Gillen faces pressure after ACC defeats
Head coah Pete Gillen comes under fire as Cavaliers fall to last place in ACC, players work to focus amid coaching controversy
Jonathan Evans
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage entered the room. Littlepage never enters the room. Indeed this was a peculiar moment at the post-game press conference following Virginia's loss to N.C. State last Saturday.

For the Cavaliers, the loss marked their fourth in a row and a fall to the bottom of the ACC standings. For Virginia coach Pete Gillen, the loss was another cloud in the gathering storm that is brewing over his head. After the press conference, Littlepage offered a few words of encouragement and a pat on the back for the Gillen who coaches every game as if it were his last because it may actually be his last.

From Internet message boards to the seats at University Hall, there is seemingly only one topic of discussion when it comes to Virginia men's basketball -- the job security of Virginia's embattled head coach.

"All we can do is just go day by day," Gillen said after the N.C. State game. "We're frustrated we didn't play better. We're 12-8 overall. We have some good wins, only 2-7 in the league. Other teams before today were only one game ahead of us. Maryland had three wins. Carolina had three wins. There is always going to be heat. Hopefully we'll be here a while. We've got seven years left on the contract."

If anyone knows the road that Pete Gillen is traveling it is N.C. State coach Herb Sendek. Once vilified by Wolfpack fans, Sendek has weathered the storm and has his team firmly in second place in the conference. Indeed his team's fortune is so good that Sendek antagonists have taken down a Web site, that called for his firing.

"I don't know what [taking down the Web site] indicates," Sendek said. "It could be back up tonight. That is the nature of our sport."

As the coaching controversy that once surrounded Sendek and currently surrounds Gillen demonstrates, in the world of college basketball, the bottom line doesn't look so good if the storm of resentment starts brewing.

"I don't think that when you're in the coaching profession, and that word is an important word, that you can allow those things to influence how you go about doing your job everyday," Sendek said. "We're teachers, we're coaches and we're leaders. Unfortunately, our sports culture today is a little bit off-center."

While the coaches are the ones in the crosshairs, the players are not blind to the demands of the modern day sports landscape.

"We lost two at home, and when you lose, you're going to hear it," senior guard Todd Billet said. "That's what basketball is in this day and age. As players, we have to just keep working and focus."

In addition to Blue Devils, Terrapins and Yellow Jackets, the Cavalier players have another challenge facing them, a challenge that goes far beyond holding a prolific scorer in check or crashing the boards. The players must find a way to see through the storm and focus on the game.

"We play for ourselves," junior forward Devin Smith said. "We really don't listen to what everybody else says. We just have to do it for ourselves and for everyone in our basketball family."

At 2-7, the Cavaliers have their work cut out for them if they want to climb out of the cellar in the ACC and avoid the humiliation of participating in the ACC tournament play-in game.

"We're not giving up, we're not quitting," Gillen said. "We're in the toughest league in the country right now, and we're playing a lot of young guys."

It's easy to see that Gillen's a little sweatier than usual as he patrols the sidelines. The red-headed Brooklynite coaches his heart out, knowing the storm remains directly over his head. With four of Virginia's remaining seven games against ranked opponents, it's easy to forecast gloomier days on the horizon for Gillen. With the demands of our sports culture, many wonder if Littlepage will enter a press conference in the near future and proceed to the podium to announce a coaching change rather than to take a seat in the back row.
 

Paul and Pete, two coaching peas in a pod
Paul Crane
Cavalier Daily Columnist

On the surface, Pete Gillen and I do not have much in common. I am not from Brooklyn, do not have red hair and have not been a member of a gold medal-winning team (Gillen was an assistant coach on Dream Team II). I certainly do not have a 10-year contract. I do, however, have some Irish heritage in me.

Nevertheless, despite our vast differences, when it comes to recent coaching success, we seem to be on a collision course. Let me explain.

I began coaching a team of 11 and 12-year-olds last winter in the City of Charlottesville Youth Basketball League. Undaunted by my rookie year performance, I began my sophomore season this past December roaming the benches with a new team and the same dream of winning a title. Despite my best intentions, with two games remaining in the regular season this year, my combined career coaching record stands at an impressively embarrassing 0-12.

Similarly, Gillen has coached the Cavaliers to their second consecutive disappointing season. Although he has been able to muster up a couple victories the past two years (even if it were against the Mount St. Marys of the world), the program is in danger of slipping into the abyss of unacceptable.

Even within the Detroit Tiger-esque winning totals, our coaching styles are similar. We both like the up-tempo, pressing and fast-breaking game plan. We sub in and out at will and are never afraid of calling a quick timeout when things seem to be crumbling (needless to say, I don't have to consider upcoming television timeouts).

