Cavs in cruise control
UVa sails past Miami and into first place in ACC
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com
February 4, 2007

One of the more memorable moments from Virginia’s upset of Duke on Thursday night was when Sean Singletary scowled right into a television camera following his game-winning circus shot.

Singletary’s intensity-laced facial expression was played repeatedly in highlights on ESPN.

On Saturday night at John Paul Jones Arena, Virginia hosted Miami.

The question? Could UVa keep its collective scowl against a team that had lost its five previous games by an average margin of 22 points.

The answer was a resounding yes.

Virginia, behind 22 points from Singletary and 18 points from J.R. Reynolds, easily defeated Miami, 81-70.

With the victory, UVa moved into a first-place tie with Boston College in the ACC - an almost unfathomable thought back in December.

Virginia (15-6, 7-2), which plays at Maryland Tuesday night, has already won as many games - both in conference and overall - as it did all of last season.

“We essentially have the same group as last year, plus some young guys and some new people,” Leitao said. “What it does say is that we’re making improvements … we’re building.

“It’s something that this late in the season that you can look at as an accomplishment, but the only accomplishment that we’re looking for is the one that comes at the end of the season. This journey is long and arduous and we have to do it day by day.”

Leitao said the most satisfying part of Saturday night’s victory was the maturity his team showed.

“We were walking in the building today and people were saying congratulations from Thursday night,” Leitao said. “They never said good luck today. That’s what we were dealing with from a mental standpoint.

“Dealing with success is as delicate as dealing with adversity. That was our chore over the last couple of days.”

Virginia stormed out of the gates, taking an 18-8 lead on three straight 3-pointers - courtesy of Mamadi Diane, Adrian Joseph and Reynolds.

“I thought at the beginning of the game we responded well,” Leitao said. “We didn’t play our best emotional game, but I give credit to them for taking care of their business.”

One of the first-half highlights was a pretty alley-oop from Singletary to Diane. Diane used a Ryan Pettinella pick to sneak behind the Miami defense. Singletary perfectly lobbed the ball to a soaring Diane who jammed it home.

Moments later, Virginia took its biggest lead of the half when Diane, who finished with 14 points, drained another 3.

“I thought our perimeter defense was poor,” said Miami coach Frank Haith. “Their perimeter guys completely dominated us on the perimeter. We really struggled keeping those guys from going where they wanted to go, and they got into such a good rhythm shooting the basketball.”

The Cavaliers, who shot 50 percent for the half and 47 percent for the game, took a 41-25 lead into the locker room.

In the second half, Miami never got any closer than 11.

Jason Cain, who finished with eight points and nine rebounds, said it feels great to be proving preseason prognosticators wrong.

“In the beginning of the year, we felt kind of disrespected because we finished last year in seventh [place] and this year we dropped to eighth (in the preseason media poll),” Cain said. “Seeing how we did good things last year, it was pretty much like a slap in the face.”

Singletary, as he has done ever since Leitao took over, completely set the tone. The guard was as competitive as ever, jawing with Miami guard Denis Clemente throughout the contest. During one sequence, Singletary snatched a rebound and was fouled by Dwayne Collins. The angry look Singletary gave Collins spoke volumes about whether or not Virginia was going to have a letdown.

“The biggest key to us being in first place right now is the level of maturity that we displayed throughout the season - throughout the ups and downs,” Singletary said. “Coach envisioned this program being a winning program and everyone has bought into it. Through adversity in practices and adversity in games, we stay resilient and we stay together.”

Dunks

Seldom-used walk-ons Andy Burns and Bob McCormick made appearances in the game. McCormick hit two free throws - his first career points - to the delight of the crowd. … When Virginia cracked 70 points, fans received coupons for free chicken at Raising Canes. Coincidentally, it was a Jason Cain free throw that gave UVa 70. … The only area where Virginia was sub-par was at the free-throw line. The Cavaliers were 22 of 32, including a surprising eight of 13 from Singletary. That ties the most free throws Singletary has ever missed in a game. Last year he was 9 of 14 against Gonzaga.

 

UVa shows maturity in easy win
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
February 4, 2007

As the day wore on Saturday, coach Dave Leitao’s basketball antennae sensed all the makings for an upset surrounded his Virginia squad.

