Ready to take the plunge?
By Jeff White
Published: February 1, 2009

Without playing a game, the University of Virginia moved closer to the cellar in ACC men's basketball.

Georgia Tech, which U.Va. beat Dec. 28, stunned Wake Forest at Alexander Memorial Coliseum yesterday. The Yellow Jackets had been the only team without an ACC victory, but now they're 1-6 in league games.

The Cavaliers, 7-9 overall, are 1-4 in ACC play. By nightfall, their lead over Georgia Tech is likely to have shrunk again. That's because U.Va.'s opponent this afternoon is top-ranked Duke (5-1, 18-2), and the game is at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"I think anybody in America, young or old, good or bad, whatever, looks at going into that environment as a tremendous challenge," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

There are several games left that, on paper at least, look winnable for Leitao's team, starting Wednesday night with Boston College's visit to John Paul Jones Arena. Today, though, U.Va. might have to play well simply to avoid getting blown out.

Duke's prowess on defense is as impressive as its firepower on offense. In ACC games, the Blue Devils lead the conference in scoring defense and field goal-percentage defense. Duke, which lost Wednesday at Wake Forest, may not stay at No. 1 when the next Associated Press poll comes out, but its weaknesses are few.

"As I said before the season, I thought this was going to be the best Duke team since I returned," said North Carolina coach Roy Williams, who's in his sixth season back in Chapel Hill.

The Cavaliers haven't played since last Saturday, when they lost at home to Florida State, 73-62. Boos rained down on U.Va. several times during the first half, which ended with FSU ahead 30-16.

The loss was the fourth straight for Virginia. Difficult as it may be, sophomore guard Jeff Jones said, the Wahoos are trying to stay positive.

"We realize that it's not going to be easy, so we've just got to keep fighting," Jones said. "Every single night you play in this league it's going to be tough."

Jones, who started 25 games in 2007-08, has been relegated to reserve duty this season. He showed against Florida State, though, that he's capable of proving an offensive spark. Jones made two treys and scored eight points in 14 minutes.

"I'm always ready when my name is called," he said.

 

UVa draws hungry Duke team
By Whitey Reid
Published: February 1, 2009

According to Wikipedia, a slaughterhouse is a facility where animals are killed and processed into meat goods.

It says here that it can also be a place where one of the top teams in college basketball plays host to a squad that in the midst of a four-game losing streak and one that managed just three made baskets in the first half of its last game.

Yes, things certainly have the potential to get ugly when Virginia (7-9, 1-4 ACC) travels to Cameron Indoor Stadium this afternoon to play No. 1 Duke at 2 p.m.

Duke (18-2, 5-1), which figures to drop from its perch after a loss at Wake Forest on Wednesday, will be looking for blood.

Twenty-one point underdog Virginia, coming off a horrendous home loss to Florida State last Saturday, is the proverbial blood in the water.

The situation seems ominous, but UVa coach Dave Leitao says he hasn’t had to massage any psyches as his team prepares for one of its biggest tests.

“I think preparation for any environment, particularly when you go on the road, is important,” Leitao said. “For where we’re at and where we’re up to, you have to have as much mental preparation as you do physical preparation. I think that’s one of the focuses when

you have a young group and something you have to look at more closely than normal.

“But I don’t look at it as massaging people or coddling them or anything like that. … I think anybody in America — young or old, good or bad or whatever — looks at going into that environment as a tremendous challenge.”

Virginia hasn’t won at Duke since a double-overtime triumph in 1995 when Jeff Jones was the coach.

In last year’s 22-point loss at Cameron, UVa was too careless with the ball — and that was with senior All-ACC point guard Sean Singletary at the helm. In 2006, the Cavs — with both Singletary and J.R. Reynolds in tow — lost by 19.

Essentially, both of those games were over before they started.

That has also been a trend for Virginia recently. In each of the last four games, the Cavs have gotten behind by double-digit deficits in the first half.

“We seem like we have a knack for coming out lackadaisical,” said Virginia junior Jamil Tucker.

Clearly, that can’t happen today.

“It seems like we’re letting teams attack us, and then we’re fighting back,” said sophomore Jeff Jones (no relation to the former coach). “We have to attack them first and then keep attacking and don’t let up.”

Leitao has attributed many of his team’s woes to youth and inexperience. UVa starts three freshmen and a sophomore.

