Groh's class all but set for signing day
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 2, 2005

PROVIDENCE, R.I.- Scattershooting around the ACC on national signing day ...
There’s not likely to be any surprises as far as Virginia’s football program goes today. Most of the hay has been in the barn for quite some time, which is something coach Al Groh was beaming about a week ago.
Groh and his staff gained all but one of their commitments by the end of the regular season, which helped considering it was a short recruiting calendar this year (the first Wednesday of February happens to be on the 2nd).
“I wouldn’t want to be a school scrambling around after bowl season with one less week to get the job done,” Groh said.
The Cavs had 22 commitments heading into today, highlighted by massive offensive lineman Eugene Monroe, a 6-foot-6, 318-pound star from Plainfield High School in South Plainfield, N.J. The Parade All-American is ranked the No. 1 recruit in the nation at any position by SuperPrep and No. 3 nationally by Rivals 100.
Monroe is a five-star player, only because they don’t give out six stars joked one college recruiter.
Virginia is waiting on only a few players to decide, including Roanoke linebacker Darryl Gresham, who is down to UVa and Florida.
The Daily Progress will have a full signing day report in Thursday’s edition and on the Cavalier Insider Web site (which can be found under www.dailyprogress.com and follow the icons). Updated Gold List information will also be available.
It’s called Defense
What is the cornerstone of most successful basketball programs in the country?
Just ask North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who has a somewhat unique philosophy on the subject. Williams gives his players one simple mission: “Guard someone the way you were guarded the first time you were shut down.”
The Tar Heels mentor said he has discussed the theory with Michael Jordan and Larry Bird and has drilled the principle into the heads of every player he has ever coached.
“I was 15 years old and I was playing in a YMCA league,” Williams said of his experience. “I have no idea what the dude’s name was, but I can still see him. I can still picture his face. I didn’t like him.
“I came down the court and passed the ball and someone shot and it didn’t go in,” Williams explained. “I passed again and someone shot and it didn’t go in. I started shooting and they started going in and we started winning. All of a sudden we started winning a lot of games because I was shooting, but then came this one guy who didn’t let me shoot as much. He didn’t get out of my way as easily as some of those other guys did.”
Defense Part Deux
When Miami was giving Wake Forest fits the other night, credit Deacs coach Skip Prosser for making a key adjustment to shut down the Hurricanes’ shooting.
Wake switched to a 1-3-1 trapping defense in the second half, which helped the Deacs get on a 14-2 run and turned the game around.
“I think the trap kind of slowed them down a little bit because they had to slow down to get everybody in position,” Deacon Trent Strickland said.
Prosser said his team doesn’t really spend that much time on the trap in practice, but has traditionally gone to the gimmick defense at different times in his coaching history to throw a change of pace at opponents.
“I think it did change tempo a little bit,” Prosser said. “Maybe [Miami] got tired. They were scoring so fast, maybe their arms got tired.”

Quote of the week I. After N.C. State’s Engin Atsur, a native of Turkey, connected on a long-range 3-pointer in the Wolfpack’s 13-of-28 performance from the Bonusphere against Clemson over the weekend, teammate Ilian Evtimov added this critique:
“That last 3, that was straight-up Turkey,” Evtimov commented. “He shot it from Istanbul. When you can make a shot from that far out, at that point in the game, you’re a great player.”
Quote of the week II. Was it just me, or was there an echo in Cameron Indoor the other night after Maryland upset Duke:
“It showed how good we are. This is how good we are. What you saw tonight is how good we are.”
That was Terrapins forward Travis Garrison on beating Duke.

Quote of the Week III. It was easy to spot Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski and Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg in a heated discussion with game official Steve Gordon on Sunday night when things got a little physical between the Hokies and Blue Devils out on the floor.
Asked about the discussion, Krzyzewski didn’t miss an opportunity for some humor.
“We were talking about expansion,” Coach K deadpanned.

Off target. It was mind-boggling watching the best free-throw shooter in the history of college basketball, Duke’s J.J. Redick, miss three foul shots in Sunday night’s 100-65 win over Virginia Tech.
Redick had never missed more than one free throw in 86 previous Duke games.
“I have no idea what was going on,” the Duke sharpshooter said afterward. “It was like I was in a dream. It reminded me of when I was 12 years old, playing AAU, when free throws didn’t matter, when I used to go
7 for 10.”
That’s exactly what Redick did against the Hokies, 7 for 10. He was the NCAA career free-throw shooting leader going into the game at 94.3 percent and had missed only 20 free throws at Duke in his previous
354 attempts.

