UVa's dangerous combo
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 24, 2006

A few years back, in a sneaker commercial, the Philadelphia 76ers' Allen Iverson addressed a long-running debate: Was he a point guard or a shooting guard?
"I'm a basketball player," Iverson proclaimed.

Somewhere, Dave Leitao was nodding in agreement.

Since taking over as coach of Virginia, Leitao's preference for versatile, multi-dimensional players has been obvious - especially as it pertains to the backcourt.

Leitao loves guards who are interchangeable, which is exactly how to describe Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds this season.

The ability of Singletary and Reynolds to flip-flop positions with relative ease has been a main reason why Virginia - which plays at Clemson on Saturday - has shocked preseason prognosticators and is in the hunt for a spot in the NCAA Tournament.

"I probably feel as comfortable as any coach in America with having two guys who can both handle the ball and make plays, and make shots," said Leitao, referring to Singletary and Reynolds. "It makes a team that much more dangerous."

Looking purely at the statistics, Virginia has no clear-cut floor general. Singletary leads the Cavaliers in scoring (18.0 ppg) and assists (4.5 apg). Reynolds is second in both categories (16.3 and 3.4).

"It's been valuable to our team because [Reynolds] can go to the point and I can go to the off guard and vice versa," Singletary said. "We're going to need that down the road just because of foul trouble and things like that. It's real valuable that we can just switch up."

Coming into the season, the theory was if opposing teams could stop Reynolds and Singletary, they could stop Virginia. While that has held true to a certain extent, it hasn't been easy to accomplish - in part because of the duo's versatility.

Exhibit A occurred on Feb. 11 in a win over Virginia Tech. Reynolds, who most people deemed the "2" or "shooting guard" at the start of the season, had a career-high 12 assists. Singletary, long considered the point guard, had 23 points with no assists.

"It's hard [for opposing defenses]," Reynolds said, "because when I penetrate, a guy can't really help because [Singletary] can shoot the ball. It just puts pressure on the defense."

But the assimilation of Reynolds and Singletary into interchangeable parts hasn't come overnight. Early in the season, things were ugly.

In Virginia's loss at Arizona on Nov. 27, Singletary had a game-high 24 points. However, he had nine turnovers and no assists.

Singletary didn't play on Dec. 7 against Fordham because of a hip injury. That put more of the point-guard onus on Reynolds, who looked befuddled in the 62-60 loss.

Reynolds didn't seem sure when to get teammates involved, or when to look for his own shot. He wound up having one of his worst games (eight points, two assists and four turnovers in 25 minutes).

But since then, the 6-foot-2 Roanoke native has made steady improvement.

"I think he's made progress in a lot of different areas of his game - [ballhandling] being one of them," Leitao said. "I don't think he all of a sudden handles the ball better, but I think he's much more confident in himself, which makes him more confident in that role. He's taken care of areas that he knew he needed work on.

"The thing that makes J.R. unique is that he can put the ball on the floor and make decisions. It makes us that much more dangerous because now he can beat people off the dribble, with the pass, as well as beating them from the perimeter."

It's only natural that it took Reynolds a little longer to adjust to playing the point than it did for Singletary to become accustomed to shooting guard. After all, point guards bear more responsibility.

Now, Leitao has a new name for Reynolds.

"He's a 1.5 guard," Leitao said, "somewhere between a 1 and a 2."

On Tuesday night, Singletary and Reynolds combined for 44 points and eight assists in Virginia's 72-58 upset of No. 11 Boston College.

On one picture-perfect sequence, Reynolds up-faked an Eagle defender around the 3-point line, then dribbled in a few feet closer for an apparent pull-up jumper. But just as another defender was closing on him, Reynolds zinged a cross-court pass to Singletary, who drained a 3-pointer.

"They are as good as any backcourt in the league," said Boston College coach Al Skinner. "Miami's backcourt is pretty good. Duke's backcourt is pretty good, and they are equal to those."

Not pigeonholing guards isn't a new concept for Leitao. In fact, it's been a staple wherever he's been.