Top 25 teams were dropping all over the landscape, particularly around the ACC. No. 18 Virginia Tech fell within minutes of No. 21 Clemson’s freefall. Texas, Indiana and Oklahoma State were knocked off. But the one that really got Virginia’s attention was third-ranked North Carolina losing at N.C. State.

Primed for a letdown

Even when his Cavaliers arrived at John Paul Jones Arena for their 8 p.m. tilt with Miami, with a first-place tie in the ACC at stake, Leitao continued to see the disturbing signs.

“We were walking in the building today and people were saying congratulations from Thursday night and never said good luck today,” the Virginia coach said. “So that’s what we were dealing with from the mental standpoint.”

Fresh off Thursday night’s overtime upset of eighth-ranked Duke, the Cavaliers were so hot they were probably being blamed for global warming.

So what Leitao was most proud of after the Cavaliers’ 81-70 triumph over upset-minded Miami later in the evening was his team’s maturity.

Moments after ending a nine-game losing streak to Duke late Thursday, the UVa coach gathered his players together in the locker room and explained how it would require true maturity to come off such an emotional high and, with only one day to prepare, find a way to take care of business against the Hurricanes.

Break up the Cavs

The Cavaliers, almost certain to be ranked in the new polls with a 15-6 record (7-2 in the ACC), jumped on Miami early, racing to an 18-8 lead, then mushrooming that with a 13-0 run for a 34-18 cushion late in the first half. Virginia hardly looked back in a less-than-inspiring 81-70 win that put the red-hot Wahoos in a tie for first place with Boston College in the ACC standings.

In putting together a six-game winning streak, the longest current string in the league, UVa jumped to five games over .500 in conference play for the first time since 1994-95 when that team was 8-3.

Not too shabby for a team predicted to finish eighth in the 12-team ACC by preseason pollsters. Who would have thought, a little more than a month ago after the Cavaliers’ inexplicable failings in the San Juan Shootout, that they would be tied for first in early February?

“Dealing with success is as delicate as dealing with adversity,” said Leitao, who has had to play amateur psychologist in recent weeks, coaxing his team to rid its fears of road anxiety and to build its confidence in knocking off ranked conference foes.

“What we were talking to the guys about was maturity. That was our chore over the last couple of days.”

Saturday’s win, the team’s 15th, matched last year’s entire win total, which provided evidence to Leitao that his blueprint for success is working.

Of course, having two of the best guards in America on your side doesn’t exactly hurt the cause. As has been the case all season, junior point guard Sean Singletary and senior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds must have looked like a Category 5 making a direct hit on Miami.

The duo continued their scoring spree that started once they returned from Puerto Rico and through the 10 games since.

They have combined to average 43.9 points per game. They lit up the Canes for 40 (Singletary 22, Reynolds 18). What the heck if they were off by four.

Both clocked a little less playing time than what is usually required of them (Singletary 34 minutes, Reynolds 28).

The rest was valuable because they both suffered some cramping in Thursday’s big-game atmosphere, and because they hit the road on Tuesday to battle Maryland.

“If we’re not successful there, then there will be three days where we’ll get to enjoy [being tied for No. 1],” Leitao said of the next challenge. “This journey is long and arduous and we have to do it day-by-day.”

The journey may have gotten a little more help with the win over Duke as the Cavs jumped seven places in the RPI and into the top 40.

None of that would have mattered if they had stubbed their toe against Miami.

Mission accomplished.

 

U.Va. is tied for first
Singletary, Reynolds spearhead Cavaliers' win over Hurricanes
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Feb 4, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- The energy that had surged through John Paul Jones Arena two nights earlier, when No. 8 Duke was in town, was missing, and the home team dragged at times. But Virginia didn't have to be at its peak U.VA. 81 MIAMI 70to beat overmatched Miami last night.

U.Va. had too much talent for the Hurricanes, who have lost six in a row. The Cavaliers got 40 points from their superlative guards Sean Singletary (22) and J.R. Reynolds (18) -- and won 81-70 to move into a tie for first place in the ACC.

Virginia (7-2, 15-6) has won six straight conference games for the first time since 1994-95.

"Dealing with success is as delicate as dealing with adversity," second-year coach Dave Leitao said, "and that was our chore over the last couple of days. And I thought, especially at the beginning of the game, that we really responded well. We didn't play our best game, didn't play our best emotional game, but I'll give credit [to U.Va.'s players] for taking care of their business."

