London may be heading to Richmond
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 20, 2004

Scattershooting around the ACC, while noting that Virginia’s basketball team needs to win at least one more game to get an invitation to the NIT …
Meanwhile on the football front, UVa recruiting coordinator and defensive line coach Mike London was scheduled to be interviewed for the head coaching vacancy at his alma mater, the University of Richmond, on Thursday.
London, 43, one of the Cavaliers’ most effective recruiters to date, is one of several candidates for the UR job that opened recently when long-time coach Jim Reid took a job on the Syracuse staff.
Also under consideration for the Spiders’ job is Dave Clawson, the head coach at Fordham for the past five years, and Virginia Tech assistant coach Jim Cavanaugh.
If London would get the job, UVa head coach Al Groh might have to throw a get-acquainted party for his staff, which has already undergone three changes in the offseason. Anthony Poindexter replaced running backs coach Kevin Ross, who left to become Army’s offensive coordinator. John Garrett, who has a strong NFL background, will become UVa’s wide receivers coach and Mark D’Onofrio, a former Penn State and Green Bay Packer linebacker, will coach the Cavaliers’ tight ends and special teams. Garrett and D’Onofrio replaced Andy Heck, who went to the Jacksonville Jaguars and Corwin Brown, who took a job with the New York Jets.

Defense of Herb
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has become the second ACC coach to jump to the defense of embattled N.C. State basketball coach Herb Sendek.
Wolfpack fans have been critical of Sendek for several seasons, but Krzyzewski said the criticism is unwarrented.
“The guy gets so much crap from people,” said Coach K. “It makes me agry. The guy’s a damned good coach. It reminds me of when I was younger and we had the ‘Concerned Iron Dukes.’ What the hell were they concerned about? Well they were concerned about me because they didn’t think I could do the job.”
After a rocky start to his career at Duke, several boosters were after Krzyzewski’s head.
“Well, obviously they were wrong and you never hear from them now,” the Duke coach said. “They are ashamed of their actions and the same people who did that with Herb should be ashamed of their actions.”
Krzyzewski said State fans should be just as proud of Sendek as they are of football coach Chuck Amato, who has been all but sainted by Wolfpack faithful. State gave Amato and his team a parade through downtown Raleigh after they beat Notre Dame in a bowl game in 2002.
“Have they [State’s basketball team] gone to the NCAAs,” Krzyzewski said. “Is that like going to a bowl? Well they should have a damned parade for him. They’ve finished fourth in ACC basketball haven’t they [the same finish for the State football team that enjoyed the parade]. He’s just taken so much and it’s sad … it’s really sad.”
Earlier, Georgia Tech coach Paul Hewitt said that N.C. State’s basketball teams are among the most prepared teams he faces in the ACC.

A happy face. North Carolina coach Roy Williams said he had to adjust his coaching style when reporting back to Chapel Hill.
“I think initially I changed because it wasn’t exactly a happy-go-lucky, smiling, hugging, kissy face kind of place around here when I got here,” Williams said.
Things were anything but. Carolina fans had forced Matt Doherty to resign because they wanted Williams. UNC players, who had turned on Doherty, weren’t exactly the Brady Bunch and Williams knew what he was getting into well before he arrived.
“It had to be a relationship that had to be built,” Williams said. “I wasn’t going to assume that they were going to trust me. I wasn’t going to assume that things were going to be rosy.”
That was completely different than when he took over the Kansas program in 1988.
“Kansas had a bunch of kids that said, ‘OK, lets do what this guy says. We don’t know who he is, but let’s just do what the says and see if it will work,’” Williams said of his Jayhawk experience. “It was a very good, compatible situation from the first day.
“Here, I keep going back to that ‘trust’ thing. I just don’t think I could have gone in and done it the same way here that I did 16 years ago. The other thing is I don’t think you can push people who have not had much success as hard as you can push people that have had success. That was the other biggest change.”

Quote of the week. Roy Williams on patience: “You know the reason they don’t give coaches guns? Watch us play.”

