TE Fields commits to Cavs
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 23, 2004

Virginia football coach Al Groh often makes reference to his staff’s work ethic when it comes to recruiting by saying, “We stop recruiting when the Waffle House closes.” Any late-night person knows that the popular breakfast joint never turns off the lights.

The Cavaliers’ newest football commitment, Broad Run High School junior tight end Alex Fields, may see to it that the Waffle House’s competition gets a little exposure because of his powerful blocking ability.

Fields’ coach, Ken Belchik said this about his star tight end: “If we kept track of all of Alex’s pancakes, he could start his own IHOP.”

Pancakes in football equate to blocks that flatten defenders like a pancake and at 6-foot-6, 248 pounds, Fields had a bunch for the Group AA Spartans of Ashburn.

He fits the mold of the type tight ends that Groh has been luring to Virginia’s program for the past couple of years: redshirt freshman Jonathan Stupar, incoming recruit Tom Santi, all like rising junior Heath Miller.

“He’s made some pretty amazing catches for us and he has blocked three or four people to the ground on one play,” Belchik said. “He’s a weight room hound and is just naturally strong to begin with. He’s a man among boys in our league.”

That’s why he was unanimously chosen as the Dulles District’s Defensive Player of the Year along with first team tight end and first team defensive end this past season.

Fields actually committed to Groh on Wednesday, Feb. 18, but his family announced the decision on Monday. He became the third high school junior to commit to Virginia for next season, including All-Group AA quarterback Vic Hall of state champion Gretna, and 6-5 wide receiver Maurice Covington of Southern High School in Durham, N.C.

“Virginia was my first choice and I have liked them for a long time, so when they offered, it was a no-brainer. That’s where I wanted to go,” Fields told The Daily Progress on Monday.

He was also being recruited hard by Maryland and Marshall.

While UVa’s use of tight ends was a factor in Fields’ decision, he said that he just wants to get on the field and wouldn’t mind if he was moved to another position.

Belchik said that probably wouldn’t be a bad move.

“As a defensive end, he has been almost impossible to block,” the Broad Run coach said. “People have been double-teaming him but when he puts out those strong, long arms, they can’t get to him. Most people in our district figured it out and just run the other way.”

Fields had 11 quarterback sacks from that position.

However, tight end appears to be his future. Broad Run did not throw the ball that much last season, but there’s no question in Belchik’s mind that he’s a quality prospect there.

“When he goes to his initial block and knocks that person down, he starts looking for other people. He’s very aggressive on the field. I’m glad he’s on my side,” Belchik said.

“He’s a good pass catcher and he’s a very intelligent player who rarely misses an assignment,” the coach said. “He’s a technician. He gets into people in the proper way and knows how to finish off a block.”

None of that should be a surprise because Fields is described as a solid student.

 

Cavs continue to suffer on the boards
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
February 23, 2004

It’s a dilemma for sure.

Virginia is a team that is a poor rebounding unit, but also a helmless one without a true point guard.

Virginia coach Pete Gillen has opted to fix the latter while still concentrating on the former.

With insertion of freshman guard T.J. Bannister in the last four games, the Cavaliers now feature a three-guard lineup with none of those guards taller than 6-foot-2 (J.R. Reynolds).

Bannister has been solid, if not spectacular, since starting. While the stats aren’t gaudy by any means, the mere ability to control the ball, lead the break and relieve Todd Billet of the general point guard duties are assets within themselves. Gillen frequently refers to Billet as a shooting guard trapped in a point guard’s body but Bannister is much closer to a true lead guard, a presence and role the Cavaliers haven’t been able to fill in quite some time.

“Having T.J. in there helps Todd immeasurably. Todd’s not a pure point guard. Todd is more of a catch-and-shoot guy. … T.J. gives us quickness and he’s really helped us a lot,” Gillen said. “In a perfect world, we’d like to have a bigger wing guy in there but those three guys are playing the best for us right now. It would be nice to have a 6-6 guy there, and that will happen at times, but those guys are playing well. It certainly is a concern playing those three little guards in there.”

Virginia was outrebounded 47-31 on Saturday against a Clemson team that is not imposing size-wise. Virginia’s two starting frontcourt players in this lineup - Elton Brown and Jason Clark - each registered five rebounds.

