Cavs trying not to look past Lancers
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 15, 2006

Although he would never admit it, deep down Virginia coach Dave Leitao probably isn't too worried about Longwood tonight at University Hall.
The Lancers, who are hoping to join the Big South Conference by the 2007-08 season, are in just their second year of playing a full Division I schedule.

Leitao's worried about losing something else.

"When you step out of conference, the fear is that you can lose some of your mindset," Leitao said. "We don't want to do that because you have to jump right back into ACC play after that."

Translation: Don't get sloppy in a game that will most likely be pretty lopsided.

On Saturday, Virginia (12-9, 6-5) plays at Florida State - a school in the hunt for an NCAA Tournament berth. On Tuesday night, the Cavaliers host Boston College, the 13th-ranked team in the country.

"With the tail end of the season, it's a matter of putting the final details on coming together the best you can," said Leitao, whose team is tied for fifth in the ACC, "both chemistry-wise and the way you execute on the court.

"We've had three very tough, emotional, physical games over the last week or so. The more I watch teams in this league, it comes down to a couple possessions one way or the other. That is ultimately how good teams are going to be defined - how you play the last part of the season out and how you make those final plays in the late stages of games. You have to be ready to do that emotionally and physically."

Longwood (7-18) is coming off a 75-66 loss to Liberty on Monday night. In its season opener on Nov. 18, Virginia defeated Liberty, 79-44. Both teams have defeated Hartford (Conn.): Virginia 71-62 on Dec. 31 and Longwood 93-90 in overtime on Jan. 28.

The other common opponent between the schools is Richmond, who Virginia defeated by

16 on Nov. 22. Longwood lost to the Spiders by 14 on Jan. 2.

While things don't look good on paper for Longwood, coach Mike Gillian said his team isn't about to back down against Virginia.

"We do not go into the game expecting to lose," Gillian said. "We go in there to compete and to test ourselves."

In Virginia's overtime win over Virginia Tech on Saturday, the Cavaliers' backcourt of Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds came up big again. The duo combined for 42 points and Reynolds had a career-high 12 assists.

"Those guys are as good as anybody we've faced," Gillian said, "and probably as good a combination as anyone out there."

With the exception of a 29-point loss at Kansas State and a 32-point loss at Valparaiso, Longwood has hung tough in the majority of its games. The Lancers lost to Villanova, the No. 4-ranked team in the country, by just 13 points on Dec. 10.

Longwood is led by 6-foot-5 swingman Maurice Sumter (15.0 ppg) and 6-foot-7 forward Clayton Morgan (11.8 ppg). (Michael Jefferson, a

6-foot-3 guard who averages 12.8 points, is out for the rest of the season with a groin injury.)

"We match up OK with teams that rely on perimeter talent to be successful," Gillian said. "The difference here is limiting second-chance points and not turning the ball over, and keeping Jason Cain and [Lauris] Mikalauskas and [Tunji] Soroye off the glass."

At this point in the season, Leitao said one of his biggest challenges is continuing to push his players, while making sure they don't become too fatigued.

"You still have to work your team hard, but you have to get enough rest at the same time so that they feel energized," Leitao said. "That, as much as anything, is what we're trying to do."

DUNKS: Tonight's game may be a good opportunity for Virginia big man Tunji Soroye to regain his confidence. The 6-foot-11 sophomore has scored just six points in his last eight games. Against Virginia Tech on Saturday, Soroye committed two quick turnovers and found himself on the bench. Soroye's teammates are being supportive. "He's definitely making progress," said Singletary. "Everyone's backing him 100 percent. It's going to be slow, we know that, but he has a lot of potential which we're looking forward to." Added J.R. Reynolds: "I've been through it. I just try and tell him to keep his poise and keep his focus and sooner or later it will happen for him." ? Virginia is No. 1 in the ACC in scoring defense (68.2 points per game). The Cavaliers are also No. 1 in 3-point field goal defense (.311).

 

U-Hall now a who's who of Hooville
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 15, 2006

Scattershooting around the ACC, while noticing there were some interesting visitors to Virginia's basketball win over Virginia Tech last Saturday night ?
Yeah, we know its hoops season, but it was hard not to notice some of the high school football prospects sitting in the crowd, particularly Peter Lalich, one of the top quarterback recruits in the nation. The 6-foot-5, 225-pound junior from West Springfield High School was spotted sitting beside Chris Long's brother, Kyle, during the game.

