UVa focusing on Clemson, not RPI
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 25, 2006

After a long day of work, there is one place you won't find Virginia basketball coach Dave Leitao: hunched over a laptop checking out the Cavaliers' most up-to-date RPI - and analyzing his team's chances of making the NCAA Tournament.
"I don't know where you have to have graduated from to call yourself a bracketologist," Leitao joked. "I don't know if those guys put diplomas on the wall or anything, [but] it's all subjective conversation, and that doesn't do anything for a team. It becomes more distracting.

"It's not something that I jump on the Internet and read about or even want to talk about."

Leitao has yet to broach the subject of March Madness with his players.

"It's not something I will ever bring into our conversation in the gym until it's absolutely necessary," Leitao said. "I don't think it really has a place. ? What has helped make us moderately successful until this point has been our focus."

That focus will need to be sharp this afternoon when Virginia (14-10, 7-6 ACC) plays at Clemson.

In some respects, it's like a play-in game to the NCAA Tournament. If the Cavaliers were to beat the Tigers and then win their final two games, they would be a virtual lock to make the field of 64.

Clemson, which Virginia defeated earlier this season, has lost six of its last seven games, and point guard Vernon Hamilton is still not at 100 percent after injuring his left elbow and thumb earlier this month.

However, Virginia has won just one ACC road game this season, and Leitao is approaching the game as if the Tigers still had Elden Campbell and Dale Davis down low.

Leitao said a lot has changed since the last meeting between the teams on Jan. 7.

"They're playing different people and are playing a little bit different style offensively," Leitao said. "Whether they've won 10 in a row or lost 10 in a row, we have to look at it as a challenge because the road hasn't treated us very well.

"It doesn't really matter right now what a team is going through, plus or minus. We have to look at what we have to do to win. In this case, we have to really take care of the basketball against a team that has given us problems before because of pressure defense. We have to be prepared for that."

Getting off to a good start has been a key factor to Virginia's success this season - something Cavaliers point guard Sean Singletary is well aware of.

"We have to come off screens hard and just get open shots," Singletary said. "If we can jump on them early, we can put them away."

In Virginia's upset of Boston College on Tuesday, the Cavaliers received solid efforts from their role players - Tunji Soroye, Lauris Mikalauskas and Mamadi Diane. Soroye was a defensive presence. Mikalauskas did a good job on the boards. Diane hit timely 3-pointers.

Virginia will need similar performances if it hopes to earn its first road ACC victory in more than a month - and remain on the minds of bracketologists across America.

DUNKS: Currently, Virginia has an RPI of 59, according to collegerpi.com. ? Adrian Joseph led Virginia with 19 points in the 64-58 victory over Clemson in January. Singletary added 17 points and six assists. "For the most part, we were successful in running our offense and getting quality shots," Leitao said. "Our zone was pretty effective in limiting them to contested shots, and only one shot." ? Virginia's remaining schedule: at North Carolina (15 RPI) on Wednesday; home against Maryland (48 RPI) on Sunday; ACC Tournament in Greensboro on March 9-12.

 

ACC slate has been bumpy road for Cavs
Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 25, 2006

CLEMSON, S.C. - Life on the road in the ACC is filled with land mines, and no one knows that any better than Virginia's Cavaliers.
Coach Dave Leitao's young basketball team will attempt to do something this afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum that Virginia hasn't accomplished since the 2001-2002 season: win two ACC road games. That's when the Cavs beat North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

Since then, UVa has been pitiful outside its city limits when it comes to playing conference games. From those two wins in early 2002 to today, the Cavaliers have been the ACC's version of road kill with a pathetic 4-26 record.

The ineptitude includes back-to-back-to-back 1-7 records by former coach Pete Gillen's teams, which led in part to his undoing. Perhaps impacted by those frightening road experiences, this current batch of Wahoos hasn't done much better.

They're 1-5 on the road this season, 6-1 at home in cozy University Hall.

Quieting the ghosts

While it's somewhat unfair to lump this Virginia team's road record to those of the past, the sheer lack of success in such scenarios has probably left a scar. Only winning will overcome the stigma no matter how young and inexperienced Leitao's troops may be.

"That's the million dollar question," the UVa coach said on Thursday as his team prepared to visit Clemson (only 3-3 at home) in hopes of playing their way onto the NCAA bubble. "If there was an apparent answer (to the road woes), the guys on our staff would have zeroed in on it. Part of it is being inexperienced and young, because the first thing to go when you're not doing well is the mindset."

