Brown rebounds to help Cavaliers

By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
February 11, 2005



Tickle IQ Test

Elton Brown insists he is definitely a team player.

Sulking and truculence? That’s not him he says.

So when he seemed visibly upset by playing only five minutes at N.C. State last Saturday, that was ... ?

“I don’t care. I’ll play four minutes, I’ll play three minutes. As long as we get a ‘W,’ that’s all that matters,” Brown said after scoring 13 points in Virginia’s 56-55 win over Florida State on Wednesday.

As for his display at N.C. State, that was ill perceived according to the 6-foot-9 center.

“I might get frustrated because I don’t feel like the team is doing well. That’s what a lot of people - in the media definitely - fail to realize,” Brown said. “I’m not pouting, as a lot of the media people say. It’s just that I know we’re a better team than that.”

Some can take Brown at his words or some can remain skeptical but Brown certainly played a pivotal role in the Cavaliers’ 56-55 victory over Florida State on Wednesday.

Brown made several key baskets down the stretch to invigorate the Cavs and their comeback effort. He also didn’t make the foolish passes, shots and turnovers from the post that likely led to his benching in the first place.

“Elton was more animated tonight. … I thought for a few minutes he took over the game,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen.

When asked if this meant that Brown was out of his doghouse, Gillen avoided a straight answer.

“Next question.. …We don’t win without Elton Brown tonight,” Gillen said. “We want him to play defense and do some things. I don’t remember him taking a bad shot tonight.”

If it was Brown that spurred the Virginia comeback from a 14-point second half deficit, it was Devin Smith that completed it.

Smith’s 3-pointer with

5.2 seconds left in the game gave Virginia its first and last lead of the evening. It was just the fifth successful 3-point attempt for the Cavaliers out of 24 attempts.

“Devin stepped up and made a big shot. … I think we showed a lot character. It wasn’t pretty but we showed a lot of courage and tenacity,” Gillen said. “You look at the numbers and you wonder how we won.”

Their woeful performance from the arc allowed the Cavaliers to shoot just 40.4 percent for the game and they made just nine of their 16 attempts from the line.

Even how the final play began, Gillen had to wonder how his team won.

Trailing 55-53, Sean Singletary took an initial

3-pointer with approximately 11 seconds to play. The ball bounced off the rim but T.J. Bannister ran through the lane and managed to knock the loose ball out to J.R. Reynolds. Reynolds snared the ball, drove through the lane and found Smith on the right wing.

“We wanted to win this game. They wanted to win but I think we dug down a little bit more. … T.J. makes a great play to keep the ball alive. He went between two or three players. He just wanted the ball and had to have it,” Gillen said.

Coupled with its 64-62 victory at N.C. State last Saturday and a few other instances this season, Virginia has shown a certain knack for pulling out games in the waning seconds. It’s an odd trait for a team that has been in a tailspin since Jan. 1 and has suffered more than its share of lopsided defeats. Yet, other than an

81-79 loss at Iowa State in December, the Cavaliers have won nearly every game in which they’ve entered the final minutes down a handful of points or tied.

“I think it’s the character of our team. We think we can get it done down the stretch. We stuck together and that’s the key,” said Singletary, who had the winning basket at N.C. State.

Notes. Gillen noted that several of the Virginia players are suffering from a flu epidemic that has gripped over 250 UVa students as of Wednesday. Enough players were ill that the team couldn’t run a normal practice Monday or Tuesday. … Gillen said that he hopes to have freshman Adrian Joseph (strained quad muscle) available for Saturday’s game against Virginia Tech.

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Spectators at the Virginia-Florida State men’s basketball game Wednesday night were startled to see a confrontation between Virginia head coach Pete Gillen and top assistant Walt Fuller during a timeout with 7:57 remaining in the first half and UVa trailing 18-11.

“We had a heated discussion,” said Gillen of the scene that was reminiscent of the exchange between New York Jets coach Herm Edwards and assistant Bishop Harris during a Jan. 8 NFL playoff game. “I said, ‘Less filling,’ and he said, ‘More taste,’ and that was it.”