Lalich, who already has offers from Miami, UCLA, Florida, LSU, Pitt, Clemson, Tennessee and many others, passed for 2,700 yards and

22 TDs last season.

He told CavsCorner.com that Virginia was his leader going into the recruiting process and remains his leader.

"They are light-years ahead of the competition," he said.

Lalich has been somewhat tied to another star recruit, wide receiver Greg Little of Durham, N.C. Little, who didn't make it to the UVa "Juniors Day" event on Saturday because of the weather, lists Virginia in his current top five, along with Texas, Notre Dame, Michigan and Tennessee.

He said he wants to play for a school that can put him on a fast track to the NFL, although he is also concerned with academics. Little is also good enough of a basketball player to have already received some interest from both UVa and Duke in that sport.

Lalich, who said he intends to make an early decision (possibly by May 30 or before), is the type of player that a school could build an entire recruiting class around. It would be a true coup for Coach Al Groh to land that pitch-and-catch duo of Lalich and Little. Let's call them

"L-squared."

Also spotted in the crowd were Heath Miller, fresh from the Steelers' Super Bowl victory, and Fox NFL analyst Howie Long.

Roy's rage

North Carolina's starters got a lesson in Roy Williams' temper during last week's loss against Duke. He was so infuriated with his players that Williams pulled them for a seat on the bench and replaced them with five subs until his furor subsided.

Afterward, Williams explained his anger.

"I didn't care if the substitution worked. I was so mad at that group I just wanted to do something so I wasn't charged with assault," Williams said. "If we had lost by 5,000 it wouldn't have made any difference. If you're going to play for us, you're going to compete. ? Cool stuff. Well, I despise cool. I've never seen one freakin' person in my life that's cool that I liked."

At first sight

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said he knew the first time he saw J.J. Redick play that the Roanoker was destined for greatness. Coach K drove to Roanoke to catch a game and couldn't get the player out of his mind on his drive all the way back to

Durham.

"You can't ever project that he'll be as good as he has been, but I thought he'd be an All-American," Krzyzewski said of that first look. "He had great, great spirit. And he was a natural. He was more of a natural scorer. He liked pressure. He liked to be able to be the one who had to produce under pressure.

"Not many kids show that quality. Ever. Especially that early. I smiled a lot driving back after watching one of his games and thought, 'I've got a chance to coach that kid. My plays are going to work a hell of a lot better.'"

Krzyzewski said there is one thing that all the players who have their jerseys retired at Duke have in common - hard work.

"Bobby Hurley worked harder than any kid I've ever had," Coach K said. "There's something itching inside of those guys that they can't completely scratch all the time. They keep scratching and it keeps itching."

FSU's empty seats

There seems to be a hole in the Nole Zone behind press row for Florida State's home basketball games, where an average of only 1,366 students have shown up this season. The school puts aside 4,000 student tickets per home game, but only once have the students come close to picking up their full allotment.

That is leaving school officials thinking about reassessing their policy and maybe cutting back on the number of student tickets.

FSU has an enrollment of 39,652 but has been unable to find ways to get students to pick up just half their ticket allotment, which doesn't help the home court advantage.

Too late

Think Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser would like another chance to land point guard Tyrese Rice?

Rice, a Salisbury, N.C., native, who played his high school hoops in Virginia, signed last April with Boston College and is now a key element in the Eagles' ACC attack. Prosser could have had first dibs on Rice but was thinking Chris Paul would return to Wake for one more season. When Paul opted for the NBA, Wake was left without an experienced point guard and you have seen the results.

Rice, who set a Virginia high school record with 314 career 3-pointers while at Chesterfield's L.C. Bird, said Wake stalled on offering a scholarship, while BC was eager to get it done.

Well, when Rice made his first visit to Wake last Wednesday night, he had 14 points by halftime, then added a pair of 3-pointers to put the Deacs away. When Wake went to a zone defense early in the game, Rice shot the eyes out of it, going 6 for 8 from 3-point range.

Collins condolences

ACC basketball fans hearts go out to Virginia Tech junior Coleman Collins, whose father, Jackson, died Monday at age 56, after a long bout with cancer.

The Hokies don't play again until Saturday, when N.C. State visits Blacksburg and the 6-foot-9 Collins will be at the game, and then leave for his Georgia home immediately afterward. A memorial is planned Sunday.

