Cavaliers hope for memory loss
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
February 12, 2005

There were a lot of things in their first meeting with Virginia Tech that the Cavaliers would like to forget.

First and foremost was, of course, that they lost 79-73.

Secondly were the 22 turnovers Virginia committed in that loss.

Lastly, the Cavaliers allowed the Hokies to shoot 52.7 percent in that contest on Jan. 27.

“We will have to defend Virginia Tech better this time. We turned the ball over too much. We need to take care of the ball,” Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. “We also need to guard their perimeter and we have to play for 40 minutes.”

The Hokies, who stand at 5-5 in the ACC, are one of the surprises of the league in their inauguaral season.

Tech won at Miami last Wednesday but has dropped their last two contests to Wake Forest and then Maryland.

Today is certainly a pivotal game for both programs in terms of both the ACC standings and, as always, the rivalry between the two schools.

“An in-state rivalry game is always a big game. They’re going to come in here fired up and I’m sure they’ll have their fans,” senior center Elton Brown said. “Hopefully, our fans will be here to help us.”

The Cavaliers are a rejuvenated bunch after back-to-back last-second wins against N.C. State and Florida State. A third straight victory today would make any revival more pronounced and also keep alive their flickering - flickering - postseason hopes.

Brown is no NCAA bracketologist, as if that term should be used anyway, but he and his teammates do have a route in mind to the field of 65 and it must include a victory today.

“We still want to make the NCAA Tournament. If we take care of what we have at home, we have a good chance. We have Virginia Tech, Maryland and N.C. State at home,” Brown said. “If we can take care of those three wins, that would bump us up to 15 wins. Hopefully we can get a win on the road against Wake Forest or North Carolina or Florida State, and we’re 7-9 just like that. So we still have hope and we’re going to continue to play hard.”

Given that the Cavaliers had lost seven of eight until last Saturday’s win at N.C. State, such a theory may not pass a plausibility test but the scenario Brown outlined would certainly put the Cavaliers in contention for an at-large NCAA bid as remote as that may sound.

Again, all theories hinge on a win today and as Gillen outlined, that will require quite a different performance than the Cavaliers’ last meeting with the Hokies.

“We are sticking together as a team during this adversity. We are coming together and the light has switched on. We didn’t play well in the first game against Virginia Tech. We know we can get the victory this time,” freshman guard Sean Singletary said. “We have to get on them early. Whoever wants the game more will win. They want it but we really need it.”

Not just killing time
Virginia's coach insists there is a method to his often maddening habit of burning timeouts early.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

For all the hundreds of timeout calls that Tommy Herrion witnessed in eight years as a Pete Gillen assistant, the one he remembers most vividly is the one that Gillen elected not to call.

It was the first round of the 2001 NCAA men's basketball tournament, Virginia's only NCAA appearance in Gillen's first six seasons, and Casey Calvary had rebounded and scored off Dan Dickau's miss to give Gonzaga an 86-85 lead with nine seconds left.

"I would bet almost every penny I own that we had a timeout left against Gonzaga," said Herrion, now the head coach at Charleston. "Feel free to check, but I would guarantee we had one."

Sure enough, the Cavaliers did.

"And, I probably was one of the people who convinced him not to call it," Herrion said.

The Cavaliers got the ball to Roger Mason Jr., their best player, but Mason's layup attempt fell short at the buzzer.

Almost four years later, Gillen, too, remembers the situation. He has no regrets.

"Roger had scored 29 points," Gillen said. "I did have one timeout left, but we said, 'Let's let him go.' He's a great player, he had the ball; sometimes, if the defense has a chance to get set, you can't get it to him."

It might have been the last time Gillen had a timeout available at the end of a close game. On Wednesday night, in a 56-55 victory over Florida State, he called his last two with 2:19 and 1:40 left.

"I couldn't believe we had two left," Gillen said. "Ridiculous! I had to get rid of them."

Gillen might have been kidding, but he is a firm believer in what he calls a "stop-the-bleeding" philosophy. He calls them early, he calls them often and he knows that people are noticing.

At Cameron Indoor Stadium earlier this season, Duke students serenaded him with chants of "Timeout Pete."

"You've been busting my [rhymes with calls] for 5 1/2 years," Gillen told a reporter this week. "Just make up some quote from me and write what you're going to write."

Eventually, Gillen agreed to discuss his philosophy, but "to me it's a lose-lose thing," he said.

Or is it?

Virginia has won four games in its last possession this season - on shots by four different players - and hasn't had a timeout remaining in any of them.

"Sometimes, we feel like saying, 'Nah, coach, no, we don't need one right now,'" guard J.R. Reynolds said, "but, sometimes, when you're in a situation like that, your instincts just take over.'"