Although my players are assigned rather than recruited, we both have had some of our starters maligned with disciplinary action. While Keith Jenifer and Jermaine Harper were playing "who can see the inside of a jail cell the fastest" last year, I had several players suspended for games for their own little versions of "conduct detrimental to the team."

While I do not have nearly the sweating capacity my counterpart does, I, too, am constantly barking orders and encouragements to my players to the point my voice is hoarse at the end of every game (you'll understand if you have ever listened to a Gillen post-game press conference).

With his engaging sense of humor and extremely likable personality, Gillen is a great public relations guy (even if it means damage control or putting the best face on disappointing circumstances). He has always put a premium on making the game fun (or at least trying to) -- even if the win-loss results are disappointing. Similarly, I have defined my role as coach to be about ensuring enjoyment and not to be validated by victories. Nevertheless, as Gillen could surely attest, without wins, the seeds of discontent can turn into a groundswell.

Both of our teams lack a big body who will take charge of the paint defensively-- someone to say "no layups in my house" as if he were a devoted and passionate spokesperson for Under Armor. Rebounding remains another Achilles' Heel for each of our squads.

However, there is enough talent on both teams to make a late season run, if for no other reason than pride. Despite their maddening inconsistencies, each team has shown flashes of brilliance (I said flashes, not stretches) and some recent signs of improvement (see Maryland, not N.C. State, in Gillen's case).

With that said, tomorrow night marks a possible defining moment for both of our squads. We're on the ropes, against the wall and need to come out swinging (along with any other appropriate sports analogy for "we need a win" you can think of). For the Cavaliers, Wednesday evening presents the best opportunity to turn around their season as they face Duke, the No. 1 team in the country, at Cameron Indoor Stadium in a nationally televised game.

By the time the Duke-Virginia match tips off (7 p.m.), I will be making halftime adjustments to my team in an untelevised game played at a neutral middle school site.

If Gillen can pull off the upset win with his team, then I know mine can do the same. But even if we both come up a little short, at least I don't have to worry about my job security. Or do I ...
 

A losing trend
Recent woes wearing on Virginia
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
February 9, 2004

Nothing sucks the life and energy out of athletes as much as losing, or more accurately, prolonged losing. Lose one game, and there is an eagerness to return to the court for another day, another chance.

Losing a handful of games in a row and the hope and enthusiasm of the next game diminishes and ultimately spirals to a near uncontrollable state.

The Cavaliers may not be quite at that point, but they are approaching the doorstep.

It’s visible in their coach and themselves and that was quite apparent after Saturday’s 79-63 loss to N.C. State at University Hall - the Cavaliers’ fourth straight setback.

“It’s frustrating right now. When you have a string of losses in a row, it’s definitely frustrating. We have to decide to put a stop to it,” said senior guard Todd Billet. “We have to re-focus.”

The Cavaliers in some ways were given clear opportunities to end their skid this week but couldn’t take advantage. After two lopsided road losses to North Carolina and Wake Forest, the Cavaliers came home for two games against Maryland and N.C. State. Both were winnable games and U-Hall has frequently been a refuge for the Cavaliers. This time, however, not even the homecourt could reverse their fortune.

First was a 71-67 loss to Maryland in which the Cavaliers were given ample chances to win. Then, perhaps not surprising given the nature of the Maryland game, the Cavaliers were competitive with the Wolfpack for only about 15 minutes before bowing out.

“We didn’t take advantage of being at home and that’s going to hurt us. You have to defend your homecourt,” Billet said.

Added junior swingman Devin Smith: “These were two games we needed. They were two games on our home floor. These were two games I felt we let get by us.”

After beginning the season

8-0, Virginia has now lost eight of its past 12 games with its four wins in that span coming against Iowa State, William & Mary, Florida State and Clemson.

Frustrating is a word that has been bandied about frequently during this stretch but one wonders if it has grown past that now.

“I’d say it’s getting past just frustrated and we’re getting angry with it. We just have to step our game up. That’s really what we have to do right now,” Clark said.

Certainly over these past several weeks much criticism has been directed at UVa coach Pete Gillen and his future at the school has been openly debated. All the whispers and words have not escaped their ears of the Virginia players but at least one of them placed onus on themselves, not the coach.

“We’re the ones that have to go out there and play. You can say what you want to about the coach but he can’t pass the ball for us, he can’t rebound for us. We’re the ones that have to go out there and play,” Smith said.

 

Cavs signee points toward the future
Point guard Sean Singletary wants to play for Pete Gillen and pick up the tempo at UVa.
By Doug Doughty

Considering that he recently scored 15 points in a span of one minute, 18 seconds, fall signee Sean Singletary probably can't arrive at Virginia soon enough.