Gillen notes that playing alongside three smaller guards, that duo needs to have a more concerted effort on the boards. Virginia is last in the ACC in rebounding margin, getting beat by an average of five rebounds a contest. They are the only ACC team that has a deficit in that area.

“There is more pressure on them and more emphasis on them. … Our rebounding has not been good. Teams are getting extra shots and sticking them back in because we aren’t rebounding well. Our biggest problem is getting the ball off the boards and that comes from strength, athleticism and boxing out,” Gillen said. “I think we have improved defensively but we still have a long way to go and a big part of that is defensive rebounding.”

Rebounding could very well be a deciding factor this evening against North Carolina. The Tar Heels are second in the conference in rebounding margin (+4.2) and feature the ACC’s leading rebounder in Sean May (10.1 rpg).

Tonight’s game will mark new North Carolina coach Roy Williams’ first trip to Charlottesville in nearly 20 years. Williams served as an assistant at UNC under Dean Smith from 1978-1988. During that tenure as an assistant at Carolina, Williams was a witness to some of the more memorable games between the two schools when both were consistently ranked among the nation’s elite.

Williams was asked Monday about games in Charlottesville during that period and the UNC coach admitted the 20-year gap affected his memory a little.

“It’s been a while. The first thing that comes to mind are some great games we had up there against them when Ralph Sampson was there. We were both the top two or three teams in the country for a few years there. Those are things that come to mind,” Williams said. “The crowd is always extremely enthusiastic when North Carolina comes up there. I just found out today that we have a four-game losing streak up there. … We will have to play well to expect to stop that.”
 

Gillen's future at UVa rests with Littlepage
Cavaliers athletic director Craig Littlepage says money won't be the determining factor.
By Doug Doughty
doug.doughty@roanoke.com
981-3129

Although Virginia men's basketball coach Pete Gillen has seven years remaining on a contract that is not known to contain a buyout, any decision on his future will not come down to money.

"Right," UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage said Monday. "I can't allow those sorts of matters to influence a decision, ultimately, on the right thing for our program. It's a decision that comes down to what I feel in my gut."

Littlepage reviews men's basketball and other programs on an ongoing basis and isn't sure he has a decision to make on Gillen, who is in his sixth season as head coach.

The Cavaliers are 14-10 overall but a 4-9 conference record has them eighth out of nine teams in the ACC.

"I'm not sure what the announcement should be - or whether there will be an announcement," Littlepage said. "I don't want there to be a perception that there is a date when something is going to come down."

At a similar stage in the 2002-2003 season, Littlepage said that Gillen would be back in 2003-2004, but there has been no public vote of confidence to this point.

Gillen didn't hide his concern Saturday after a 58-55 victory at Clemson, the Cavaliers' second win in their past 20 ACC road games.

He spoke glowingly of a three-member recruiting class, headed by Philadelphia-bred point guard Sean Singletary, and predicted that better days were ahead "if they don't throw me in the river," he said.

Earlier in his career, that might have been dismissed as one of Gillen's trademark one-liners, but he knows that his bosses have higher aspirations than one NCAA Tournament appearance in six seasons.

"We want to be moving toward a consistent performance at the top-10 or top-20 level, with a chance of going to the NCAA Tournament every year," said Littlepage, who also has off-the-floor and academic goals for the program.

The season and Gillen's UVa tenure were at a low ebb following back-to-back home losses, including a 19-point setback to North Carolina State, but the Cavaliers subsequently upset 15th-ranked Georgia Tech 82-80 and have won two of their past three games.

Littlepage said he has avoided the temptation to turn every game into a referendum on Gillen's future.

"One game is not going to dramatically impact the entire future, whether that's the future of the program or any one particular coach's future," he said. "It's much more in-depth than that.

"In recent weeks, I've tried to be diligent about following the team. If I'm not at a game or not able to see a game, I'll tape the game and try to get a feel for how the game is played and figure out how far we've come."

Much of the criticism of Gillen has centered on game-management issues, such as his propensity for using timeouts. Gillen was left without a timeout in each of three recent UVa games that were decided in the final 30 seconds, although the Cavaliers won two of them on Todd Billet 3-pointers.

