OBSERVATIONS | RON GREEN JR.

• If today were selection day for the NCAA tournament, the ACC probably would get six bids, not the eight or nine for which several coaches have been lobbying. North Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech, Boston College, Duke and Maryland are in. Georgia Tech needs to win Thursday against North Carolina to get in.

• Duke-North Carolina games are always a big deal, but the first one always seems to be the biggest. The traditional regular-season finale -- Sunday in Chapel Hill -- always feels a notch down on the intensity meter because tournament time has arrived.

• One year from now, Charlotte will be one of the centers of college basketball. It starts with the CIAA tournament, then the ACC tournament rolls into town for perhaps the last time. Two weeks later, the city will host a regional final. That's some serious hoops.

• Something to look forward to: the prospect of a Davidson-Appalachian State championship game in the Southern Conference tournament -- with two deserving teams playing for one guaranteed NCAA spot, knowing it's probably the only NCAA spot the league will get.

• Best ACC game of this week might be Thursday night in Charlottesville, where Virginia hosts Virginia Tech. There might not be an ACC team with more attitude -- and it's meant as a compliment -- than the Hokies.

 

Cavs focus on rebounding
Whitelaw Reid / wreid@dailyprogress.com | 978-7250
February 26, 2007

One of Virginia coach Dave Leitao’s favorite things to do in practice is a boxing-out drill that looks closer to ultimate fighting than basketball.

In the drill, two players compete for a rebound and are allowed to do pretty much anything to each other in the process. The whistle only blows when one of the players overcomes the other’s Kung fu-like defense and is able to score a basket.

As Leitao says, the drill separates the men from the boys.

After Virginia’s 75-69 win over Georgia Tech on Saturday, Leitao will likely resort to the exercise when his team resumes practice.

This season, Virginia has outrebounded 17 of 27 opponents but was manhandled on the glass by Georgia Tech. The Yellow Jackets had an eight-rebound edge, but it seemed like much more. Georgia Tech’s big people had their way inside for much of the game against UVa.

“We weren’t nearly as physical and didn’t accept the challenge of being as aggressive as they were,” Leitao said. “It darn near cost us the game.”

The stat that says the most about Virginia’s performance:

6-foot guard Sean Singletary had a team-high seven rebounds.

Starting big men Jason Cain and Tunji Soroye combined for just nine rebounds, although they did come up big late in the game – Cain with an offensive rebound that tied the game, and Soroye with the game-winning putback with 32 seconds left.

Singletary said Soroye, who battled a sports hernia injury earlier this season, is improving.

“He’s been playing a lot better since [the win over] Maryland,” Singletary said. “He does a lot of the right things. He’s in the right position defensively and setting screens on offense, running the floor. That all plays a big part in winning.”

While Soroye’s game-winning basket was what everyone was asking him about afterward, his defensive play on Ra’Sean Dickey two minutes before was just as huge. Soroye broke up a Dickey pass that led to Cain’s game-tying basket.

“They had had done the same [play] like five times, so for the fifth time I just kind of timed the ball and was looking at his eyes,” Soroye said. “I just put my hands up and luckily for me I got the deflection.”

Despite his team’s strong play down the stretch - a

13-0 run that shocked Georgia Tech - Leitao isn’t too anxious to see the Yellow Jackets again.

“They’re difficult to play right now because they have skill on the perimeter with [Javaris] Crittenton and [Anthony] Morrow and [Thaddeus] Young, and skill on the interior with Dickey,” he said. “They play off each other very well.”

Shorter bench

For the first time this season, Leitao only used nine players. Squeezed out of his rotation for the Georgia Tech game were Lars Mikalauskas and Solomon Tat.

Leitao said both were healthy. He just chose not to play them.

Leitao said he was trying to get as much offense on the floor as possible versus Georgia Tech.

“I think [Mamadi Diane] and Adrian [Joseph] gave us a better chance to make perimeter shots than Solomon,” he said.

Cardiac Cavs

Rapper L.L. Cool J, who recorded the song “Don’t Call it a Comeback,” would have to be a fan of Virginia basketball this season.

UVa has had several memorable comebacks.

In the season opener, the Cavaliers overcame a

19-point first-half deficit to defeat Arizona.

On Jan. 28, they came back from 16 points down in the last 8:47 minutes to win at Clemson.