That was the case Wednesday, when Reynolds got the ball in a loose-ball scramble and found a wide-open Devin Smith for the winning 3-pointer from the right wing.

Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton had called three timeouts in the final 1:22, just as N.C. State coach Herb Sendek had called four timeouts in the final 2:03 Saturday night in Raleigh, N.C.

By that point, the fifth of Gillen's five timeouts was gone, having been expended with 4:55 left in the game. The Cavs won 64-62 on a stickback by guard Sean Singletary with 2.2 seconds left.

"Some legendary coach who shall remain nameless lent me 4,125 timeouts," said Gillen in a thinly-veiled reference to former North Carolina coach Dean Smith. "So, I have a few more left than most coaches. You are who you are and that's just our style."

Greenberg didn't notice

Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg, whose Hokies (12-9, 5-5 ACC) visit Virginia (12-9, 3-7) at noon today, said he almost never calls timeout when his team has a chance to win or tie a game on its last possession.

"We play," Greenberg said. "There's a school of thought that says, 'We spend so much time on special situations in practice that our guys should know what to do.' We push it. Then, we read the defense and if we need to, we call a timeout. Ideally, I don't want to call a timeout."

Greenberg has known Gillen since they were fellow counselors at the Five-Star Basketball Camps more than 25 years ago. Until he came north from South Florida in 2003, Greenberg says he had no awareness of Gillen's reputation for timeouts.

"I don't even consider when other people call timeouts," Greenberg said. "I didn't know about [Gillen's timeouts] until I read it in the newspaper. I was like, 'Oh, really? That's what he does.' Everybody has a different philosophy. I like to save them."

Oh, really? Who doesn't?

"I was more into banking timeouts and thought that was pretty effective," said Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage, a former head basketball coach at Pennsylvania and Rutgers. "Dean was probably the coach who was most discreet about his use of timeouts."

Virginia has gone 6-1 this year in games decided by one or two points, which does not include a 79-73 loss at Virginia Tech, where the Cavaliers trailed 75-73 following an Elton Brown stickback with nine seconds left.

Some teams might have used a timeout at that point and set their defense, or settled on an opposing player they wanted to foul. UVa did not have a timeout at its disposal and saw the Hokies take advantage of an unsettled situation to throw a baseball-style pass to Jamon Gordon for a dunk.

Not opposed to change

Littlepage said that he discusses basketball and basketball strategy with Gillen but that they like to keep those conversations confidential.

Gillen's use of timeouts "is a topic that comes up either in conversation or in e-mails," Littlepage said. "When we've gone out on the road for our spring socials and Pete or other coaches are speaking, people will ask about it."

Other coaches have been known to call timeouts to "stop the bleeding," as Gillen puts it, but sometimes the bleeding has been microscopic. The Cavaliers were leading 64-34 and were in the midst of an 11-0 run against Richmond when Gillen called a timeout with 13:41 left.

Mostly, he is famous for calling timeouts on the verge of the so-called television or "media" timeouts that come each half on the first dead ball after the clock has reached 16, 12, eight and four minutes.

In 2002, Gillen called a timeout at Georgia Tech with 18:30 left in the first half; then, two years later, on the same court, he called a timeout with 18:02 left and the score 3-3. When Virginia returned to Atlanta this year, there were two separate media pools on the time of Gillen's first timeouts.

"He had a great quote about it when he was up here," said Providence Journal reporter Kevin McNamara, who covered the Friars during Gillen's four-year tenure. "He always used to say, 'You don't want to die rich.' I still picture him calling the full, 60-second timeouts and winding up his arm like a third-base coach."

If he felt that it would improve Virginia's chances of winning, Gillen said, he would change.

"Sure, I'd change," he said. "It might blow up on me the next game, but I try to be flexible. Sometimes we zone, sometimes we man, sometimes we junk. I certainly don't have all the answers."

Close games haven't been Gillen's problems. In games decided by one or two points, he is 22-11 against ACC teams. In all games against ACC opposition, he is 46-68.

Dick Wall, a Roanoke attorney, was the Roanoke Catholic boys' basketball coach when Reynolds played for the Celtics and he has heard Gillen bashed for his timeout theories.

"You know, if you're winning," Wall said, "people just say you're eccentric."Tale of the timeoutsUVa coach Pete Gillen's numbers from the 2004-2005 season:Total games: 21

±

Timeouts: 92 (4.3 per game)

±

Five or more timeouts: 12 times

±

Fewest timeouts: 2 vs. North Carolina

(in 110-69 loss)

±

Earliest timeout: 2:12 elapsed

vs. Western Kentucky (trailing 4-3)

±

Timeouts before first TV timeout: 6

±

Earliest final timeout: 8:30 left

vs. Wake Forest

Cav, not Cavs own the peninsula
Familiar faces seen as crucial in recruiting
By Doug Doughty
THE ROANOKE TIMES

I still find it slightly amusing whenever I call the Virginia Tech football recruiting coordinator and the voice at the other end responds with one word, “Cav.”