"I've always done that," Gillen said Monday on an ACC coaches' teleconference. "I never wanted to be the richest guy in the graveyard. Dean Smith probably could lend me about six million of them. We use all of the ones we've got. Dean Smith was one of the greatest head coaches who ever lived, so he had the exact opposite philosophy of mine.

"We believe in stopping the bleeding, use them when you have to [for] momentum. I get criticized but you've got to do what you think is right. We've won our share of games over 19 years, so I don't apologize and I wouldn't change anything. I'm not trying to be politically correct or be safe.

"More often than not, it's been decent to us. Has it worked every time? No. Of course, not."

After the Cavaliers went to the NCAA Tournament in Gillen's third season, 2001-2002, UVa tore up his original seven-year pact and gave him a new, 10-year deal that paid him $900,000 per year. Only when the Cavaliers started to sputter in 2003-2004 were questions raised about a potential buyout.

"I'm not able to speak about the specifics of an employment agreement beyond the compensation amounts, which we have done freely through freedom-of-information requests," Littlepage said.

At no point in a telephone interview did Littlepage indicate that he had reached a decision or was leaning in a particular direction. He said he would expect to advise UVa President John Casteen of his thinking but would make the final call himself.

"It has been a difficult situation," said Littlepage, a former UVa assistant basketball coach who also was a head coach at Pennsylvania and Rutgers. "What's going to happen is not real obvious right now."

 

117 Players You Should Know in 2004
Virginia TE Heath Miller
Writeup by Pete Fiutak

Who is Heath Miller? ... A high school quarterback and defensive back, Heath Miller came to Virginia as a 225-pound big, strong quarterback prospect. From the 2001 Virginia recruiting class, Pat Estes was supposed to be the star tight end, and he has been good, but it's been Miller who has blossomed into a superstar.

Miller bulked up thirty pounds but kept his athleticism turning into one of the nation's best receiving tight ends, even if the rest of the nation didn't give him his proper due. Somehow, one of the nation's leading receiving tight ends, and one of the top five overall receivers in the ACC last year, didn't get so much as a look for the Mackey Award and didn't get a whole bunch of recognition on the All-America teams.

That's going to change very quickly.

Barring any players coming from out of the blue, it should be between Miller and Nebraska's Matt Herian for all the recognition, but Miller will make more of an impact with far bigger receiving numbers. As Virginia's leading receiver last year and former Cav star Matt Schaub's go-to guy, Miller is poised for a huge season as the nation's best all-around tight end. With 103 catches and 15 touchdowns over his first two seasons, there isn't a better receiving tight end, while his blocking is quickly coming around.

He'll be the number one target again this season, but he'll also be the prime focus for opposing defenses. That's just fine with the Virginia offense as Wali Lundy and the running game should be more effective if all the attention is paid to Miller, but don't expect No. 89, or the Cav offense, to suffer much of a drop-off.
Miller's best game so far was ... in the 35-21 win over Virginia Tech last year. Considering what a great player Miller is around the goal line, it's a bit ironic that he didn't get in the end zone in his best game. Even so, he destroyed the Hokie defense with 13 catches for 145 yards. Over the final three games of 2003 (including the bowl game win over Pittsburgh), Miller caught 23 passes for 339 yards and two touchdowns. Virginia won all three games.

Why you should care about Heath Miller ... Miller should be everyone's preseason All-America tight end and could be the first tight end taken in 2005 (if he chooses to leave early.) Virginia doesn't use its wide receivers all that much relying on a short to medium range passing game, and that's not going to change. Miller has to be even sharper and better to help ease the transition to a new quarterback. As Miller goes, so goes the Virginia passing game as odds on favorite for the job, Marques Hagans, has a bit of experience, but will need a bit of time. Count on Miller and the receiving running backs to keep the passing attack moving.

Positives about Miller ... He has tremendous hands and his route running become precise and effective. While not tremendously fast, he's able to stretch the field and make deep plays when needed. There are few better receivers, not just tight ends, around the goal line able to use his good size and all-around athleticism to outmuscle and outjump most smaller defensive backs.

Negatives about Miller ... As is the case with all converted quarterbacks to tight end, Miller has to keep working on his blocking. It's not bad, but he's used too much as a receiver to be a prototypical road grating third tackle tight end. As good as he's been, it still almost seemed like it took a year-and-a-half to learn how to adjust to his bigger size.

