Sean Singletary getting singled out
UVa guard seeing more attention from ACC defenders
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 12, 2007

In the wake of Virginia’s 84-57 loss to in-state rival Virginia Tech on Saturday, UVa coach Dave Leitao was asked about Sean Singletary’s sub-par performance.

Leitao said that Singletary had not practiced all week because he was sick, and that scouting reports were “catching up” to his star guard.

The comments were a little puzzling.

Singletary participated in the practice that media members were allowed to attend on Thursday.

And, hasn’t Singletary been the main subject of opposing teams’ scouting reports for the last two seasons?

“He doesn’t have as much freedom,” Leitao explained. “So he - and more importantly, we - have to diversify ourselves a little bit and find ways to get him some openings and take advantage of him because he doesn’t have the same freedom that he had a month ago.”

On Saturday, Singletary was neutralized by the Hokies’ Jamon Gordon. In the first half, he threw up several shots that would have to be characterized on any playground in America as “chucks.”

Clearly, he was pressing.

“I can feel it,” said Singletary, when asked about teams zeroing in on him. “Like last year when I got double- and triple-teamed, it was the same thing - but really it doesn’t have anything to do with us losing. It was with the energy we didn’t bring.

“I think we just had a mental lapse.”

Singletary, who had 13 points against the Hokies, came into the game averaging over 18 per game. However, he has not scored that many in four of his last five games.

Of course, with the team on such a roll - having won seven out of its last eight games - Singletary hasn’t been too concerned with his decrease in production.

He just wants to get back on the winning track.

“We’re going to get back to our old principles, like defense and ball pressure and things like that, and we can go on another run,” he said.

“We’re definitely going to go on another run. We’re not worried. This was a tough loss, but we didn’t come with our ‘A’ game.”

Tat still not healthy

Freshman Solomon Tat admitted that his right groin injury just won’t go away.

“I still feel sore a little bit,” Tat said. “I feel about 95 percent. I think I’ll be normal again, but it won’t be until after the season. I have to keep playing with it. My team needs me. Whatever way I can contribute - they need me out there.”

Tat showed positive signs in the loss to Tech. The Nigerian notched career highs in points (eight) and rebounds (six).

In addition, he continued to be, arguably, the team’s most aggressive defender.

“I had a talk with Coach [Friday night],” Tat said. “I had a lot of stuff I had to get off my shoulders that I was worried about. He just told me I have to let those things go and just go out there and play my game.

“When they recruited me, nobody expected me to get hurt. He wanted me to go out there and feel comfortable.”

Fastbreak Fest

One of the keys to Tech’s win was its ability to get out and run. The Hokies had 18 fastbreak points to the Cavs’ five.

Many of Tech’s breaks were ignited by blocked shots, where it held an 11-1 edge.

“We were just trying to get back on ‘D,’” Leitao said. “They were coming at us like gang busters - as fast as a team could run the ball up the court.”

Leitao said his team’s floor balance was terrible.

“When one of our guards penetrates, one of our guys on the weak side is supposed to rotate over,” Leitao said. “Those kinds of things really cost us.”

Rivals?

So, what about the Virginia-Virginia Tech rivalry? Don’t ask Leitao.

“You guys call it a rivalry,” Leitao told reporters. “Answer this question - who’s Virginia’s rival? It was Maryland the other day. It was Virginia Tech [Saturday]. It was Duke two weeks ago. It was North Carolina [on Jan. 10]. I don’t really know who our rival is. All I know is teams play hard.”

 

Leitao not too bugged by latest loss
By Jerry Ratcliffe / jratcliffe@dailyprogress.com | 978-7251
February 13, 2007

Scattershooting around the ACC, while wondering if Virginia’s basketball team has regained the intensity that it must have misplaced somewhere between Charlottesville and Blacksburg on Saturday ...

Speaking of that pounding down there, UVa coach Dave Leitao said it was nothing like the losses to Appalachian State and Utah in Puerto Rico. Instead, he gave Virginia Tech plaudits.