Statistical evidence backs up the coach's statement. Virginia averages 73.9 points per game at home and 60.3 on the road. The Cavaliers shoot at a 45.2 percent clip at U-Hall and 36.4 away from the friendly confines.

Home sweet home

Leitao and some of his players figure the difference is focus and a certain comfort zone.

"U-Hall is the venue where we practice every day," the coach said. "We're familiar with all the nooks and crannies. And the crowds have been good to us."

Point guard Sean Singletary, who is bidding to become UVa's first All-ACC first-team player since Bryant Stith in 1992, agreed with his coach.

"We're real confident at home," Singletary said. "Everybody's knocking down shots and things like that, getting to loose balls. But that's typical of a young team because being young, playing at home, you're in your comfort zone. Going away, you're uncomfortable, the crowd is against you and you've just got to be disciplined and focus in."

Singletary himself hasn't performed at the same level in the whole home/away scenario. At home, the sophomore scores 24.3 points per game and shoots 46 percent. When the Cavs hit the conference road, he's averaging 14.2 points and shooting 30 percent.

"At this time of year, it's more than 50 percent mental ... much more mental than anything else," Leitao said. "Mature teams handle themselves better through adversity."

Leitao isn't just sitting around hoping the situation improves, but rather attacks the problem. He believes the Cavaliers have made some strides in maturity and is waiting for that to translate on the road - and the coach is hoping that's sooner than later.

After the Wahoos play at Clemson this afternoon, they travel to the Dean Dome next Wednesday, the last regular season road game prior to the ACC Tournament in Greensboro.

Leitao is counting on the maturation process to take care of some of the problem. He realizes confidence and focus is also part of the equation.

At DePaul, where his first team there was 13-3 (overall) at home and 3-9 on the road, Leitao was confronted with similar issues. He talked about getting clobbered 71-43 at Louisville's Freedom Hall, then coming back six weeks later and beating the Cardinals 79-76 in overtime at Chicago's Rosemont Arena.

"We found ourselves and that gave us a lot of confidence," he said. "As much as we talk about it in the gym, that's the best teacher of all is to go out and execute it. That [win over Louisville] really helped our confidence and got us over the hump."

That's what Leitao is hoping that Virginia's 72-58 home win over 11th-ranked Boston College might have done for his Cavaliers heading into today's game.

Virginia isn't exactly alone in the road woes category.

"Half the teams in our league either have none, one, or two road wins [in league play]," Leitao pointed out. "It's something that plagues a lot of people in every sport at every level."

He's right. Seven ACC teams have two or fewer league road wins. If you take Duke, N.C. State, North Carolina and BC (the top four teams in the conference) out of the picture, the other eight teams have a combined ACC road record of 10 wins, 42 losses. Heck, even the Wolfpack and BC are each 4-3 on the road.

While it will be important for Singletary and backcourt mate J.R. Reynolds to keep their poise in Littlejohn this afternoon, Leitao thinks it wouldn't hurt to see the rest of the cast do a little damage.

"It would be great to have a double-figures game from Lauris [Mikalauskas] on the road, for Tunji [Soroye] to get six to eight rebounds, for Mo [Mamadi Diane] to make two or three 3-pointers and for Jason Cain to have a double-double," Leitao said.

Should those sort of things happen today while Singletary and Reynolds hold it together, Virginia will end that terrible three-year streak of no more than one ACC road win.

While that won't exactly get the Cavaliers a ticket to the dance, it will at least give them a chance to get in line.

 

Starsia to face pupil
By Jim Furlong / Daily Progress staff writer
February 25, 2006

Dom Starsia enjoys sentimental reunions.
Much more, however, the veteran coach for the Virginia men's lacrosse program wants to lead the Cavaliers to success.

Starsia will have the opportunity to do both today, but if he does, a side effect will be giving an old friend a disappointing setback.

Third-ranked UVa plays host to Stony Brook (N.Y.) at 1 p.m. at Klockner Stadium.

For the 16th time in his coaching career, Starsia will compete against one of his former players or assistant coaches. Lars Tiffany, the Seawolves head coach, played for Starsia in the late 1980s at Brown University.

Starsia is actually coaching against a former player in back-to-back games. Jamie Munro, who also played for Starsia at Brown in the late 1980s, is the coach at Denver, which fell to Virginia, 13-7, on Monday in the Cavaliers' home opener.

After Monday's game, Starsia and his family enjoyed mingling with Munro and Tiffany, who drove 800 miles roundtrip to scout the Cavaliers (2-0) in preparation for Stony Brook's season opener.

Starsia is well aware who is today's opposing coach, but before and during a game he's not thinking about their relationship.