"At DePaul we had Sam Mejia, who came in and played his first year as a 1, then we moved him off the ball and he played at the 2. Then we had Drake Diener who played as a 1 and a 2.

"If you go back to my time at Connecticut when we won the championship, Ricky Moore and Khalid El-Amin were both interchangeable 1s and 2s. Way back in history, we had Chris Smith and Tate George, who were both essentially point guards, but played the 1 and the 2. Always having two guys who can do that is important."

No matter which position Reynolds or Singletary is at, Leitao wants them to think like point guards. If they do, Leitao said Virginia has a huge advantage.

"It's like mentally having two point guards out there," Leitao said. "Eventually, that's how I'd like the team to continue to look - to have two guys who can both put the ball on the floor, make decisions and be interchangeable in that way."

Leitao's philosophy has been evident in his recruiting. None of the players he has signed for next year are what you would call "pure point" or "pure shooting guards."

Leitao said his style could be an advantage as he continues to build the program.

"In recruiting, sometimes [other schools] try and label you," Leitao said. "If you have a point guard, they say you can't recruit another one."

Although it took some time, Singletary and Reynolds are now firm believers in the Leitao system.

"We just feed off each other," Reynolds said. "No matter who has the ball."

Fordham loss won’t be a killer
NCAA might be tempted if Cavs get to ‘17’
Doug Doughty

Let's say that Virginia puts itself in position to be considered for the NCAA men's basketball tournament and talk turns to a Dec. 7 loss to Fordham.

Would the NCAA selection committee know that the Cavaliers played that game without sophomore Sean Singletary, generally considered their best player?

"Absolutely," said UVa athletic director Craig Littlepage, chairman of the NCAA men's basketball committee, which does the selections. "There's a committee member responsible for the ACC and that person is charged with the task of knowing what unusual circumstances -- player suspensions, player injuries, any sort of aberration from the standpoint of personnel -- that may have had an adverse impact.

"That was a long time ago. There's no question, at least as things stand right now, this player is healthy. It becomes much more precarious when the injury occurs in the last game of the regular season or the first round of a conference tournament and there is a question of whether a key player will be available.

"That could impact their selection into the field, or, at the very least, it could impact their seeding and how they ended up getting bracketed. The committee definitely will know that [Singletary, or a player of his stature] was injured and will consider that."

Nobody would have thought that the Fordham loss or the Singletary injury (a hip pointer) would have been a factor at this point in the season, particularly when the Cavaliers were 6-4 after 10 games, including 0-1 in the ACC.

They were a preseason pick for 12th in the ACC but have won four conference games as an underdog, most recently a 72-58 triumph Tuesday against 11th-ranked Boston College. The Cavaliers (14-10 overall, 7-6) go into the next-to-last weekend of the regular season in a tie for fifth with Florida State.

UVa finishes the regular season with road games Saturday at Clemson and Wednesday at North Carolina, followed by a visit from Maryland on March 5 for the final game at University Hall.

Of course, if Virginia plays in the National Invitation Tournament, which appears the greatest likelihood at this point, the Cavaliers probably would receive a first-round home game and the Maryland game wouldn't be the last at U-Hall.

(And, by the way, don't rule out a women's NIT bid).

Most UVa fans would have taken an NIT bid for the men before the season, but an NCAA bid is not out of the realm of possibility.

If the Cavaliers lose Saturday at Clemson, they can forget it. But, for the sake of argument, what if the Cavaliers won at Clemson, lost at North Carolina, beat Maryland at home and won one game in the ACC Tournament?

That would leave them at 17-12 overall, with 10 wins over ACC opposition, including a 9-7 regular-season mark.

"I think that would be a pretty strong resume & for the University of Virginia, for Maryland, for Colorado, for whoever the school might be," Littlepage said. "That sort of profile in our level of league, I believe, would be a good resume."

Nobody expected the Cavaliers to make the NCAA Tournament in Dave Leitao's first season as coach and, it could be argued, the schedule was not set up with the NCAA mind.

Rather, road trips were scheduled to Arizona and Gonzaga with a mind toward those teams coming to Charlottesville in 2006-2007, when the Cavaliers want an attractive slate as they begin play in the new 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena.