Sunday night slam. I have to join Krzyzewski in taking a shot against ACC Sunday night basketball. He believes games on Sunday night are too much strain on the college athletes. Hey, it’s also a strain on fans, media and everyone else.
“I think we have to be really careful,” Coach K said. “Sunday nights are really tough for teams, fans, everyone because it’s out of the natural order of things. Usually a Sunday night you’re getting ready for the week.
“I’m not saying eliminate it but really take a look at how much we play on Sunday, especially Sunday night,” K said.
Heck, I’ll say it. Get rid of Sunday basketball and return to Saturday hoops. It worked for decades, so why change it? I’ll tell you why. Money.
“These kids lose a weekend,” Krzyzewski said. “We give our kids off Thursday but they go to school all day so they don’t really get away from it. But we can’t give them off on a weekend because the next few weekends we play on Sunday.”
Duke shooter J.J. Redick agreed.
“For me as a player, I’d rather play Saturday afternoon or Saturday night, have Sunday off and get all my schoolwork done then, and then start the week off on the right foot with a day off.”

Free throws …Wake Forest has dropped a home football game with Air Force next season and replaced it with North Carolina A&T. …There’s absolutely no truth to the rumor that Texas-El Paso coach Mike Price decided to cancel a home-and-home football series against Virginia once he learned there were no strip clubs in Charlottesville. …Clemson basketball coach Oliver Purnell has completed his first recruiting class by getting a commitment from Cliff Hammonds, a 6-foot-3 point guard ranked No. 21 among point guards in the country by InsidersHoops.com, and No. 96 overall player in the country. …That might not be good news for freshman Vernon Hamilton, a product of Richmond, who has shared duties with sophomore Shawan Robinson. Clemson is averaging 19.8 turnovers per game this season. …Congratulations to Doyle Smith, a legendary member of UVa’s sports media relations office for 30 years, honored last Saturday when a $250,000 endowment to fund lacrosse scholarships was created in his name. The scholarship will go annually to a UVa men’s lacrosse player who exhibits dedication, integrity and precision, all qualities that led to Smith’s induction to the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame four years ago.

 

Tech has to make players account for mess
By Randy King
The Roanoke Times

BLACKSBURG - When I approached him in the parking lot of his Blacksburg apartment complex late Tuesday afternoon and hollered, 'Hey, Marcus,' Marcus Vick turned around and gave me a blank stare, then kept right on walking toward the building in which he lives.

Marcus Vick had turned his back on me and walked away. Too bad he and Virginia Tech teammates Brenden Hill and Mike Imoh didn't do the same thing on Jan.27, when they met three young girls at the Connecticut-Tech women's basketball game at Cassell Coliseum.

If Vick, Hill and Imoh would have walked away that evening, the three Tech football players, the Hokies' program and the university would not be currently mired in this sordid mess.

In case you've been hiding in one of Saddam's holes in Iraq, Vick, Hill and Imoh were charged with 10 misdemeanors Tuesday, nearly three weeks after three teenage girls claimed they were drinking alcohol and posing for pictures in the apartment that Vick and Hill share.

Vick, 19, was charged with four counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor - three for allegedly permitting the three girls to drink liquor and the fourth for accusations that he had a sex with one of the 15-year-olds.

Hill and Imoh were each charged with three counts of the same crime, allowing the girls to get rum and vodka kept in the apartment's refrigerator.

Even if the girls lied about their ages or if their story is totally fabricated, the three players were ignorant to put themselves in such a position. Tech players have been repeatedly counseled about their personal conduct and how they have to be responsible and accountable for their off-field behavior. Football players, especially a guy like Vick, live in a fish bowl much more lighted than the average kid on campus.

While such an incident ranks as absolutely intolerable at any time, the timing of this messy escapade couldn't have been worse for Virginia Tech.

It comes as Colorado's football program is being torn to shreds by allegations from women who say they were raped by athletes on recruiting visits.

It comes only days after St.John's suspended or expelled six players from its men's basketball team who visited a Pittsburgh strip club after a loss and solicited a middle-aged woman to have sex with them back at the team hotel. Although authorities filed no charges against the players, St.John's officials acted as their own policemen, swiftly casting the players overboard from the Red Storm's hoops ship.

No matter what transpires in court - it could be as long as three months before a trial takes place - the guy on the hot seat will be Jim Weaver. Under Tech's Comprehensive Action Plan, the athletic director is the one who will be responsible for making the decisions as to how severe the sanctions will be against each of the three players.

According to the CAP, instituted by the school in 1997 after at least 20 football players were charged in criminal cases, there are no mandatory penalties for misdemeanor charges or convictions. All such cases fall in the AD's lap for review. After he considers such factors as nature of charge, prior behavior, self-disclosure of the violation and cooperation during the investigation, Weaver can impose such sanctions as suspension from play and/or practice, restricted use of athletic services or facilities, or dismissal from the team.