On Saturday, the Wahoos came from seven down in the final 3:41 to shock Georgia Tech.

How does the latest comeback rank?

“Besides Clemson,” Singletary said, “that might have been one of our best of the year.”

Home-court advantage

For a good portion of Saturday’s game, Virginia fans seated behind the baskets waved shiny silver signs. The signs seemed extremely distracting to Georgia Tech free-throw shooters, and the fans were subsequently issued two warnings over the P.A. to stop waving them because they were against ACC rules.

“That was a great idea,” said Leitao, laughing. “We have to do that across the country. It had a short lifespan. It went the way of the red dot, but it was a great idea. It was just our fans being innovative to help and support us.”

Leitao was then informed that the signs were given to the fans as they entered the building.

“Touché to Todd Goodale in marketing then,” he said, smiling.
 

Looking for a third option
Clayton O'Toole, Columnist

Sports journalism isn't rocket science. Typically, it involves a relatively knowledgeable person watching a game live and then reflecting on that game in an objective (game story) or subjective (column) manner. After four years watching Virginia basketball, I usually have little trouble identifying the good and bad following a Cavalier game.

That said, I have absolutely no idea what happened Saturday afternoon at The John. Apparently, Virginia defeated Georgia Tech by six points, secured a first round bye in the ACC Tournament, and (for all intent and purposes) officially stamped its ticket to the Big Dance. As for the game itself? I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Apparently, I'm not alone.

"For the life of me," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said after the game. "I'm not sure what just happened."

Saturday afternoon Virginia played six wonderful minutes of basketball -- the first three, and the last three. Miraculously, six minutes were enough for the Cavaliers to defeat a high-quality Yellow Jacket team and keep Virginia undefeated at home in ACC play.

All season long, the mantra surrounding the coverage of Virginia basketball has been finding a third option. Virginia simply had to have a third scoring threat to beat quality teams late in the season. Everyone in the country knew Singletary and Reynolds were going to be special this year. Before the season even started, most had anointed them the top backcourt in the ACC. They certainly have not disappointed, as both have carried the team at different times, and both should earn first-team All-ACC consideration.

Here's a statistic for you: How many teams in NCAA Division I basketball have two players averaging over 18.5 points per game? Answer: Three. Hofstra, VMI and Virginia. In case you were curious, Hofstra plays in the Colonial Athletic Association against the stifling defense of JMU, and VMI plays nightly in the Big South against the likes of Charleston Southern. I don't mention this to demean either VMI or Hofstra. Rather, I want to emphasize just how impressive Singletary and Reynolds have been this season.

Common sense -- and most basketball writers -- says Virginia needs a third option on offense to make a deep run in either the ACC or NCAA tournaments. For the first time Saturday, I started to question this supposed common sense. Georgia Tech is no slouch of a team. While it may see its bubble burst come March, the Yellow Jackets are big, strong and athletic, and should be a terror in the ACC for the next couple of years. In fact, I would venture to say this Yellow Jackets team is probably better than a quarter of the teams that will go dancing next month. I say this to illustrate my point. The Cavaliers had two great basketball players Saturday. Yes, there were small contributions by other players (namely Cain and Soroye down the stretch), but for the better part of the game, it was Singletary and Reynolds versus the world. And you know what? Virginia's duo won.

"I need to look at it all over again because it just happened in a blur," Leitao said after the game. "But thank goodness we have [Singletary and Reynolds] and thank goodness Tunji can make a lay-up."

I may not be entirely sure how we managed to pull out a win Saturday. But I know a couple Virginia players and one Virginia coach that have a pretty good idea.

 

Banner clash
Virginia and Virginia Tech share the ACC lead with UNC heading into Thursday's game.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129

It took three calls to the ACC office Monday to determine that, in fact, the ACC does recognize a regular-season men's basketball champion.

After first saying that there was no award "that I'm aware of," assistant commissioner Brian Morrison found mention of a trophy on page 67 of the ACC's operations manual.

Apparently, technicalities do not matter to Virginia and Virginia Tech, who will meet at 7 p.m., Thursday in Charlottesville with at least a share of first place on the line.

"I don't know if they give you a banner," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said. "But, if you win it, you'll definitely hang one. You'll create one.

"You go to North Carolina and they've got ACC regular-season banners up there."