"Coleman has been carrying a burden in a very public way," said Tech coach Seth Greenberg. "It's been very, very difficult to be dealing with what he's been dealing with for the past year. Obviously, he has some closure. He's been waiting for the phone to ring. He's a brilliant young man but he's still a 19-year-old who has lost his father."

Jackson Coleman, who played hoops for the University of Rochester, was a confessed basketball junkie who was extremely proud of his son playing in the ACC.

Free throws ?

? Lefty Driesell showed up Saturday for a special pregame ceremony to honor Gary Williams' achievement of passing Driesell for the most coaching wins in Maryland basketball history. The Lefthander also offered Williams some advice: "He said, 'Coach as long as you can,' which is pretty cool," Williams said. ? Speaking of the Terps, Ralph Friedgen has lost both his coordinators now that OC Charlie Taaffe resigned Sunday to pursue other opportunities. Defensive coordinator Gary Blackney retired after the season. ? Four Duke football players and one UNC player were charged for their involvement in a fight early Sunday morning in a Chapel Hill nightclub. ? Don't look now, but Coach Herb Sendek, the object of many N.C. State fans' disdain in recent years, is headed to his fifth 20-win season in seven years, and with any luck, could become the first State team since the 1983 championship 'Pack squad to win at least 25.

 

UVa gets home season underway versus ODU
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
February 15, 2006

Kevin Costner heard whispers telling him "if you build it, they will come."
Brian O'Connor has been hearing whispers of the sort since he arrived in Charlottesville prior to the 2004 baseball season.

The Virginia coach heard rumblings when his program was bidding for a regional bid after winning 42 regular season games in '04.

The Cavaliers' bid was ultimately successful, but only after it added temporary seats down on the first-base side of the field.

It could happen again, but rather than sit back and wait, O'Connor acted. And if you venture out to the Cavaliers' home opener today against Old Dominion at Davenport Field at 3 p.m., you will see the first step in the process.

The base of the fence down the left-field line is now 335 feet from the plate, some 17 feet closer than it was since the stadium was remodeled for the 2002 season.

"Bringing in the fences gives us the potential opportunity to add more seating out there late in the season and potentially in NCAA Tournament time," O'Connor said. "That was really the reasoning behind doing it and I think it is a nice improvement to our ballpark."

O'Connor said that temporary bleachers could add 500 to 1,000 seats when needed. The current capacity is 2,064.

Of course with a shorter porch in left, as baseball analysts would say, also comes the greater possibility for home runs. As a team, Virginia hit just 35 homers last season in 61 games. The Cavaliers hit 32 in '04.

A majority of those homers, O'Connor said, will come near the stadium's scoreboard, as the new-look fence shoots out to its previous distance of 377 feet in left-center.

"It will make the difference," O'Connor said. "It is obviously going to come into play in every ballgame and you will see more home runs over the course of the season here at Davenport Field."

Brandon Guyer, UVa's cleanup hitter and starting left fielder, said the hitters like the change, but can give little thought to the move in actual games.

"It does help the hitters, but you can't get caught up in that or then you will just start trying to hit home runs," Guyer said, "and I know when I try to hit home runs that I do the exact opposite - I don't hit them."


TODAY'S GAME: Virginia (2-0) will send LHP Pat McAnaney out to start the game on the mound. McAnaney, who was 7-0 last year as a freshman, while posting a 1.55 ERA, will be making his season debut. Old Dominion (3-0) is expected to counter with senior RHP Kevin Gunter, who struck out seven in ODU's season-opening win over Iona, 16-3.

 

Cavs' quiet contributor
Shiembob stays ready though minutes are few and far between
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 15, 2006
LONGWOOD AT VIRGINIA
TODAY: 7 p.m. RADIO: WRVA (1140), WVHL (92.9), 6:30

CHARLOTTESVILLE When Drew Shiembob looks back on his college basketball career, he may well deem the hometown appearance he made Dec. 28, 2005, as the high point.

On that night, in front of a Siegel Center crowd that included many of his friends and family members, Shiembob scored four points on 2-for-2 shooting to help Virginia pull away from Maryland-Baltimore County.

Three days later, at University Hall, the St. Christopher's graduate played a career-high 16 minutes and again scored four points, this time against Hartford.