“We can’t use that excuse anymore,” said Virginia freshman Sylven Landesberg. “We’ve got to start learning quicker than we are.”

At the season’s outset, Landesberg was ahead of the learning curve. The McDonald’s All-American scored 20 points or more in seven of his first 11 games. However, the New York native has struggled in ACC play, scoring over 20 just once in his last five outings.

After the loss at Virginia Tech on Jan. 10, it seemed as though sophomore Mustapha Farrakhan would begin to contribute more consistently. However, Farrakhan hasn’t done much since his 17-point outburst and may have been overtaken in the rotation by Jones — one of the few Virginia players who could hit anything against FSU.

“You want to find out if it’s an aberration,” said Leitao when asked about Jones’ performance. “Jeff has pretty much practiced pretty well with regularity, but it hasn’t translated into game productivity. … I haven’t had a problem with his effort in practice — probably ever.”

Practice is something Virginia has had a lot of lately. Leitao has had eight days to prepare for the Blue Devils.

“Hopefully we’ve used [the] time wisely to improve ourselves,” he said.

Dunks

Duke leads the all-time series, 109-48. The Blue Devils won both meetings last season. … Sophomore Kyle Singler is Duke’s leading scorer (16.8 ppg). … Leitao pooh-poohed the idea of freshman John Brandenburg taking any of senior Tunji Soroye’s minutes. Soroye, even when healthy, hasn’t been able to contribute much this season. “It’s not like Tunji’s gotten a whole lot of minutes that John could pick up,” Leitao said. “They’re two separate entities, to be honest with you.” … Virginia is 1-26 all-time against top-ranked teams. The Cavs’ last win over a No. 1 came in 1986 when they beat North Carolina at University Hall. … Virginia has a 4-2 record on Super Bowl Sunday.

 

Duke gets another test from rested foe
By BRYAN STRICKLAND : The Herald-Sun
bstrickland@heraldsun.com
Feb 1, 2009

DURHAM -- Virginia has had a tough time so far this season, but the Cavaliers had some extra time to ponder their plight and plan their next step heading into today's game against top-ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

"We have eight days in the middle of the season," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said Monday, two days after the Cavaliers' game against Florida State and six days before today's game. "That's a little bit different and rare."

It doesn't happen often that teams get an extended break during the course of ACC play, but when it does, so far it's been Duke that can't catch a break -- either by chance because of how the ACC schedule sets up or by choice because of its own scheduling philosophy.

Today's game (2 p.m., FSS) will mark the 12th ACC matchup in which one of the teams is coming off of at least five days rest, and it will be the fourth time that Duke has drawn a team coming off such a break.

On Wednesday, Duke lost 70-68 to a Wake Forest team coming off six days rest. This Wednesday, Duke will visit a Clemson team with five days rest -- the Blue Devils' third consecutive but also their final such game.

During the ESPN broadcast of the Wake game, sideline reporter Heather Cox said that Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told her that beyond Wake's imposing size and star guard Jeff Teague, Krzyzewski was more concerned about the effect of the extra time that Wake had to prepare.

Come the end of the regular season, 22 ACC games will have been played that involve a team with at least five days off between games. Duke will provide the opposition five times, with UNC and Georgia Tech doing so three times apiece. Two ACC teams, Maryland and Boston College, have no meetings with ACC teams coming off extended breaks.

While that part of the equation is the luck of the draw, Duke's scheduling philosophy doesn't afford the Blue Devils the breaks between games that their ACC brethren enjoy.

From Jan. 15 on, ACC teams were scheduled to play a total of three nonconference games. Two of those are on Duke's schedule, a Jan. 17 victory over Georgetown and a Feb. 19 trip to St. John's. In the only other such game, N.C. State will host N.C. Central on Feb. 3.

Krzyzewski long has favored tough nonconference games over taking breaks in the heart of the ACC schedule, a philosophy that some have wondered about given the fatigue factor that has hampered some recent Duke teams down the stretch. But it's hard to argue with Krzyzewski's postseason success on the whole, and it's hard to say that anything would have been different come March if Duke played one or two fewer games.

It's also difficult to say whether teams playing after extended breaks, such as Virginia today, have a competitive advantage. So far this season, teams in Virginia's shoes are just 5-6 in their first game back, even with a rested Georgia Tech team's upset of No. 6 Wake Forest on Saturday.

The team coming off the break has been at home for eight of the 11 matchups, but six times, the rested team has had to face one of the quartet of ACC teams ranked in the top 12 of the latest AP poll.