Shaq in the House. When Virginia Tech takes on Miami in Coral Gables tonight, there will be some heavy hitters in the audience, namely
Shaquille O’Neal.
Shaq requested six tickets for the game and word around South Beach is that he’s bringing LeBron James (the Cavs ... Cleveland, that is, play the Heat on Thursday), and a few other dudes. So far this season, Alonzo Mourning, Alex Rodriguez, Glen Rice and Tim Hardaway have been spotted in courtside seats at UM games, which means the Hurricanes have raised their stature in the community.
As Miami is experiencing a buzz over ACC hoops, so is future conference member Boston College, which climbed to its highest ranking ever this week, No. 5 in the nation. Not bad for a team that was picked to finish fifth in the Big East coaches’ preseason poll.
BC’s players were blown away over the atmosphere when they took the floor at the Conte Forum for last Saturday night’s game against visiting Georgetown. The building had been nicknamed “Conte Morgue,” in years past, but it was electric for the win over the Hoyas.
Maybe it’s a sign of the Apocalypse, but early in the game, a BC fan was being escorted by campus police out of Conte, a noteworthy sight because in the past it was a venue where Eagles fans once had to be dragged into, not out of the building.

Dynoooo - mite! Maryland fans near the visiting Georgia Tech bench the other day, held up a large sign with a photo of character Napoleon Dynamite. Another Terp fan held up an accompanying sign that read: “Luke, why do you look exactly like me ... idiot.”
The insult was aimed at Georgia Tech center Luke Schenscher, who does sort of bear the same resemblance. Anyways, fans chanted “Napoleon” throughout the game, although big Luke probably didn’t notice.
I always thought that Schenscher looked more like a giant-sized
Carrot Top.

Free throws ... Virginia basketball recruit Mamadi Diane is having a good senior year for DeMatha, the No. 1-ranked team in the D.C. area and 14th nationally. Diane is averaging 19 points a game and held North Carolina signee Marcus Ginyard to five points in a recent DeMatha win. ... More than 3,500 Maryland students turned out at Cole Field House last week to watch the Terps beat Duke on TV. Cole is now a student activities building. ... Miami guard Guillermo Diaz is dating UM women’s player Katie Hayek (no relation to Salma ... sigh), as the two have been going out for four months and Diaz is a regular at the women’s games. ... Hokies starter Carlos Dixon, should be in the lineup at Miami tonight after being X-Rayed after landing hard on his right elbow at Duke on Sunday night. The X-Rays were negative. ... How relieved was Florida State to end its 26-game ACC road losing streak at N.C. State? “It was frustrating,” said Raleigh native Anthony Richardson, who regained a starting role for the Seminoles in the game. “I told myself before the game that if we lost I didn’t know what I was going to do ... I’ve been losing on the road ever since I got here and I didn’t know if I could take it anymore.” ... UNC, now 17-2, has a pretty tough stretch ahead, hosting N.C. State on Thursday, then playing at Florida State, at Duke and at Connecticut, leaving Coach Roy Williams to say: “I can’t imagine anybody in the country having a tougher challenge that what we have in those games.”

UVa's misery gets company
Reeling Cavaliers look to for win against struggling Friars
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
February 2, 2005

This is Jeopardy.

The Clue: They’re reeling, faltering, disappointing and desperate after a wretched conference start.

Remember to phrase your answer in the form of the question.

Who are the Cavaliers?

The judges were looking for “Who are the Friars?” but they will accept both answers as correct.

In a game with plots and subplots, former Providence coach Pete Gillen will bring his struggling Cavaliers to his old home to meet current Providence coach Tim Welsh and his struggling Friars at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center.

During his time at UVa, Gillen has described facing former teams and former assistants as “lose-lose” situations. Neither Gillen nor Welsh needs any part of that L-word at the moment.

In college basketball parlance, this is a return game. Providence played last year at Virginia and won 84-69. Now, Virginia plays at Providence to conclude the two-game series.

That sounds simple enough but it wasn’t. Both programs struggled to find an open date for the game. When both teams did find one in late December, there was a problem: the Dunkin’ Donuts Center was scheduled for a figure skating show that night.