The Cavaliers rallied from a 14-point deficit to defeat the Seminoles 56-55.


--Doug Doughty

 Not exactly the Alaska 'pipeline'
Peninsula District representation at UVa declines

By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

Far be it from me to interject myself into the battle of wills between Al Groh and Mike Smith, so let me pursue the Todd Nolen story from a different angle.

Nolen, of course, is the Hampton High School wide receiver who announced Wednesday, seven days after the signing date, that he had chosen Virginia Tech. No Hampton player had signed with the Hokies since 1995, and Smith and lead Tech recruiter Jim Cavanaugh had recently gone seven years without speaking.

Until recently, Smith had been viewed as a Virginia guy, but he has had a falling-out with Groh, principally over Groh’s decision not to renew the scholarship of Smith’s son, Bryan, for a fifth year. I don’t know if Groh and Mike Smith actually had a conversation on the topic, but Smith said Groh hasn’t been in the school since before last spring.

Virginia was one of four schools to which Nolen made official visits and “there probably was a time that he would have been committed to Charlottesville a long time ago,” Smith said Wednesday.

The perception has been that Virginia had a pipeline to Hampton, but, when you think about it, how many great players have gone directly from Hampton to UVa?

Maybe the biggest fiasco in UVa recruiting history involved Hampton teammates Ronald Curry and Bobby Blizzard, ranked No. 1 and 5 among the state’s top prospects by The Roanoke Times in 1997-98. On Sept. 5, 1997, on the night that Virginia opened the season against Auburn, Virginia took commitments from Curry, Blizzard and Darnell Hollier, a third Hampton player who was rated the No. 7 prospect in the state.

Of those three, the only one who actually signed with the Cavaliers was Hollier and he lasted two years, a redshirt season and redshirt-freshman season in which he lettered but did not start.

Since then, the list of Hampton players at Virginia has included 2000 signees Raymond Mann, Muffin Curry and Bryan Smith, and 2001 signees Elton Brown and Marques Hagans. Of that group, the most highly recruited was Mann, a defensive lineman-turned-linebacker who was rated the No. 2 prospect in the state.

Smith would contend that Mann didn’t realize his full potential at Virginia and the case could be made that Mann should have been redshirted as a freshman or that he was more of a 4-3 defensive end than a 3-4 linebacker, but it wasn’t as if Mann didn’t have a chance. He started for most of three seasons and never put up fabulous statistics.

The best player of the bunch has been Brown, a consensus All-American this past season as a senior. While it’s safe to assume that Brown and Mann received Smith’s blessing -- or even encouragement -- before signing with Virginia, Brown only played in one game for Hampton High School after transferring from Heritage.

Hagans has been a good player for Virginia, but he did not go directly from Hampton to UVa. He originally committed to Indiana but did not meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility. When he and Muffin Curry signed with Virginia, they were at Fork Union, another UVa pipeline supposedly run dry.

The top-rated Hampton prospect during this decade was Carlos Campbell, a one-time Crabber quarterback who signed with Notre Dame in 2000, shortly after Groh had taken the UVa job. Smith was much closer to the staff of former UVa head coach George Welsh, but it wouldn’t have bothered him if Campbell had gone to Charlottesville.

The truth be known, it wouldn’t have killed Smith if Nolen had gone to Virginia. In an interview with Jed Williams on Charlottesville radio station WINA, Smith spoke of the affection that he has for longtime UVa team physician Dr. Frank McCue and Cavaliers’ assistant Mike London. He pointed out that his son is a UVa graduate and that his daughter currently is enrolled at UVa, but he never mentioned Groh by name.

APPARENTLY, the latest slight occurred Feb. 3, the day after national letter-of-intent day, when Bryan Smith drove from Harrisonburg to Charlottesville for an appointment with his eye doctor.

When Bryan got to the eye doctor, according to Mike Smith, the only other person in the waiting room was Groh. Bryan said, when he addressed Groh, that Groh responded, “Hi, Mike.”