NOTES -- Rested or not, the Cavaliers (7-9, 1-4 ACC) haven't had any success at Cameron for quite a while. The Blue Devils (18-2, 5-1) have won 12 consecutive home games against Virginia dating to a double-overtime loss in 1995. Duke has won 11 of the last 12 games in the series, regardless of venue. ... Duke is 3-2 on Super Bowl Sunday but lost its most recent two, including a 68-67 home loss to Florida State two years ago. ... Duke junior Martynas Pocius, who suffered a cut to a finger on his right hand Tuesday, is questionable. Pocius sat out the Wake Forest game.
 

Duke measuring up under the basket
Blue Devils rank third in ACC in rebounding margin
A.J. Carr - Staff Writer
Published: Sun, Feb. 01, 2009 12:30AMModified Sun, Feb. 01, 2009 05:38AM

In the darkness of Duke's 70-68 loss to Wake Forest Wednesday night, statistics weren't vital to the Blue Devils.

They had lost a heart-breaker in the final second. No other numbers mattered then. Yet that night the Blue Devils had again demonstrated they are capable of competing with -- and beating -- tough, tall opponents on the boards.

Against a Wake front line that included 6-foot-9 Al Farouq Aminu, 6-9 James Johnson and 7-0 Chas McFarland, the Devils outrebounded the Deacons 47-44, snaring 15 balls at the offensive end.

Overall, at a school that has long placed a premium on board scores, the Blue Devils have improved their basketball board scores.

Last season, Duke averaged 36.9 rebounds per game compared to its opponents' 36.8 recoveries. This year the Devils rank third in the ACC in rebounding margin (plus-7.3) behind behind Miami (8.6) and North Carolina (7.6).

"Rebounding is something we talk about every day,'' said associate head coach Steve Wojciechowski, who will exhort Duke to sustain that effort today against Virginia. "There's been a greater emphasis on it with this year's team. [And] we are a bigger and more physically mature team."

On Wednesday night, there was the relentless Kyle Singler battling through a thicket of Deacons' hands, arms and big bodies to grab 12 rebounds.

There was dauntless David McClure also snatching 12 in just 25 minutes. And there was leaping Gerald Henderson mixing it up inside and snatching eight boards.

That persistence has enabled the Blue Devils to score 319 second-chance points compared to their opponents' 190.

"We don't have a dominant rebounder, but we can be a good rebounding team,'' Wojciechowski said. "We've had a great attitude about rebounding. We've been hungry to pursue the ball. I think our guys realize for us to be as good as we can be, the final piece to a defensive possession is the need to get the ball. That's been an area [of] weakness the past couple of years."

The Blue Devils' drills are basically the same, Wojciechowski said.

They stage "war" type 5-on-5 competition, and one-on-one and two-on-two block-out sessions.

But maybe it's the "I'm gonna get the ball" mentality that has helped Duke outrebound 15 of its 20 opponents, including board-banging Georgia Tech (41-39), Georgetown (32-29) and Maryland (56-38). Conversely, Duke was out-dueled on the glass by Florida State (43-34) and N.C. State (36-25) but still won both games.

Individually, the versatile Singler sets the tone in workman-like fashion.

"He's not one of those high-flying, above the rim athletes," Wojciehowski said. "He just has a great will to rebound. If you listen to any of the great rebounders talk, that's the first thing they talk about -- the desire to go get it."

Zoubek (4.8), Henderson (5.1), Scheyer (3.7) and McClure (3.7) are other Devils who work the boards.

"We have plenty of guys who can rebound,'' Henderson said. "It's a matter of doing it."

And also rebounding today from Wednesday's first ACC loss to Wake.

Land of the losses
By Jerry Ratcliffe
Published: February 1, 2009

Dave Leitao has the unenviable task today of taking arguably the ACC’s worst team into the toughest place in America to try to steal a win.

Virginia is riding a four-game losing streak heading into Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium for a 2 p.m. contest with the Blue Devils. Making matters worse is that Duke hasn’t played since Wednesday night’s loss at Wake Forest, which at least temporarily deflated the Devils’ recently attained No. 1 national ranking.

Going into fabled Cameron is not the suggested place to go to work out problems. The ancient arena has not been kind to Virginia — nor much of anyone else over the years, especially once that coach Mike Krzyzewski got his program established.