“We faced a team on Saturday that played as well as anyone has played against us in two years,” said Leitao.

The UVa coach seemed miffed that a scribe asked him about losing to a state rival.

Leitao wondered aloud just who Virginia’s rival is, mentioning that it already had been Maryland, Duke and Virginia Tech in recent weeks.

Truth is from this columnist’s observation over the past 25 years it’s mostly North Carolina, stemming from the Dean Smith vs. Terry Holland rivalries. However, with those coaches long removed, it’s probably the Hokies because of the in-state thing.

The ACC and Maryland have tried to force the Cavaliers vs. Terps series into a bigger rivalry than it probably is, at least in basketball.

However, if you polled UVa basketball fans only, it would probably reveal they have more disdain for Tech and Duke than any other teams, mostly because of the Blue Devils’ success over the past 20 years and the Hokies for obvious reasons.

Devils their due

Duke has not suffered a five-game losing streak under Mike Krzyzewski, well sort of, but that could happen if the Blue Devils lose at Boston College on Wednesday night (9 p.m.).

Duke, somewhat in jeopardy of missing the NCAA Tournament, lost six in a row in 1995, but that’s the season Coach K underwent back surgery at the very start of that streak and missed the rest of the season.

All the subsequent losses were given to assistant Pete Gaudet, rather than placed on Krzyzewski’s record.

The Duke coach was asked about the controversy on Monday, because some believe he should have been credited with all the wins and losses that season.

“To me, I think I should have been credited with all the losses [that season],” said Krzyzewski, answering his critics. “I don’t know, whoever they checked it with. The bottom line is, I’m, responsible even if I wasn’t there. It doesn’t make any difference to me. I wouldn’t want the wins, but you could give me the losses.”

Dean at his Dome

Hall of Fame coach Dean Smith has been retired since 1997, but he’s still the master of his domain.

He returned to North Carolina’s Dean Dome last Saturday for the school’s celebration of the 1982 and 1957 national championships. Smith coached the ’82 team, while the late Frank McGuire coached the ’57 “Perfect Season.”

There was thunderous applause when Sam Perkins and James Worthy were introduced and it was even louder when Michael Jordan came out. But they were all shown up by a white-haired Smith, who will be 76 on Feb. 28.

Smith and Jordan refused any interviews, but Jordan was spotted leaning over and planting a kiss on the side of Smith’s head when the coach was introduced to the crowd.

Hurtin’ Seminoles

Florida State, which hosts Georgia Tech tonight (see “Jackets’ drought” below), comes to Charlottesville on Saturday, but maybe not in the best of health.

Star forward Al Thornton complained of lower back pain after taking a tumble in Sunday’s close home loss to Boston College.

“I can take a couple of falls and be all right, but I don’t know about this one, man,” Thornton said. “It’s really aggravating me to walk.”

That could complicate things for FSU after it lost point guard Toney Douglas with a fractured wrist in last week’s Clemson game.

Coach Leonard Hamilton said Monday that Douglas definitely wouldn’t play at UVa, but then backtracked and said, that while you never can say never, he didn’t anticipate having his guard back.

“They didn’t give me a time frame, but I use the old cliché of four to six weeks,” said Hamilton. “But my medical degree is not valid.”

Douglas will first be placed in a hard cast and will be monitored closely as FSU attempts to make it to the NCAA for the first time since 1998.

Factoid of the Week

An unranked Maryland team has defeated a ranked Duke team in four of the teams’ last six meetings.

Stat of the Week

Home teams are 40-23 in ACC play this season.

Sign of the Week

Spotted in the stands at Maryland: “Beatin’ Duke: So Easy a Caveman Can Do It,” with a picture of the caveman from the popular Geico insurance commercials attached.

That wasn’t the only clever sign at Comcast, but we can’t print the other one in a family newspaper.

ACC MVP?

So, who’s your vote for ACC’s Player of the Year?