"The absolute truth - it doesn't [impact] me very much before the game," said the 14-year Virginia coach. "I am not going to talk before the game. Usually, I am too nervous with what I am doing.

"After the game, I love to talk. It is a real treat."

Tiffany, after today's game, will not only embrace his old coach, but Starsia's wife, Krissy, and their three daughters - Molly, Maggie and Emma - and their son, Joey, may also attend a post-game reunion.

"I love to see my wife and girls with [former players]," Starsia said. "It is a most special moment. Those things don't come up very often."

Tiffany said Starsia's influence, when both men were together at the Ivy League college in Rhode Island, helped him choose his future profession.

"I became a college lacrosse coach due to the relationship and respect I had for Dom while playing for him at Brown University," Tiffany said. "Coaching is a wonderful profession to be in, but Dom was much, much more than our on-field general. Dom made men of us, and treated us as men.

"As an idealistic 20-something-year-old, I knew the world did not need another lacrosse coach. But the impact Dom made at Brown created an image in my eyes of a coach as a noble, respected profession. To play for him was an honor. To coach against him is humbling."

While Starsia takes delight traveling down memory lane, his primary focus today is helping the 2006 Cavaliers emerge as a contender for ACC and NCAA titles.

As he evaluates his team, he is seeing how much six freshmen can contribute as he distributes playing time.

"There's no question we have some good, young offensive players," Starsia said. "Now we want to mesh and get the right combinations together."

Attackers Danny Glading and Garrett Billings have combined for six goals and seven assists in their first two college games. Max Pomper and Steve Giannone are operating with the second and third midfield units. Mike Timms, a 222-pound freshman, and Matt Kelly are defenders eager to protect goalkeeper Kip Turner.

"We have some young kids out there who are learning the pace of the college game," said Virginia co-captain J.J. Morrissey. "We are progressing each game."

Former Celtics star finishing strong for Cavaliers
J.R. Reynolds, who scored 28 points in UVa's win over B.C., is averaging 20 points in the Cavaliers' last six games.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Not too long ago, Virginia men's basketball coach Dave Leitao identified J.R. Reynolds as his team's defensive "stopper," and Reynolds also might be the Cavaliers' best outside shooter.

What he hadn't been known as, at least as a collegian, was a finisher.

That's why one statistic says it all about Reynolds' development this year as a junior: 122 free throws.

Basketball players don't get to the free-throw line if they aren't aggressive.

Reynolds was close to an 80-percent free-throw shooter in his first two seasons at Virginia, but he didn't shoot enough free throws to make opponents pay. At his current pace, he will attempt more free throws this year than in his first two seasons combined (139).

What's more, when he drives to the basket, he frequently scores before he gets fouled.

"Early in the season, he was sometimes looking at ghosts and missing layups," Leitao said, "but, since the Fordham game [Dec. 7], he hasn't had a really bad performance. He continues to grow and he grows quietly because he's not a loud player."

Reynolds scored a season-high 28 points Tuesday night in a 72-58 upset of 11th-ranked Boston College and has scored in double figures in 18 consecutive games --the fourth-longest streak in the ACC behind fellow Roanoker J.J. Redick from Duke, who has a 29-game streak; Wake Forest's Eric Williams (23) and North Carolina freshman Tyler Hansbrough (19).

"Those jump shots today were of the loud variety," Leitao said after the victory over BC, "but that's not what he does. He doesn't dunk on people. Well, he did tonight, but games like he's been having don't define him as just a shooter. He takes that personally. He doesn't want to sit behind the arc and be known just as a guy who makes 3s.

"He can take you off the dribble now and finish in traffic and make decisions. That's what an all-around guard has to do."

Two weeks ago, Reynolds had a career-high 12 assists in UVa's 81-77 overtime victory over Virginia Tech. Only one ACC player, Duke freshman Greg Paulus, has had more than 12 assists in a game this year.

Reynolds sits 11th in the ACC in scoring, with 16.3 points per game, up from 10.7 last year. He has averaged exactly 20 points over the last six games.

"I think a lot of it is just maturity," Reynolds said of his new-found eagerness to put the ball on the floor. "The longer you're around, the easier it is to recognize certain situations."

Roanoke attorney Dick Wall, who coached Reynolds for four seasons at Roanoke Catholic, has seen this before.

"He was a finisher from the beginning," Wall said. "I remember, after our first state championship, I got a call from [late Benedictine coach] Warren Rutledge. He said he'd had to leave early and wanted to know what happened.

"I told him it was 40-39 and we got the ball back with 10 seconds to go. He said, 'Well, I know what happened next. You just got the ball to J.R. and told everybody to get out of the way.' And, that's what we did."