However, Littlepage disputes the notion that the 2005-2006 Cavaliers were sacrificial lambs.

"I think the schedule was set up to prepare the team if, in fact, it was to go to the NCAA Tournament," Littlepage said. "I just got off the phone with NCAA staff and I've got a sheet in front of me with things that really matter.

"Your non-conference schedule matters. Where you play those games matters.

"Yes, the schedule was put together this year with an eye toward opening the arena next year. The schedule was not put together to guarantee that you win 20 games. The schedule was put together to meet the criteria that the NCAA committee has said, over time, are important."

Littlepage did not write off the 2005-2006 season.

"Correct," he said. "Even if you talk to Dave, in some of the conversations he and I had, and I can remember them almost verbatim, I told him, 'Yes, we finished a game below .500 last year, we finished at or near the bottom of the ACC last year, but I think we have good players.'"

He said that before the Cavaliers lost Gary Forbes to academics and Donte Minter to injury, but imagine what Virginia might have done with the current cast, as well as Forbes and Minter playing close to their potential.

"That's what I'm saying," Littlepage said. "I think that we have some good young talent, underrated in terms of how people look at us and how people will project us.

"Do we have Duke talent? I don't think that's what I'm trying to say, but we've got some guys who can play."
 

U.VA. NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Feb 24, 2006

ON THE BUBBLE: Virginia still has work to do, but its chances of making the NCAA men's basketball tournament aren't nearly as remote as they seemed before the season.

U.Va., which has no seniors among its eight scholarship players, was picked to finish last in the ACC. The media got it wrong again. First-year coach Dave Leitao's Cavaliers (7-6, 14-10) are tied for fifth with Florida State (7-6, 17-7).

To earn serious consideration from the NCAA selection committee, U.Va. almost certainly must finish 9-7 or better in conference play and then win at least one game in next month's ACC tourney at Greensboro, N.C.

The Wahoos have three regular-season games left. They visit Clemson tomorrow afternoon and North Carolina on Wednesday night. The final regular-season game to be played at University Hall will be March 5 against Maryland.

To make the NCAAs or NIT would be "real good for our team, and it'd be good for the town of Charlottesville, just to show the progression of the program and how Coach Leitao is doing such a good job," sophomore guard Sean Singletary said Tuesday night after U.Va. hammered No. 11 Boston College.

"We really want to play in the postseason. We really want to play in the [NCAAs]. I know we're young, but the guys' mouths are watering just to see like what we could really do when we get out there and play teams from other conferences.

"We've got to take care of things day by day, but I'm sure that's in the back of our minds."

SPECIAL GUESTS: Scores of former U.Va. basketball players, coaches and managers are expected to attend the Maryland game on March 5.

Also planning to be on hand are Paul Tudor Jones and his father, John Paul Jones. The younger Tudor, a 1976 graduate of U.Va., has pledged more than $42 million - by far the most of any donor - to help pay for his alma mater's new arena, which is named after his father.

The 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena will open this summer.

John Paul Jones, who lives in Memphis, Tenn., is a 1948 graduate of U.Va.'s law school. He hasn't been back to the arena site since the groundbreaking there in May 2003.

COMING ATTRACTION: Leitao was in Maine on Wednesday night to scout the game between New England prep powers Brewster Academy and Bridgton Academy.

Will Harris, a 6-6, 230-pound forward who signed with U.Va. in November, scored 36 points to lead Brewster to a 103-90 victory.

"He's finally getting back to being 100 percent after being hobbled with a knee/Achilles injury for the past month," Brewster coach Jason Smith said yesterday.

Harris, whose game is similar to that of former U.Va. standout Devin Smith, wasn't the only player Leitao watched closely. The U.Va. coaches aren't confident that 2006-07 recruit Solomon Tat, a 6-5 wing, will qualify academically, and so they're evaluating other perimeter players, including Keaton Grant of Bridgton.

"Tough, physical guard who plays hard," Smith said of Grant, a 6-4 guard from Florida who scored 18 points Wednesday night.

At the top of Virginia's wish list for 2008-09 is Hanover High sophomore Ed Davis.