So that accounts for the odd placing of this game on the first Wednesday in February, right in the middle of conference play for both teams.

“We had trouble getting the game. We tried to play in late December. The Providence Civic Center or the Dunkin’ Donuts Center or whatever they call it now was not available,” said Gillen, who was 72-53 in his four years at Providence. “We had a little break in the schedule and are glad we could play it. It’s a tough game, like an ACC game.”

Welsh would probably concur and say that tonight will be like a Big East contest.

If that is the case, both coaches may need to seek guidance from their current and former bosses at the Dominican school because their combined record in their respective leagues is 1-14.

When it was scheduled and even earlier this season, this appeared to be an intriguing game and not just for the Gillen connection. Now, it has the distinction of pitting one league’s most disappointing team against another league’s most disappointing team. Both arrived here in different fashions.

The Friars, starting the season on the periphery of the national rankings, were battered by a tough early schedule and have not been able to recover. The Friars sit at the bottom of the Big East with an 0-7 conference mark.

The Cavaliers opened strong at 8-1 and essentially supplanted the Friars in the rankings. But since that hot start, the Cavs have joined Providence in freefall. The Cavaliers have lost seven or their last nine games and sit at the bottom of the ACC at 1-7.

The Cavaliers dropped their last two games to Virginia Tech and North Carolina in a 36-hour period. The latter performance came Saturday at U-Hall as the lifeless Cavaliers trailed by as many as 50 points and eventually lost 110-76.

Coincidentally, Providence lost 86-66 at No. 15 Pittsburgh on Monday and like the Cavaliers last week, will be playing twice in less than 48 hours.

“We’re coming off a poor performance against North Carolina on Saturday. We didn’t have energy and you have to play harder than we did,” Gillen said. “We have to compete harder and can’t get frustrated. That’s our thing. We can’t make excuses. We’ve had a tough stretch but everyone goes through that and we have to suck it up and get with it.”

In a predictable sign of a slide like theirs, the Cavalier players seemed almost apathetic to what was happening on the court against UNC. Gillen offered that some may have been tired after the Thursday night game at Virginia Tech but both he and a few of his players - some emphatically - also criticized and questioned the effort as a whole.

On Monday, Gillen claimed that changes might be in the works for tonight’s game.

“We’re searching. We’re struggling honestly. We’re going to juggle some things and try some different things,” Gillen said. “We’re going to play the guys who try the hardest and compete the most. We have to start from scratch. We can’t go status quo. … You have to go down fighting.”

All in all, it sounds like Gillen has little time for his ‘homecoming’ game nor concern for the reception he’ll receive. But that didn’t stop him from joking a little about it.

“I don’t think they even remember me. It’s like Pete who? They are worrying about the Patriots, Celtics and Red Sox,” Gillen said. “We have some real good friends there. … We enjoyed our four years there. There are a lot of great people there and it’s a great city.”

Note. Sophomore forward Donte Minter may return tonight after missing the last two games. The 6-foot-8 Minter re-injured his broken finger in practice last week and sat out the Virginia Tech and North Carolina games. With its depleted frontcourt, Virginia could use Minter to help defend Providence All-America forward Ryan Gomes.

Athletic director firm on hoops stand
UVa notes
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

When it appeared that he might not be able to respond to all of the e-mails he was receiving, Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage said earlier this week that he was preparing a statement on the UVa men's basketball program.

Then, he responded to all of the e-mails and answered all of his phone messages, as has been his practice.

"I'm not going to do a release," he said Tuesday.

However, in an e-mail and during a subsequent phone interview, he again tied the future of seventh-year UVa men's basketball coach Pete Gillen to an invitation to the NCAA Tournament.

"A year ago, there was improvement that led me to feel we could anticipate we could be competitive in and out of the league and be in the mix for the NCAAs in 2004-2005," Littlepage wrote. "We're not there yet.

"Those are the priorities we'll measure the team's success against after this season concludes."

The Cavaliers (10-8 overall, 1-7 ACC) lost seven of nine games during January and are tied for last in the ACC. They visit Providence tonight for their last non-conference game of the season.

Littlepage said Jan. 20 that Virginia "wants Pete to coach the entire season." When asked Tuesday if he thought Gillen might resign during the season, Littlepage said "no."