Reynolds may not have been a finisher for his first two years at Virginia, "but he is now," Wall said.

"This is the J.R. we all knew and the one we expected and the one that's there right now. He's got another year," Wall said. "I'm sure they're all happy about that."

Some of Reynolds' development has to be attributed to the demanding Leitao, who, unlike predecessor Pete Gillen, is a screamer. Reynolds may not have been around a screamer before.

"Oh, yes, he has," Wall said. "In fact, I think that's what J.R. told him."

At one point, according to Wall's sources, Leitao broke a clipboard while trying to emphasize a point to Reynolds.

"J.R. said, 'I've seen that before; that's OK,'" Wall said.

"I don't know [Leitao], but you've got to be impressed by the results."
 

Tough choices for Groh
Franklin case still listed as “pending”
Doug Doughty

It has been a week since the initial reports that Ahmad Brooks had been dismissed from Virginia’s football team and readers have been wondering why The Roanoke Times hasn’t addressed the subject.

My editor sent me an e-mail earlier this week from a reader who noted that Virginia Tech’s Marcus Vick had been splashed all over the paper and asked why nothing had been written about UVa’s suspension of Brooks and Tony Franklin.

First of all, Brooks and Franklin haven’t been suspended. Not yet, at least.

Virginia head coach Al Groh has been out of town but said he would get in touch with me following his return. In his absence, I asked athletic director Craig Littlepage about Brooks.

“Are you aware of any situation that would jeopardize his eligibility,” I asked.

“I’m not able to speak to any situation with any student-athlete right now,” Littlepage said. “I wouldn’t be comfortable doing so.”

So, is Brooks still a member of the team?

“Yes, he is,” Littlepage said.

And, he’s still a student?

“Still a student, as well,” Littlepage said Wednesday. “His status has not changed.”

ONE OF THE DIFFERENCES between the printed version of The Roanoke Times and a website such as rivals.com, is the use of unidentified sources.

If I were to go to Roanoke Times sports editor Jeff Gilbert, he might let me use an unidentified source, provided I could identify the source to him. If Groh told me that Brooks had been dismissed from the team but asked that I not attribute the information to him, that would be a pretty good source. I could use that.

But, to use the rivals.com report would be dignifiying a story that did not ahere to the same standards as The Roanoke Times. I’m not saying that the rivals.com story is without merit – just that I don’t know their sources and don’t have sources of my own that are telling me the same thing.

The difference between the Vick and Brooks situations is that Vick was arrested, twice in fact. That information is accessible on the Virginia courts website. But, as far as I can tell, there are no charges against Brooks at this time, at least in a jurisdiction in which I would think to look.

On the other hand, there is a record of Franklin’s arrest Dec. 6 on a misdemeanor charge of marijuana possession. His case was postponed twice and is still listed on the Virginia courts site as “pending.”

Franklin was in court this week and was placed on probation until Feb. 21, 2007.

(I found it interesting, on the Virginia courts website, to see Franklin’s lawyer listed as “Woodward.” Could that be the same Virginia Beach attorney, Larry Woodward, who represented Vick? Larry Woodward also represented ex-Virginia athletes Antwoine Womack, Harold Deane and Courtney Alexander, and even Allen Iverson going back to his maiming-by-mob charge).

As to why the Franklin case was not covered to a greater extent, the big news was when Franklin was arrested in December, then left off the Music City Bowl roster. It will be news again when Groh decides whether to keep Franklin for a fifth year.

GROH SAYS HE has heard several different versions of the Dec. 6 incident, but it was not the first time that Franklin’s name had been in the news. Prior to the Cavaliers’ game with Georgia Tech, Franklin was one of four players – along with Vince Redd, Kwakou Robinson and Ottowa Anderson – who were suspended for a violation of team policy.

Although nobody ever elaborated on the nature of the violation, it wasn’t long after that incident that I requested a copy of UVa’s drug and alcohol policy, just to see if there was anything in the punishment that suggested a connection. I took a look at the policy – all nine pages of it – again this week.

Each positive test, as far as I can determine, results in immediate suspension from team functions. The head coach is notified, as are the parents, who take part in a conference call with the athlete and either the coach or athletic director. Once cleared by a substance-abuse counselor, the athlete may be reinstated as soon as he or she tests negative.

The procedure is virtually the same after a second drug test but, “if the student-athlete has a third positive test, it will be assumed that the student-athlete has a very significant problem, or has made a conscious decision to use drugs,” the policy reads.