With one week remaining in the regular season, the Cavaliers and Hokies have 10-4 records in ACC play, the same as preseason favorite North Carolina. The Hokies will clinch the top seed in the ACC Tournament if they win their final two games.

Tech was a preseason choice for sixth place at the ACC's Operation Basketball media poll in October and Virginia was selected eighth.

One of the Virginia teams will hold sole possession of first place, at least momentarily, before North Carolina tips off with host Georgia Tech at 9 p.m. Thursday.

"You're 80 minutes away from a chance to win the ACC championship," Greenberg said. "I think that's pretty cool."

Actually, the conference champion is the team that wins the ACC Tournament, scheduled for March 8-11 in Tampa, Fla.

Virginia coach Dave Leitao, in his second season as the Cavaliers' coach, did not sound as if he were aware of the distinction.

"When you've got to grind it out over 16 games and eight or nine weeks, if you ask any coach, I think they would tell you that that's truly the measure of calling somebody a champion," Leitao said.

Greenberg and Leitao would have known the distinction if this were the early to mid-1970s, when only the ACC champion -- the tournament champion -- received a bid to the NCAA tournament.

Now, it's assumed that 21st-ranked Tech (20-8), which jumped back into The Associated Press poll Monday, and unranked UVa (19-8) will make the NCAA field. No ACC team with 10 conference victories has stayed home since the NCAA field was expanded to 64.

"The best feeling is going to Tampa and knowing we're in," Greenberg said, "but then you start thinking, 'Are we in for sure?' I've got to believe we're in."

The Hokies close out the regular season Sunday, when Clemson visits Cassell Coliseum for a 1 p.m. tipoff. Virginia goes to Wake Forest for a 1 p.m. game Saturday.

The final regular-season ACC game will send Duke to North Carolina for a 4 p.m. Sunday start.

Virginia Tech and Virginia were non-conference rivals until 2004-05, when the Hokies joined the ACC and the teams started playing twice a year in basketball.

Tech finished in fourth place in its first season in the ACC, but the Hokies haven't played in the NCAA tournament since 1996. UVa hasn't received an invitation since 2001.

"It's two teams that nobody thought would be playing for something this important the last week of the season," Greenberg said. "It's a testament to our kids and it's a testament to Virginia. People think there's this great, great animosity, but I admire those [Virginia] kids.

"When you talk about the big picture, we probably wouldn't be in this position, in this league, without the support of Virginia."

Virginia's lone ACC championship came in 1976, when the Cavaliers won the ACC Tournament as a seventh seed. They either won or shared the regular-season title for three straight seasons, 1981-1983, but their best regular-season showing in the past 23 years is a four-way tie for fourth in 1995.

"I think one of the things that comes to light, from our vantage point, is the way University of Virginia basketball was perceived when I got here," Leitao said. "One of my chores and tasks was to enhance that feeling. This late in the year, to be playing for first place, hopefully it shows that we've done a lot to change that perception.

"Traditionally, other schools have controlled the mind-set of people in this league, particularly at this time of year. So, I think it's a tribute to both schools. It should be a fun night."
 

U.Va. cashing in on arena even when Cavs hit road
By ED MILLER, The Virginian-Pilot
© February 27, 2007

CHARLOTTESVILLE - You never know who you might bump into in the hallway at John Paul Jones Arena these days.

In the nearly nine months since the arena opened, Darlene Craig, a longtime secretary in the University of Virginia's athletic media relations department, has glanced out her office window near the arena floor and seen wrestlers Hulk Hogan and Ric "Nature Boy" Flair stroll by. She also spotted a sinewy man with long dark hair and tattooed arms she couldn't identify but assumed must have been a worker of some kind.

It was Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

A crowd of nearly 13,000 watched Kiedis and his bandmates perform that evening, and though fans probably didn't know it, their ticket sales will indirectly benefit Virginia's sports teams.

Revenue from concerts and other non-basketball events covers the roughly $3 million annual operating budget on the $129 million arena, where the Cavaliers are unbeaten in ACC play this season. Any profit from those events goes into a fund for maintenance and improvements to the arena, keeping it spiffy for fans and future basketball recruits.

It's the sort of relationship between college athletics and entertainment that exists at other venues, like Old Dominion's Constant Center, but on a bigger scale. Virginia's new building is the largest arena in the state.

Built with private funds, the arena was regarded by some as an expensive gamble. Its total cost is projected to be $191 million, including costs for audio-visuals, a dining hall, fund-raising expenses and interest on bonds over 20 years.