When asked if the matter had been discussed, Littlepage said that his conversations with his coaches are private, as he has maintained on previous occasions.

Littlepage was in his box Saturday during a 110-76 loss to third-ranked North Carolina, which led 98-48 with under five minutes remaining.

"It was stressful for everybody - players, coaches, fans, staff, alums and probably even the casual observer," Littlepage said. "Maybe for everybody but the people from Chapel Hill.

"Everybody felt some frustration after Saturday. I don't think they will pack it in; that kind of game makes a real competitor anxious to play the next game."Hailed again

Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg paid tribute to Gillen prior to the Cavaliers' visit to Virginia Tech last Thursday, and Saturday it was Roy Williams' turn. It was reminiscent of a Mike Krzyzewski ode to Gillen following Duke's first-round victory over UVa in last year's ACC Tournament.

"Pete Gillen is one of the gentlemen in the coaching profession and, not only is he a gentleman, but he's a guy that everybody respects a great deal," Williams said. "You can look at his record year after year after year.

"It is a very difficult time for him. My first year at Kansas, we lost eight games in a row. Nobody remembers that now, but I remember it. Pete has more desire in his little finger than all of the Cavalier fans in the world."

An answer?

Nobody is suggesting that sophomore post man Donte Minter is a savior; however, he is one of the few options the Cavaliers have not explored since senior Jason Clark flunked off the team.

After suffering a broken pinkie finger on his left (shooting) hand, Minter did not travel to Maryland for a Jan. 19 game with the Terrapins. He played three days later against Clemson, hitting both of his field-goal attempts in an 81-79 UVa victory, but was not in uniform for the Cavaliers' next two games.

"He hurt his hand again in practice," Gillen said. "He had surgery on his hand, it was healing pretty good, he got the OK from doctors, then he hurt again. We hope to have him back in practice [Monday]. He's a post presence; it certainly would help to have him back on the court. We think he'll play Wednesday."

Changes in offing

Nine different players have started at least one game, with the core lineup including seniors Elton Brown and Devin Smith, sophomore J.R. Reynolds and freshman Sean Singletary. Sophomore Gary Forbes, who has started three of 18 games, leads the remaining players in playing time with 21.7 minutes per game.

Forbes, who had an extended hug with Gillen upon leaving the floor Saturday, spoke after the game of his desire to be a leader.

"We're going to juggle some things, try some different things because, obviously, [Saturday's performance] was tremendously disappointing," Gillen said. "We can't play like that. We're not going to beat a dead horse, but we've got to make some changes - play the guys that play the hardest, that compete the most, play the best, start from scratch.

"You've got to go down fighting."

Subject: My email and his response enclosed...
Posted by: HOObyodaddy on Tue Feb 1 2005 6:45:01 PM
Message:


Sir:
How embarrassing is it that a lifelong Virginia fan changed his TV at
halftime of this pathetic excuse of a game, and decided that two
rhinos eating grass on Animal Planet held his attention more than his
beloved basketball team. I was a Pete Gillen supporter, longer than
most, but I have reached my wit's end. I cannot possibly comprehend
how such lackluster performances are allowed. This team has quit on
this coach, and so have I. I will return to Virginia Basketball, when
a new coach arrives.

Sincerely,

Jonathan M. Zax


We're going to get you back sooner than you think. Please don't give
up on these guys. Our guys deserve our support. CL

--

Craig Littlepage phone: 434-982-5100
Director of Athletics fax: 434-982-5012
P.O. Box-400846
McCue Center-3rd Floor
Massie & Alderman Roads
Charlottesville, VA 22904-4846

Do the Cavaliers have a chance?
With each passing week, Virginia's season sinks further into oblivion.
BY DAVE JOHNSON
247-4649
Published February 2, 2005

Just before tipoff Saturday afternoon in University Hall, the kid dressed as a hotdog displayed his homemade sign. Written over the NCAA tournament's brackets, big and bold, were three words:

IT'S STILL EARLY.

For Virginia's men's basketball team and coach Pete Gillen, it might be too late. With a 10-8 record, the Cavaliers are in danger of their first losing season in six years. With a 1-7 league mark, they are in last place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings, their worst start since 1998-99.