Three strikes and you’re out? Not quite.

“The individual will be asked to return for frequent testing,” the policy continues. “Whether he or she will be allowed to re-enter the athletic program will depend on recommendations of the Student Health Substance Abuse Counselor and others involved.

“The student-athlete will have the opportunity to discuss the matter with the Athletics Director and to present evidence of any mitigating circumstances. The head coach and Athletics Director may recommend the termination of the student-athlete’s grant-in-aid to the financial aid committee.”

(According to Virginia Tech’s policy, the first offense keeps a student-athlete out of 10 percent of his or her teams’ contests. That’s one game for football. A second offense is 33 1/3 percent and a third offense is a year’s suspension).

I AM NOT AWARE of any Virginia student-athlete flunking a drug test and don’t think UVa will be making those tests public. We do know that Franklin was arrested on the marijuana charge and a coach from another school said that the word on UVa is that the Cavaliers have “a partying problem.”

Partying is one thing, but if the Cavaliers have a marijuana problem, or even if it hasn’t reached problem stage, Groh might have to make some tough choices if he hopes to get his message across
 

U.Va. can't be road kill now
A reversal of the Cavaliers' road fortunes would be a big boost to Virginia's NCAA tournament dreams.
BY MELINDA WALDROP
247-4634
February 25, 2006

In Dave Leitao's first season as DePaul's basketball coach, his Blue Demons scored a whopping 43 points in a loss at then-Conference USA foe Louisville.

But the next year, DePaul rallied on the road to defeat the Cardinals in overtime. And that, Leitao knows, is the simplest fix for a team's road woes.

"As much as we talk about it in the gym, about using our poise and understanding the job at hand, that's the best teacher of all, is to go out and be able to execute it," Leitao said.

Now in his first season at Virginia, Leitao needs his Cavaliers (14-10, 7-6 ACC) to learn that lesson in a hurry. Two of the Cavs' remaining three games are on the road, where U.Va. is 2-8 this season and 1-5 in the ACC.

The Cavs' only win away from home came Jan. 15 at Virginia Tech. In losses at Duke on Jan. 28 and N.C. State on Feb. 1, they couldn't recover from early double-digit deficits. At Maryland on Feb. 7, second-half scoring and defensive lapses doomed them.

In sharp contrast, U.Va. has looked like an ACC title contender at home, beating North Carolina 72-68, dismantling Miami 71-51 and handing No. 11 Boston College a 72-58 loss on Tuesday night.

At University Hall, Leitao said, his young players take comfort in familiar surroundings and supportive fans - elements that don't exist in hostile arenas.

"The first thing to go when things aren't going well, when you're not as mature, is the mindset," Leitao said. "Sometimes we get overly disturbed about our circumstances on the road ... It's something that we continue to work on, (and) this league is so unforgiving that you've just got to continue to work on it."

The Cavs, picked to finish last in the 12-team ACC in a preseason media poll, are now alone in fifth place. The simmering NCAA tournament talk that faded after last Saturday's 76-62 loss at Florida State is beginning to heat up again, and a win today at Clemson, coupled with a victory at North Carolina on Wednesday, would bring it to a boil.

Fifteen victories are necessary to merit at-large NCAA consideration, and if U.Va. upsets the No. 21 Tar Heels, early losses to the likes of Fordham won't be such a blight on its postseason resume.

None of that, though, is discussed in the Cavs' locker room.

"I think what's helped us be moderately successful to this point is our focus," Leitao said. "(This time of year), everybody becomes a tournament expert. I don't know where you have to have graduated from to call yourself a bracketologist. ... It's all speculation, and that doesn't do anything to benefit a team."

What the Cavs are concentrating on is improving their road production. Guards Sean Singletary (18 points per game) and J.R. Reynolds (16.3 ppg) are usually steadying influences, but Leitao wants more from the duo's support staff. That includes freshman Mamadi Diane, who made three of his four 3-point attempts against BC, and freshman Lars Mikalauskas, who added four points in 25 minutes against the Eagles despite playing with a broken nose.

"(After) the FSU game, one of the things I said was that we have to play to our potential, and I meant that for everybody, most importantly those alternative guys who didn't give us a whole lot," Leitao said. "We need every ounce of that."

Clemson's 74-68 overtime loss Wednesday at Wake Forest was the sixth in the last seven for the Tigers (15-11, 4-9), who lost to U.Va. 64-58 in Charlottesville on Jan. 7. But Leitao knows past success is no indicator of future results - especially away from home.