Dismissal from the team is only an option if there is a conviction or the athlete pleads guilty or no contest to a charge.

Certainly, this is not the way Tech coach Frank Beamer wanted the calendar to turn to 2004 coming off last fall's monumental late-season collapse that already had folks asking a lot of questions about himself, his coaches, his system, his players and his program.

Only eight days before the incident occurred, Beamer preached to his players in a team meeting about how important it was for them to "do things the right way ... on the football field and off."

Here is part of the transcript of the speech, which is posted in its entirety on Beamer's Web site:

"By doing things the right way, I'm talking about going to class, taking care of your academics, respecting your teammates and this football program, and conducting yourself in a manner which would make your family and this university proud. ...

"We've proven that our program works. We've been too good for too long. It works. But it only works when you make it work. I think there is a correlation between the way you handle yourself on the field and off. The people who take care of business off the field seem to take care of business on the field. Those who don't were also the ones hurting us on the field. I want you to be successful in your academics, I want you to be successful in your football, and I want you to be successful in your life.

"To achieve that, you'll have to do what we're asking of you. If you can't, then we're going to separate ourselves from you."

The next move belongs to Jim Weaver. We'll see what happens.
 

Too many too much
Biblical tortures aside, time running out on Pete Gillen
By DOUG DOUGHTY
Exclusive to roanoke.com by 5 p.m. Thursdays

On one of the few occasions that I have been given some responsibility by my church, I was asked to read the part of Pontius Pilate in an Easter play, a role that caused me to be mocked by my children as I was practicing my lines.

I was reminded of Pontius Pilate last week when I wrote a column about Virginia men’s basketball coach Pete Gillen. While I said I wouldn’t criticize Virginia if it made the move, I didn't come out and say the Cavaliers NEEDED to change coaches.

Wasn't Pontius Pilate the classic waffler?

“Comparing yourself to biblical characters -- even semi-villains,” one friend observed. "Wow! This is really getting to you!"

I wasn't the VMI beat man for The Roanoke Times when Gillen joined the Keydets' staff as an assistant in 1976, but I met him not long after his arrival in Lexington and found him intelligent and engaging. I kept up with his career as an assistant at Villanova and Notre Dame, followed by head-coaching stints at Xavier and Providence, and considered him the obvious choice when UVa went looking for a replacement for Jeff Jones in 1998.

While Gillen hasn't been as accessible as he was during his VMI days, I'd say we're still friends. We're not supposed to pull for teams or people in this profession, but I will say I'm not pulling for Gillen to lose. If he were to win five or six games in a row and keep his job, it wouldn't bother me.

I thought there was still a chance he could keep his job after an 82-80 upset victory Saturday over 15th-ranked Georgia Tech in Charlottesville, but, come Tuesday, Gillen and the Cavaliers were back to their old ways in a 76-59 loss at Florida State.

I've never heard of a basketball coach losing a job based on the way he or she calls timeouts, but this whole timeout situation at Virginia reflects a larger issue: game management.

At Florida State, where Virginia had fallen behind 38-27, then cut the deficit to 49-45, only to trail 67-51, Todd Billet hit a 3-pointer to make it a 67-54 game with 3:34 left.

At that point, Gillen called his fifth -- and final -- timeout. If he thought there was still a chance to win the game, maybe he should have kept one timeout. But, that wasn't what left me shaking my head.

Presumably, Gillen spent some time talking about defense, but it didn't matter. The Seminoles had no interest in shooting and might have turned the ball over if UVa junior Jason Clark hadn't fouled Nate Johnson, a 72.3-percent free-throw shooter, with five seconds on the shot clock. At that point, Johnson was 35 feet from the basket.

You could blame that on Clark -- and maybe you should -- but when FSU's Todd Galloway missed a free throw with 2:11 left and the Seminoles' Tim Pickett grabbed the rebound (that happens all the time, too), UVa waited another 28 seconds before fouling.

That's just not smart basketball. If the players aren't smart to begin with, it's up to the coach to make them smart.

I WAS STRUCK, but not displeased, when my column last week attracted three e-mails in support of Gillen. I've also been struck twice this season when I received two e-mails critical of Gillen from Xavier fans.

I didn't think anybody could have been unhappy with Gillen's tenure at Xavier. I can understand how Providence fans might have soured on him following a 13-16 season in 1997-98, but Gillen opened his Xavier tenure with a 25-5 season in 1985-86 and closed it with back-to-back 24- and 22-win seasons in 1992-93 and 1993-94.