ON THE DIAMOND: Virginia's baseball team is in South Carolina for the Charleston Challenge. The Cavaliers (6-1) play George Mason today, Gardner-Webb tomorrow and College of Charleston on Sunday.

Virginia went 3-0 at a season-opening tournament in Conway, S.C., two weeks ago.

U.Va.'s lineup includes several freshmen and transfers, and "I wanted them to see what you have to do to win [an NCAA] regional," third-year coach Brian O'Connor said yesterday. "Just get used to the feeling of playing three different teams and trying to win in a tournament setting, and also doing it on the road."

Freshman third baseman Jeremy Farrell leads Virginia with a .462 batting average, and junior outfielder Brandon Marsh, a junior-college transfer, is second at .455.

IN THE CREASE: Ankle problems hindered men's lacrosse player Ben Rubeor in 2005, but he still finished as Virginia's third-leading scorer.

The sophomore attackman from Towson, Md., rolled an ankle Monday in the fourth quarter against Denver but "did not appear to be seriously injured after the game," Cavaliers coach Dom Starsia said. "He told me he was more scared than hurt."

Rubeor leads U.Va. (2-0) with 11 points this season, on seven goals and four assists.

"He's going to have a great season," Starsia said. "We just have to keep him in one piece."

Two members of Virginia's heralded freshman class also are off to fast starts. Attackman Danny Glading has two goals and six assists. Attackman Garrett Billings, a Canadian who doesn't start, has four goals and one assist.

U.Va. entertains Stony Brook, which hasn't played this season, at 1 p.m. tomorrow at Klockner Stadium. - Jeff White

More than a football player
A surefire first-round pick, D'Brickashaw Ferguson's interests go beyond his chosen sport.
BY MICHAEL C. WRIGHT
247-4759
February 24, 2006
INDIANAPOLIS -- It doesn't get much more football than the NFL combine. Yet when a certain 6-foot-6, 312-pound mass of man steps to the podium, first downs and touchdowns are the last things you think about.

It could be the astute nature of his remarks, the calming resonance of his voice. Maybe it's his background - as a saxophonist and a black belt in karate - his interest in world religion, the very nature of his name that takes you away from football and into the mind of former University of Virginia tackle D'Brickashaw Ferguson.

You walk away thinking: "This guy can't be a football player."

But he is one. A pretty good one too, if you ask the NFL teams poking and prodding Ferguson at the Indiana Convention Center. They ponder the possibility of having such a player who is billed as the best tackle prospect and possible top-five pick entering the 2006 draft.

"He's a no-brainer, a can't-miss guy," one NFC player personnel director says. "He's everything you want to have at a tackle."

Ferguson proved that at the Senior Bowl by virtually stonewalling Boston College's Mathias Kiwanuka (considered one of the best defensive ends in the draft). The Senior Bowl demonstration showed that Ferguson's long arms are perfect equipment for manhandling smaller speed rushers, which are becoming trendy in the NFL.

Ferguson is lighter than the 320 to 330 pounds that most NFL teams prefer in an offensive tackle, but he checked in Thursday at 312 pounds after weighing 298 at the Senior Bowl.

"I just try to do the things I feel cause me success," Ferguson says. "I work hard and do the things that come naturally."

Ferguson enrolled at UVa. Weighing 260 pounds, but coach Al Groh tossed him into the starting lineup as a freshman.

Astute and analytical, Ferguson figured that 260 pounds wasn't an ideal weight for a college offensive tackle.

"Oooohh," he groans. "Being a 260-pound tackle, you're just not given the opportunity to really exert yourself on other defenders as you may at 290 pounds. I always felt that I had an added advantage at the added weight and size.

"I don't think it negatively affected my mobility."

NFL scouts don't think so, either. They rave about Ferguson's agility, footwork and hand technique, which all seem to be perfect tools for a man in charge of protecting a quarterback's blind side.

"He's going to be a very good left tackle in this league," Cleveland Browns general manager Phil Savage says. "He might be a dominating pass protector, but he has some room to improve in the run-blocking area."