There’s a handful of guys making cases, such as Virginia’s Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds, Virginia Tech’s Zabian Dowdell, UNC’s Tyler Hansbrough, Florida State’s Al Thornton and BC’s Jared Dudley.

Dudley has been on a tear of late as the 6-foot-7 senior averaged 24.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the week. Against Miami he scored 11 of BC’s 13 points in taking over the game late and simply pulled the Eagles from behind at FSU on Sunday.

“Coach [Skinner] was designing all the plays for me and anytime I get the ball in those spots, I’m looking to score, but I’m also looking for my teammates,” said Dudley. “It’s a team game and I’m trying to pick and choose my spots when to shoot.”

Miami coach Frank Haith was impressed.

“When [Dudley] wanted to score, he scored,” said Haith. “In crunch time he just did what all good seniors do for their team. You looked at him, and he was like, ‘I’m not going to let us lose.’”

Jackets’ drought

Has it really been nearly two years since Georgia Tech won a road game?

The Yellow Jackets are approaching the two-year anniversary, having lost 17 in a row since winning at Miami on Feb. 27, 2005.

While Tech is 16-8, 4-6, they aren’t going to get into the NCAA Tournament without a road win in two years, so tonight’s game at Florida State (where they won on Feb. 20, 2005) is extremely important.

Tech has improved as has freshman point guard Javaris Crittenton, who has averaged 20 points, 6.0 assists and 5.7 rebounds over his last three games. But where the Jackets have really stepped it up has been on defense where they were so aggressive against N.C. State that Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe and guard Engin Atsur both griped about the physical nature of play.

“When we defend, we can play,” said Tech coach Paul Hewitt. “I’m not going to say with anybody, but we can play with the best teams in the country. When we don’t defend, we can get beat by anybody, and I mean anybody.”

Over the last three wins, UConn hit only 17 of 55 shots, while N.C. State connected on only 6 of 18 in the second half when Tech got in the Wolfies’ faces, and Clemson was but 12 of 33 in the second half.

Crunch time

There was no mistake that Clemson’s Vernon Hamilton went to the free-throw line eight times in the final 1:39 of the Tigers’ 71-58 win over Florida State last week. Hamilton had gone 7 for 20 against ACC foes.

This time he made five and made the Seminoles pay, much like his teammates, who used to look at the free-throw stripe with a certain amount of trepidation. Clemson, worst in the ACC in free-throw shooting at 59.3, hit 12 of their last 17 and 22 of 33 in the game to pull out the win.

“I just took a deep breath, stepped to the line and kind of got in a groove,” said Hamilton, the Virginia native who hails from Richmond.

Football recruiting

Virginia’s “Junior Day” is set for Feb. 24 and one of the players set to visit is Cameron Saddler, a 5-7, 150-pound athlete from Monroeville, Pa., where he was named first-team all-state and to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s “Fabulous 22” as a junior.

Saddler, who is also being recruited by Pitt, UNC, Kentucky and Notre Dame, said that “Virginia has been showing me a lot of love lately. They’ve been to the school, they’ve been in contact with me every other day, and Coach [Al] Groh sends me text messages every other day.”

UVa is recruiting him as a slot receiver, while UNC and Pitt want him as a defensive back.

Free throws ...

... During part of its festivities over last weekend, UNC named its basketball locker room in honor of Bill Guthridge, who succeeded Dean Smith for three seasons after serving as a Tar Heels assistant for 30 years. ... It’s been 17 years since Wake didn’t make postseason play of some sort, but the Deacs (11-13, 2-9) are definitely in jeopardy. ... Clemson is the only team in the ACC that hasn’t changed its starting lineup this season. ... Virginia leads the league in 3-point field goals per game with 8.0. ... UNC’s Brandan Wright could become only the third freshman to lead the ACC in field-goal percentage with a current .654, well above the freshman record of .626 set by Sam Perkins in 1981.