If Virginia hasn't hit bottom, how much deeper can the hole be? Entering tonight's game at Providence, the Cavs are 2-7 since New Year's Day. They've shown no ability to shoot, rebound or defend. Their coach is probably going to be fired just as the university enters the home stretch in raising cash for a $130 million arena.

Saturday's 110-76 loss to North Carolina was humiliating for a program that aspires to be, realistically or not, among the ACC's elite. Yet as dire as things seem, the Cavaliers insist their season is not lost. There are still nine games remaining, they say. There is still time.

"The season isn't falling apart," sophomore Gary Forbes said. "We've just got to believe in ourselves. Everybody needs to look in the mirror and see what they're doing wrong."

That would take a good, long look. There are the obvious factors. In eight conference games, the Cavaliers are shooting 41 percent from the floor and averaging 73 points. The opposition is hitting nearly 50 percent and scoring 88 points a game. They're being outrebounded by 4.4 boards a game.

And there are the less-obvious factors. Of the four players to sign with Virginia four years ago, two transferred before their junior year. Only center Elton Brown, now a senior co-captain, remains in the program. Gillen's job status undoubtedly has scared off potential recruits.

Add it up and you have mounting losses.

"It's frustrating," guard J.R. Reynolds said. "We're all frustrated."

At times, that frustration has boiled over. In last week's loss at Virginia Tech, U.Va.'s players began bickering at each other. In one instance, point guard Sean Singletary threw a pass to forward Jason Cain at the top of the key. Though the ball hit him in the hands, Cain flubbed it for his fourth turnover in six minutes.

Singletary stomped his foot and yelled at Cain, who was immediately benched and did not return.

Nobody is more frustrated than Gillen, whose job is probably a lost cause. He's tried different lineups and different tactics. Chastised for his habit of calling timeouts early and often, he went 7 minutes and 12 seconds Saturday, by which point U.Va. trailed 23-8, before burning his first. Accused of turning his bench into a revolving door, he waited nearly 61/2 minutes before inserting his first reserve.

And yet, the Cavs were never in the game. Worse, they gave the most apathetic performance veteran observers can remember. At one point, Carolina led by 50 points, a margin Virginia has not seen in ... who knows? Had UNC coach Roy Williams not demonstrated some humanity, the score could have been as high as 136-67.

"They're a super team," Gillen said of the Tar Heels. "They've beat a lot of teams by 30 this year. But it was how we lost. You've got to go down fighting, and I was disappointed we didn't."

A couple players suggested the team "folded" and "came out flat," words that should concern Gillen more than his job status. Mentally and physically, Virginia hasn't been able to keep up.

There's plenty of blame to go around, from senior co-captain Elton Brown (40-percent from the field in ACC games) to Jason Clark (flunked off the team) to Reynolds (36 percent from 3-point range) and beyond. Top scorer Devin Smith is the only regular shooting better than 46 percent. Forbes is the only player who seems to have something of a clue on defense.

Virginia was in a similar position last season, when it was 2-6 at the turn before going 4-4 in the second half of its ACC schedule. That saved Gillen's job and nearly earned the Cavaliers what would have been their first NCAA appearance since 2001.

Though this team has demonstrated none of the grit last year's had, there is some hope. With expansion having altered the double round-robin schedule, Virginia does not play a second game against Duke, Georgia Tech or Miami - teams that beat the Cavs by a combined 48 points last month. It does play Florida State and N.C. State twice each.

Gillen says he doesn't listen to talk radio or read the message boards, but he knows his job is a hot topic even with a contract that runs through the 2011 season. Though the school refuses to release severance terms, a buyout would be expensive.

But with a new arena on the horizon, U.Va. officials can't afford a slumbering program. Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said as much last month when he told reporters, "It's in part my job to make sure that we are on an upward movement in our program going into the new arena."

Gillen refuses to address his job situation, just as he did last year when the question surfaced. All he'll tell you is that his team needs to get better.

"We've got to be positive," he said. "It's not what lies ahead of us, it's what lies within us. I still think we're a good team."

U.Va. alums rue current condition of Cavaliers
Players from yesteryear cite a lack of competitiveness as team's primary problem
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Feb 2, 2005

Duke or North Carolina, it's not. Virginia has won only one ACC title in men's basketball, and that was nearly 30 years ago.