Which is where Ferguson's analytical mind comes into play once again. Standing at the podium Thursday, Ferguson winces slightly when contemplating his strengths and weaknesses. A first-round draft pick can't be weak in any area.

The millions of dollars a team invests in a first-rounder is just too much for Ferguson to be a flop.

"When I analyze my game, I see flaws in many different areas," he says. "I constantly want to improve whether it be in passing or run blocking, whether it be against the bull rush or against inside moves."

Named after Father Ralph de Bricassart, a character on the 1980s miniseries The Thorn Birds, Ferguson, consequently is deeply interested in world religion. In the miniseries, Father Ralph de Bricassart is torn between his love for the character Meggie and his devotion to God.

Ferguson doesn't seem as conflicted. Just not as interested in football as you'd expect a possible top-five pick to be. Ferguson graduated from UVa. in 31/2 years and says world religion is his "passion."

But then again ...

"I'm a beast (on the football field)," Ferguson says. "I see myself as a bodyguard. I'm personally responsible for the health and welfare of my quarterback. I'll do anything in my means to protect him."

NFL scouts won't get to see Ferguson's competitive side this week, because he isn't working out at the combine. After an impressive Senior Bowl showing, he figures to wait until UVa.'s pro day March 21 to give himself "enough time to put forth (his) best effort."

Soon enough, he'll be doing that every Sunday. Ferguson can't wait.

"The anticipation is definitely high; I can't wait for the opportunity," he says. "When a team does call my name, I'll be very happy."

John Paul Jones Arena construction on schedule
Virginia's new basketball home is scheduled to be completed July 1.
BY NORM WOOD
247-4642
February 22, 2006
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Although the scent of sawdust is still thick in the air, and scrap metal adorns every concrete floor, the John Paul Jones Arena at the University of Virginia is almost ready for show time.

About 20 media representatives donned hard hats Tuesday afternoon to get a look inside the work in-progress during a tour led by Jon Oliver, U.Va.'s executive associate athletic director; Bob Moje, the architect of the arena; and Richard Laurance, the project director. Despite the barren interior of the $129.8 million construction project, Laurance has no concerns about having it ready by the target date of July 1.

"We are on budget and on time," said Laurance, the project director at the arena.

Oliver said more than $100 million for the construction costs have already been funded. He added that funding the remaining costs will be dependent upon how soon donations are collected. In addition to the construction costs, there will be $7.5 million worth of audio-visual equipment in the arena, and a $250,000 weight room.

Since the May 2003 groundbreaking for the arena, a total of 33 construction companies have been working on the arena, with an average of 240 construction workers per day on site. The exterior of the building is in the final stages, and most of the interior walls and frameworks for amenities have been constructed.

When it opens next basketball season, the arena will seat 15,000 fans, a significant increase from the 8,392 fans that can be seated inside University Hall. Oliver said he anticipated the arena will serve an average of 500,000 people for 90 to 95 events per year.

Two of the most distinctive features of the new arena will be that 12,000 of the seats will be close or closer to the floor than they were at University Hall, and 35 rows of seats will be retractable to provide a more intimate feel for smaller events.

The seating area in the new arena will be separated into two bowls, a lower bowl consisting of 7,920 seats and an upper bowl of 7,000 seats. For the fans with deeper pockets, there will be 112 courtside seats and 20 luxury suites. There will also be seating for 1,500 students at one end of the court.

While the seating arrangement will be state-of-the-art, there will be plenty of other new perks and addition in John Paul Jones Arena that weren't present in University Hall.

There will be 11/2 practice courts available at all times for both the men's and women's basketball teams. Coaches for both teams will also have new offices. Players will have new locker rooms, training facilities, a dining hall and a new academic center that will serve all athletes except football players.
 

Holland has formed roots as ECU's AD
Former U.Va. coach finds happiness through his work rebuilding Pirates' program
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 24, 2006

GREENVILLE, N.C. At B's Barbecue and Grill, where the lunchtime line stretches out the door, the tall, distinguished man doesn't escape the notice of his fellow patrons.

"Hey, Coach," a woman says.