The Cavaliers' reward for doing so was significant. After a wild day in the ACC, Virginia and Boston College (7-2, 16-6) now look down on the rest of the league. BC hammered No. 16 Virginia Tech yesterday in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

Of his team's ascension to first, Leitao said, "It's something this late in the season that you can look at as an accomplishment. But the only accomplishment that we're really looking for is the one that comes at the end of the season that means you've had a very good year. This journey is long, it's arduous, and we've got to do it day by day."

With eight regular-season games left, U.Va. has equaled its victory total of a season ago.

"We're building," Leitao said. "I think a large part of it is because our two guards, Sean and J.R., are playing as well as any two guards in the country can play and give us an opportunity to be successful every night."

Virginia went ahead for good on a Reynolds 3-pointer with 18:31 left in the first half. The Cavaliers led by 16 at halftime and, after a Singletary trey, by 19 with 2:15 remaining. Even an off night from the line by Singletary, who came in as the ACC's top free throw shooter but made only 8 of 13, wasn't damaging against Miami (2-7, 9-14).

With 14 points, sophomore swingman Mamadi Diane was the only Cavalier to join Singletary and Reynolds in double figures. But freshman forward Will Harris came off the bench to score nine points, his best offensive effort in six weeks.

"Important for him, very important for us," Leitao said of Harris' production. "I teased him about it. I asked him this morning, 'Can you give us just one basket, maybe, please?' But he's never really lost his zest and his enthusiasm, and that's the great thing about him. He comes to the gym every single day with the same mindset."

Last night's victory capped an exhilarating seven-day stretch for the Cavaliers, who may well move back into The Associated Press' Top 25 tomorrow. The Wahoos rallied from 16 points to edge then-No. 19 Clemson at Littlejohn Coliseum last Sunday. Four nights later, they rallied to beat Duke in overtime at the JPJ.

The Duke win "was a high for us," Singletary said, "and we didn't let it get too high. We just kept the joking on and off the court to a minimum. We were serious about going about our business, and it paid off tonight."

The Hurricanes' defense was not to be confused with that of Duke, which consistently disrupted U.Va.'s motion offense. From beyond the 3-point arc, Virginia was 11 for 26 last night. Singletary made four treys, Reynolds three and Diane two.

"I thought our perimeter defense was poor tonight," Miami coach Frank Haith said. "Their perimeter guys completely dominated us on the perimeter."

Virginia plays at Maryland (3-5, 17-6) on Tuesday night. The Cavaliers whipped the Terrapins in Charlottesville last month.

 

U.Va. could lose London to ODU
Richmond Times-Dispatch Feb 4, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The University of Virginia football team had to replace both coordinators after the 2005 season, and it could lose another one this month.

U.Va. defensive coordinator Mike London spent Thursday in Norfolk meeting with officials at Old Dominion University, which is adding a football team beginning with the 2009 season. ODU may hire its head coach this month.

London, 46, graduated from Bethel High in Hampton and the University of Richmond. He's been an assistant at four colleges - UR, William and Mary, Boston College and U.Va. - and spent the 2005 season as the Houston Texans' defensive-line coach.

He's had two stints at U.Va. under coach Al Groh. London coached the Cavaliers' defensive line for four seasons before leaving for the NFL, and he also was their recruiting coordinator in 2002, '03 and '04. He returned to U.Va. last year and succeeded Al Golden as defensive coordinator.

U.Va. officials are working to keep London in Charlottesville. From his 2005 coaching staff, Groh lost four assistants, three of whom became head coaches: Golden at Temple, Ron Prince at Kansas State and Danny Rocco at Liberty.

Groh doesn't permit his assistant coaches to speak to the media, so London couldn't comment on his interest in the job.

Other candidates at ODU reportedly include William and Mary assistant head coach Bob Solderitch. - Jeff White
 

Friends, former teammates pay tribute to McCandlish
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
February 4, 2007

Wahoo Nation lost one of its most beloved basketball figures on Dec. 30 when Scott McCandlish succumbed to a 40-year battle with multiple sclerosis. It was one of the few battles he ever lost.