 

Baker biding his time
Transfer player sitting, waiting for UVa scholarship
By Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 13, 2007

One of the most interesting things to watch this basketball offseason will be how Virginia coach Dave Leitao allocates the team’s 13 scholarships for the 2007-08 season.

One of the people most interested in seeing how it all unfolds will be UVa guard Calvin Baker.

Baker, a transfer from William and Mary, has been walking on this season in hopes of earning a scholarship.

The problem for Baker is that Virginia - provided every underclassman returns and every player who signed a letter of intent enrolls - is already one over the limit.

And, UVa is still trying to add another big man to its freshman class, such as Huntington High’s Patrick Patterson.

Baker is staying optimistic.

“[Coach Leitao] really hasn’t mentioned anything to me,” said Baker, speaking after practice last week. “I haven’t talked to him about it yet. I’ll wait till the end of the season and see how everything plays out. A lot of players transfer and you never know what the circumstances are going to be at the end of the year, so I’m just waiting it out.”

For Baker, it’s been a tough wait.

Per NCAA transfer rules, the sophomore is only allowed to practice. In addition, the Hampton native, who played at Woodside High in Newport News, cannot travel with the team.

He can, however, sit on the bench in street clothes for home games. That’s where he’ll be tonight for Virginia’s non-conference tilt with Longwood.

“It’s hard because at practice every day you bleed, you sweat tears with the team,” Baker said. “I want to be out there with them so bad. They’re playing so good. But the players and coaches have helped me through it, like a family.”

Baker, who led the Tribe in scoring last season and was named to the Colonial Athletic Association’s All-Rookie Team, said he approaches every practice as if it were a game.

“If you don’t approach it like that, you could lose your rhythm,” he said. “That’s happened to a lot of players when they sit out a year, so I’ve taken the approach that this is my game, and by taking that approach I help [teammates] get ready for the games.”

Leitao has been pleased with Baker’s performance in practice.

“I’m happy with the way he’s approached things because it’s not easy for anybody to not be able to play in games,” Leitao said. “I’m encouraged what he’ll be able to do for us next season. As to the specifics, I’m not exactly sure yet. I won’t address that until the summer or sometime after that.”

Although the 6-foot-2 Baker has played exclusively at the point in practices - mainly because of the team’s lack of depth at the position - Leitao considers him a “combo” guard.

Sean Singletary said going up against Baker in practice has helped him.

“He’s a solid player,” Singletary said. “He shoots the ball real well. He makes you work every day. When you’re practicing as if it were a game situation, the game gets a little easier. I compliment him for that.

“He’s trying his hardest and trying to earn a scholarship. I think he’ll play in the ACC.”

Baker believes his game has jumped a couple of notches just by playing against Singletary and J.R. Reynolds. “I’ve learned a lot from watching what I think are the best guards in the nation,” he said.

Would Baker return next season without a scholarship?

“I would,” he said, “because I think if I didn’t get one next year, I eventually would. I’ve grown to love the team so much. It wouldn’t be right for me to just leave just because I didn’t have a scholarship.”

Dunks

Virginia (16-7, 8-3 ACC) leads the all-time series with Longwood, 1-0. UVa won last year’s game at University Hall, 91-56. … The Lancers (8-18) are coming off an 81-63 home loss to Florida Atlantic. … Leitao on the odd timing of playing Longwood - after 10 straight conference games: “Obviously Longwood is an independent team and needs to play games like this because they’re not in conference play,” said Leitao, whose team’s seven game winning streak was snapped Saturday at Virginia Tech. “After a loss, you need to come out with the same energy and intensity that you try and do normally. In this case, I think we have to concern ourselves - regardless of who we’re playing - with the things that we do well.” … Leitao said Singletary is feeling better following a bout with the flu.

 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Feb 13, 2007

DIFFERENT CIRCUMSTANCES: Saturday wasn't the first time Virginia has suffered an embarrassing loss this season. The Cavaliers, who were blown out 84-57 at Virginia Tech over the weekend, traveled to Puerto Rico in December for a tournament that many expected them to win.