These were not garbage-time minutes doled out by U.Va.'s new coach. Dave Leitao trusted Shiembob's instincts and court sense and didn't hesitate to use him in close games. Since then, however, Shiembob has faded back into anonymity on the Cavaliers' bench, as Leitao has tightened his rotation against ACC opponents.

Shiembob, a 6-4 forward, isn't complaining. Such is the life of the walk-on in most Division I programs.

When Shiembob tried out for the U.Va. team in October, he had no illusions about achieving stardom in the ACC. He wanted to play for a simple reason: He loves the game.

"I guess basketball's something I want to do as long as I can, at the highest level that I can," Shiembob said recently. "I didn't want to look back 10, 20 years down the road and, if I hadn't done it, wonder if I could have."

Every Division I men's basket- ball team in the state has at least one walk-on on its roster. At U.Va., Leitao has four "nonscholarship players," as he calls them. He doesn't like the term "walk-on."

"Coach Leitao treats us like he treats the scholarship players," Shiembob said.

Leitao was an assistant coach on the Connecticut team that won the NCAA title in 1999. The Huskies' top guards that season included walk-on E.J. Harrison, and Leitao has had a special appreciation for nonscholarship players ever since.

That U.Va. has so few scholarship players this season, of course, has heightened the importance of walk-ons in Leitao's program.

"I knew if there was a year to do it, this was the year," said Shiembob, a Windsor Farms resident who has played a total of 32 minutes in eight games. He may get more time tonight when U.Va. (12-9) meets visiting Longwood (7-18) in a game that's likely to be one-sided.

The Cavaliers began the season with 10 scholarship players, three fewer than the NCAA allows. Big men Donte Minter and Sam Warren have since left the team. Another scholarship player, reserve point guard T.J. Bannister, has missed most of the season with an injury, which has kept senior walk-on Billy Campbell in Leitao's rotation.

"I think we're right about where most teams are" in terms of walk-ons, Leitao said. "I think the unique thing about us is, we get participation out of them in games, and a lot of teams don't."

As a St. Christopher's senior, Shiembob was interested in playing in the Ivy League. Another option was Division III Washington and Lee. But once he decided to attend U.Va., from which his father, Mark, has two degrees, Shiembob knew he wanted to try out for Leitao's team.

He impressed U.Va.'s assistant coaches during an open tryout and was invited to join the team on a trial basis, along with junior guard Matt Deasey. About 10 days into practice, Shiembob recalled, Leitao walked over to them and "shook our hands and told us we were officially added to the roster."

The walk-ons' primary role is to push the Cavaliers' regulars in practice every day. Their coach says they've excelled in that job.

"If people want to say we play hard," Leitao said, "I can directly attribute that to Drew and the others. They make practices better every day. There's not a day I could complain."

 

Tough calls for boss of ACC officials
John Clougherty confirms that referees cost Virginia Tech a win against Bowling Green and dismisses charges of favoritism toward Duke.
BY DAVID TEEL
247-4636
February 15 2006

In 30 years as a college basketball official, John Clougherty worked hundreds of games in elite conferences such as the ACC and Big East. He earned assignments to 12 Final Fours and four national championship games and concluded his career in a regional semifinal of last season's NCAA tournament.

The third of those title games, in 1989, put Clougherty in the crosshairs. His much-debated foul call against Seton Hall's Gerald Greene with three seconds remaining in overtime sent Michigan's Rumeal Robinson to the free-throw line for the decisive points.

Clougherty's first season as supervisor of officials in the Atlantic Coast Conference and Colonial Athletic Association has been no less eventful, starting with his appointment in July to replace Fred Barakat, removed from the position after 24 years. The seven months since have included a mistake that cost Virginia Tech a victory, a rare public suspension, injuries to several referees and cries of favoritism toward ACC kingpin Duke.

During a telephone interview Monday afternoon with the Daily Press, Clougherty discussed the season to date. The questions were not asked in the order which they are presented here.

Q: Last week you announced the one-game suspension of a crew (Mike Eades, Ray Natili and Ed Corbett) for mishandling a technical foul in the Duke-Florida State game. My guess is officials are removed from an assignment or two more frequently than the public ever knows and perhaps more frequently than coaches ever know. Why the public reprimand of this crew?

A: Um, the stand that we're taking is we will not comment (further) on the suspensions.

Q: In your 30 years of officiating ...