Jeff White of the Richmond Times-Dispatch interprets that as a Freudian slip and I think that’s a plausible explanation, but to the Smiths, it came off as another snub.

It also bothered Mike Smith, when, unbeknownst to him, Groh and London visited Nolen in his home.

“Other coaches have always given me the privilege of telling me they were visiting one of our kids,” he said. “Often, I’ve been the guy who set the visit up. This was the first one that nobody made me aware of.”

WHEN I PREDICTED that Hampton would never send another player to Virginia while Smith and Groh were coaching, Smith did not jump at the bait.

Still, both programs would be well served by a reconciliation, starting with Smith’s concession that his son was given a four-year scholarship, that he graduated on time and that he would not have kicked for the Cavaliers in 2005. He missed two extra points at Florida State in 2002 and, while that much wasn’t much of a shot, he did leave an opening for Kurt Smith and then Connor Hughes to succeed him. Let it go.

For his part, Groh needs to show Smith the kind of deference that his Hall of Fame coaching career merits. Smith didn’t invent the game, but neither did Groh. If Groh makes a habit of stopping by the schools of the players he is recruiting, he should stop by Hampton. Anything less is petty.

Virginia’s program can survive without Hampton talent, but ex-Crabbers have made contributions dating back to the days of tight end Aaron Mundy and place-kicker Kenny Stadlin. In current quarterback Tyrod Taylor, Smith thinks he has the makings of another big-time recruit in two years.

After next season, Virginia will have two players from the talent-rich Peninsula District, cornerback Phillip Brown from Phoebus and running back-kick returner Mike Johnson from Heritage. At least one of the reasons that Nolen went to Tech was all of the familiar faces he saw on his official visit to Blacksburg. That is a situation the Cavaliers need to address.

Canty attacked at Ariz. bar

By Andy Bitter / Lynchburg News & Advance
February 11, 2005


Miller Motte
Former Virginia defensive lineman Chris Canty is recovering after requiring 50 stitches to close wounds around his left eye after being hit across the face with an unknown object at a Scottsdale, Ariz., night club nearly two weeks ago.

Canty, whose UVa career was cut short when he dislocated his left knee against Syracuse in September, was prepping for upcoming NFL workouts in close proximity to his Arizona-based agents Ethan Lock and Eric Metz.

Neither the knee nor eye injury are expected to affect Canty's plans for the NFL Combine to be held Feb. 23-March 1 in Indianapolis.

According to a report obtained from the Scottsdale Police Department on Thursday, Canty was released from Scottsdale Healthcare Osborn hospital on Monday, Jan. 31 with various cuts to and around his left eye. The injuries required him to wear an eye patch initially, though Lock said Canty no longer needs to wear it.

"He's doing a little better with (his eye)," Lock said. "It still has to heal more, but he's feeling a little better."

Canty and Virginia coach Al Groh were not available for comment. Calls to Canty's parents' home in Charlotte, N.C., were not returned.

According to the report, Canty and an unidentified friend arrived at the club Axis-Radius around 11:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29. Around 1 a.m., the two tried to make their way to the lower level of the club.

As they did, Canty accidentally brushed against someone sitting at the bar. The individual immediately got off his chair and waved a small flashlight in Canty's face. Both parties exchanged profanities before Canty and his friend continued through the crowd.

About 10 minutes later while standing in a breezeway located in the rear of the club, Canty was hit with what he figured was a bottle in the upper left eye socket, temple, cheek and forehead area. Canty did not see the individual and said in the report that he thought the assailant attacked him from behind.

Canty was taken to the hospital and required 50 stitches. The wounds described in the report were a cut under the left eye that runs past the check bone, a cut on the left eye lid, two cuts at the temple, one running above the eye and another running up into the forehead. His eye also was cut.

Canty was released from the hospital early on Monday and on Tuesday, Feb. 1, with Lock in attendance, filed a delayed aggravated assault report.

At the time of the report, there were no suspects or witnesses, but, Lock said, "the (police officer) that came was not a guy that was at the bar that night, so he might not have known what the other research had shown by people that responded."