Actually, Tech assistant Jim “Cav” Cavanaugh was a Cavalier for one season, in Dick Bestwick’s final season as Virginia football coach in 1980, but if there’s one thing he isn’t, it’s a Cav (or at least that kind of Cav).

I was thinking about the strange juxtaposition when I suggested to Hampton High School coach Mike Smith that “Cav owns the Peninsula.”

“Damn right he does,” Smith said.

You only have to shift one “s” to turn “Cav owns the Peninsula“ into “Cavs own the Peninsula,” but what a difference there is in those two statements. I’m sure that Virginia head coach Al Groh thinks it is possible to put together a championship team without ruling the Peninsula District, but the Cavaliers certainly don’t want to cede that area to Virginia Tech in perpetuity.

For the record, teams in the Peninsula District are Bethel, Denbigh, Gloucester, Hampton, Heritage, Kecoughtan, Menchville, Phoebus, Warwick and Woodside. Before researching that piece of information, I would not have guessed that there were 10 teams in the district and I’m not sure that I could have named more than five of them.

It is widely believed that some of the best football in the state is played in the Peninsula District, but when you’re talking about the production of college talent, only Hampton, Warwick and Phoebus have done that consistently. Heritage produced Elton Brown, Darryl Blackstock and Michael Johnson over a two-year period but who else? I’m still thinking.

So, maybe you don’t have to control the Peninsula District, but when you throw in the surrounding areas, such as the Group AA Bay Rivers District, it’s no surprise that Hampton wide receiver Todd Nolen committed to Virginia Tech. Among the familiar faces he might have seen while visiting Blacksburg was ex-Bruton quarterback Bryan Randall; Xavier Adibi and D.J. Parker from Phoebus; Marcus Vick from Warwick; and Chris Ellis and Jimmy Williams from Bethel.

“And Jimmy Williams still has a lot of Crabber blood running through his veins,” said Smith, who coached Williams at Hampton until his senior year. “The people that come back from college have an impact on the kids back in the community. I think that’s the biggest recruiting factor with kids there is.”

Nevertheless, Tech would not have gotten Nolen if Smith and Cavanaugh had not ended a feud that began in 1997, when ex-Hampton wide receiver Ahmad Hawkins and running back Darrell Smith did not arrive on a plane that was supposed to take them to Blacksburg on a recruiting trip.

“I don’t think it made things any better when it was Ahmad who caught the winning touchdown pass when Virginia won up there in 1998,” Smith said.

The Hokies sent offensive coordinator Bryan Stinespring into Hampton last year (Smith calls him “Springsteen”), but, by the end of the recruiting process, Cavanaugh was the point man for Nolen.

“I’m 56 years old,” Cavanaugh said, “but, eventually you have to look at yourself and say, ‘Don’t be a dumb ass.’ ”

For his part, Cavanaugh doesn’t know how anybody could have gotten the idea that he and Smith were feuding.

“So what was it then?” Smith asked. “Did he just lose his way down here for seven years in a row? Maybe Bill Dee wouldn’t let him come over here.”

Dee is the head coach at Phoebus High School, which has threatened Hampton’s hold over the Peninsula District in recent years, but you get the impression that Smith can’t go half an hour without getting in a dig at somebody (and, sorry, but I just love it.).

Dee occasionally will get in a shot at Smith, but he had some nice things this week to say about Nolen.

“Nolen’s a good player,” said Dee, on the mend from gall-bladder surgery and a kidney stone. “To be honest with you, I thought he was higher than 10 [his Roanoke Times ranking].

Nolen’s academic status was a consideration in his ranking, “but if you look at athletic ability, that kid’s a good player and it’s not like me and the Hampton guys are tight, so you know, if I said it …,” said Dee before trailing off. “And he’s a pretty good kid, I think.”

CATCHING UP with the top 100 prospects in the state, you can add Gar-Field running back Andre Bratton to the list of Division I-A signees from the state that now numbers 44. Bratton signed with Miami of Ohio.

Other commitments from top 100 players previously unreported in this column were from No. 67 Nick Altomare, a Robinson defensive back headed to Hofstra; No. 68 Mike Caussin, a West Springfield wide receiver who will walk on at James Madison; No. 77 Peter McMurrer, a Centreville fullback who will walk on at William and Mary, and No. 78 Jared Polchinski, a defensive back from Clover Hill who is going to Lackawanna (N.Y.) Community College.