A cool thing about Miller that you probably didn't know ... Miller was an all-state high school quarterback, but he wasn't just a passer. Even though he was 225 pounds, he still ran for 1,544 yards over his final two years, and ran for 12 touchdowns as a junior.

 

Take time out to know Gillen
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published February 24, 2004

A common sight: Virginia coach Pete Gillen forming the letter "T" with his two hands. If they kept track of such things, Gillen would be the conference's runaway leader in timeouts called.

Sometimes they make perfect sense, like when his team is on the wrong end of a 14-0 run. Sometimes they defy all logic, like 90 seconds into a 3-3 game. But to Gillen, timeouts are like sick days. You might as well use them because they don't roll over to the next game.

"I've always done that," he said. "I didn't want to be the richest guy in the graveyard. Dean Smith could lend me about six million of them. Dean Smith is one of the greatest coaches who ever lived, and he had the exact opposite philosophy. We want to use the ones we have.

"We feel we want to stop the bleeding, use it when you have to. You get criticized, but you do what you think is right. And over the 19 years, we've won our share of games, so I don't apologize. I would not change anything. I'm not trying to be politically correct; I'm trying to win the game."

WAKING WAKE. It would be easy to study Wake Forest's season and conclude it has ebbed and flowed. After losing six of eight games to fall from fifth to 20th in the national polls, sophomore Eric Williams and his Demon Deacon teammates have won four in a row. Suddenly, they're looking like a top-four NCAA tournament seed again.

But Wake coach Skip Prosser doesn't see it that way.

"The teams we lost to, you can lose to those teams if you play them at the wrong time or the wrong place," he said. "That has a lot to do with it, especially in our league.

"I said when we entered this stretch, it was probably the toughest 18-game stretch of anybody in the country. Take your 16 ACC games and, for good measure, throw in Texas and Cincinnati. Most of those games came down to the last three or four minutes."

A big reason for Wake's resurgence has been Williams, whose offense had gone AWOL. Over the last three games, he has averaged 13.7 points.

ROAD WOES. At No. 41 in collegerpi.com's rankings, Florida State (18-9, 6-7) is in position to help itself come Selection Sunday. And Step One would be winning outside Tallahassee.

The Seminoles are 0-6 in ACC road games this season and have two more chances - Wednesday at 11th-ranked Wake and March 6 at No. 18 Georgia Tech - to break through. The NCAA tournament's selection committee places stock in road success, and FSU has won only at Miami and Stetson - combined record: 25-27.

AND FINALLY ... He's averaging 2.3 points and has played three minutes in the last three games, but Virginia freshman Jason Cain is the object of a fan Web site - www.people. virginia.edu/~djw7d/cain/cain.html.

Titled "The Assemblage of Cain," the site claims to be (and undoubtedly is) "the world's first and only organization devoted solely to the glorification of Jason Cain." You get stats, pictures and even a rap song that includes the line "Domination is his way/Leave you stung like Cassius Clay."
 

U.Va.'s Billet shoots for moments he will remember later
By Dave Johnson
Daily Press
Published February 24, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The day before a game, at home or on the road, Todd Billet puts in some extra work. Three hundred shots at least, around the world and back. Catch-and-shoot, catch-and-shoot, catch-and-shoot - he knows he's had enough when his arms grow numb.

It's the life of a shooter who knows that at any minute the jumper can stop falling. And if practice does make perfect, maybe that explains how Billet knocked down a 3-point rainbow with 2.4 seconds left to beat Georgia Tech on Valentine's Day. Or how he hit another game-winning trey seven days later to stun Clemson.

"For me, it's all about shooting my shot," said Billet, a senior guard at Virginia. "And I'm confident taking my shot."

Because he is, the Cavaliers enter tonight's game against North Carolina with 14 wins instead of 12 and with at least some hope of salvaging their season. Neither his high-arching jumper over Tech's Isma'il Muhammad or his on-the-run three at Clemson were particularly good looks. But each time, with the game on the line, he delivered.

"Two big shots, and he had the courage to make them," U.Va. coach Pete Gillen said. "He's a gutty little guy. Todd puts a lot of time into his shooting - he works on it more than anybody on our team. And he was rewarded, at least those two times, for his hard work."