Singletary's coach, Jim Phillips, wonders who will be there to greet him.

"What the guys have got to do down there is keep their job and they'll be all right," Phillips said.

In other words, Phillips thinks Singletary, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Philadelphia, could resurrect a Virginia team that has lost seven of nine ACC games this season.

"I'm fine with Coach Gillen," Phillips said. "I played against Coach Gillen's teams when I was at St. Joe's and he was at Xavier. He wants to play fast and he wants to play up-tempo and he wants to press. And I don't see their team doing that right now.

"I think Sean will help allow them play the way he really wants to play."

Gillen has said privately that Singletary might be the best player he has signed. However, Phillips and Singletary are worried about rumors that Gillen may lose his job.

"Absolutely," Phillips said. "He's [Singletary] aware of it. How could you not be aware of it? It's in all these publications. It's something you can't control."

Singletary would need a release from his letter of intent to go to another school, "but I hope we don't have to worry about that," Phillips said. "He wanted to go to a good school in a great league and have a chance to play early."

That part of the equation wouldn't change.

"More than likely I would still go there," Singletary said. "I really can't make a judgment. I picked Virginia for the school. The coaches promised me they would be there, so I'm taking their word for it."

Singletary was averaging 23.5 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals for a Penn Charter team that was 18-6 through 24 games. Recruiting analyst Bob Gibbons, who has him 25th among the nation's top prospects, said Singletary compares favorably with Wake Forest freshman Chris Paul.

"You can look at all these rating and all the stuff you want, but there's not a point guard in the country who you would want more than Sean Singletary," Phillips said.

Singletary had 29 points, nine rebounds and eight assists against one of the nation's other highly rated point guards, Villanova-bound Kyle Lowery. Then, there was the game when he scored 15 points in 1:18.

"Five consecutive catches and five consecutive 3s," Phillips said. At Virginia, "they have nobody who can do that."

And, yet, it's at the other end that Phillips expects Singletary to have the greatest impact.

"What does the point guard do?" Phillips asked. "The point guard defends the ball. If your point guard can't apply pressure to the ball, then your whole defense can't play defense. [On offense] he's going to push the ball and make you play fast. They're no threat in transition. He gives you the threat."

Fifth-year senior Todd Billet has gotten most of the playing time at the point for Virginia. Another fifth-year player, Majestic Mapp, has grounds for a hardship appeal after missing two seasons with a knee injury, but Gillen has said he will not be back.

The only other point guard in the program is freshman T.J. Bannister, but there is experience - and some firepower -at the other positions. Phillips says he thinks Singletary is the missing link.

"I guess I'm doing pretty well," Singletary said, "but I wanted to go undefeated, and that didn't happen, and I wanted to be great every game, and there have been some games when I haven't been great.

"It's all about overachieving. I always think I can do better."

 

Judge again dismisses Big East lawsuit against ACC
MATT APUZZO
Associated Press

VERNON, Conn. - For the second time in four months, a state judge removed the Atlantic Coast Conference as a defendant in a lawsuit filed by four Big East football schools over the departure of Miami and Boston College for the ACC.

Superior Court Judge Samuel Sferrazza ruled Monday that the ACC did not have sufficient ties to Connecticut to be sued here.

Attorneys for Boston College and members of the ACC's governing body asked that the cases against them also be dismissed. Judge Samuel Sferrazza heard arguments on that request but did not issue a ruling.

Connecticut, Rutgers, Pittsburgh and West Virginia argue that the ACC, Miami and Boston College conspired to weaken the Big East.

Sferrazza originally dismissed the case against the ACC in October, prompting Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal to refile the lawsuit adding as defendants individual directors of the ACC. The new lawsuit also added Boston College and its athletic director, Eugene DeFilippo.

Attorneys argued Monday that Blumenthal's suit against ACC members was a veiled effort to get the judge to reconsider the case.

"He's trying to get in the back door after he was told he couldn't get in the front door," Erik Albright, an attorney for the ACC, said.

The suit names ACC Commissioner John Swofford, ACC President Carolyn Callahan, ACC Vice President Donn Ward and ACC Treasurer Cecil Huey. Callahan, Ward and Huey are professors who serve rotating terms on the board.

Blumenthal accused Swofford of being the mastermind of a conspiracy that cost Big East schools hundreds of millions of dollars. He said ACC officials are responsible for the conference's actions.

"I don't really care about the legal technicalities or niceties. They can call it the back door or the front," Blumenthal said. "I'll use whatever door's available."

Sferrazza has already said Miami can be sued because, as a member of the Big East, it shared in revenues from games in Connecticut. Blumenthal said that holds true for Boston College.

