a spiraling three-pointer on the first possession of the second half, but Wake Forest quickly cut the lead to three and pulled ahead 41-40 when Danelius squared up for a jumper from the foul line. Brown (16 points) answered with an inside basket on the ensuing possession, starting a string of six lead changes in five minutes.

Neither team could pull ahead by more than three points until Watson and Brown scored on consecutive possessions to give Virginia a 66-62 lead with 4:08 remaining. The Cavaliers led 68-64 before the Demon Deacons tied it up and set the stage for Gray's unlikely three-pointer.

"The part that's really hard to get is the one where you jump into the guy and throw it off the backboard from 23, 24 feet," Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser said with a smile. "We don't shoot a high percentage on that."