Let's say that Virginia (13-10 overall, 3-9 ACC) won one more game -- not totally unrealistic -- and got to 14-14. That would be five straight seasons at .500 or better and probably five straight postseason appearances. I can see how St. John's, with all of its off-the-court problems, might be attracted to him.

Gillen wouldn't be that hard to sell, either, as a local product with two losing seasons in 19 years as a head coach. The second of those two losing seasons (14-16) was in Gillen's first year at Virginia, when he inherited a team without the two leading scorers (Norman Nolan and Curtis Staples) from a team that had gone 11-19 the year before.

If you could sell Gillen to the St. John's fans and the New York media, why is he no longer attractive to Virginia fans? Why? Because they've experienced too much. Too many timeouts, too many non-competitive road losses, too many promises.

I FOUND IT interesting this week, when Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage did Gillen's radio show, that he said that there was no set number of victories with which he would be satisfied.

(Media gadfly Jeff White said he thought it was news that Littlepage didn't flat come out and give Gillen a vote of confidence.)

What struck me -- I've been struck a lot lately -- was Littlepage's mention of graduation rates and retention. Gillen has done a decent job of graduating players who have completed their eligibility (Adam Hall, Travis Watson, Majestic Mapp and Jason Rogers), but so many players have left before the end of their eligibility that the overall graduation rate won't be good.

Keith Friel and Todd Billet earned degrees after transferring from other schools, but, as transfers, their graduation won’t count toward UVa's totals. Nor will some of the players who have transferred -- Moe Young, J.C. Mathis, Jermaine Harper and Keith Jenifer -- if they graduate from their new schools.

(I don't even want to think about Nick Vander Laan, now on his third college).

So, if you want to judge Gillen on his graduation rates and retention, no, he's not going to look very good. I don't think that would be fair, either. I think this is a basketball issue and, if there were a court of law, I'd say there is sufficient evidence to convict on that count.

THAT'S WHAT I told the two knuckleheads, Rich Roth and Larry Richmond, who do a drive-time call-in show on WLNI radio in Lynchburg. I also told them if Virginia does make a move, it should make the move because it knows it can do better, not just to be making a move.

I was amused, after watching Virginia beat Georgia Tech last weekend, to turn on the TV and see where Memphis was winning by 19 points at Marquette. Marquette coach Tom Crean is mentioned for every top-level job that comes open and he already is being linked with Virginia, but I wonder if Marquette fans were too happy with Crean that day.

On the other hand, Crean did get the Warriors to the Final Four last year, just as Gillen nearly got Providence to the Final Four in 1997. All I can say is, if it were up to me, I'd be damned sure to do my homework.
 

If Vick did anything wrong, Tech should boot him out
Published February 19 2004
David Teel

Before charging Marcus Vick and two other Virginia Tech football players Tuesday with contributing to the delinquency of a minor, Blacksburg police searched the players' apartment for liquor bottles, a digital camera, bedclothes and a used condom.

Tech coach Frank Beamer needs no such physical evidence. He merely needs answers from his players.

Did they, as alleged in police documents, take three girls - ages 14, 15 and 15 - to their off-campus apartment? Did they take photographs of any of the girls stripping? Did 19-year-old Vick have, or even attempt to have, sexual intercourse with one of the 15-year-olds?

If the answers are yes, if the story two of the girls told police about the evening of Jan. 27 is true, the consequences - regardless of a court's verdict - should be swift and harsh.

Suspend Hill and Imoh from the team indefinitely; banish Vick permanently - sanctions that should not preclude reinstatement for Imoh and Hill, and another school allowing Vick to resume his football career.

This, you see, is about so much more than strict legal convention. This is about Vick, a reserve quarterback with the golden name, behaving badly for a second time since his enrollment in 2002. This is about Virginia Tech's image, an image tainted by athletes' past transgressions and the wrist slaps that followed. This is about finally taking a stand.

College students cavorting with 14- and 15-year-olds? College athletes counseled repeatedly about their personal conduct? Intolerable doesn't begin to describe it, and university officials, including Beamer, athletic director Jim Weaver and president Charles Steger need to say so. They need to confirm that one of our state's flagship institutions values common decency over football dollars. They need to punish three athletes who, if nothing else, embarrssed themselves and the university with their thoughtless behavior.