The Cavaliers have lost their last 12 games at Cameron and have won only twice there in the past 25 years, the latest being a 91-88 double-overtime thriller in 1995. That win came over Pete Gaudet, an assistant coach who took the reins when Krzyzewski sat out most the season with health problems.

In many instances, UVa’s visits to Duke haven’t even been competitive. Some have been downright ugly, such as the 42-, 46-, and 44-point thumpings in the late ‘90s.

For the record, Virginia’s average margin of defeat in its past 22 trips to Cameron is 18.8 points per game. More often than not, past Cavalier teams have melted into a puddle of goo under the immense pressure.

While it’s more a case of Duke’s talent, there’s little argument that the Blue Devils are a different team at home than on the road. Over the past quarter century, there have been 20 years where Duke last lost two or fewer home games.

Talking with coaches who have taken teams to Cameron over the years, no one put the subject into words better than former UVa coach Pete Gillen, who beat Duke a couple of times with the Cavs and once with Providence, but never in Durham.

“It’s easy to get caught up in the avalanche if things aren’t going right,” said Gillen, who is now a college basketball analyst for CBS and still lives in Charlottesville. “If you’re not careful, it can become a tsunami.”

That’s what happened to some of Gillen’s Virginia teams and to those before him, Jeff Jones, and even one of Terry Holland’s teams.

Gillen believes teams have to show up with a determination to play extremely aggressive basketball and not back off once things get going. He said he regretted not enforcing that attitude more during his trips to Duke.

“You have to play that way because you know Duke is going to be like that ... they’re going to be holding you, grabbing you, bumping you,” Gillen said. “You’ve got to be really aggressive. Not dirty. Just physical and tough.”

The key is to establish respect early and counteract Duke’s physicality with your own just as Virginia Tech’s Seth Greenberg did in the Hokies’ first ACC visit to Cameron a few seasons ago. Gillen pointed to that game as a prime example of how a team should face the Duke challenge.

“You don’t take cheap shots, just be strong with the basketball, hard fouls, hard screens,” Gillen said. “As a coach, Seth did a great job in getting a technical. Sometimes you’ve got to get up there and say, ‘I’m not going to stand for this ... they nearly ripped my players’ arm off and nothing was called.’ You’ve got to get respect as players and a coach as early as possible.”

For years, ACC coaches have always felt, right or wrong, that they don’t get calls at Duke, that the Blue Devils get a strong benefit in that department.

With great players, a Hall of Fame coach, and great fans, the intimidation factor is great. If things aren’t going well, the legendary “Cameron Crazies” can unnerve a visiting team with their antics.

“It is a building with a soul,” Krzyzewski once said of Cameron.

A very loud soul.

Gillen and other countless coaches have told their teams to block out the fans, especially the face-painted, ear-piercing screaming students that wrap the playing floor. Easier said than done.

“I used to tell our guys, don’t worry about that, they’re just students who have been in the library reading all day,” Gillen said. “Just try to make it fun.”

However, nothing seems to deter the Crazies. Gillen almost stole an idea from former Notre Dame coach Digger Phelps once in order to handle the Duke crowd.

“What Digger did against UCLA, which was a tough crowd but not as tough as Duke, is he went over there and blessed the student section before the game,” said Gillen, who was Phelps’ assistant coach. “He blessed them a couple of times, gave them the big cross.”

“I was thinking about doing that at Duke a couple of times, but I didn’t ever get around to it,” Gillen chuckled.

He doesn’t recommend doing anything to antagonize the Crazies as Maryland’s Greivis Vasquez did recently when he said prior to the Terps’ visit: “That’s my house. I love playing on that floor. It’s going to be fun.”

Vasquez and the Terps lost by 44.

“You have to be aggressive and physical and you might not win, but at least you get their respect,” Gillen said. “You’ve got to have a special day to win there. You can’t turn it over, you have to make your free throws, you can’t miss layups. You have to fight for every possession and have to play real good defense. If you get an opportunity, you have to cash in on it.”

Few teams have been able to do that since Coach K got it going. Prior to that, UVa’s Holland had his way with the Blue Devils, especially during the Ralph Sampson years.

The Cavaliers swept Krzyzewski’s Duke team in a three-game set in 1983, the end of nine games of dominance over the Devils.

In fact, it was a 109-66 annihilation by UVa in the first round of the ACC Tournament that season that ruffled Krzyzewski’s feathers for eternity.