Thus far, anyway, it has been a roaring success, on track to exceed attendance and revenue goals for both basketball and non-basketball events.

"The John Paul Jones Arena is the buzz of central Virginia," said Todd Goodale, the school's director of marketing and video services.

Earlier this month, a concert industry group called Pollstar voted the arena the nation's best new concert venue. Billy Joel played last week, the country group Rascal Flatts the week before. Eric Clapton, James Taylor, the Dave Matthews Band and country stars Kenny Chesney and George Strait have also stopped through. The arena has hosted professional wrestling, "Disney on Ice," the circus, and other events that would have never played University Hall, the 40-year-old arena it replaced.

On the court, Virginia is the only ACC team unbeaten at home in conference play. A crowd of 14,564 watched the Cavaliers beat Georgia Tech Saturday afternoon. Virginia drew crowds of 15,219 for Arizona and 15,169 for Duke. Another huge crowd is expected for Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

Nervous about their ability to fill the new venue, athletic department officials set an attendance goal of 11,000 per game. With one home game left, U.Va. is averaging 13,433.

Revenue from men's basketball tickets is expected to be about $3.6 million, more than twice the $1.74 million taken in last season at 8,392-seat University Hall. Basketball will turn a profit, though it is unclear exactly how much. Jon Oliver, executive associate director of athletics, said he will not have a full accounting of the building's expenses until the end of the season.

Money from men's basketball goes to support many other sports that don't pay for themselves.

Virginia has had to spend money to make money at the new building, pumping roughly $500,000 into marketing, halftime entertainment and in-game promotions.

"It is light years ahead of what we were doing at U-Hall," Oliver said.

At the new arena, there's rarely a quiet or unfilled moment during a game. T-shirts are fired from cannons or dropped via parachute from the rafters, a "smile-and-smooch" camera encourages couples to pucker up, highlights play on the scoreboard video screen, fans can participate in a variety of promotions and contests.

All the bells and whistles would not mean as much if the arena were not still a novelty and the Virginia team was not enjoying its best season since 2001, playing an up-tempo style that showcases two of the best guards in the nation, Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds.

Singletary, who played two seasons at University Hall, said the new arena has exceeded his expectations.

"Our fans have been incredible, giving us great support," he said. "In return, we give them wins."

A winning team and new arena have also spurred an increase in student attendance - from about 1,200 per game at U-Hall to 2,300 at the new building. About 8,000 seats are taken by season-ticket holders, many of them donors to the Virginia Athletics Foundation who have paid as much as $250,000 for courtside seats for 20 years.

At those prices, $500 for the best seats for Justin Timberlake, who is coming next month, looks like a bargain.

The building's concert marketing is handled by SMG, an entertainment and concert venue management company that receives a $120,000 annual fee from the University to manage the building. SMG can make more money if it meets revenue targets.

The university's contract with SMG set a first-year gross revenue target of $3.63 million for non-basketball events. The arena should exceed that goal, with an expected take of about $4 million, said Rich Kovatch, the university's associate vice president for business operations.

Larry Wilson, the building's general manager, said the company has tried to book shows to appeal to fans of different musical genres and all walks of life.

"If you can sell tickets, you can get the shows," he said. "It's a combination of marketing, a beautiful facility, and the act."

Wilson flew to Los Angeles to pick up the Pollstar Award, which is voted on by agents and promoters. Just a week later, Oliver headed to Las Vegas for the NBA All-Star Game to "steal ideas," he joked. "I can't guarantee wins," he said. "But I can do my best to make sure people have a great time."

Both Oliver and Wilson are already looking ahead to next season, when the novelty of the building will have worn off a bit, tickets could be a harder sell, and, in time, maybe even celebrity sightings could become more routine.

 

Is the ACC really worthy?
Dave Fairbank
February 27 2007

Thank goodness that college basketball has a hundred computers and a jillion experts to dispute what our guts and our lyin' eyes tell us.

The microchips and the talking heads say that the Atlantic Coast Conference is the nation's No. 1 league. Come Selection Sunday, they're saying that at least seven ACC teams, and perhaps as many as nine, will make the NCAA tournament.

It's an unprecedented show of depth and muscle, we're told, since the ACC never has had more than six teams in the field.