Former teammates, coaches, family and friends assembled Saturday in Charlottesville to pay tribute to McCandlish during a memorial service at University Chapel. One of the early keys to transforming Cavalier basketball from Sad Sacks of the ACC to serious contenders, McCandlish rewrote Virginia rebounding records during his three-year varsity career (1970-72).

“Scott was the stabilizing force of that whole group, not just athletically, but attitudinally,” said former UVa assistant coach Dick DiBiaso, who, like McCandlish, arrived to Charlottesville from New York’s high school ranks at the same time.

“My favorite impression of him would be the leadership, discipline and attitude he brought to the group,” DiBiaso said. “Coaches all need that because sometimes players don’t love you as much after practice. You need someone there to help out in the locker room or dorm room to keep the ball rolling. That someone was Scott McCandlish.”

Several teammates said Saturday that they had become so close to McCandlish then and over the years that they loved him like a brother.

Chip Miller, who along with Frank DeWitt, lived with McCandlish all four years at UVa, flew from Singapore to attend Saturday’s service.

“Scottie always gave 100 percent,” Miller said. “He was only something like 170 pounds and 6-foot-10, and he couldn’t jump. But he was a great player. It was heart and smarts.”

A highly sought-after high school center from Poughkeepsie, N.Y., McCandlish had 120 college offers and was recruited by the likes of Digger Phelps, Lefty Driesell and Bobby Knight. After he narrowed his choices to three: Pennsylvania, Princeton and Virginia, he shocked everyone by choosing UVa, which had suffered 15 consecutive losing seasons.

While that transformation was delayed a bit (freshmen were ineligible to play varsity in those days), McCandlish and his class led the Cavaliers out of the darkness over the next few years, earning the nickname of “The Amazin’ Cavaliers.”

Virginia improved year by year until his senior season when the Wahoos won a school-record 21 games and, for the first time, won more ACC games than they lost (8-4) while finishing No. 20 in the Associated Press poll.

Just as he had influenced some of his teammates to join him at UVa, McCandlish’s enthusiasm and personality helped seal the deal on Barry Parkhill’s decision to become a Cavalier.

McCandlish and his teammates were easy to love. They were good kids, humble, standard bearers for their time. The fact they were all good basketball players made the ride even more special.

Former Richmond Times-Dispatch Sports Editor Bill Millsaps, who went on to become one of the top sportswriters in the country, was covering his first big college beat at the time and said he fell victim to the lure of “The Amazin’ Cavaliers,” not because of their athletic skills, but rather their personalities.

“[McCandlish] taught me a great lesson: don’t get too attached to kids, because you lose your objectivity, which is very dangerous in this business,” Millsaps said. “And I lost it with Scott, Tim Rash, Frank DeWitt, Barry Parkhill and those guys. I never again got that close to people on a team, to individuals, because I got to where I cared whether they won or lost.”

Former UVa assistant coach Chip Connor (who also played for the Cavs) said Saturday that McCandlish was a “voice of reason” for the program even as a freshman.

During a volatile time in American history, Virginia’s varsity team had revolted, having filed a grievance against then-head coach Bill Gibson, which stirred the pot of discontent with his leadership of the program.

However, McCandlish and his freshmen teammates “took a risk,” as Connor put it, in submitting their own press release that gave Gibson their vote of confidence for the future. Three years later, when McCandlish finished his career as Virginia’s all-time leading rebounder (761), Gibson was named ACC Coach of the Year.

“Those teams will never be forgotten for their team effort,” Connor said. “But it would never have happened without Scott McCandlish.”

A gritty competitor, McCandlish finished his career with 1,026 points and 29 double-doubles, and his 9.6 career rebound average still ranks tied for second in UVa history.

Plagued by symptoms of MS as early as 1973, he sometimes shot left-handed because his right arm was numb, as were his legs on many occasions.

Confined to a wheelchair in 1995 while still a teacher and counselor at Charlottesville High School, McCandlish remained positive even though the disease would ravage his body physically. His memory was flawless to the end.

“You never wanted to get into any kind of memory games or trivia with Scottie,” Rash said. “His memory amazed me. Thirty years after a game, he could remember plays like they were yesterday.”

As former teammate Jim Hobgood, now the color analyst for UVa’s basketball radio, and other teammates pointed out, McCandlish was always competitive on and off the court.

“Scott loved to make up games,” said Miller. “He invented a three-man softball team, we played three-on-three football. He was always up to something, we always had some kind of game going because he never could rest. He always wanted to be competing at something.”