"We've made some strides in our maturity. We still have that big gaping hole in how we translate that on the road," Leitao said. "It's something we talk about. It's something we attack rather than shy away from. Hopefully it can start to pay some dividends because of all the times we've put it at the forefront."
 

U.Va.'s road less traveled
With a young roster, Leitao not surprised at Cavs' traveling woes
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 25, 2006
U.VA. AT CLEMSON
TODAY: 2 p.m. RADIO: WRVA (1140), 1:30

Virginia's starting lineup consists of sophomores Tunji Soroye, Adrian Joseph and Sean Singletary and juniors Jason Cain and J.R. Reynolds. Those five have combined to start 188 games for the Cavaliers.

Their counterparts at 11th-ranked Boston College, by contrast, have 440 career starts among them. That's one reason BC generally plays well on the road, U.Va.'s first-year coach, Dave Leitao, believes. The Eagles stumbled Wednesday night at Virginia, losing 72-58, but they're 4-3 in conference road games this season.

"They've been in so many venues and so many spots, there's not a lot they haven't seen," Leitao said.

The Cavaliers, whose eight scholarship players include no seniors, aren't as experienced or well-traveled. Not coincidentally, perhaps, Virginia is 6-1 at home and 1-5 on the road against ACC teams.

Such problems are nothing new for U.Va. In six seasons under Leitao's predecessor, Pete Gillen, the Cavs went 11-45 in ACC road games.

"The next challenge is for us to win on the road," Singletary said.

U.Va. gets another opportunity this afternoon at Littlejohn Coliseum. Virginia (7-6, 14-10) meets Clemson (4-9, 15-11) at 2 p.m.

The Cavaliers' struggles on the road frustrate Leitao, but he knows his team isn't alone. Neither Wake Forest nor Georgia Tech has won an ACC road game, Clemson and Maryland have won one each. Virginia Tech and Florida State have two conference road wins apiece.

Asked how his team can fix its problem, Leitao said, "That's the million-dollar question."

He's convinced, though, that practice is the key.

"We're trying to get better at a lot of the intangibles, and in order to do that, it takes maturity," Leitao said. "What I've told them from Day One, you've got to get that in the gym every day. Because we've had up-and-down practice days and weeks, it shows itself more on the road than anywhere else, where you have conditions going against you.

"And what you have to rely on is not just that jump shot or not just that rebound. You have to rely on something inside and a collective energy, and I don't know that we've gotten to that point where we can rely on those things when things are going against us."

 

Tigers’ woes come in threesUp next is Virginia; Cavaliers started Clemson’s recentACC slide

By PATRICK OBLEYStaff Writer

Oh, that pesky 3-point line.
Three times this year, Clemson has had a three-point lead in a game’s waning moments only to surrender a 3-point goal, leading to three overtime losses.
It was Wednesday’s third strike — a 74-68 loss at Wake Forest — that effectively ended the Tigers’ hope of landing an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
Reverse those defeats to N.C. State, Virginia Tech and Wake and the Tigers are 18-8 overall, 7-6 in the ACC and, quite possibly, making postseason travel plans.
Clemson can still ponder an NIT bid with a strong finish, beginning with today’s game against Virginia, one of the ACC’s hottest teams. But at 15-11 overall and 4-9 in the ACC, there is little margin for error.
“They are playing about as well as anybody in our league,” Tigers coach Oliver Purnell said. “We can’t afford to have a hangover or letdown or second thoughts about the Wake Forest game. It’s over.”
It was Clemson’s first meeting against Virginia that began the Tigers’ ACC woes. Clemson led by one point with 93 seconds remaining, but rebounding woes and poor shooting led to a 64-58 loss. Each of Clemson’s eight ensuing league defeats have followed that pattern.
Virginia (14-10, 7-6) enters today’s game fresh off a 72-58 throttling of 11th-ranked Boston College. The Cavaliers have won three of their last four games and their seven ACC wins are their most since 2002.
The backcourt tandem of Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds is averaging 34.3 points per game. In their first meeting with Clemson, the two combined for 27 points, but Adrian Joseph picked up the slack with a game-high 19 points, nine more than his average.
All three shoot the 3-point shot with deadly acumen.
“Their backcourt guys kind of dominate the ball, and their offense is run in such a way that, in the end, the right guy is going to take the shot,” Purnell said. “When they make 3s like they did against Boston College, they become pretty lethal.”
The variable today might be Vernon Hamilton, who is still feeling his way around the court as he heals from multiple injuries on his left side. Hamilton admitted to being tentative on offense during Wednesday’s game, but Purnell said he is hoping Hamilton is closer to his former self today.
“He just needs to be confident that if he gets hit on either one of those injuries that it’s not the end of the world,” Purnell said. “If he’s able to go hard and sharp (in Friday’s practice) hopefully he’ll be back to the Vernon of old. We need that.”
Two games remain in the regular season following today’s game — a Wednesday road trip to Virginia Tech followed by the season-finale at home against Georgia Tech. Purnell said a strong finish would be a boost for the team’s maturation process, even if it does not lead to a postseason appearance.
“It’s important you don’t lose sight of the fact we’re really competing and playing with everybody in our league and really have had a chance to beat anybody in our league,” he said. “It’s important to keep that in perspective as we continue to get better.”
 