To this day, Holland swears he wasn’t trying to run up the score on Duke and produced a boxscore and other evidence that he pulled his starters, calling off the dogs.

The story goes that after that game, with the Blue Devils sitting around at dinner, someone stood and proposed a toast to forgetting that stomping. Krzyzewski jumped to his feet to counter the toast and said something like, “Here’s to never forgetting.”

His Devils went on to beat Virginia 16 straight times until 1990, when the Cavaliers finally won a home game against Duke.

Quoting one of Gillen’s favorite lines seems to fit today’s occasion when it comes to successor Leitao’s visit to Cameron.

“My name is Wes, I’ve got my own mess,” Gillen used to say about not concerning himself into other’s troubles.

Leitao does have his own mess in that his team is in a nosedive and is looking at an upcoming schedule of six games in 18 days that includes Duke and North Carolina on the road, Clemson and Virginia Tech in Charlottesville.

His team, ranked last in the ACC in both scoring defense and field goal percentage defense, and next-to-last in field goal percentage is taking on a Duke team that is holding opponents to under 60 points a game in conference play and leads the league in field goal percentage defense (.365) and 3-point field goal percentage (.243).

Leitao realizes that Duke’s smothering defense is something difficult to deal with.

“The way they pressure the ball, take away the passing lanes and dare you to find those driving lanes to make plays (Duke takes a lot of charges), is a challenge,” Leitao said. “You can’t afford to turn the ball over, especially this year, the difference being this crew is older, a more veteran group that’s been around. They have a pretty good feel and are able to read off of each other and support one another.”

Even throwing six or seven bodies on the floor in practice, something that both Leitao and Gillen have done to simulate Duke’s defensive presence, doesn’t do the Devils justice.

If all that isn’t enough, there’s another figure that comes into play today. Virginia has faced the nation’s No. 1 ranked team 27 times and lost 26 times.



 

A taunting task awaits struggling UVa guard
By Chris Lang
Sports writer
Published: January 31, 2009

Sammy Zeglinski’s last three games as Virginia’s starting point guard have been forgettable, to say the least. Zeglinski’s totals in those games: Eleven points on 3 of 17 shooting, two assists, 11 turnovers.

And if Zeglinski were looking for a friendly environment to bust out of his slump, he probably wouldn’t have chosen today’s venue. Duke’s Cameron Indoor Stadium has a way of eating opposing point guards alive.

But Virginia coach Dave Leitao has precious few options at the position, and he’ll probably have to ride Zeglinski’s slump out.

“I think he’s a battler, so he continues to come out and work hard,” Leitao said. “He continues to see each day as an opportunity to get better. With anybody who hasn’t played well — I think Calvin (Baker) was in that way before Sammy — it takes one good play, sometimes one good half, one good moment to regain confidence. That’s what he’s waiting on.”

The problem for Zeglinski, and other young players like Sylven Landesberg and Assane Sene, is that there isn’t much in the way of guidance to go on from the team’s seniors. Tunji Soroye isn’t playing. Mamadi Diane is himself trying to work his way out of a season-long slump. Zeglinski and Virginia’s other pups have had to find their own ways to break through their droughts.

“You can’t massage egos or coddle people or anything like that,” Leitao said. “This isn’t a league where you can survive if you have to do those things on a regular basis.”

Virginia (7-9, 1-4 ACC) catches Duke on the Blue Devils’ final day as the nation’s No. 1 team. (Presumably, someone else will rise to the top spot after Duke’s last-second loss at Wake Forest Wednesday.)

Only two teams from the six power conferences have fewer overall victories than Virginia — Oregon (6-14) and Indiana (5-14). The Blue Devils have handled Virginia with ease on their home floor of late, winning 12 straight at Cameron against the Cavs, all by double digits.

Virginia’s last victory in Durham was a 91-88 double-overtime victory in 1995.

What makes Virginia’s task even more difficult today is the level Duke is playing at defensively. The Blue Devils have held nine of 12 opponents to fewer than 60 points at home. Presbyterian, Virginia Tech and Maryland failed to reach 50 against the Devils.

“They pressure the ball and take away passing lanes and dare you to find those driving lanes to make plays,” Leitao said.

“You have to come with very, very good guard play. You can’t turn the ball over, especially this year. It’s an older, much more veteran group. They’re able to read each other very well and support one another. It’s not just their style, it’s their experience.”