McCandlish fought the good fight until he passed at age 56 in Freeville, N.Y. While he found it difficult to even lift his head while bedridden in the final months, he always found ways to keep up with his beloved Cavaliers.

“Scott was the guy who would always rally the team together and say, ‘We can do this, but we can’t do it by ourselves ... we’ve got to do it together,’” Rash said.

Teammates encouraged all in attendance to carry on McCandlish’s spirit in the way they live their lives.

After Virginia’s dramatic comeback to beat Duke only a few days before the service, a win that put Cavalier basketball back on the map after a long drought, everyone who knew him realized that, somewhere, Scottie McCandlish was smiling.

 

UVa pockets victory with 3-ball edge
The Cavaliers win their sixth straight ACC game to tie Boston College for first place in the conference standings.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- When word started circulating that ACC frontrunner North Carolina had been knocked off by N.C. State, nobody in Virginia's locker room had to be told what it meant.

If the Cavaliers could get past slumping Miami, they would be tied for first in the conference.

"I can tell you that's never happened in my career," said UVa senior J.R. Reynolds after an 81-70 victory Saturday night at John Paul Jones Arena.

The Cavaliers (15-6, 7-2 ACC) find themselves in a deadlock with Boston College, one-half game ahead of the Tar Heels.

"I think we've got to try and embrace it," second-year UVa coach Dave Leitao said, "but, we're not alone in first place and we've got to continue to fight. We've got a very difficult game coming up Tuesday [at Maryland]."

The Cavaliers returned to a proven formula Saturday night, connecting on eight of 16 3-point attempts in taking a 41-25 halftime lead.

Virginia leads the ACC in 3-point field goals with eight per game, but the Cavaliers were only 4-of-13 behind the arc Thursday in a 68-66 overtime victory over eighth-ranked Duke. They followed that with an 11-of-26 effort Saturday night.

In injury-plagued Miami, the Cavaliers were facing a team that had lost five games in a row.

Virginia, on the other hand, has won six straight ACC games for the first time since 1994-95.

The Cavaliers are 12-1 in their first season at John Paul Jones Arena, including 5-0 in ACC games.

"I told the team in the locker room Thursday, 'How mature can we be?' " Leitao said. "We were walking in the building today and people were saying, 'Congratulations,' for Thursday night. They never said, 'Good luck today.'

"That's what we were dealing with from a mentality standpoint. The thing about dealing with success is that it's as delicate as dealing with adversity. That was our chore over the last couple of days. I give credit to [the UVa players] for taking care of business."

The Hurricanes (9-14, 2-7) didn't roll over, trimming an 18-point, second-half Virginia lead to 11 on four occasions, although it took a game-ending 12-4 run to get Miami that close at the end.

Some of UVa's inability to put away the Hurricanes resulted from the uncharacteristically erratic free-throw shooting of Sean Singletary, who entered the game as the ACC's leading free-throw shooter at 91.5 percent.

Singletary missed three straight free throws and four out of five during one stretch of the second half.

Singletary eventually rediscovered his stroke, going 8-for-13 from a line and finishing with a game-high 22 points.

J.R. Reynolds contributed 18 points and sophomore Mamadi Diane had 14, giving him three consecutive games in double figures for the first time in his college career.

"We really struggled keeping those guys from going where they wanted to go," Miami coach Frank Haith said. "Then, we ended up fouling and putting them on the line.

"You look at the stat line: We make one less field goal than they make, but they make more free throws [22] than we attempt [17]."

Jack McClinton, who transferred to Miami after spending two seasons under current Virginia assistant Rob Lanier at Siena, came off the bench to score a team-high 18 points for the Hurricanes.

McClinton made all six of his free-throw attempts and took over the conference lead at 90.8 percent. Singletary, who has an ACC-high 155 attempts, fell to 89.0.

Virginia shot 47.1 percent from field and committed nine turnovers, its second straight game in single digits, but Leitao was mostly happy to see his team hold the Hurricanes to 35.1-percent shooting from the field.

Before Saturday, UVa was ranked second in the ACC in field-goal percentage defense at 40.1. The Cavaliers were 10th in that category last year.

With the victory, Virginia matched its victory total from the 2005-2006 season, when the Cavaliers were 15-15 and 7-9 in the ACC.