A: Was I ever suspended? No. But I am aware of officials that were suspended and I'm also aware that there's been officials in Division I basketball that have been suspended and it's been public.

Q: You had the suspension last week. You had the accidental tip-in at the buzzer that shouldn't have counted in the Virginia Tech-Bowling Green game. Overall, evaluate ACC officiating in your first year.

A: I think it's been very good. I think we've had some very difficult games to referee, maybe more so than some other leagues. Every game we have (seems) to be decided by a basket or two. ... I'm thinking, are we ever going to have a game decided by 20 points? There's just no breathing room. ... So the referees are constantly in a fishbowl and every mistake they make seems to be magnified. ... I think they've done really well. We've had a game or two that maybe could have been refereed better.

I visit with the referees either by phone or one-on-one after every game and we always go over the mistakes we made. But I'm pleasantly pleased with the level of officiating the ACC has this year, and I would challenge anybody to say we're not getting our percentages right. And basically, that's what we're trying to do. No one's going to have a perfect game and a coach is going to pull out six or seven plays every game if he wants to.

Q: You get reports from every game from an observer and from the crew. And do you get a report from the coaches?

A: (Laughing) Maybe more often than I want. Immediately after the game the crew chief calls (an answering machine). And the observer calls the same number. So I'm getting two reports within minutes after the game is over, and they'll tell me areas that I might get questioned on, and the crew chief usually has a pretty good idea about what the coaches might come to me with. And I get a DVD or TiVo all the games. So I can, within 24 hours, see the game myself. The coaches, they know how to reach me at any time if they have an issue with the officiating. They don't have a form to fill out (after every game). They do at the end of the season. They've got too much going on to start rating the referees after the game.

Q: There has been very public discussion - magazines, newspapers, the Internet - about alleged favoritism toward Duke, and Coach K's working of officials and its affect on how a game is called. You worked Duke games. Is Mike Krzyzewski any different than other coaches? And what do you think when you read and hear that Duke gets calls, that Krzyzewski gets calls?

A: I'm not going to comment on any of our coaches ... and any of their sideline behavior. That wouldn't be appropriate for me to do. I will tell you that when there is a large discrepancy in fouls - it's not uncommon - it's easy for people to point the finger and say that team is being favored. ... There's always legitimate reasons that if you look hard enough you can find why one team shoots a large number of free throws. One night Carolina shot 20 more free throws than Clemson did, and the other night Wake Forest and Boston College, Boston College shot 50 free throws and Wake Forest maybe shot 20 (actually 14.). But I didn't see the uproar in those games from the media. You with me? ... This weekend we'll have games with a huge difference in free throws. I don't believe any of our referees favor any teams, and they have no agendas. They go in and they referee plays, and they try to get plays right. They have no other thoughts. If the end result is one team shooting a large number of free throws, it's because that's the way the game was played.

Q: Do more renowned players tend to get more calls?

A: I think it works the other way. Absolutely. I think Shaquille O'Neal gets fouled all the time. I think Michael Jordan, as great as he was, went to the line half the number of times he should have because you are making a supreme effort to stop that guy. ... If you're trying to make the case that a superstar is cut some slack because he is who he is, I'm not sure it's not the other way. I know you'll have a hard time convincing a great many people of that. I can assure you, Michael Jordan, he may have been able to get away with an occasional travel, but when he was going to the hoop, they were fouling him.

Q: Just to confirm what (Virginia Tech coach) Seth Greenberg told me last week: The inadvertent tip-in at the buzzer by Tech's A.D. Vassallo that went into the Bowling Green basket should not have counted. Is that correct?

A: That is correct, and Seth knows it. He and I have talked at length. The only thing I would say to that is that play happened and those three referees were taken by surprise. In 30 years of officiating, 30 years, I've never seen that play happen and I'm not sure any of those referees will ever see it again. But the fact is, there was an error in that ruling.

Q: Were those officials (Ted Valentine, Bernard Clinton and Jeff Nichols) disciplined?

A: If they were, it wasn't public.

Q: I was curious about your scheduling issues this season just given the guys you have lost to injury - Reggie Cofer in November, Bob Donato earlier this year and Ed Corbett recently. What kind of headaches have these injuries caused?