"At the very least, this suit will be the Big East schools against the University of Miami and Boston College," Blumenthal said. "I'm hopeful that ACC officials and John Swoford will also be included."

James Smeallie, an attorney for Boston College, said there are no specific allegations that warrant a case against that school.
 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Feb 10, 2004

LUCKY SEVEN: The ACC never has sent seven teams to the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Could this be the year?

With less than a month left in the regular season, the ACC is the nation's top-ranked conference, and five of its nine members are in the latest Associated Press poll: No. 1 Duke, No. 14 North Carolina, No. 15 Georgia Tech, No. 20 Wake Forest and No. 21 N.C. State. Two other ACC teams - Florida State and Maryland - were listed on AP voters' ballots.

"We should get a lot of teams in the NCAA tournament," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said. "A team could have a losing record in-conference and still should be able to make it this year."

Duke and N.C. State have two ACC losses between them. Of the other five, though, none has fewer than four conference losses. Some coaches worry that the NCAA tournament selection committee might not look favorably upon ACC teams with mediocre conference records, but the Wolfpack's Herb Sendek didn't sound concerned.

"I think you have to give the committee more credit than that," Sendek said.

ONE OF A KIND: If you think Florida State's Leonard Hamilton loves coaching Tim Pickett, you're correct. Pickett, a senior guard, ranks fourth among ACC players in scoring, second in steals and first in 3-pointers made per game. Equally impressive is the energy with which the tireless Pickett plays.

"I've never had anybody play any harder than Tim," said Hamilton, who's in his 16th year as a Division I head coach. "I'm not even sure I've ever been around anybody who plays with the passion that he plays with. Even after games, when he's gone out and played hard and we've given the kids the day off, he's in the gym shooting till 10, 11 o'clock at night."

AUTOMATIC: As a Duke freshman in 2002-03, guard J.J. Redick won the ACC's free throw shooting title, hitting 102 of 111 attempts (91.9 percent). He's at 96.6 percent this season, having missed only three of 87.

"It's nothing short of incredible," Sendek said. "It's one thing to do that in your backyard, on your favorite hoop. But to do it every place, in all situations, is just an incredible accomplishment and a real testament to his skill, his concentration and his mental toughness."

North Carolina coach Roy Williams said: "It's a great, great weapon for [the Blue Devils] at the end of the game, but it's a weapon for them at any time. Fouling him is like just saying you're giving him a wide-open layup."

HOW THE MIGHTY HAVE FALLEN: Wake Forest won its first 11 games this season and climbed to No. 4 in the AP poll. Since then, however, the Demon Deacons have gone 2-6. After losing at N.C. State on Wednesday night, Wake fell at home Saturday to North Carolina.

"Obviously, it was another rough week for us," Deacons coach Skip Prosser said. "We're like everybody else: searching for answers. There's not a great margin for error in this league."

There aren't many get-well games, either. Wake plays Thursday night at Littlejohn Coliseum - where Clemson knocked off UNC last month - and then entertains No. 13 Cincinnati on Sunday.

SUPREMELY CONFIDENT: Duke tightened its grip on the No. 1 ranking Thursday night with its overtime win at North Carolina.

Nevertheless, UNC swingman Rashad McCants told reporters afterward, "We're are the best team in the country, by far. The reason we're losing is because we can't figure out how to take advantage of games. We're beating ourselves."

UNC (4-5, 14-6) is one of four teams tied for fourth in the ACC. McCants, a sophomore, leads the conference in scoring (19 ppg).

BRIGHT SPOT: Virginia is by far the ACC's worst rebounding team. Imagine how bad the Cavaliers would be on the boards if Jason Clark had not regained his academic eligibility last month.

The 6-8, 244-pound junior from Virginia Beach grabbed a career-best 13 rebounds Wednesday against Maryland. Clark was the only Cavalier to pull down more than three Saturday against N.C. State.

"He's doing a great job for us," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "He's rebounding, he's blocking shots, contesting shots, changing some shots. He knows that, hey, we need him doing that desperately."

WEEKLY FIXTURES: Gillen's choice as the conference's player of the year, N.C. State swingman Julius Hodge, has picked up his second consecutive ACC-player-of-the-week award.

Hodge scored 18 points in the Wolfpack's comeback victory over Wake and 26 in its rout of Virginia. He shot 56 percent from the floor in those games and averaged 5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 blocked shots in those games.

For the second straight week, Duke's Luol Deng is the ACC's rookie of the week. The 6-8 swingman averaged 19.5 points, 2.5 assists and 1.5 steals and shot 59 percent from the floor in wins over North Carolina and Clemson. - Jeff White