 

Cavs get commit from in-state WR
By Jay Jenkins
Published: February 1, 2009

After losing an orginial commitment made by wide receiver Tyree Watkins last week, Virginia’s football team was in search of an additional pass-catching target.

That search produced a match Saturday.

Bobby Smith, a 6-foot-6, 200-pound wideout from Varina High in Richmond, verbally committed to Virginia during a recruiting trip to the school, sources confirmed to The Daily Progress.

Since Smith remained on his visit Saturday night, he was unavailable for comment.

As a senior at Varina, Smith stormed onto the national radar, catching 54 passes for 1,040 yards. He also hauled in 14 touchdowns.

Smith became the 24th player to verbally commit to the Cavaliers and the 22nd prospect that will count against the 2009 recruiting class (offensive lineman Hunter Steward, a verbal commitment, is slated to prep at Fork Union next year, and defensive end Will Hill enrolled earlier this month).

With Smith pacing the offensive attack with program-best numbers, Varina advanced to the VHSL Division 6 semifinals this season.

Smith’s recruitment picked up steam over the past month after Virginia was impressed with improvements that the prospect made in the classroom. Originally, Smith had announced his intentions to play at the University of Delaware.

Watkins followed a similar path, announcing that he would play at Virginia, but later changed his mind, selecting to play football at Duke.

 

Varina star picks Cavaliers
By Staff Reports
Published: February 1, 2009

Bobby Smith, a record-setting wide receiver at Varina, committed yesterday to play football at Virginia. Signing day is Wednesday.

A 6-5, 205-pound senior, Smith helped Varina win the Central Region, Division 6 championship in 2008. He finished the season with 52 receptions for 1,004 yards and 13 touchdowns -- all school records -- and was named first-team All-Metro.

Smith tied for seventh in the high jump -- 6 feet, 4 inches -- at the Group AAA track and field meet as a junior.

"Bobby dominated at the high school level," Varina coach Stu Brown said.

Smith committed last month to Delaware, a perennial power in the NCAA's Football Championship Subdivision. But he indicated that he might switch his commitment if U.Va. offered him a scholarship. The offer came yesterday during Smith's official visit to Virginia, and he quickly accepted.

"The kid's on the level he's supposed to be on," Brown said.

-- Jeff White

 

Wide receiver commits to UVa/Doug Doughty

Varina High School wide receiver Bobby Smith, a first-team All-Richmond Metro selection, made a football commitment to Virginia on Saturday.

Smith, a 6-foot-5, 195-pounder, had 52 receptions for 1,004 yards and 13 receptions this past season and also was named first-team All-Central Region.

Smith originally had committed to Division I-AA Delaware before the Cavaliers talked to him about spending the 2009 season at Fork Union Military Academy. After taking a look at Smith's first-semester grades, UVa's admissions office gave the go-ahead for Smith to sign next week.

"Virginia got a steal," Varina coach Stu Brown said Saturday afternoon. "Bar none, he had the best highlight film I've seen. It showed him scoring touchdowns on seven different patters, running after the catch, running over people, running past people.

"He dominated high-school football. I had a 2,000-yard rusher this season and I'm still beating myself up for not getting the ball to Bobby more."

Smith accepted UVa's offer while on his official visit to Charlottesville on Saturday.
 

Tech, UVa among kicker's choices/Doug Doughty

All-Tidewater place-kicker Drew Jarrett from Cox High School in Virginia Beach said Friday that he has narrowed his college choices to Virginia Tech, James Madison and Virginia.

Of the three, only Division I-AA James Madison has offered a scholarship -- a full scholarship, according to Jarrett.

"It [means] a lot," Jarrett said. "Of course, I want to play Single-A ball. So, that's the only thing that weighs that down a little bit, I guess, but it's a really great program."

Jarrett took an official visit to Virginia last week but will not go to Tech officially.

"I've been there a ton of times," he said. "Never on an official [visit]. I've gone up there for a few games and stayed there with friends. It's a really nice school. I liked it a lot.

"I actually grew up a Tech fan. It would be weird for me to commit to UVa -- not that I wouldn't. UVa's an awesome school. I had a really good time on my visit when I was there.

"I don't know. It's weird growing up a Tech fan and looking at UVa but they're all really great schools. I'm basically choosing a school that has the best academic reputation along with a really good football program at which I would have a chance to play early on. All three have that.