A: It's been really difficult. A guy like Reggie Cofer would work 30-plus games for me. Bobby Donato would be 20-plus - he commits to the Big East first ... and Eddie Corbett the same way. That's actually not the first injury for (Corbett). He had an earlier injury where I had to take him out of a few games. Then he came back and then he got injured again. And Mike Wood has a stress fracture in his foot that he's been able to get by on. But he had to come out of some games, not a large number, but some. I didn't really need that my first year because the four guys I just mentioned are experienced officials, they're hard to replace - not hard to replace number-wise, but the experience and quality of games that they all have, you just can't put anybody into those games. So it's been a challenge.

Q: How do you fill these gaps?

A: That's a very good question. Some of the officials that did not get that level of game, for example, and these are good referees, but they might be working a Southern (Conference) game or a Colonial game, I'll use the name of a guy like Tim Nestor, a Raymie Styons. I would move those fellas up into (the ACC). And of course then you have to fill that (Southern or CAA) spot. ... We have several guys like that. Roger Ayers is a good referee, Mike Eades is a very good referee. They just don't have the years of experience, but their play-calling is excellent.

Q: How many officials do you have on the ACC roster?

A: Sixty-six.

Q: And they would range from guys calling upwards of 30 games to a handful?

A: That's exactly right. My top guys would get 30 games-plus. ... With a 12-team league that's reasonable. Then we have new guys that we just brought in who might get five, six, seven games to get their feet wet. No conference games, of course.

Q: You know this better than I, but because of the closeness of the fans to the action, basketball officials become well known to fans and television viewers. It's pretty clear this year that some of the officials we're accustomed to seeing aren't doing as many games. Larry Rose, Duke Edsall, I'm sure there are others. How difficult was it for you to come in and make some changes? On the other hand, did you feel like you had to bring in new blood and put your stamp on it?

A: That's getting close to where I might take a pass. I'm certainly here to cooperate with you. You're accurate in saying that those two referees you mentioned you don't see them as much, OK? And you're accurate in saying that I have to give some other referees an opportunity to show what they can do. If I don't give some referees around the league who are refereeing very good and let the coaches see these guys can referee the tough games ... then they'll never have the confidence they need to have in them. So yes, you may see more of that.

I think after 30 years of officiating I have a pretty good idea of who is getting the play calls right, and those referees deserve a chance. And if they don't measure up, there's got to be some other guys who deserve a chance.

Q: You're less than a year into it. Is this any fun at all?

A: It will be a lot more fun when I get through my first year. I certainly don't want to sound like a whiner. I love this job. It came at a perfect time for me. ... I thought I could make a difference, and I still do, but it's not going to be immediate. This is going to take some time to get some positive results. I think it may take awhile to establish my own roster and be comfortable with the coaches and vice-versa. I would take the job again if it were offered to me tomorrow, but it's a challenge. You just live and die with every game.

Q: Referees are independent contractors. You were one. You booked your own schedule. Now that you're on the supervisory end, does it concern you that some of your guys are working too much?

A: Yeah. My notable referees all work multiple conferences, and they all work too much, and I worked too much. But I can't even hint about making them cut back. We can talk and I can say, 'You're looking tired. You're not as sharp as you should be.' But I can't tell them, 'If you're going to work four games a week we're not going to be able to use you.' You don't want to start doing that. I think you could get a labor lawyer breathing down your neck.

Bracket challenges ahead for Littlepage
David Teel
February 15 2006

Twenty-five days until Selection Sunday. Twenty-five days until the most anticipated and dissected bracket in sports, the NCAA basketball tournament, is unveiled. But who's counting?

Craig Littlepage, for one. As chairman of the tournament selection committee, the University of Virginia athletic director will face the annual public grilling on why the East Wyoming School of Calf Roping got hosed out of a bid to the 65-team clambake.

The ACC and Big East, certainly. Will their respective expansions translate into more of their teams in the field?

The CAA and Kentucky, especially. Can the Colonial Athletic Association earn an at-large bid for the first time in 20 years? Will Kentucky fail to qualify for the first time in 15?

Some numbers-crunching and schedule-gazing provide clues as to what Littlepage and his nine colleagues will reveal March 12.

Six of nine ACC teams made the field in 2004, five of 11 last year. Not exactly bang for your expansion buck.

This season, the ACC's first with 12 schools, may be no better. Bank on Duke, North Carolina State, North Carolina and Boston College, but everyone else has some serious work ahead.