Patrick Ward, a wide receiver from Harrisonburg High School and the 71st-rated player on The Roanoke Times list, signed a second letter-of-intent with James Madison after the original was voided. Ward’s father had to be at work at 6 a.m. and signed the letter-of-intent at 4:30 a.m. on Feb. 2, several hours before it could become valid.

Virginiapreps.com is showing Northern Region defensive player of the year Cody Grimm from Oakton as a Virginia Tech walk-on. Grimm also considered Pittsburgh, the alma mater of his father, former Washington Redskins offensive lineman Russ Grimm, now an assistant coach with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Another of Russ Grimm’s sons, Chad, is a walk-on for the Hokies.

John Oldenburg, a 6-4, 210-pound quarterback who passed for 380 yards over the final two games at McLean High School is headed to UVa as a walk-on. The Cavaliers’ two preferred walk-ons, Oldenburg and Joseph Sanford from Monticello High School and Bridgeton (Maine) Academy are both quarterbacks who are likely to get looks at other positions, given the Cavaliers’ depth at QB.

Cavs' Reynolds works to regain his touch
Sophomore's scoring is up but percentages are down from all-freshman campaign
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Feb 12, 2005
VA. TECH AT U.VA.
TODAY: Noon
ON THE AIR: TV - WTVR-6; Radio - WRVA (1140), WXGI (950), WBBC (93.5), 11:30 a.m.

CHARLOTTESVILLE For 40 minutes yesterday morning, in a nearly deserted basketball arena, J.R. Reynolds took passes from University of Virginia assistant coach Alexis Sherard and launched jump shot after jump shot. Most dropped through the net.

Reynolds' renowned shooting touch - he made a school-record 14 3-pointers in a single game as an Oak Hill Academy senior - has occasionally abandoned him this season, and he's working overtime to make sure it's back for today's game against ACC rival Virginia Tech at University Hall.

The Cavaliers (3-7, 12-9) entertain the Hokies (5-5, 12-9) at noon in their second and final regular-season meeting.

A 6-2, 200-pound sophomore from Roanoke, Reynolds has started 38 games at shooting guard for Virginia since graduating from Oak Hill. In 2003-04, he averaged 9.4 points and made the ACC's all-freshman team. In the ACC tournament's play-in game, he scored 18 points, then a career high, as U.Va. rallied past Clemson in overtime. The next day, against Duke, Reynolds hit three treys and finished with 20 points.

This season, he's had a 21-point game (against Georgia Tech) and a 20-point night (against Western Kentucky). But there have been other games in which his shot refused to fall. Reynolds scored two points against Iowa State, two against Miami (Fla.), three against Duke and zero against N.C. State.

"It's been kind of tough at times," he said after his workout yesterday, "but you're going to have times like that. It's just a matter of how you're going to work to pull through."

Reynolds, who starred for four years at Roanoke Catholic before transferring to Oak Hill, has found other ways to contribute this season. His defensive effort against Wolfpack star Julius Hodge proved instrumental as U.Va. collected a rare ACC road victory.

"He had a poor offensive game," Cavaliers coach Pete Gillen said, "but he helped us win. If Julius Hodge plays his normal game, we don't win."

As a freshman, Reynolds shot 44.1 percent from the floor and 38.4 percent from 3-point range. He's raised his scoring average to 11 this season - third on the team - but his shooting percentages have dipped to 37.2 from the floor and 34.2 from beyond the arc, in part because of a chipped bone in his right ring finger.

"It feels like it's been a roller coaster ride," Reynolds said of his second year, "but I've been staying positive through the whole thing, whether I score 20 or don't score."

His game against the Hokies at Cassell Coliseum last month typified Reynolds' up-and-down season. In 18 first-half minutes, he missed all three of his field goal attempts and failed to score. In 19 second-half minutes, he contributed 10 points, three assists and one steal.

That performance wasn't enough, however, to lift Virginia to victory over Tech, which many of Reynolds' childhood friends from Roanoke attend.

"It hurt real bad," Reynolds said of losing to the Hokies. "They've got a very good team, and they've been playing well, but we weren't ready to play that night. It's going to be different [today], though. We're going to be ready."

Tech hasn't won back-to-back games in this series since the mid '70s. To extend the Hokies' drought, U.Va. probably must take better care of the ball today than it did in Blacksburg last month. In the Cavaliers' 79-73 loss, they had 22 turnovers. Swingman Carlos Dixon and guard Jamon Gordon had four steals apiece for the Hokies.

"What they did to us down at their house, it didn't leave a good taste with us," Reynolds said. "It'll be a different [Virginia] team than the one they saw at Cassell."

The Hokies enter on a two-game skid; the Cavaliers, on a two-game winning streak.

"I think we're coming into this game with a lot of confidence," Reynolds said.