"I'm looking at going to a school as a recruited walk-on and basically earning a scholarship. Hopefully, I'll only have to pay for a semester."

If Jarrett already is conceding that he will be a recruited walk-on, that would seem to work against JMU. He said he is leaning to a school and it sounds like Virginia, given his assessment of the kicking situations at Tech and UVa.

"That's definitely a big thing," he said. "Tech's got about eight kickers. They're loaded. That wouldn't make me not go there but it still weighs heavily in the fact that I'd have less chance of playing."

Tech will sign place-kicker Cody Journell and has told Washington, D.C., All-Metro place-kicker Andrew Lloyd that he can walk on.

"I've kicked with both Andrew Lloyd and Cody Journell," Jarrett said. "They're both really good kickers. The scholarship guy is the only thing that worries me, not that I couldn't beat him out, but he has money and those guys kind of have the benefit of the doubt.

"At the same time, I have enough confidence in myself and in [Frank] Beamer that he would play the best player, whether he had a scholarship or not, so I'm not ready to turn them down yet."

Virginia's kickers last year were ex-soccer All-American Yannick Reyering, redshirt freshman Chris Hinkebein and walk-on true freshman Robert Randolph. Hinkebein, the only scholarship kicker of the three, handled kickoffs exclusively and those for only part of the season.

Reyering was recognized among the seniors at last week's UVa football banquet, although he has a year of eligibility remaining. He was only marginally successful before suffering an injury that opened the door for Randolph. He was 3-for-4, with all of his makes inside 40 yards, and Reyering was 6-for-11.

Tech fifth-year senior Dustin Keys was 23-of-29. The Hokies had five other walk-on kickers, all of them underclassmen, headed by true freshman kickoff specialist Justin Myer.

Unsung Cavaliers key upset victory
By Jay Jenkins
Published: February 1, 2009

It went unnoticed to the casual fan.

Kelly Hartig, an afterthought in the scoring column, was inserted with just over 17 minutes left against Maryland on Friday and gutted out soreness in her legs to help spring the Cavaliers to an improbable upset.

Hartig would have started the second half, as usual, but was not on the court in time as her condition was being monitored during the 89-81 win.

“Kelly was having some problem with her knees and she had to see the doctor at halftime, so I couldn’t start her,” Virginia coach Debbie Ryan said. “She wasn’t out yet. When she came back in, she helped us to hold them down. They were going with four guards a lot of the time and Kelly had a guard.”

Hartig did not score, but grabbed two rebounds and collected three assists and provided unnoticed dirty work.

“She did a very, very good job defensively,” Ryan said. “A lot of people give her a hard time, but Kelly Hartig is a very valuable part of our defense.”

Hartig was not the only unsung performer on a team often overshadowed by the amazing offensive skills of Lyndra Littles, Aisha Mohammed and Monica Wright, a trio that combined to drop 77 of Virginia’s points.

Kristen London, having made just two field goals the entire season, stopped a Maryland run with a deadly 3-pointer with just 95 seconds remaining.

“Sometimes when a player starts to find herself, she just needs a little freedom to do great things,” Ryan said. “Kris has sort of found herself in the last two weeks — she has sort of found out what it is that you have to do to play at the Division I level.

“She has really tempered her game a little bit to fit into what we needed her to do.”

London has stormed onto the scene in the past two games, assuming a larger role and demanded even more.

“She texted me two days ago and asked me to guard Kristi Tolliver,” Ryan said, well aware of the magnitude of the proposition. “I knew that she was really, really ready to play.”

So was Virginia (17-4, 4-2 ACC), which beat one of the ACC’s powerhouses for the first time in six years. Virginia’s last win over a perennial power came in 2003 at University Hall against Maryland.

“They always talk about Duke, Maryland and North Carolina being the ‘big three’ and we have been saying all year that we want to be in the big three,” Littles said. “The only way to be in the big three is to beat one of the big three.

“Unfortunately, I don’t think Maryland is that high in the ACC rankings, but losing to Florida State and coming back out here and doing this just showed what we did in practice throughout the week since that game. It feels great.”

It did not come, however, without the contributions of the lesser-known talents such as Hartig and London.

“Coach Ryan said before the game, ‘I know Moni and Lyndra, they are going to do their part, but who is going to step up, do something extra, something more,’” Littles recounted, “and Kristen London has done that the past two games.”

Virginia will host Longwood (6-13) today at 2 p.m.