"I think a large part of it is because our two guards, Sean and J.R., are playing as well as any two guards in America can play and given us an opportunity to be successful every night," Leitao said. "They raise the level of everybody else around them."
 

Reynolds finds his merry way
Aaron McFarling

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds was about to field another question from a small group of reporters Saturday night when suddenly he waved his hand in the air and stared down a television camera man.

"Hold up, my fault, my fault," Reynolds said, shaking his head as if he couldn't bear to continue the interview session.

Everybody clammed up and waited for an explanation.

Reynolds glared incredulously at the cameraman, then pointed to insignia on the man's polo shirt: A tiny VT logo.

"You want me to go get you a Virginia shirt?" Reynolds said, sounding dead serious and horribly offended.

The reporter blushed and tried to explain.

Reynolds kept staring, his serious countenance slowly melting into a good-natured grin.

Just kidding, my man.

Relax, everyone. Happy J.R. is here! The fun J.R. Not the J.R. who struggles, gets chewed out by his coach and then sulks. This is the J.R. who shoots, drives, passes, rebounds, smiles, plays and laughs.

You know, the J.R. everybody wants to see.

And this time, it doesn't look like he's going anywhere.

For the fifth straight game Saturday night, Reynolds performed like one of the finest guards in the country.

The senior from Roanoke scored 18 points, grabbed seven rebounds and tallied five assists as UVa easily took care of Miami 81-70 to pull into a first-place tie with Boston College in the ACC.

Over the past five games, all UVa wins, Reynolds has averaged more than 22 points and led the team in scoring four times.

Only Florida State's Al Thornton has been a more productive scorer since conference play began.

"Just having fun," Reynolds said. "I know it's crunch time. I'm in a good position. I haven't been here my whole four years -- a couple years have been a roller coaster for me. This is my last year. I'm just going out there having fun."

So is everyone around him, thanks in large part to his production.

Despite serious cramping in his legs two nights earlier against Duke, Reynolds scored 25 points and led the Cavaliers back from a second-half deficit to win in overtime. And when he showed up here less than 48 hours later, his legs remained sore, but his heart and confidence were more than willing.

He couldn't wait to touch the ball. You could just tell. The way Reynolds was slinking around the perimeter, palms out, there seemed no doubt he would make the first shot he took.

He did. A 3-pointer, no less, the first of eight for UVa in the first half.

But Reynolds is doing much more than merely scoring.

Twice he set up Sean Singletary for open 3-pointers, both of which the point guard made.

Later, Reynolds pulled up for a jump shot near the foul line, then thought better of it in midair, zipping a no-look pass to Tunji Soroye for an uncontested layup.

And his on-ball defense? The best on the team, according to coach Dave Leitao.

"I was on him early in the year for not playing the way he's playing now in a lot of different aspects," Leitao said. "A lot of my assistants were telling me this is exactly what happened to him last year. He got off to a slower start and then really kicked it in gear and maintained that throughout the year."

Close.

But this is a new gear, a better gear, a happier gear, an even more consistent gear. And if this keeps up, UVa will cruise right on into the NCAAs.

You'll see a lot of Virginia shirts then.
 

Cavs handle Hurricanes
Virginia extends its ACC winning streak to six games, its longest in 12 years, by beating Miami.
BY DARRYL SLATER
247-4641
February 4, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Three hours before tip-off Saturday night, Sean Singletary stood alone on the John Paul Jones Arena court, surrounded by five basketballs. One by one, he picked up the balls and hit 3-pointer after 3-pointer, his facial expression unchanged as a machine connected the basket fired the balls back to him.

Catch. Step back. Set feet. Shoot. Swish. Repeat.

An onlooker, stopping to gawk, asked if he was crazy. Singletary just smiled, as if he knew something the rest of the world didn't.

After Virginia's 81-70 victory over Miami, everyone knows at least this much: Winning is becoming as routine as Singletary's shooting technique for the Virginia men's basketball team.

The Cavaliers' ACC winning streak stands at six, their longest since 1995. With North Carolina and Virginia Tech's losses Saturday, Virginia (15-6, 7-2 ACC) is tied for first in the ACC with Boston College and likely will crack the top 25 next week.

"We were hunting down teams in the top," senior shooting guard J.R. Reynolds said. "Now we're the hunted."