Terry Holland smiles. Many people no doubt will forever associate him with Charlottesville, Va., and the University of Virginia, but this is his home now, and by all appearances the Clinton native is happy here.

"It's been a lot more work than I anticipated, with obviously a lot more tough decisions that we've had to make," said Holland, 63, who's in his second year as athletic director at East Carolina University.

"But I must say that I've enjoyed it. We feel like we're making progress, measurable progress, and as you know in this business, sometimes it's hard to tell if you're making progress or not."

Before he moved into administration, Holland built a reputation as a superb basketball coach. In Holland's 16 seasons on the U.Va. bench, his teams went 326-173 and advanced nine times to the NCAA tournament and four to the NIT. Under Holland, the Cavaliers won their only ACC title in 1976 and reached the Final Four in '81 and '84.

After stepping down as Virginia's coach in 1990, Holland became athletic director at Davidson, his alma mater. He returned to U.Va. in 1995 as AD. He gave up that position in 2001 to become a special assistant to U.Va. President John Casteen, working mainly to raise money for the John Paul Jones Arena.

In the summer of 2004, Holland left Casteen's staff. Friends and colleagues didn't expect Holland to stay on the sidelines for long.

"He is too much of a talent and has too many good ideas and has too much credibility in the college athletics community to not have a platform on which to make a contribution of some type," said Craig Littlepage, a Holland protégé who succeeded his mentor as athletic director at U.Va.

"The question was, what was that platform going to be?"

East Carolina needed an athletic director. Holland balked. He suggested to ECU officials that he sign on as interim AD, but they wanted a long-term commitment. Holland ultimately agreed to a five-year contract and began work in Greenville on Oct. 1, 2004.

"The hardest thing was just separation from Charlottesville," he said.

Holland's tenure in Greenville has been eventful. He eliminated ECU's long-suffering men's soccer program after the 2005 season, and he's made coaching changes in football, men's basketball and baseball.

In November 2004, football coach John Thompson resigned under pressure after compiling a 3-20 record. Holland replaced him with Skip Holtz, who guided ECU to a 5-6 mark in 2005.

After the 2004-05 season, East Carolina fired basketball coach Bill Herrion, whose brother Tommy knows Holland well. Tommy Herrion was a U.Va. assistant before taking over as the College of Charleston's coach in April 2002. To succeed Bill Herrion, Holland chose one of his former U.Va. players, Ricky Stokes, who was working at South Carolina under yet another Holland protégé, Dave Odom.

The Pirates struggled in Conference USA under Herrion, and that hasn't changed since the departure of Cincinnati, Louisville, DePaul and Marquette to the Big East. ECU doesn't have a rich basketball tradition, and its geographical isolation in Conference USA, whose members include Houston, Rice and Tulsa, hurts recruiting.

East Carolina would prefer to be in an East Coast-based league. But until an invitation arrives from another conference - and nothing appears imminent - Holland will try to schedule as many football and basketball games as possible with regional opponents. The Pirates' football foes in coming seasons will include North Carolina, Navy, West Virginia and U.Va. Virginia visits Greenville for an Oct. 7 clash this fall.

Holland and his wife, Ann, still own a lot in Charlottesville and could return to Virginia one day. For now, though, Holland is focused on the challenges before him at ECU.

"I don't have any real desire to retire," he said. "As much as I love the beach, and going fishing and stuff, there's only so much of that you can take."
 

Virginia will play two today
From Staff Reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
February 24, 2006

Coach Brian Boland had the Virginia men's tennis players take "early morning hits" leading into today's two dual matches at the Boar's Head Sports Club.
Boland hopes the morning workouts, which emphasized individual instruction, payoff when the Cavaliers (8-5) host Boston College (3-3) at noon and Old Dominion (9-5) for a 6 p.m. competition. The Cavaliers, the two-time reigning ACC champion, play their ACC opener against the Eagles.

UVa, which has dropped to No. 16 in the national rankings, has lost three of its last four duals

"It is a fair statement to say we are in a little bit of a slump," Boland said. "But I think how well we deal with it will tell us how good of a team we have.

"I think coming off a very strong season [a 27-3 record in 2005] that this is a positive experience for us to deal with some adversity early in the season."