"These," Billet said, "are the memories you want to have when you're older."

Yet until 10 days ago, Billet's senior season wasn't providing many cherished memories. A natural shooting guard forced by necessity to play the point, he had trouble finding his shot. The team's best shooter, Billet is averaging a shade under eight field-goal attempts a game. During one seven-game stretch, he went 11-of-33.

Billet is a natural shooting guard, at his best coming off screens in catch-and-shoot situations. But at 6-foot, he doesn't have the size to match up against guys like Rashad McCants, B.J. Elder, J.J. Redick or Tim Pickett - all of whom are at least 6-4. And with Virginia depleted at point guard, Billet has spent most of the season out of position.

He's done a decent enough job of taking care of the ball with an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2-to-1, but his offense has suffered. Last season, he scored at least 15 points in 15 games. This season, he's only done that five times.

"The best thing I do is shoot the ball, and that's hard to do when you're the point guard," Billet said. "That's not conducive to getting shots and scoring."

Relief has come lately in the form of freshman T.J. Bannister, who has started the past three games at the point. In Saturday's 58-55 victory at Clemson, Billet went 8-of-13 from the field for his best game in almost a month.

"Since I've been playing more at shooting guard, I've been able to rely more on shooting," Billet said. "I've been able to run up the court and hunt down shots."

Gillen knew Billet's size could present limitations, yet he recruited him hard out of high school. Also in that class was Majestic Mapp, a McDonald's All-American from New York. Wanting to sign one point guard that year, Gillen's staff decided they'd take whichever committed first. On Aug. 29, 1998, Mapp told U.Va. he was coming.

Billet ended up at Rutgers, which is located about a half-hour from his hometown of Middletown, N.J., and started 58 games in two seasons. But in 2001, after his sophomore year, he wanted a new start. Virginia, one of his official visits as a high school senior, topped his list.

The No. 1 reason he transferred, Billet said at the time, was that U.Va. presented a better chance of reaching the NCAA tournament. The Cavaliers had won 20 games in '01 and made the NCAA field. The program was considered an up-and-comer. But in the three seasons since, Virginia has gone 47-38. The only postseason has been the NIT.

It would be easy to wonder what might have been. What if Billet had committed ahead of Mapp in '99? What if he had stayed at Rutgers? Barring a major charge, Billet will only see the NCAA tournament from the seats. Might it have been different?

"It just wasn't in the cards the first time around," said Billet, who earned his degree in economics last spring. "That's what I tell everyone when they ask me if I wish I had come here out of high school. That's just not how it ended up. I enjoyed my two years at Rutgers - I wouldn't trade them. And I've enjoyed my time here."

A Tall Task For The Cavaliers
Tar Heels target sweep Virginia's mission is to avoid a berth in the tourney play-in game
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 24, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE In his first game at University Hall since Feb. 14, 1988, when he was an assistant to Dean Smith, North Carolina's Roy Williams will encounter a team trying to avoid the ACC tournament's play-in game and a coach trying to save his job.

Tonight at 8, the Tar Heels (6-6, 16-7) take on the ACC's eighth-place team, Virginia (4-9, 14-10), in an arena where they UNC AT U.VA.haven't won in five years.

No. 12-ranked UNC is tied for fourth in the ACC. Barring a meltdown, the Heels are headed to the NCAA tournament in their first season under Williams, Kansas' coach from 1988-89 to 2002-03.

The Cavaliers, by winning Saturday at Clemson, made sure they'd be eligible for the NIT, their postseason destination three times under Pete Gillen.

Playing in the NIT beats staying home, but it might not be enough to ensure Gillen returns for a seventh season at U.Va. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage has declined to comment specifically about Gillen's status, but several sources believe that perhaps only a trip to the NCAA tournament would allow Gillen to keep his job.

Before Saturday, the Cavaliers had lost nine straight ACC road games, so the victory "takes a little pressure off," Gillen told reporters at Littlejohn Coliseum. Still, he kept the win in perspective.

"We're not satisfied right now being 14-10," Gillen said. "We want to win as many as we can. We want to improve and represent the University of Virginia as well as we can, make our fans proud of us and show that we're headed in the right direction."