Virginia's superiority never was in doubt Saturday, as Miami (9-14, 2-7) lost its sixth consecutive game and 10th of its past 12. The Hurricanes showed all the polish and organization of a CYO squad, but they did at least one thing consistently: failed to defend 3-pointers.

The Cavaliers shot 11 of 26 on 3s. They clearly watched Miami's past four games, in which it let opponents shoot 48.8 percent on 3s. Counting all ACC games, the Hurricanes rank last in the league, allowing 40.8 percent on 3s.

"We were well aware that they weren't gonna be denying us and we were gonna be able to play comfortably," said Singletary, a junior point guard. Virginia shot 8-of-16 from beyond the arc and 14-of-28 overall in the first half, when it essentially secured victory by jogging into the locker room up 41-25.

Singletary finished with a game-high 22 points, on 5-of-8 shooting, including 4-foot-6 on 3s.

Five minutes into the first half, the Cavaliers made 3s over Miami's 2-3 zone on three consecutive possessions. Then they went on a 13-0 run, holding Miami scoreless from 11:02 to 4:17, to go up 34-20. Virginia buried two 3s in that run.

The Cavaliers took their biggest lead, 77-58, with 2:20 remaining, courtesy of (what else?) a 3-pointer by Singletary. On his way back down the court, he held up three fingers on both hands, in the manner of a man gesturing that everything is OK.

Singletary needed 33 points to regain the ACC scoring lead from Boston College's Jared Dudley, who scored 30 Saturday against Virginia Tech.

Falling short matters little to Singletary. He has toyed with opponents at times and made the iconic shot - who hasn't seen the one-handed fall-away against Duke by now? - of a season that could further bend history on Tuesday. If the Cavaliers win their 9 p.m. game at Maryland - their third game in six days - they will have seven consecutive ACC wins for the first time since 1981.

"We've gotta try to embrace it," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. "The only accomplishment we're really going for is the one that comes at the end of the season."
 

Virginia climbs to the top of the ACC
By Andy Bitter
Lynchburg News & Advance
February 4, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - It's been a while since Virginia could call itself the hottest team in the ACC. It's been even longer since the Cavaliers could call themselves a first place team this deep into the season.
After an 81-70 win over Miami at the John Paul Jones Arena on Saturday night and N.C. State's upset of North Carolina, Virginia can proudly claim to be both.

The Cavaliers (15-6) followed the biggest win of the Dave Leitao era, a two-point overtime win over Duke just two days earlier, by running their ACC winning streak to six games, the team's longest since 1995.

Sean Singletary scored 22 points, J.R. Reynolds had 18 and Mamadi Diane added 14 for the Cavaliers, who vaulted into a first-place tie with Boston College with a 7-2 ACC mark, its best start in the conference since Ralph Sampson's senior season in 1982-83. Virginia earned a share of the ACC's regular season title that season.

"We've been hunting down teams at the top and now we're the hunted," said Reynolds, who also had seven rebounds and five assists. "We've just got to maintain and keep practicing hard and keep working hard and stay level-headed and just keep at it."

Virginia was battling complacency Saturday, just 48 hours after its momentous overtime win over No. 8 Duke, as much as it was battling Miami (9-14, 2-7), which has dropped six in a row.

"We were walking in the building today and people were saying 'congratulations' from Thursday night. They never said 'good luck' for today," Leitao said. "Dealing with success is as delicate as dealing with adversity, and that was our chore over the last couple of days."

"It was hard - I don't want to say to get up for it - but just to have the same intensity as we had Thursday," Reynolds said.

The Cavaliers' less-than-best effort still didn't produce a close of a game. They never led by fewer than 11 points after going into halftime with a 41-25 lead.

Virginia bombarded the ACC's worst team at defending beyond the arc, hitting eight of its 11 3-pointers before the half. Singletary, Reynolds and Diane combined to go 9 of 17 from long range.

The Cavaliers pulled away in the last 11 minutes of the first half, outscoring the Hurricanes 20-7 and holding them without a point for a seven-minute stretch.

Miami shot just 29.4 percent in the half and 35.9 percent for the game. Jack McClinton led the 'Canes with 18 points off the bench but went 4-for-13 from the field.