The UVa players were told "to go the extra mile" after losing two of three duals last weekend during the National Team Indoors Tournament in Seattle. Since Boland hoped to see the Cavaliers in Monday's title match, the team spent an extra day in the Pacific Northwest before catching a red-eye flight back to the East Coast.

Boland said his team produced "a strong response" during Sunday's 4-0 victory over Colorado after UVa lost to Washington 4-1 and Arkansas 4-2.

"I really believe we will be ready to play [today]," Boland said.

Tonight's dual match is a homecoming for Old Dominion junior Dominic Manilla, a former standout for Western Albemarle High who lives in Greenwood. Manilla is a former three-time Jefferson District boys' tennis player of the year and MVP for WAHS.

Virginia, which was ranked No. 1 in the preseason, joins five other ACC men's teams in this week's Top 25. Duke leads the league at No. 5. Wake Forest is No. 15, North Carolina No. 17, Miami No. 18 and Clemson is ranked No. 22.

TWO CAVALIERS SWIM TO ACC TITLES: in College Park, Md., Virginia senior Fran Crippen and sophomore Pat Mellors each won an individual event Thursday night, but the Cavaliers dropped to second place after the second day of the 2006 ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships.

Florida State, the team favorite, lifted its point total to 237 and leads UVa by 20 points. North Carolina holds third place (164.5) and Georgia Tech is fourth (158.5).

Crippen ? for the fourth-consecutive year - placed first in the 500-yard freestyle with a time of 4:18.99. UVa junior John Millen finished second for the second-straight year and junior Stefan Hirniak got sixth place.

Mellors repeated as the 200 individual medley champion and UVa senior Ryan Berg came in second at the University of Maryland Aquatic Center. Vanja Rogulj, the 2005 ACC Men's Swimmer of the Year, helped the Cavalier team with a fourth-place finish.

Crippen, Mellors and Millen are all automatic qualifiers for the NCAA Championships, which are March 23-25 in Atlanta.

Mellors, with a time of 1:46.62, beat 53 other entries in the 200 IM.

North Carolina State senior Cullen Jones showed his speed by winning the 50 freestyle, and the Cavaliers did not have anyone in the top 15 for that event.

Coach Mark Bernardino's hopes to see his Virginia program win its eighth-consecutive ACC men's title were hurt by an eighth-place finish in the 200 freestyle relay.

Florida State won the 200 free relay and the Seminoles also gained credit for winning the one-meter diving event, which was held last weekend. Virginia senior Andrew Barber placed seventh in one-meter diving.

Entering today's events, North Carolina State is fifth in the team scores (145). Clemson (141.5) is sixth and Virginia Tech (126) is seventh among the 10 schools competing.

The ACC meet ends Saturday night.

CAVALIERS WILL PLAY SIX FOES: in Chattanooga, the Virginia softball team (2-0) visits southeast Tennessee for three days to compete in The Panera Bread Challenge. In the opener today at 10 a.m., the Cavaliers play Miami of Ohio. Early in the afternoon, UVa faces another Ohio college, Bowling Green.

On Saturday, Virginia continues competition against Alabama-Birmingham and host Chattanooga. The Cavaliers wake up early Sunday for a 9 a.m. game against East Tennessee State and finish their tournament schedule against Maine.

TWO UVA WOMEN LISTED ON AWARD LIST: Two senior standouts for the Virginia women's lacrosse team, Tyler Leachman and Nikki Lieb, have been named to the 2006 preseason watch list by the Tewaaraton Trophy Women's Selection Committee.

The Tewaaraton Trophy honors the top female and male varsity collegiate lacrosse player in the United States.

Leachman, a 2005 first-team All-American, scored a career-high 65 goals last season, which is third best in school history for a single season. Her 142 career goals are fifth highest on the UVa career list.

Lieb, a two-time consensus first-team All-American, has helped boost the Cavaliers to three consecutive NCAA Tournament finals, and one national crown. She excels at winning draw controls and grabbing ground balls.

The Cavaliers (1-0) play their home opener Sunday, hosting Temple at 1 p.m.