Not only did the Wahoos fail to win the San Juan Shootout, they barely beat a winless Division II team to capture seventh place. U.Va. lost 80-69 to Appalachian State in the opening round and got hammered 94-70 by Utah the next day.

The loss to Tech, Virginia coach Dave Leitao said, bore little resemblance to the San Juan defeats.

"It's as well as anybody's played against us in the two years that I've been here," Leitao said yesterday of the Hokies' performance, "and it's as good a game as they've had."

On a day when the Hokies played with enough energy for three teams, U.Va. had none, and "it was a very, very important game for them, and they had a week to prepare," Leitao said. "So from a coaching standpoint as well as a physical standpoint, they were more than ready.

"I don't think we got that in Puerto Rico as much. We may have been as listless ourselves Saturday at different points and times in Puerto Rico, but the opponent was much, much different."

U.Va. (16-7 overall) hosts Longwood (8-18) tonight at John Paul Jones Arena. One of the few positives for Virginia in Blacksburg was the play of swingman Solomon Tat, who came off the bench to contribute eight points and six rebounds in 23 minutes - all career highs.

The 6-5, 220-pound freshman still isn't fully recovered from the groin injury that caused him to miss 10 games early in the season, but Tat looks increasingly comfortable on the court.

"He's unique in that he's a perimeter player that I don't know that, especially the first couple of years, we're going to get a ton of 3-pointers from," Leitao said. "Because of his strength, he doesn't blow by you with speed and quickness, but he can always get to where he wants to because he's so strong, and from 18 feet and in he can be very effective."

FINALLY: The latest Associated Press poll was released yesterday afternoon, and Boston College is back in the Top 25 for the first time since November. The No. 21 Eagles (9-2, 18-6) lead the ACC.

Asked earlier in the day about the fact that the ACC's first-place team wasn't in the top 25, Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said, "I think that's probably a mistake by whoever makes those decisions on who's ranked. I think they should take a closer look."

Duke (5-6, 18-7), which dropped out of the AP poll yesterday, plays at BC tomorrow night. The Blue Devils have lost four in a row.

AND THE WINNERS ARE: The ACC yesterday honored Boston College's Jared Dudley, Georgia Tech's Javaris Crittenton and North Carolina's Brandan Wright.

Dudley, a senior forward who leads the conference in scoring and rebounding, was named the ACC player of the week for the second week in a row and third time this season. In two road victories, Dudley averages 24.5 points, 9.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Crittenton, a freshman point guard, and Wright, a freshman post player, shared the ACC's rookie-of-the-week award. Crittenton averaged 17 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists in wins over N.C. State and Connecticut. Wright averaged 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2.5 assists in victories over Duke and Wake Forest.

NO SURRENDER: Miami (3-8, 10-15) happily would accept a third straight invitation to the NIT, but that's not likely to happen. Still, the Hurricanes have persevered after losing several key players to serious injuries.

"You see so many ball clubs this time of year just pack it in, and I'm proud that our guys haven't done that," said third-year coach Frank Haith, whose team whipped N.C. State on Saturday. "We're undermanned, we're young, but we've still got a lot to play for."

UNFINISHED BUSINESS: Maryland (4-6, 18-7) visits N.C. State (3-7, 13-10) tomorrow night. The Terrapins, like several other ACC teams, including Florida State (5-7, 17-8), Georgia Tech (4-6, 16-8) and even Duke, have work to do to reach the NCAA tournament.

"Nothing's over for anyone," Maryland coach Gary Williams said. "Basically, you keep playing and try to get as many wins as you can."

Florida State, which narrowly missed making the NCAAs last season, has five regular-season games left, plus at least one in the ACC tourney.

"You control your own destiny if you keep winning, and that's what we're going to try to do," Seminoles coach Leonard Hamilton said.

OUT OF ACTION: Hamilton's top point guard, sophomore Toney Douglas, recently broke his right hand and isn't expected to play Saturday when FSU plays U.Va. in Charlottesville. Douglas is a transfer from Auburn, for which he scored 33 points in a Dec. 3, 2004, loss to Virginia at the Siegel Center.