Jason Cain had eight points and nine rebounds for UVa, which also got a pleasant scoring boost off the bench from freshman Will Harris, whose nine points were his most since a nine-point effort against Puerto Rico-Mayaguez in December. He had been averaging 2.8 points per game in conference play.

"Important for him. Very important for us," Leitao said. "I teased him about it. I asked him this morning, 'Could you give us just one basket ? maybe ? please?' But he never really lost his zest and enthusiasm. And that's the great thing about him."

With eight regular season games remaining, Virginia has already matched its win totals of last season, both overall and in the conference.

UVa made a brief foray into the Associated Press Top 25 poll earlier this season, slipping in at No. 25 after getting off to a 4-0 start only to lose to Purdue almost immediately after. The Cavaliers hope their stay atop the ACC standings isn't as brief.

"We need to try to embrace it," Leitao said. "We're not alone in first place, so we have to continue to fight. We have a very difficult game on Tuesday (at Maryland), so if we're not successful there, then there will be three days where we'll get to enjoy it."


 

Virginia Wins Sixth Straight To Move Into a First-Place Tie
Cavs Trio -- Singletary, Reynolds, Diane -- Account for 54 Points: Virginia 81, Miami 70
By Marc Carig
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 4, 2007; Page E15

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Feb. 3 -- Just before the Virginia Cavaliers jogged onto their home court Saturday night, a familiar song filled John Paul Jones Arena. The dramatic instrumental blaring from the speakers was from the soundtrack of "Rocky IV," and in the film, it played as the underdog prizefighter climbed toward a treacherous summit.

Perhaps it was mood music.

The Cavaliers, projected to finish eighth in the ACC in the preseason media poll, completed an impressive ascent of their own, beating the overmatched Miami Hurricanes, 81-70, to move into a tie with Boston College and North Carolina for first place in the league.

"We were hunting down teams at the top," Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds said. "Now we're the hunted. We just have to keep maintaining, keep practicing hard, keep working hard, stay levelheaded and just keep at it."

Earlier this week, the Cavaliers (15-6, 7-2) needed last-second heroics to beat Duke and Clemson. But on a day of upsets around the conference, the Cavaliers dominated from the opening tip-off Saturday against a beleaguered Hurricanes team that has been racked by injuries.

"We were walking into the building today and people were saying 'congratulations' from Thursday and never said 'good luck' for today," Virginia Coach Dave Leitao said. "So that's what we were dealing with from a mental standpoint."

Virginia's offensive triumvirate -- Reynolds, Sean Singletary and Mamadi Diane -- all reached double figures in points by halftime, when the Cavaliers held a 41-25 lead. While the crowd of 14,856 showed signs of an emotional hangover after the Duke breakthrough -- never approaching the decibel levels reached during the stunner of the Blue Devils -- the Cavaliers smoothly resumed their blitz.

At one point, the Cavaliers scored 16 straight while keeping Miami scoreless for nearly seven minutes. Miami entered allowing its last three opponents to shoot 52.4 percent from three-point range, a troubling sign against a Cavaliers backcourt that enjoys shooting from long range. The combination yielded a predictable result.

Virginia closed the first half shooting 8 of 16 from three-point range and maintained a double-digit cushion the rest of the way to win its sixth-straight ACC game, the school's longest conference winning streak since the 1994-95 team won six straight.

"It was a high for us," Singletary said about bouncing back from the Duke game. "We just didn't let it get too high. We quit the joking on and off the court. We went about our business and it paid off."

The Cavaliers will try to make it seven straight Tuesday at Maryland.

Singletary paced the Cavaliers with 22 points, including 4 of 6 three-point attempts, while Diane added 14. Reynolds finished with 18 points and six rebounds and didn't show signs of the leg cramps that affected him against Duke.

Meantime, the freefalling Hurricanes (9-14, 2-7 ACC) dropped their sixth straight and seventh in their last eight.

After completing a perfect week, the Cavaliers likely will enter their matchup against the rival Terrapins ranked in the Top 25 polls for the first time since the start of the season. Virginia garnered 11 votes in last week's Associated Press poll and none in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' poll.

But more importantly, the Cavaliers opened the second half of its conference schedule atop the league, a fact that Leitao gladly acknowledges while maintaining his team must be wary of losing focus.

"I think we've got to try to embrace it," Leitao said of reaching new heights. "We're not alone in first place so we've got to continue to fight."