But U.Va. is not Clemson, either. The Cavaliers have been to two Final Fours and, not so long ago, used to appear regularly in the NCAA tournament. That's why it pains former U.Va. players to see the recent decline of a program that produced such luminaries as Ralph Sampson, Barry Parkhill, Bryant Stith and Wally Walker.

"I guess it's kind of like watching your kids get beat up and not really being able to do anything about it," said Yuri Barnes, a Manchester High graduate who played for U.Va. in the '90s.

The Pete Gillen era in Charlottesville opened in 1998 with great promise, and as recently as December 2001, the Cavaliers were ranked No. 4 nationally. Now, however, in its seventh season under Gillen, Virginia seems "to be spiraling downward," as former bruiser Terry Gates put it yesterday.

U.Va. (1-7, 10-8) shares the ACC cellar with Clemson (1-7, 10-10) and finds itself looking up at Virginia Tech, among others. Not only are the Cavaliers not winning much these days, they often U.Va.don't appear to be competing especially hard.

"The intensity level makes you want to cry," said Gates, a vice president with Citizens and Farmer Bank in Midlothian.

Virginia, which plays a nonconference game at Providence tonight, has lost six of its past seven and, at this rate, may fail to qualify for even the NIT. U.Va. hasn't made the NCAAs since 2001.

"It's definitely not fun, but our biggest thing is to continue to support them," said former U.Va. star Cory Alexander, a Richmond resident who's close with sophomore guard J.R. Reynolds, a fellow graduate of Oak Hill Academy.

Virginia is coming off a 34-point loss to third-ranked North Carolina at University Hall. The Tar Heels led 62-26 at intermission and by 50 late in the second half Saturday. UNC shot 60 percent from the floor and outrebounded the lifeless Cavaliers 45-26.

Gates played at U.Va. for Terry Holland. Alexander and Barnes played for Holland's successor, Jeff Jones, who guided the Cavs to the Midwest Region final in 1995. Holland's and Jones' teams didn't always play aesthetically pleasing basketball, but their work ethic and competitiveness were rarely, if ever, questioned.

"To see teams come into U-Hall and do what they're doing is hard to take, to be honest with you," Gates said. "At least in the lean years, when you came into U-Hall, you expected a tough game with defense and rebounding."

No longer. The Cavs rank last in the ACC in field goal-percentage defense and 3-point defense, as well as scoring defense. At times Saturday it appeared the Tar Heels were running a layup drill.

In years past, Gates said, "I don't think [opponents] ever wanted to come into U-Hall. Defense was something that was always promoted as, 'This is a way you can win basketball games,' especially at home."

Barnes said: "It didn't always make necessarily a pretty game to watch, but one thing was for sure: The other team knew they'd be in a dogfight and it wouldn't be a walkover."

Jason Williford, who was a classmate of Barnes and Alexander at U.Va., is an assistant coach at Boston University. Williford, a graduate of John Marshall High, follows the Cavaliers from afar, as does BU's head coach, Dennis Wolff, a former U.Va. assistant.

"It pulls at me both ways," Williford said. "It's difficult to see other coaches struggle, because you know all the hours and hard work they put in. The bottom line is, they don't go out there and suit up. The players have to go out and perform.

"But as an alum, I do want to see the team compete at the highest level."

Not all the blame should fall on Gillen, said Alexander, a former NBA player who now stars for the Roanoke Dazzle of the National Basketball Development League. Barring a dramatic turnaround, however, a coaching change is likely at U.Va., where the $129.8 million John Paul Jones Arena is scheduled to open for the 2006-07 season.

Barnes said he's confident Athletic Director Craig Littlepage will do "everything possible to get U.Va. back in the top echelon of the league. Historically, we're just not used to seeing our name down at the bottom of the ACC, and I don't think anyone's going to accept that."

Alexander agreed.

"With that beautiful arena they're building," he said, "the last thing you want is for it to be empty."

Virginia enters 2005 atop lacrosse world after subpar season
Head coach Dom Starsia's Cavaliers suffered first postseason without NCAA Tourney in over 10 years, begin year at No. 6
Walker Freer, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

After finishing last season at 5-8, many may have wondered what had gone wrong with the Virginia men's lacrosse team. A 5-8 record was not the standard that Coach Dom Starsia had instilled in the program or in his players, and it certainly wasn't what Virginia fans had come to expect.