Junior Ralph Mims has replaced Douglas in the starting lineup. Mims had nine points and two assists Sunday in FSU's 68-67 loss to visiting Boston College. - Jeff White
 

Will Duke just be a bubble team?
JOEDY McCREARY
Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. - Mike Krzyzewski had yet to establish himself as Coach K the last time he was on Duke's bench and the Blue Devils missed the NCAA tournament.

That was in 1983, when he was merely a little-known third-year coach with a tough-to-spell last name.

Now, 24 years later, Duke is hurting again. The Blue Devils have lost four straight games - their longest losing streak in 11 years - and are out of the Top 25 for the first time since 1996.

With Selection Sunday less than four weeks away, these young Blue Devils have some serious work to do to secure their 12th straight NCAA tournament appearance and avoid the shame of tumbling from basketball blueblood to bubble team - or worse, NIT participant.

"You have to concentrate on the job at hand, because if you don't take care of the job at hand, or don't attempt to do as well as you possibly can, then the big picture will always be not as good," Krzyzewski said Monday. "When you're coming off of losses, at times that becomes more difficult."

The losses are piling up at an historic rate for the Blue Devils (18-7, 5-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), who expected a mild downturn this year after the graduation of J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams, the top two scorers on a team that spent much of last season ranked No. 1.

But even though Duke has just one upperclassman on scholarship - and its eight-man rotation features four freshmen and three sophomores - not many experts expected this.

The Blue Devils on Sunday absorbed their most lopsided ACC defeat since 2003 when Maryland won 72-60, extending their longest slide since they lost four straight in January 1996.

The first two losses of that year's streak knocked Duke from the AP Top 25. The Blue Devils resurfaced at No. 10 in the preseason poll of 1996-97 and remained ranked for 200 consecutive weeks - the second-longest streak of all time - before it came to a screeching end.

They're eight points behind No. 25 Alabama in the latest rankings, marking the end of a string Krzyzewski called "a good stat thing."

A loss at Boston College on Wednesday would give the Blue Devils their first five-game losing streak since dropping six in a row during a miserable 1994-95 season.

"I don't know if there's any good time to catch Duke," Eagles coach Al Skinner said. "No one would have ever predicted that that was going to happen. ... I don't care if it's after one game lost, two games lost, three games - regardless of what they did, they're going to be prepared and play their tails off."

Duke opened 1994-95 with a 9-3 record before Krzyzewski left the team because of back surgery and exhaustion. Interim coach Pete Gaudet went 4-15 the rest of the way to cap a 13-18 finish.

Because those final 19 games went on Gaudet's record, a Krzyzewski-coached Duke team has never lost more than four straight.

"I should have been credited with all the losses," Krzyzewski said.

The first two losses of the present slide - against Virginia and Florida State - each came down to last-second shots. Duke led rival North Carolina for most of the way before fading, and Maryland pounced on the Blue Devils early and never let up.

"Is it lack of effort? Is it lack of belief? Is it lack of work? It's none of those things for our guys," Krzyzewski said. "They believe. They work hard. ... Maryland just kicked us back. But the other three games, we were in a position to win."

Barring a total collapse, the Blue Devils' quality nonconference wins over nationally ranked Indiana, Georgetown and Air Force probably should be enough to keep their RPI ranking high and earn them a spot in the field of 65.

Then again, a free fall remains a possibility - four of their final six games are on the road, where they're 2-3.

Krzyzewski said his players' hard work and self-confidence are the keys to getting back on track.

"Whether you have a veteran team, a young team, whatever you do, if you don't do it well or it is not successful for a series of times, you kind of wonder 'Will I be able to do it again?'" Krzyzewski said. "Hopefully in practice, you have the experience to say 'I will do that,' but the younger you are, the more you have to work on that, because it's not the substance there that has been with people that have done things for a long period of time."