Maryland is best-positioned among the also-rans, sitting 42nd in Monday's Rating Percentage Index posted at Collegerpi.com. But the Terps are 1-6 against top-50 opponents, an undeniable red flag for Littlepage's committee.

The Big East ballooned from 12 to 16 schools during the offseason, and many of the additions were basketball heavyweights. Of the nine Big East teams among the RPI's top 35, Cincinnati and Marquette are newcomers.

No conference has placed more than seven teams in the field, but no premier conference has ever been 16 strong. How the committee deciphers a league with such an unbalanced schedule - Big East teams play three conference rivals twice, 10 once and two not at all - will be interesting.

Without multiple NCAA teams since Richmond and Navy in 1986, the CAA weeps for the Big Easts and ACCs. But this season presents an unusual opportunity for the Richmond-based conference.

Four CAA teams rank among the RPI top 60, led by No. 27 George Mason. The Patriots boast no marquee victories, unless you're wowed by home conquests of No. 45 UNC Wilmington and No. 51 Old Dominion - Littlepage attended the latter, a 19-point rout. But they are 19-5 with no bad losses - the worst was at No. 113 Mississippi State.

Moreover, Mason's non-conference strength-of-schedule is rated 59th by the RPI. The selection committee places added emphasis on non-conference schedules because that is whom you choose to play.

The ideal CAA scenario is for Mason to win at No. 21 Wichita State on Saturday and lose in the conference tournament final. At 25-6, the Patriots and their glossy RPI would be impossible to bypass.

Wilmington, Old Dominion and No. 55 Hofstra have less compelling cases and must close well to merit at-large consideration. Any chance the CAA could land three in the field? Almost impossible to fathom.

Chances are better No. 44 Kentucky will miss the field for the first time since 1991, when the Wildcats were serving time in the NCAA lock-up. Kentucky (firetubbysmith.com is up and running) is 1-7 against top-50 opponents, and the remaining schedule includes road tests at South Carolina, Louisiana State and Tennessee, not to mention a home game against Florida.

The Wildcats' No. 40 non-conference schedule ranking will help their cause, but many tournament teams could see their seeds downgraded because of weak non-league schedules.

Culprits include No. 198 Georgetown, No. 215 N.C. State, No. 259 Boston College and No. 321 George Washington. Those rankings are among 330 Division I teams.

After awarding automatic bids to 31 conference champions, Littlepage's committee will select 34 of the remaining 299. Grilling commences immediately thereafter.
 

Virginia looks to emerge from middle of pack
Cavaliers take on Longwood tonight at U-Hall, need to win upcoming ACC games to improve tourney resume
Barney Breen-Portnoy, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Crunch time has arrived in the ACC men's basketball world. As the calendar moves closer to March, the mad scramble for NCAA Tournament bids should only intensify. The ACC will likely receive between four and six slots in the Tournament field. Currently, though, eight teams still have a legitimate shot at attaining one of those cherished berths.

Virginia (12-9, 6-5 ACC) is one of those squads whose hopes have not been extinguished. Coach Dave Leitao understands the small margin between success and failure in the ACC as well as the critical importance of the upcoming sprint to the finish.

"It's a matter of putting the final details on coming together as best you can -- both in chemistry and [in execution] -- and [doing] the necessary things on the court," Leitao said. In this league it usually "comes down to a couple of possessions one way or another. That, ultimately, is how good teams are defined -- how you play the last part of the season out and how you make those final plays in the late stages of games."

With an unblemished conference record, Duke is a lock to go to the Tournament, likely with one of the four No. 1 seeds. N.C. State and Boston College are also both reasonably assured of getting spots. ACC teams that are on the bubble include Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland, Miami and Florida State. Of these hopefuls, North Carolina is currently the best bet to receive an invitation to college basketball's version of the prom. Teams that do not get into the NCAA Tournament but finish with records of .500 or better are eligible to be selected for college basketball's homecoming equivalent, the NIT Tournament that culminates at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

"This year, in the conference, I think there have been more close games than I have ever seen before," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said during Monday's ACC teleconference. "You can look at everyone's record and say that they could have three or four more wins, or in our case, three more losses by one possession."

The winner of Saturday's match in Tallahassee between Virginia and Florida State (14-6, 5-5 ACC) will solidify its own credentials while delivering a wounding blow to the loser's résumé. The contest is especially important for the Cavaliers, as they likely still need at least one more solid road win to impress the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee that will determine the field.