Coming off an NCAA National Championship victory in 2003 and a Final Four appearance in 2002, the 2004 team had every intention of following in the footsteps of its predecessors. Instead, Virginia failed to make the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1993.

Despite last year's 5-8 record and the loss of All-Americans Brett Hughes and Tillman Johnson, Inside Lacrosse's pre-season ranking pegged the Cavaliers at No. 6.

"That's kind of typical of this program," junior defenseman Steve Holmes said. "They say all around the lacrosse world that we get all the recruits, so they're just going to assume that we should be in the top 10. That comes with the territory. I think the pre-season ranking is as far as the correlation goes between last year and this year."

While fans can only hope that Holmes is correct, the members of the 2005 squad have a chance to back up their teammate by their play on the field. With three scrimmages scheduled between now and the Cavaliers' season opener, there are plenty of opportunities to fine tune the machine.

On the offensive end, Virginia's starting lineup returns almost entirely intact with the three leading point scorers back. The one asterisk with the offense is the role senior attackman Joe Yevoli will have this season. Yevoli, who injured his back last year, played sparingly in the fall, and whether or not he will play this season has yet to be determined. If Yevoli does not play, his goal-scoring ability will be missed as well as the senior leadership he would provide.

Ready to fill his void is fellow senior John Christmas, who electrified the college lacrosse world with his arrival three years ago. Christmas was plagued by injuries last season as well -- only one of numerous explanations for last year's results.

With former starting goalie Tillman Johnson having departed, the defensive burden will fall squarely on the shoulders of the newcomer in goal. Two sophomores, Kip Turner and Michael Petit, currently are competing for the starting position. While no one may doubt the pair's ability to play the position, lack of experience could be a problem.

"It's always nice to have an All-American goalie behind you," junior midfielder Kyle Dixon said. "If you mess up on defense you know he's going to save the ball. It'll be a little bit different with these guys never playing in a big game."

Whomever gets the go ahead will have to adjust quickly to the big-game mentality as Virginia takes on their annual brutal schedule. While the team plays eight of their 11 games at home, the three away games are at No. 1 Johns Hopkins, No. 2 Syracuse and No. 14 Duke.

"This year, as with any, there are going to be ups and downs, but we have the ability to rebound," Holmes said.

Rebounding was something last year's team had problems with and something this year's team will have to master. It would have been tough for any team in the country to bounce back from a 1-4 start, but it is worth noting that the margin was more than two goals in only one of those losses.

"We've got all the tools, and everyone's on the same page this year, so we should get it done," Holmes said.

Frustrated freshman teaches lesson in heart
Singletary harps on division within team, lack of sufficient effort; opposing coaches support Gillen as pressure increases
Joey Mancini, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Virginia freshman Sean Singletary sat in a leather chair in the team lounge surrounded with tape recorders and television cameras following Saturday's 110-76 drubbing at the hands of North Carolina.

He had some words for his teammates.

"The coaches are telling us what to do," Singletary said. "We all have to believe in their plan that they have for us. Today we all didn't do it as a whole."

The point guard then was asked about playing from behind against the Tarheels all afternoon.

"We have to play well against adversity," Singletary said. "As a team we didn't do that. I know a couple of players didn't give up, but some did."

Even when the questions strayed away from the team to topics of three-pointers and defense, Singletary re-centered the interview.

"[The] effort wasn't there, and that's what it's all about, tonight and the past couple of games," he said. "Other games in our losing streak, I feel as if we didn't all give our honest effort."

Finally, when asked about his personal leadership on the court during a losing streak, the freshman spoke once again on the subject of effort.

"It's something you can't teach," Singletary said. "Some players -- you have them giving the effort and have them putting the heart in. You have to play with heart, and you can't teach heart."

Now known for his fiery competitiveness on the court and maturity with the media, the freshman spoke out as an experienced veteran. When other notable players were not available for comment, Singletary stood in for extensive post-game questioning.

What emerged in Singletary's statements was an apparent division amongst teammates on the Virginia basketball team.

On one end, Devin Smith is constantly playing through injuries which frequently cause him to miss practice but rarely a game. He is leading the Cavaliers with 17.1 points per game. Similarly, Singletary, sophomore T.J. Bannister and others obviously attempt to provide a spark to a squad floundering on both ends of the floor.

On the opposite end, some Virginia fans are clamoring that certain players appear to be hustling less than others. Many Cavalier suporters failed to see last Saturday what Singletary called an "honest effort."