Maybe they're correct. Maybe that's how it plays out. Maybe the ACC is the best league in the country.

But allow Mr. Skeptical to stumble into Blasphemy Land for a minute and wonder if the Emperor is, if not unclothed, then parading around in a fetching little thong.

Look at the top of the ACC standings. One of the three teams tied for first, Virginia Tech, can't touch a North Carolina State team that's barely over .500.

One front-runner, Virginia, would be a worthy challenger to Winthrop in the Big South were it not for Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds.

Seven of the top eight players on the third team, North Carolina, are freshmen and sophomores with superior talent balanced by some of youth's attendant headaches and inconsistencies.

Just below them is a Boston College team that lost its emerging monster of a center in mid-January, yet still has a shot at a share of the league title.

And just below them is the annual power, Duke, that fields its hands-down worst team in a decade, but still figures to land a fairly high seed in the NCAA tournament because ... because ... umm, we'll get back to you on that.

Throw in Maryland and Clemson teams that passed each other on the elevators, and Georgia Tech and Florida State teams with as many shortcomings as gifts, and here we are.

This isn't to say that the ACC has completely lost its groove. There are athletes galore and interesting teams because, after all, it's the ACC.

The league's present standing is based on a slew of quality non-conference wins, from top to bottom.

Carolina beat Ohio State, Tennessee, Kentucky and Arizona; Duke beat Georgetown and Air Force; Virginia beat Arizona and Gonzaga; Florida State beat Florida; Georgia Tech beat Memphis; Maryland beat Michigan State and Illinois; even Wake Forest bounced Vanderbilt and N.C. State defeated a 19-win Michigan team.

For stat geeks and bubbleheads, the ACC is 17-13 (.566) versus the top 50 in non-conference games in Jerry Palm's Rating Percentage Index and a robust 42-23 (.646) versus the top 100 (This, by the way, is how Duke will get a higher seed than its talent would indicate it deserves).

Still, there's a sense this year's ACC doesn't measure up to years past, particularly at the top, no matter how many teams it lands in the NCAA tournament. It may be a case of the guy with the '88 Buick wagon looking better and better because everybody else is on a bicycle.

Virginia Tech's 3-0 record against North Carolina and Duke, and its 3-2 record against the conference's three bottom feeders speak to unpredictability that you wouldn't expect from a team with veteran leadership.

And when would a team with only two dependable players, neither of whom stands taller than 6-foot-3, be in first place at this stage of the season in the nation's best basketball conference? The answer, of course, is never.

Virginia's place atop the standings and 10 wins are due in part to the evils of ACC expansion and an unbalanced schedule, as well as to the remarkable seasons of Reynolds and Singletary.

The Cavaliers had to face North Carolina, Boston College and Duke only once each, while playing six games against the ACC's bottom three of Miami, Wake and N.C. State.

That doesn't diminish what Virginia has accomplished this season, nor does it figure to affect the Cavs' NCAA bid.

It simply illustrates that in today's ACC, all successful seasons no longer may be created equally.

Further griping along these lines registers fairly high on the Geezer-o-meter, along with reminiscing about meatier blue crabs and $1.75 gasoline, so we'll stop here.

Just know that you're still permitted to trust your own eyes and memory over computers, no matter what Bill Gates tells us.
 

Call Ripley: Cavs, Tech share No. 1
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Feb 27, 2007

Take a peek at the latest ACC basketball standings and pinch thyself. That's not a typo. That's not a mirage. That's Virginia and Virginia Tech tied for first place (along with some intruders from Chapel Hill), and for this way-cool moment, we should give a round of applause for a couple of jobs well done.

In a weekend of breakthroughs - General Assembly passes a roads bill, Scorsese clutches an Oscar - Cavs and Hokies atop the ACC with two games to go rates right up there.

Plus, they tangle Thursday night in Charlottesville. Meaning one of them is guaranteed to remain first on the grid heading into the final turn. Further meaning, since both will be favored in their windups - U.Va. at Wake Forest, Tech home against Clemson - one of them has a good shot at staying there.

Plus, Part Deux: Both Tech and U.Va. are bound for Selection Sunday and their first joint appearance on an NCAA drawsheet since 1986.

And what's not to celebrate about that?

"I think it's great for basketball in the commonwealth," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said yesterday. "It's exciting for Virginia. It's exciting for Virginia Tech. It's exciting for anyone who follows basketball in the commonwealth."