Virginia ended a five-game losing streak Feb. 14 by knocking off then-No. 15 Georgia Tech on senior guard Todd Billet's 3-pointer in the final seconds. After falling at Florida State, the Cavs bounced back to beat Clemson on another late trey by Billet.

Beating Georgia Tech "was a big step, and winning on the road in the ACC was another step," Gillen said. "We still got a lot of steps to go."

Not since 1998-99, Gillen's first season in Charlottesville, has U.Va. been swept in its season series with UNC. The Cavaliers, in fact, have won four straight at U-Hall over Carolina, "so we really need to be good if we expect to stop that," Williams said.

The Heels were plenty good Jan. 24, pounding U.Va. 96-77 at the Smith Center. Gillen would feel better about the Cavs' chances of avenging that loss if he knew he'd have the services of Devin Smith.

"I have no idea if he's going to play or not," Gillen said yesterday. "It's day to day. He didn't practice [Sunday]."

A junior forward from New Castle, Del., Smith has a herniated disk that will probably require surgery. The injury has prevented him from practicing and forced him to miss three games, including the win over Clemson.

Smith led the Wahoos with 16 points against UNC last month, and he's the second-best rebounder on a team that's far and away the ACC's worst on the backboards.

"Without him playing, that's like taking out one of your internal organs," Gillen said.

Though this is Williams' first season back in the ACC, he needed no introduction to Smith, who spent his freshman year at a junior college in Kansas. The Jayhawks recruited Smith, a JC All-American, and "at one point thought we were going to get him," Williams said.

The failure to land Smith, who transferred to U.Va. after the 2001-02 school year, didn't keep Kansas from advancing to last year's NCAA title game. This UNC team may not be Final Four-bound, but it boasts three all-ACC candidates - point guard Raymond Felton, swingman Rashad McCants and center Sean May - and averages a conference-best 85.5 points.

McCants, who torched U.Va. for 26 points in the first meeting, has put up at least 25 in seven of his past 10 games. He leads the ACC in scoring by more than 2 points per game.

"He has been phenomenal," Williams said, "because everyone's defense is aimed at him."
 

Virginia faces North Carolina tonight at home
Coming off last-second victory over Clemson, Cavaliers will play Tar Heels, hope to keep up streak of home wins against No. 16 Carolina
Rachel Brandt
Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

The Virginia men's basketball team scored just three points in the last six and a half minutes of the first half Saturday at Clemson's Littlejohn Coliseum. The team only posted 31 team rebounds and 11 assists. Devin Smith did not play because of his nagging back injury and key players such as Gary Forbes and T.J. Bannister were plagued by foul trouble throughout the game.

Yet despite the numerous woes, the Cavaliers were once again saved by the shooting heroics of Todd Billet. The senior guard nailed a three-point shot with 16 seconds remaining in the game, then proceeded to score a lay-up off a Tigers' turnover with two seconds left to secure the 58-55 victory for Virginia. The Cavaliers (14-10, 4-9 ACC) now hold the eighth spot in the ACC while Clemson stands alone in last place.

"I knew when it left his hands that it was going to be good," freshman guard J.R. Reynolds said of Billet's game-winning three. "Todd is a clutch player for this team, and he wants to win."

The Clemson game marked Billet's second recent game-winner as he hit a three-pointer with 2.4 seconds remaining on Feb. 14 to beat then-No. 15 Georgia Tech, 82-80. Against the Tigers, he made five out of nine threes and broke out for a game-high 21 points. Freshman Bannister scored eight points, and juniors Elton Brown and Jason Clark had seven a piece.

The win at Clemson marked Virginia coach Pete Gillen's 100th career victory and ended an 18-game road conference losing streak.

Virginia, however, will look to post a less sloppy team effort against North Carolina tonight at University Hall. At Clemson, the Cavaliers were held to 29.6 percent shooting in the opening half and 12 total rebounds. The Tigers held a 28-20 lead at halftime, despite shooting just 34.4 percent from the field.

"I didn't think it was our night," Gillen said after the Clemson game. "First half, we had three or four shots go in and out. Fortunately, we hung in there and made some plays at the end."