UVa earns pair of wins
By Jim Furlong / Daily Progress staff writer
February 25, 2006

Rylan Rizza quickly gave a blunt comment.
The Virginia senior tennis standout dislikes his team's overall results the last five weeks. Sure, the Virginia men faced a very difficult indoor schedule, which included traveling more than 12,000 miles for their first 13 indoor matches, but the Cavaliers expected to do better.

Entering Friday's home doubleheader, UVa showed an 8-5 record and had lost three of its last four dual matches.

"We want to put that indoor trash behind us because we didn't do too well," said Rizza, a four-year starter for coach Brian Boland. "We have never had this kind of thing happen to us where we lost this many matches. Through my [college] career, we have usually won [a combined 51-7 record for the 2004 and 2005 seasons]. It is kind of a shock to the system, but I think we are all going to respond the right way, which is to work harder and try not to lose again."

A quest for 2006 NCAA glory, which started with the two-time ACC Champions ranked No. 1 nationally in the preseason, saw the Cavaliers drop to No. 16 this week.

Rizza hopes UVa's rise restarted Friday afternoon with a victory in its ACC opener, 6-1 over Boston College, and later a 4-2 conquest of Old Dominion Friday night on the courts at the Boar's Head Sports Club.

After losing two of three matches last weekend during the National Team Indoors in Seattle, the Cavaliers did some soul searching on their long plane ride back to the East Coast.

"I think everyone has kind of taken a look at themselves in the mirror and is trying to figure out what they need to do to start getting the job done," senior Darrin Cohen said. "No one is playing their best tennis on our squad.

"We've got a lot of work to do. Obviously, [the two defeats in Seattle] was a huge letdown. We didn't perform the way we wanted to ? pretty much bad losses. I think it was probably good for us, in a certain respect, in that it made us realize that we hadn't been working hard enough. ? I think we realized we are not invincible."

UVa junior Marko Miklo agreed the Cavaliers need to get tougher both physically and mentally.

"I think we realize we have to work hard and harder to achieve our goal, which is to win the NCAAs [May 12 through 28]," Miklo said. "It might have been good for us not to do well indoors so we really have to work harder. We need to get more fit and tougher."

While Boland commands one of Division I's most experienced rosters, he's not satisfied with its collective stamina. He instructed the Cavaliers to get up before 6 a.m. on both Wednesday and Thursday to run three miles.

"One thing we have done the past week is put in a lot of time on the courts as well as conditioning," the fifth-year UVa coach said. "One component we need to improve is conditioning."

The Cavaliers also worked on serves and returns in practice and Boland said his players looked improved against Boston College.

Boland elected to rest two regular singles' starters, Treat Huey and Somdev Devvarman, against Boston College.

Doug Stewart (at No. 1), Rizza, Miklo, Jarrett Chirico and Stephen Rozek all won in straight sets against the Eagles.

Virginia also swept the doubles.

NOTES: Rizza, who is currently ranked No. 31 nationally in singles, boosted his career victory total to 111. He needs 15 more to break the school's individual career record. ? The Cavaliers will now take a four-week break before playing their first outdoor match on March 22 at Virginia Tech.
 

UVa Roundup: Cavs win in baseball
Baseball rallies to top George Mason
From staff reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
February 25, 2006

From Staff Reports

Charleston, S.C. - Two years ago, the Virginia baseball team stormed onto the national scene by rallying in the eighth or ninth innings for 11 come-from-behind wins.

On Friday, the 2006 version of the Cavaliers elected to pull off their share of heroics long before the final two innings of the game.

Trailing by five runs by the end of first inning, Virginia scored in five straight innings to bounce back for a 9-7 win over George Mason in the opening game of the Charleston Challenge.

"I told the team after the game this is the biggest win of the year because we proved to each other, that no matter what the odds are, that you can come back and win a ball game," said UVa coach Brian O'Connor. "That mentality we will have with us for the rest of the year."