This wasn't predicted to happen, you know. North Carolina was supposed to slam-dunk the ACC. Duke was thought to be gilt-edged, as usual. Tech and U.Va.? They were picked sixth and eighth - partly on merit, partly on body of work.

The Cavs, for instance, finished first in 1981, Ralph Sampson's sophomore year, and tied for first in 1982, 1983 and again in 1995. But in 54 seasons in the league, this'll be just their 12th venture above .500.

As for Tech, it hasn't had a first-place showing to brag on since it ruled the Southern Conference in 1960 - a half-dozen years after all those Wolfpacks and Blue Devils broke away to form the ACC. The Hokies did tie for first in the Atlantic 10's West Division in 1996, but they've since bounced to the Big East and ACC without an above-.500 conference record till now.

For this opportunity, they owe their rival's expansion-crunch lobbying efforts big-time - and Greenberg knows it.

"If you look at the big picture," he said, "we wouldn't be in this position in this league probably without the support of Virginia."

If you look at the AP poll, you'll find Tech in the Top 25 and U.Va. on the cusp. They haven't been ranked at the same time in that survey since they were 21 and 22 on Dec. 26, 1995 - Tech whipped the Cavs two days later in Roanoke - and while it'd be sexy if poll position were at stake again, its absence doesn't diminish the strides these teams have taken.

"This late in the year, when you're playing essentially for first place, it hopefully means that we're doing a lot to change the perception people had a few years ago [about U.Va.'s program]," said Cavs coach Dave Leitao. "Virginia Tech is doing the same thing. It's a tribute to both schools, and it should be a fun night."

Could be meaningful in other ways, too. Greenberg and Leitao are faves for coach of the year - but one candidacy will be damaged Thursday. U.Va.'s Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds and Tech's Zabian Dowdell are worthy of all-ACC plaques - but one might take a head-to-head hit.

And there is that matter of first place.

Who knew so much would be on the line for Hokies vs. Cavs?

"This league should have been ours from Day 1," UNC guard Bobby Frasor told reporters after his squad's Sunday loss at Maryland.

Instead, on Day 111, the Tar Heels found themselves in a three-way tie.

How 'bout them apples?

Virginia apples, of course.

 

ACC NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch Feb 27, 2007

THOUGHTFUL GESTURE: Sidney Lowe spent Wednesday night in a Chapel Hill, N.C., hospital. His visitors included North Carolina coach Roy Williams.

Lowe, N.C. State's first-year coach, suffered dehydration Wednesday during the Wolfpack's game against the Tar Heels at the Smith Center and was taken to the hospital after the first half. He was released Thursday morning.

"It was a very nice thing that he did," Lowe said yesterday on the ACC coaches' teleconference when asked about Williams' visit.

"He left the game and came directly over there and really gave me some encouraging words and wisdom . . . then he was actually there the next morning to check on me, and then he called me in the office."

Lowe had been dealing with flu-like symptoms leading up to the game in Chapel Hill and began feeling faint at halftime. The former N.C. State star said he plans to to adjust his work schedule to ensure he gets a break from his coaching responsibilities each day.

LOOKING AHEAD: After the weekend's results, most bracketologists are projecting six ACC teams as locks to make the NCAA tournament: No. 8 North Carolina, No. 14 Duke, No. 21 Virginia Tech, No. 24 Maryland, Virginia and Boston College. Three others -- Georgia Tech, Florida State and Clemson -- also could earn at-large invitations if they finish well.

For the league's other three teams, the only way to get to the NCAAs this year would be by winning the ACC tourney. But two of them N.C. State (4-10, 14-13) and Wake Forest (4-10, 13-14) -- could play themselves into the NIT.

If State doesn't win the ACC tournament, Lowe said, a trip to the NIT would "be extremely important, an accomplishment, I think, for these kids, because of the adversity they've gone through."

Wake coach Skip Prosser said the NIT would be a valuable experience for his players.

"I think the more practice time you have, the better," Prosser said. "Practice time is special. Every minute is like gold."

REPEAT: For the second straight week, Maryland's D.J. Strawberry has been named ACC player of the week. A senior guard, Strawberry averaged 18.5 points, four rebounds and three assists in wins over Florida State and North Carolina.