A Maricopa County Sheriff's Office deputy was at the scene, the report said, but Canty did not request a report be taken at that time.

"We never heard anything again from the police," said Lock, who flew to Arizona Thursday after spending time at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. "We just said we were going to turn this over to the police and whatever happens happens. I don't know what they've done. I don't know what they've found."

Canty's plans for the NFL Combine remain unchanged. The 6-foot-7, 290-pounder planned to attend the combine at the Indianapolis Convention Center but not work out, though NFL team doctors are expected to look at both his knee and eye. Lock said Canty will have private workouts for teams, though nothing concrete has been scheduled.

Lock was encouraged by the progress of Canty's knee rehabilitation.

"His knee is great. It's way ahead of schedule," Lock said. "It's not going to be an issue."

While Canty's physical tools have never come into question by NFL scouts, his durability has, particularly after a college career during which he also broke his right leg and dislocated his left elbow. Whether or not this latest incident hurts his draft stock remains to be seen.

"I don't know the answer to that one," Lock said. "I hope not. Only time will tell."

Telfair wonders if offer was a 'joke'

By JEFF D'ALESSIO
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/11/05

The Sebastian Telfair saga took another twist Thursday when the former New York City basketball star told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he was offered money by an unnamed person to attend Georgia Tech.

"I was approached by a man who claimed to be associated with the Georgia Tech program and he offered me money," the Portland Trail Blazers rookie point guard said. "I dismissed the offer. I never had contact with Coach [Paul] Hewitt or anyone from the Georgia Tech program regarding this incident, nor was I ever approached by anyone or offered anything at any other time.
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"To this day, I'm not sure if it was a joke. I wish Coach Hewitt and the Georgia Tech program nothing but success."

Telfair read his statement by telephone. When asked when and where the alleged incident took place, Telfair's agent, Andy Miller, who was also on the phone call, said the player would not take any questions and ended the call.

Telfair's latest claim contradicts what he said in Portland a night earlier, when he called a quote attributed to him about the offer "a false statement."

He never mentioned Tech by name until Thursday.

Telfair is the subject of a new book, "The Jump," in which an anomymous source says an unnamed booster offered him $250,000 to attend Tech. In the book, Telfair would only identify the school as "a major school in the East" and describe the person who made the offer as middle-aged and white.

In the book, Telfair said of the fan who made the offer, "The person that it was, I was in the gym of that school he said he was with." Given his statement Thursday, that would mean it happened in Atlanta.

Both Hewitt and the book's author, suburban New York columnist Ian O'Connor, were ready to put the story behind them Thursday.

"As far as I'm concerned, I've gotten to the bottom of the issue," Hewitt said. "It's closed. I think it's pretty sad that we're at a time now in college sports where people can make any accusation and think it can stick. Our records show he was never at a game. I bet if we checked flight records, he's probably never been on a flight to Atlanta between '01 and '03, but I don't think it's worth my energy or my time.

"I think his statement Wednesday night pretty much covered everything. In between that time, I'm sure he and the people putting out the book got together and said, 'Hey, this book hasn't hit the stands yet. Let's make sure we at least get a couple dollars out of this thing.' "

O'Connor said this kind of publicity wasn't what he sought out.

"I never wanted this story to define the book," he said Thursday. "I worked too long and hard on the project. The book's not about Georgia Tech, it's about the journey a kid takes from high school to the NBA — and i hope people come to see it that way."

Hewitt feared that the Telfair story might hurt Tech's recruiting.

"This is a very competitive arena in college basketball," he said. "When you're recruiting kids who are being recruited by 20 and 50 programs at a time, it can become quite a strain on kids. As they start to whittle down their lists, they almost start looking for reasons to eliminate schools to get it down to a managable number.

"We play in the most competitive college basketball league in the country. When you're in that environment, you don't need any handicap, no matter how minor, when you're going up against the best."