George Mason (3-5) took advantage of five hits and an error by Virginia second baseman David Adams to take the early 5-0 lead.

Virginia (7-1) started its rally in the bottom of the second with a mammoth two-run homer to left by Adams, who was one of six Cavaliers to collect two hits.

"The infield here is rock hard," O'Connor said of Patriots Point Field. "The ball comes off the ground extremely fast and David made error and that happens, but he came back and got a big, clutch hit for us when his team needed it and got us back into the ballgame."

UVa starter Mike Ballard (4.2 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 2 ER) was roughed up in the first but battled into the fifth inning, saving UVa's bullpen for the final two games in the event.

"That was the key and that shows Ballard's leadership," O'Connor said. "You are not going to have your best stuff every time you take the mound. He had as tough a first inning as you can have, but the key was that he didn't quit. He gave us three or four more innings and allowed us to come back in the ballgame, which was critical.

"He didn't throw his hands up and say 'The day's over.' He kept battling and gave us a chance to come back."

Reliever Michael Schwimer (3.2 IP, 3 H, 1 ER) earned the first win of his two-year career on the mound.

"Schwimer pitched great," O'Connor said. "We gave him the ball and he gobbled up the middle innings for us to give us a chance to extend our lead."

Casey Lambert, who struck out two of the three batters he faced, pitched a perfect ninth to pick up his second save of the year.

"Casey was lights out again today," O'Connor said of his closer.

O'Connor had to rely solely on Schwimer and Lambert because he started Sean Doolittle, typically a reliever, on the mound in Tuesday's win over VCU.

"This is what happens when you start Sean Doolittle," O'Connor explained. "Now all of a sudden, you extend Schwimer, like we did, and who do you have in the bullpen? [Shooter] Hunt and Lambert.

"We didn't have the luxury of going to Doolittle in the eighth. Schwimer had to gut it out in the eighth to get the ball to Lambert. We are going to see this weekend what it's like possibly not having Doolittle in relief. It is going to create some other opportunities for other guys."

O'Connor admitted that it was a good problem to have at this point in the season.

"Before the ACC, we need to get a look at those guys and see how they handle different situations," he said. "Now in that long relief against Gardner-Webb, it is going to be Shooter Hunt and Andrew Carraway."

If Carraway pitches today against Gardner-Webb, it would be his collegiate debut. The rookie reliever from Georgia has been slowed by a bout with mono.

"We had an intrasquad earlier this week and Andrew threw very, very well," O'Connor said. "We knew coming into the season that he was really going to be a key guy for us."

UVa will face Gardner-Webb today at 10 a.m. The start time was moved up two hours due to the threat of inclement weather.

Freshman Jacob Thompson (2-0) will start today and sophomore Pat McAnaney will start on Sunday against College of Charleston.

FSU RETAINS LEAD AT ACC MEN'S SWIMMING AND DIVING CHAMPIONSHIPS: In College Park, Md., Florida State retained its lead after the third day of competition at the Atlantic Coast Conference Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, weathering four Virginia wins to keep its place atop the leader board.

The Seminoles are first with 462 points, and are followed by day-one leader Virginia with 456. North Carolina is third with 349.5 points, and is followed by Georgia Tech (292.5), N.C. State (269), Virginia Tech (245), Clemson (219.5), Maryland (157.5), Duke (78), Boston College (56) and Miami (37).

The ACC Men's Swimming and Diving Championships conclude today, with preliminaries starting at 10 a.m. and finals beginning at 7 p.m.

CAVALIERS QUALIFY FOR FINALS OF ACC TRACK AND FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS: The Virginia men's team qualified eight athletes for today's finals of the ACC Indoor Track and Field Championships, led by three men in the mile.

Alex Tatu qualified for the finals of both the 800 meters and the mile, running a season-best 4:10.84 in the mile in the first running event before doubling back in 800 where he finished second in his heat and qualified automatically. He finished just ahead of teammate Andrew Jesien, who also qualified with his 4:11.54. Kevin McHale ran in the third heat and posted a 4:13.94, giving the Cavaliers a third qualifier in the finals.

VIRGINIA SOFTBALL DROPS PAIR AT PANERA BREAD CHALLENGE: In Chattanooga, Tenn., the Virginia softball team lost its first two games of the Panera Bread Challenge at Frost Stadium.

The Cavaliers dropped a 9-7 decision to Miami-Ohio and then fell to Bowling Green 3-0.

With the two losses, UVa falls to 2-2 on the season.

UVa continues play in the Challenge today with a 10 a.m. game against Alabama-Birmingham and a 12:15 p.m. game vs. Chattanooga.