For the third time this season, the ACC rookie of the week is Duke's Jon Scheyer. The freshman guard averaged 14.5 points and 4.5 in road victories over Clemson and St. John's.

Maryland coach Gary Williams said Strawberry, whose father is former baseball star Darryl Strawberry, has "done what you want your senior leaders to do: He's stepped up."

Strawberry missed much of his sophomore season with a torn ACL. That gave him a "chance to watch, a chance to see what it took as the good teams came through here," Williams said. "He used that to become a better basketball player."

CHASING PERFECTION: Virginia is the only ACC team that has not lost a conference home game this season. Heading into its Thursday night showdown with Virginia Tech, U.Va. is 7-0 in ACC play at John Paul Jones Arena. Overall, the Cavaliers are 15-1 at home this season, having lost only to Stanford, 76-75 on Jan. 7.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the place," Hokies coach Seth Greenberg said. "I hear it's magnificent. . . . It seems like every tape I watch when [the Cavs are] playing there, they make every shot, so they obviously like it."

Miami upset Virginia in Coral Gables, Fla., on Wednesday night. Three days later, the Hurricanes lost at Virginia Tech. So which team wins in Charlottesville this week?

"Oh, don't do that to me," Miami coach Frank Haith said yesterday with a laugh. "I know Virginia Tech got Virgina pretty good over in Blacksburg, I anticipate it being just a tight, hard-fought game. It's kind of a pick 'em."

THE GOOD AND THE BAD: North Carolina's Brandan Wright, one of the nation's top freshmen, averages 14.8 points and 6.4 rebounds. He's shooting an ACC-best 65 percent from the floor. From the line, however, the 6-10 Wright is shooting only 54.3 percent, and his struggles there contributed to Carolina's loss at Maryland on Sunday night.

"He is a youngster that's got to improve on that part of the game, there's no question about that," Roy Williams said.

FEAR THE TURTLE: The ACC's hottest team is Maryland. The Terrapins (8-6, 22-7), who missed the NCAA tournament the past two seasons, will take a five-game winning streak into their game at Duke (8-7, 22-7) tomorrow night.

"I think Gary is enjoying this team," Roy Williams said, "and I think they're enjoying each other much more so than they did the last couple of years."

IMMINENT RETURN: Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton said he expects to have sophomore point guard Tony Douglas back for the ACC tournament. Douglas, a transfer from Auburn, has been sidelined with a broken hand.

The Seminoles (6-9, 18-11) don't play again until Saturday's regular-season finale at Miami (4-10, 11-17). Hamilton didn't rule out the possibility that Douglas (13.1 ppg) might play against the Hurricanes. -- Jeff White
 

8 is enough for ACC tourney
Caulton Tudor, Staff Writer

The ACC seriously should consider returning to a three-day, eight-team tournament for men's basketball.
While the expansion to a 12-team league has created a disjointed regular season, the four-day tournament format adds eyesore to injury and does nothing to spur fan interest.

A system with essentially four play-in games at its beginning forever will be too flawed to be fixed.

At least four of the eight teams playing in the early round probably need to win the ACC Tournament to earn an NCAA bid. And that's only going to happen once a decade -- if then.

Since the ACC began playing an "opening round," only three teams -- N.C. State in 1997 and 2005 and Wake Forest in 2006 -- have prevailed on both Thursday and Friday. And only State, in 1997, won three games in a row. The Wolfpack lost to North Carolina 64-54 in the final that season.

Even worse, the favored teams on Thursday have little to gain and plenty to lose. A loss could be enough to deny those teams an NCAA bid.

That happened to No. 5 Florida State last season after an early round loss to No. 12 Wake Forest. Later that day, No. 6 Maryland blasted No. 11 Georgia Tech, but the Terrapins (8-8 in the ACC regular season) also were denied an NCAA invite.

Returning to an eight-team tournament would put emphasis on regular-season games.

If the bottom four regular-season finishers were eliminated from tournament consideration, league games in December and January would be marked by the same sense of urgency as those in late February.

Other than filling two ends of a television game appointment, why should the No. 5 ACC regular-season finisher have to play on Thursday? The same goes for No. 6. That amounts to punishment for two above-average teams that finished in the upper half in one of college basketball's most difficult conference.

But the real kicker is that few fans care. The television ratings for first-round games during conference tournaments are routinely terrible. It doesn't matter whether those games are in the ACC or a weaker league. Even the so-called "feature games," pitting No. 8 vs. No. 9, almost always are artistic and entertainment wipeouts.