Granted, if the girls embellished or fabricated their story, judgment becomes more difficult. And in that vein, it is incumbent to note that the girl Vick allegedly had sex with did not go to the police. Her friends did.

But let's be clear: Male athletes - young and strong, famous and spoiled - are accustomed to having their way, and their offensive and criminal behavior, often toward women, is epidemic.

Virginia Tech is not immune.

The Hokies' first two Big East football championships, in 1995 and '96, coincided with criminal cases against at least 20 of Beamer's players. Charges ranged from under-aged drinking to rape. Beamer suspended some and let others slide, never explaining precisely why. Worse, Beamer took no action when some players "saluted" suspended teammates by wearing their numbers on helmet decals and sweatbands during bowl games.

In February, 1997, outraged university administrators adopted a Comprehensive Action Plan that mandated specific penalties for athletes charged with felonies. A 10-member committee chaired by then-athletic director Dave Braine called the rampant arrests "utterly incompatible with the character of our university community and completely unacceptable."

Harry Dekker, then-rector of Tech's governing board, cut to the chase: "You've got to hold these people responsible. Eventually somebody's got to have the guts to say, 'You're through.' "

Three years later, no one had the guts. Tech circumvented its own policy, reinstating Derrius Monroe to the 2000 football team despite his pleading guilty to felony cocaine possession. Weaver's reasoning? There was "no conviction of guilt."

The refrain was all too clear. Whatever parsing it takes to keep a football player on the field.

Apologists will parse this, too. They'll say the girls chased Vick and lied about their ages. They'll remind us that the charges - four counts against Vick, three each against Hill and Imoh - are misdemeanors and carry no mandatory penalty under the Comprehensive Action Plan.

It doesn't matter. The allegations are so repugnant that, if true, Vick, suspended for one game last season after violating undisclosed team rules, has no business wearing a Hokies' uniform again.

Yes, the name Vick has been magical in these parts since quarterback Michael Vick led Tech to the 1999 national championship game. And yes, as a reserve last season brother Marcus showed star potential. But name and potential mean nothing here.

Beamer should know as much. He has a daughter. So do most of his assistants. And Tech coaches talk often with their players about treatment of women.

In fact, on Feb. 2 former Syracuse and NFL quarterback Don McPherson spoke to a mandatory gathering of Tech athletes - male and female - about violence toward women. The athletic department arranged his appearance long before the teenagers accused Vick, Hill and Imoh.

Still, Tech hides behind the Comprehensive Action Plan, cowering in silence since the allegations surfaced more than two weeks ago. School officials would do better to follow the example set by Big East colleague St. John's, which brings its tattered basketball team to Blacksburg on Saturday.

Earlier this month St. John's suspended from the team or expelled from school six players who, after a defeat at Pittsburgh, broke curfew, went to a strip club and hired a 38-year-old woman to have sex back at the team hotel. Police filed no charges, but university officials were swift and resolute: Your behavior was offensive; you are gone.

Beamer voiced similar sentiments during a Jan. 19 team meeting, a transcript of which was posted on his Web site.

"I want people in this program who do things the right way," Beamer said. "I'm talking about on the football field and off. By doing things the right way I'm talking about going to class, taking care of your academics, respecting your teammates and this football program and conducting yourself in a manner which would make your family and this university proud. ...

"I think there's a correlation between the way you handle yourself on the field and off. The people who take care of business off the field seem to take care of business on the field. ... To achieve that, you'll have to do what we're asking of you. If you can't then we're going to separate ourselves from you."

Unyielding standards or empty words?

We're about to find out.
 

Offense retains strength
Despite losing midfield experience, Virginia's attack returns three starters; Christmas, Yevoli, Ward seek to fulfill lofty preseason expectations
Mickey Cloud
Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

You don't win lacrosse games without scoring goals.

You don't win national championships without winning lacrosse games.

Deductive reasoning thus dictates you don't defend a national championship without putting the white ball in the back of the opposing team's net.

Fortunately for Virginia, which opens its season tomorrow at Drexel, the experienced and accomplished trio of juniors John Christmas and Joe Yevoli and sophomore Matt Ward lead an attack front line that can score with the best teams in the country. "Face-Off Yearbook" recognized each of the three in their preseason All-American teams, placing Christmas on the first team, Yevoli on the second and Ward as an honorable mention.

"There's no question that for our offensive production, a lot will fall on the shoulders of the attack, especially early in the year," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said.