At ACC media day in November, conference coaches stood uniform in their support of Virginia coach Pete Gillen while commiserating with a peer's fragile job security.

After Saturday's game at Virginia, North Carolina coach Roy Williams echoed these sentiments.

"Pete Gillen is one of the gentlemen in the coaching profession," Williams said. "Pete has more desire in his little finger than all the Cavalier fans in the world. It is tough because he is one of the true quality people in our profession. You feel for any coach that is going through some difficult times."

For some Virginia fans, it is a foregone conclusion that Gillen is at the root of the team's current demise in the ACC the past four seasons. Yet Singletary's comments exhibit that Gillen is certainly the face and ultimately the recipient of blame for the team's troubles, though he may not be the only problem.

The difficulties Gillen faces with a potentially divided team should be evident in Charlottesville. As Singletary stated, "you can't teach heart." Unfortunately for Cavalier fans, it is heart that often carries a team through tough times.

How not to fire a coach
Bart Isley, Columnist

If you follow Virginia sports at all, you've surely heard "coaching change," or some form of that phrase, being tossed around since late December. Before you turn away and look for the "Club Sports Spotlight" or whatever else is on this page, this is not a Pete Gillen-related column.

This is in no way a primer for Athletic Director Craig Littlepage on how to handle any dismissal of a Virginia coach -- if any situation like that is at all imminent. Instead, these are a couple of situations for Littlepage to avoid at all costs, no matter who the coach is.

One of my favorite mistakes in handling a coaching change came in late December of 2002. During that year's GMAC bowl, then-Louisville coach John L. Smith became the focal point of a technique we can refer to as the "halftime shocker."

The Cardinals went down 17-0 to Byron Leftwich's Marshall squad. I was watching this game because my friend and I had become fascinated with Louisville quarterback Dave Ragone, and this was his final game. Why Ragone? Because the lefty and his Cardinals were on ESPN almost every week that season on late-night weekday games, and he was a true gamer, playing with every injury known to man. The Texans drafted him, and now he's headed for a career as a backup, playing Doug Pederson to David Carr's Brett Favre.

Despite the fact that the GMAC bowl was Ragone and Leftwich's final game as college quarterbacks, the focus was on Smith. At a halftime press conference, Louisville Athletic Director Tom Jurich announced that he was allowing Michigan State to talk to Smith about its coaching vacancy. According to Ragone, before the first half was even over, the whole team knew.

This has to have been the biggest possible hit to morale on a team during a game, short of a program announcing it was disbanding midway through the second quarter. You just can't do that, especially in the middle of a bowl game. One can only imagine what Smith said at halftime -- maybe something like, "We can still…hold on, let me take this call from a real estate agent in East Lansing."

The most recent example of how not to fire a coach didn't happen in the college ranks but instead in the American Basketball Association (ABA). In its heyday, the ABA featured talents like Julius Erving. Now, two of the league's head coaches are nicknamed "Jellybean" and "Twiggy." This league has many problems, the least of which is the fact that former Virginia transfer Nick VanderLaan plays for the ABA's Long Beach Jam. That's a "Where Are They Now" waiting to happen.

The biggest news out of the ABA this season came last Saturday when Nashville Rhythm co-owner Sally Anthony tried to fire her coach midway through their game against the Kansas City Knights. The Rhythm's coach, Ashley McElhiney, a former star at Vanderbilt, just happens to be the first woman to coach a men's professional basketball team.

According to an Associated Press story, the owner didn't want McElhiney to play Matt Freije, Vanderbilt's all-time leading scorer. When the young coach did play Freije, the two women began to argue. The argument caused Anthony to attempt to fire McElhiney before the owner was restrained and escorted out.

This would have been one of the most replayed recorded cat fights in the history of sports if the Rhythm had a higher attendance than seven or if their Web site wasn't "under construction." This definitely ranks up there with the most unprofessional actions by an owner ever, trumping anything Jerry Jones, Art Modell or Mark Cuban has ever done.

Thankfully, nothing like that should ever happen at Virginia. Littlepage is a highly professional administrator and has handled any situation I've seen in my four years at Virginia with class.But if he happens to run into a coaching search anytime soon though, and he's looking to diversify his candidate pool, I think McElhiney might be available.