U.VA. NOTES

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Feb 11, 2005

KEEP IT CLOSE: Virginia has suffered numerous one-sided losses in men's basketball the past two seasons. The tight games, however, Pete Gillen's club almost always has found a way to win.
Parker Orleans


Since the start of last season, the Cavaliers have played 15 games that went to overtime or were decided by four or fewer points. Their record in those games is 13-2.

After trailing by 14 points with 14:39 left, U.Va. rallied to beat Florida State 56-55 on Wednesday night at University Hall. On a play Gillen didn't have a chance to draw up, senior forward Devin Smith hit a 3-pointer with 5.2 seconds left to lift the Cavaliers to victory.

Gillen had called his fifth -- and final timeout with 1:40 remaining against FSU. In many games, he's been out of timeouts long before that point.

"I get much criticized about the timeouts," Gillen said Monday, "but you just gotta go with a gut feeling ... Everybody's got to coach differently. You are who you are, and that's just our style."

MISUNDERSTOOD? Elton Brown, not the most popular basketball player to pass through U.Va. in years, believes fans and reporters get the wrong idea from his body language and facial expressions during games.

"I might get frustrated because I don't feel like the team is doing [well]," Brown said after totaling a team-high 13 points against FSU. "That's what a lot of people -- in the media, definitely -- fail to realize. I'm not pouting, as a lot of the media people say. It's just that I know we're a better team than that."

Brown, a 6-9, 250-pound senior from Newport News, leads the Cavaliers in rebounding (8.9) and is second in scoring (14.5 ppg).

NEW BLOOD: Virginia football coach Al Groh must replace both of his starting outside linebackers from 2004 -- Dennis Haley and Darryl Blackstock.

Jermaine Dias, a rising sophomore, is expected to grab one starting job. The leading candidates on the other side probably will be rising redshirt freshman Clint Sintim, rising sophomore Vince Redd and incoming freshman Olu Hall, though Redd could move to defensive end.

The 6-3, 222-pound Hall is finishing up a postgraduate year at Hargrave Military Academy, where he played linebacker for the first time. At Robinson High, Hall was an all-Group AAA defensive end.

"He looks like what we want an outside linebacker to look like," Groh said. "He will be able to come off the edge with explosiveness. He's athletic enough to get involved in man coverage and will be a presence in the tight end [coverage] area."

VANISHING BREED: Time was, U.Va.'s football program was stocked with players from the powerful Peninsula District, which produced such former Cavaliers as Blackstock, Elton Brown, Antwoine Womack, Aaron Brooks, Aaron Mundy and Ray Savage.

The news Wednesday that Hampton High wideout Todd Nolen would sign with Virginia Tech, however, means Virginia's 2005 recruiting class includes no one from the Peninsula District. Moreover, only four Peninsula projects are expected to be on the Cavaliers' team next season: cornerback Philip Brown, tailback Michael Johnson, nose tackle Melvin Massey and quarterback Marques Hagans. Of those four, Hagans and Massey will be fifth-year seniors and Johnson a fourth-year junior.

IN THE CAGE: The men's lacrosse team opens the season Feb. 20 against Drexel at U.Va. Coach Dom Starsia still isn't sure who'll start at goalie for the Cavaliers. The competition between sophomore Kip Turner and redshirt freshman Bud Petit, a Collegiate graduate, couldn't be closer.

"I really don't know how it gets resolved, I swear to you," Starsia said Wednesday. "We've talked about every scenario imaginable.

"I think it's going to be a fluid situation early in the year. I don't know if that means we'd consider splitting guys against Drexel . . . I've never gone into a game saying I'm going to play two goalies, but we have a very unusual situation."

A season ago, Turner backed up Tillman Johnson and played in only one game, the opener. Johnson, the only goalie to be named all-ACC three times, was a four-year starter for Virginia and made a school-record 700 saves.

U.Va.'s final scrimmage is Sunday (1 p.m.) against Georgetown at the University Hall Turf Field.

Starsia hasn't settled on a first midfield yet, either, but he said it will include junior Kyle Dixon and sophomore Drew Thompson. The third member probably will be senior Jared Little or junior Matt Poskay.

-- Jeff White