No one, however, can challenge the fact that the young trio will be able to handle the pressure.

Christmas and Yevoli were named to the second team All-American team last season, with Christmas netting a career-high 36 goals, tied for first in the ACC.

"In Christmas, you have one of the most dynamic players in the game," Starsia said. "His athleticism often masks his touch around the cage. He's not just a good athlete playing lacrosse, but a good lacrosse player."

Yevoli led the squad in assists, dishing out a total of 26 for the season. Ward finished the year with 20 assists, the most among ACC freshmen, and 26 goals, good enough for fifth in the nation by freshmen.

"Ward is wise beyond his years," Starsia said. "His goals and assists last year show a balance in his game. He was completely unflappable."

The toughest challenge for the dynamic group this year will not be putting up big offensive numbers, but rather, scoring while also leading the young guns on the team. Last year, surrounded by senior leadership and experience in the midfield and defense, the group was able to concentrate on doing their job and producing enough points to win. For the 2004 season, however, Virginia's relatively young squad will look up to the attack for leadership.

Yevoli recognizes the need to add the responsibility of leadership and said he feels confident that the attack will be able to provide it.

"We're coming together well," Yevoli said. "But the attack just has to get used to leading, and we'll get used to that eventually."

The unit in need of the most leadership on the team is the midfielders, where only one starter from last year's solid line returns. However, that one starter is sophomore Kyle Dixon, who will be anchoring this line that looks to establish itself in the offense by the end of the year.

"The attack settles down the offense," Dixon said. "But our midfielders are just as good as them, so we just have to step up and play to bring that whole offense together."

Whether or not the seasoned veterans on the front line can lead and gel with the young talent of the midfield will prove to be a determining factor in Virginia's offensive success, as well as the squad's quest for its second consecutive national championship.
 

Cavs look to avoid last place
Clemson hosts Virginia in battle to stay out of ACC basement, Tigers fresh off win over No. 13 N.C. State
Clayton O'Toole
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

In what very well may be a preview of the ACC tournament play-in game, Virginia will tip off against the Clemson Tigers at Littlejohn Coliseum in Clemson, S.C. tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m.

The Cavaliers (13-10, 3-9 ACC) are coming off a misleading 76-57 loss at Florida State this past Tuesday night. Behind junior Elton Brown's 14 first-half points, Virginia found itself in a 27-27 deadlock at the break. But an 11-0 spurt by the Seminoles to begin the second half quashed any hopes the Cavaliers had of winning their fourth ACC contest.

On the other hand, Clemson (10-13, 3-9 ACC) should be riding a wave of confidence following arguably their biggest win of the season against No. 13 N.C. State Wednesday night. Their third ACC victory brought them into a tie with Virginia for last place in the conference standings.

Clemson lacks a go-to-guy on offense, as none of the Tigers average more than 12 points per game. Forward Sharrod Ford and guard Shawn Robinson are the only Tigers in double digits, averaging 11.7 and 11.3 points per game, respectively.

Although Clemson ranks last in the ACC in scoring offense, they have performed respectably on defense, ranking sixth in the conference. The Tigers allow five fewer points per game than Virginia, which ranks eighth.

Following an excellent 9-0 start to the season, 2004 has brought mostly disappointment to a Cavalier squad with high expectations. But despite their recent struggles, Virginia is determined to finish the season the same way it began.

"Everybody had a team meeting and we just said to keep playing hard," freshman T.J. Bannister said. "It's going to turn around."

However difficult the road the Cavaliers have traveled thus far, the terrain ahead looks equally daunting. After the Clemson game tomorrow, Virginia returns home to face No. 19 North Carolina and No. 15 Wake Forest before ending their regular season at Maryland March 7.

"You can't have a long memory in this league to be successful," senior guard Todd Billet said. "If you make a mistake or lose a game, you have to forget about it right away. If you carry anything negative with you, it is going to just keep coming back to haunt you."

That being said, a short memory may not come in handy tomorrow against Clemson. Virginia's second ACC victory came against the Tigers in Charlottesville Jan. 20. In the game, Reynolds, freshman Donte Minter and junior Devin Smith were especially effective, all scoring in double figures.

With the Tigers already scoring home victories over Florida State and North Carolina in addition to Wednesday's upset of N.C. State, Virginia will likely have to put together 40 minutes of quality basketball tomorrow at Littlejohn Coliseum if they hope to escape Clemson and garner their fourth conference victory of the season.