If Virginia repeats and only scores 20 points in the first half tonight like they last Saturday, it may prove too difficult to hang around against North Carolina. The Tar Heels (16-7, 6-6 ACC) are considered a more formidable opponent than the Tigers. They are currently ranked No. 16 in the nation, and tied with Georgia Tech for fourth place in the ACC.

The two teams met earlier this season, matching up in Chapel Hill last month. Behind sophomore Rashad McCant's 25 points and a 31-9 second half run, the Tar Heels cruised to a 96-77 victory over the Cavaliers. Yet even with that loss, Virginia has beaten North Carolina in six of the last nine meetings in the series, including four straight wins in Charlottesville.

The Tar Heels come into the game in the wake of a 78-71 win over Florida State in which McCants scored 21 points, marking the 13th straight game he has hit double figures. Sophomore Raymond Felton almost posted a triple-double with 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists. North Carolina also dominated Florida State 48-28 in rebounding, an area in which Virginia has had trouble all season.

The Cavaliers will attempt to ride their momentum from the Clemson win into tonight's game at U-Hall. Virginia can dislodge Maryland and move to seventh in the ACC if they win or if Maryland loses their next game. With postseason hopes becoming more and more tangible, the Cavaliers will attempt to upset North Carolina en route to a second consecutive conference victory.
 

Departure of Tom Herrion catalyst for Virginia woes
Paul Crane
Cavalier Daily Columnist

With the Cavaliers fresh off their second final-minute victory in three games (and first ACC road win of the season), we have entered the eye of the "Gillen Must Go" storm. After sweeping through Charlottesville a few weeks ago, this squall of dissatisfaction has been temporarily silenced -- or suppressed, at least.

However, if another losing streak must be endured, the resurrected calls of replacement will certainly rain down from the rafters of University Hall. Even if Virginia manages to win two out of its remaining three games (against the High Heels, Wake Forest and Maryland), a strong finish may not be enough to detract critics from the program's third consecutive season with 10 conference losses.

When the aforementioned storm first hit, many variables were blamed for the recent struggles: offensive unity, rebounding, the lack of a defensive presence down low, recruiting and coaching -- just to name a few. Nevertheless, there is one key aspect of intrigue that I believe was overlooked when trying to explain how Virginia went from a top-five team in 2001 to a cellar-dweller three years later: the departure of assistant coach Tom Herrion in April 2002.

After the 2001-2002 season, the College of Charleston tapped Herrion to serve as its new head coach and replace the retired coaching legend John Kresse. Since Herrion packed his bags for the move down I-95, Gillen has been unable to find an able replacement for his former right-hand man.

Herrion served as an assistant coach under Gillen for four years at Providence and was promoted to head assistant coach in his four years with Gillen at Virginia. During their eight-year stint together, Gillen and Herrion went 142-103. Since his departure, the Cavaliers have gone 30-26.

So how has Herrion's absence hurt Virginia basketball? First of all, Herrion was the program's number one recruiter. As the lifeline for all college athletics programs, if you can't recruit quality players then you will have difficult racking up victories. During his tenure in Charlottesville, the Cavaliers pulled in three top 10 recruiting classes in four years. While a head coach may join the recruiting process to seal the deal or present the final pitch to a coveted high school swingman, it is the assistants who do the groundwork and legwork when it comes to bringing new talent into the program. If Virginia hopes to make a return trip to the NCAA tournament anytime soon, the recruiting trail will have to be the first path traveled successfully.

Second, Herrion was very involved when it came to coaching practices and barking orders in games. Gillen often noted how effective Herrion was in practice. During the games, Herrion was the squatty man in a suit standing and screaming out offensive and defensive sets while Gillen kneeled on his towel doing the same.

Known for his overt displays of fervor or frustration, Herrion was an even more excitable version of Gillen, minus the sweat. Quoted in the College of Charleston media guide, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski calls Herrion "one of the most energetic assistant coaches I've ever seen in the Atlantic Coast Conference." It is that fiery passion that seems to be markedly lacking on the current Cavs bench.

So how is Herrion doing in Charleston? After going 25-8 last season (and an appearance in the NIT), the Cougars are 18-7 and tied for first in their division of the Southern Conference. Although it is impossible to say how much Herrion's absence has influenced the recent downward spiral in Cavalier hoops, it is no coincidence that the past two disappointing seasons have corresponded with his departure for Charleston.