The motto for first-round games should be "What happens on Thursday is forgotten on Thursday."

Years ago, when the ACC first was finding its basketball identity, the league tournament was unique and played a critical role in breeding regional popularity and national intrigue.

The time is right for the ACC to get inventive again and lead the movement back to a three-day, eight-team league tournament. It's the best way to spruce up the regular season and the only way to spare us from four of the ugliest games of the year.

 

Virginia continues home stand vs. VMI
Cavs host tough VMI team that already defeated Florida earlier this season
Paul Montana, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

After reeling off eight wins in eight days, No. 9 Virginia (10-1) looks to remain unbeaten at Davenport Field as they take on VMI (5-2) tonight. This game marks the ninth of a 12-game home stand for Virginia.

After the Cavaliers' three weekend starters dominated the Bucknell lineup in the last series, Virginia coach Brian O'Connor will have to decide between freshmen southpaws Jeff Lorick and Neil Davis for the start tonight. Each pitcher has made one start for Virginia, and both came away with victories. They were aided by a potent Cavalier offense on both occasions, as the team combined to score 29 runs in the two wins.

Whoever gets the nod Tuesday will have the delicacy of a 1.03 team ERA in his hands. The freshmen must not be fooled into thinking that this miniscule average is obtained by tallying a lot of strikeouts. As the weekend starters showed against Bucknell, the most important element to the starter's game plan is to throw strikes.

"We really put an emphasis on no walks [against Bucknell]," sophomore pitcher Jacob Thompson said. "We did great, we only walked three or four all series, and that helped us out a lot."

Virginia's starter will have to perform well, because VMI will likely give the ball to its ace, junior lefthander Trey Barham. In VMI's last series against Niagara, the team started two freshmen out of the usual rotation as it split the first two games before the series finale Sunday was cancelled due to inclement weather. This change allows VMI to match the experience of Barham with the explosive Cavalier lineup. Barham has a stellar ERA of 2.53 and leads the team with 11 strikeouts after two starts for VMI.

"Where I think they've really improved in their program is they've got really good arms now on the mound," O'Connor said. "They'll be a scrappy ball-club, and we're going to have to play very well to win."

What is most impressive about VMI is the manner in which they have won thus far. The Keydets took two out of three games from Florida, a perennial SEC powerhouse, to open the season and then made their debut at home by giving a 10-2 whipping to Bucknell, the same team that took Virginia down to the wire in two straight games last weekend. Unlike other opponents the Cavaliers have faced, VMI will field a starting nine Tuesday that the Cavaliers cannot afford to take lightly.

"You don't go down to the University of Florida and beat them the first two ballgames unless you've got a tough team," O'Connor said. "They're competitors, they're scrappy, they'll put the ball in play, they'll do the little things."

Leading the charge for the VMI offense will be outfielder and designated hitter Thane Smith. After missing all of last year and the first three games this year due to injury, Smith has emerged as the team's hottest bat. His .479 batting average and his astronomical slugging percentage of .714 both lead the team. Smith also leads all Keydets in stolen bases with three steals on three attempts, despite the delayed start to his season.

The Cavaliers will look to make this their ninth straight win in 10 days before getting a couple of days to recuperate. The team then wraps up their home stand with a series against Delaware this weekend, their last series against a non-conference opponent.

 

Falcons offer $2M to Schaub
By STEVE WYCHE
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 02/26/07

The Falcons plan to tender restricted free agent quarterback Matt Schaub a one-year qualifying offer of more than $2 million Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the situation told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Monday. Included in that tender is the requirement that if another team signs the highly regarded backup it must compensate the Falcons with first- and third-round draft picks.

The course of action is hardly a surprise. By tendering Schaub the highest possible offer with the attachment of hefty compensation, the Falcons are trying to discourage interest or at least get something in return if a team is willing to part with a hefty ransom to acquire the three-year veteran.

Schaub could be viewed by some teams as a starter who does not need to be groomed the way a draft pick would. For Atlanta, the 25-year-old is considered insurance for starter Michael Vick, who started all 16 games last season and 15 games in 2005.

In three seasons, Schaub has two starts and has completed 84-of-161 passes for 1,033 yards with six touchdowns with six interceptions.

The NFL's free agency period begins after midnight March 2.