At 7 p.m. tonight, however, the Cavaliers face a different sort of test when they tip off against unaffiliated Longwood (7-18) in what is Virginia's final non-conference game of the regular season. The Cavaliers began practice at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning, showing that they are preparing for the Lancers just as seriously as they would for a conference opponent.

"It doesn't matter who you play," freshman forward Laurynas Mikalauskas said. "You still have to go through the same preparations. I'm ready."

 

Putting Virginia basketball back on the map of conversation
Mickey Cloud

Maybe it was the season sweep over hated, despicable rival Virginia Tech. Maybe it was the snow. Maybe it was the fact that 11 games into the ACC schedule, the Virginia men's basketball team is keeping its head above water at 6-5.

But for one reason or another, I have had more random conversations and startling talks about Virginia basketball this past weekend than I have had in a long time. In a column back in October, I pleaded with coach Leitao for help. I wanted Virginia basketball to matter again. And while we haven't seen Hooville pop up again (mainly because the Athletics Department created SHOTS, the ticketing system that goes against one of my basic principles to never plan more than a day ahead) and while I haven't heard the constant buzz my parents claimed was around in the late '70s and early '80s, I think Leitao has made great strides in piquing interests around Grounds and in the Charlottesville community.

Just this past weekend, I had four random conversations about Wahoo basketball, which I can guarantee you are four times as many as I have ever had at this University since coming here three years ago. And what I liked about each conversation is that none of them were about the same sentiment; each person had something different to say about the state of Virginia basketball.

First, immediately following the exciting overtime victory against the dastardly Hokies, my parents called excitedly, trying to relive the 10-plus years in Charlottesville they spent following Ralph Sampson and company. My parents still love to compare my time at school with theirs, and they almost always bemoan the fact that I haven't experienced "U.Va. basketball." They have taken the recent demise of the Virginia basketball program personally, and consequently the team dropped down their list of sports priorities. Well, during Saturday night's call, my dad said he was "starting to come around on this Lay-toe guy," hinting that some day he might have to put Virginia basketball back in its esteemed place.

The second conversation came later Saturday night, as a buddy and I hailed a cab to the illustrious Down Under. Now, this was not more than a three-minute cab ride, and yet in that small frame of time, we had a pretty deep conversation with our cabbie about the state of Virginia basketball and the surrounding Charlottesville region. And by "deep conversation," I mean that our cabbie spoke at the speed of sound in what sounded like a bad New York accent (I don't know if that was for real or for the whole "cab effect") while my buddy and I threw in the obligatory "yeah" or "uh-huh" while he caught his breath.

Among the topics of discussion were "that crappy U-Hall," the lack of attendance at games, and how anything Virginia put out on the court this year would have been better than "that crappy team last year." Our cabbie, in his infinite wisdom, did make some valid points, though. By the end of the ride, I was lofting up questions just to hear this guy talk. He claimed not to be worried about the seating capacity of John Paul Jones Arena because he thinks Charlottesville can support a winning team down the road. He likes that coach Leitao has these players disciplined, and he ended by saying he might have to get himself some of those season tickets. We tipped him well and I left his van-cab happily amused to have made good conversation about Virginia basketball.

My third conversation came on Sunday, with my fraternity's chapter advisor and accountant. He took the complete opposite stance of my cabbie from the previous night, saying he's not at all convinced by what Leitao has done. He claimed swapping Gillen for Leitao was just switching "one mid-major coach for another." I found myself a little bit incredulous and defending coach Leitao with the kind of spark that I haven't seen out of myself since the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee gave Gonzaga a 12 seed in the 2001 tourney to play our fifth-seeded Cavaliers. It felt good to get a little heated about Virginia basketball, and while I didn't agree with his views, I appreciate the fact that some good dialogue is going on about Virginia basketball.

The fourth and final random conversation came from an e-mail from my brother Sunday night. He lives in L.A. and has never followed the Cavaliers. He congratulated me on the Wahoos' success and thanked the University for bringing Laurynas Mikalauskas into his life. The fiery Lithuanian had struck again, and I found myself getting a little proud and feeling optimistic as to what this Virginia basketball team can accomplish.

So, Coach Leitao, I will repeat my request: Please (continue to) make Virginia basketball matter.