3/5/02 - Defensive

As Virginia’s NCAA tournament possibilities swirl around wildly this week, terms such as RPI, quality wins and strength of schedule will be used countless times.
There is a single word, however, that may ultimately determine Virginia’s fate: defense.
Whether Virginia has to beat N.C. State on Friday in its ACC quarterfinal contest or even if it needs another victory then in the ACC semifinals will be the constant topic of discussion not only in this area but around the country. Virginia may in fact be the bubble entering this final week before Sunday’s NCAA tournament selections.
Yet, all that debate will be muted if Virginia’s defensive effort Friday in Charlotte resembles its effort Sunday night in Cole Field House.
The Cavaliers allowed the Terrapins to shoot 61.7 percent from the floor, including a 72.7 percent performance in the second half as the Terps scored 69 second-half points. The game marked the fifth straight contest and sixth time in its last eight games that a Cavaliers’ opponent has shot 50 percent or better from the floor.
“We’ve shown that we can be a good defensive team. We’ve done it, but we just haven’t done it consistently and to be a great team you have to do that,” said junior guard Roger Mason Jr. “We can’t be a good defensive team just some times. We have to do it all the time. Hopefully, we’ll get over the hump. I know we’ll be working on defense a lot this week in practice.”
Added Virginia coach Pete Gillen: “Our defense was very bad, especially in the second half. … We have to do a better job defending people. We can’t just try to outscore people.”
If the Cavaliers’ defensive effort was not what it needed to be, then Virginia’s rebounding efforts were not much better. The Terps outrebounded Virginia 35-27 and snared 13 offensive rebounds which often resulted in put-back layups and dunks, including several by Maryland’s 6-foot-10 sophomore forward Chris Wilcox.
“They’re bigger than us and we didn’t screen out and, to be honest, we have not done a good job at screening out all season. You have to put bodies on people,” Gillen said. “Wilcox is a great athlete and strong player and he killed us on the boards. We didn’t box him out.”
Defensive and rebounding deficiencies aside, Gillen wondered if any team in the country could have beaten Maryland on Sunday night given the emotion tied to the last game at Cole Field House.
“I think they would have beaten most teams in the country with their talent, their coaching and their emotion,” Gillen said. “I think they would have beaten most teams if not everybody tonight.”
Sunday night’s game likely did not have nearly the impact on Virginia’s NCAA tournament chances as Friday’s will. Gillen called the contest with N.C. State “gigantic” and his players seemed to share those sentiments.
“A new season starts Friday and we have to get ready for that,” Mason said.

RALEIGH, N.C. — Jason Williams and Juan Dixon were unanimous selections to the Associated Press all-ACC basketball team, while Duke became the first school in league history to place three players on the squad.
In addition, Virginia placed two players — juniors Roger Mason Jr. and Travis Watson — on the all-ACC second team.
Williams, Duke’s All-American guard, and Dixon, Maryland’s top scorer and one of the best defensive players in the nation, received all 84 first-place votes cast by members of the Atlantic Coast Sports Writers Association for 252 points.
Williams was joined on the first team by teammates Mike Dunleavy and Carlos Boozer, and North Carolina State’s Anthony Grundy.
The Blue Devils placed two players on the first team each of the last four seasons during their record-setting Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season title runs. However, no school in the 49-year history of the league had placed three players on the top team prior to Monday.
The 6-foot-2 Williams leads the ACC in scoring at 21.9 points a game heading into this week’s ACC tournament in Charlotte. He is also third in the league in 3-point field goal percentage, fifth in steals and sixth in assists.
The 6-9 Dunleavy was three votes shy of unanimous. The junior is tied for fifth in the ACC in scoring (17.7), is tied for second in steals (2.41) and is fifth in 3-point shooting (37.5 percent).
The 6-9 Boozer placed fourth in the ACC in scoring (18.4) and third in rebounding (8.7).
The 6-3 Dixon becomes the 23rd player in ACC history to be named to the first team three times and just the second Maryland player to accomplish the feat. John Lucas did it from 1974-76.
The first unanimous pick from Maryland since the late Len Bias in 1986 is averaging 19.5 points, an ACC-leading 2.79 steals and an ACC-best 90.8 percent from the foul line heading into postseason play.
Grundy is the Wolfpack’s first all-ACC first-team pick since Todd Fuller in 1996. The 6-3 guard helped his team to a tie for third place in the ACC by averaging 17.4 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.62 assists and 2.21 steals a game.
Dixon, Dunleavy and Grundy were also named to the ACC’s all-defensive team along with Duke’s Chris Duhon and Maryland’s Lonny Baxter.
Mason, a 6-5 guard, is averaging a team-leading 18.9 points per game and 4.2 assists per contest for Virginia. Watson, a 6-7 center, finished as the ACC’s best rebounder (9.8 rpg) and averaged 13.8 points per game. Watson also led the ACC in double-doubles with 16, including 10 in league play. Mason received 147 total points and six first-place votes while Watson had 128 and three first-place votes.
The Virginia duo was joined by Baxter, Darius Songaila of Wake Forest, and Georgia Tech senior point guard Tony Akins on the second team.
Steve Blake of Maryland, the top assist man in the league, and Josh Howard of Wake Forest head the third team. Edward Scott of Clemson, Chris Wilcox of Maryland and Jason Capel of North Carolina also were named.
It was the first time since 1990 that North Carolina did not place a player on the first or second teams.
N.C. State’s Julius Hodge topped the all-ACC freshmen team. He was joined by teammate Josh Powell, Georgia Tech’s Ed Nelson and B.J. Elder, and North Carolina’s Jawad Williams. Virginia freshmen Elton Brown and Keith Jenifer were honorable mention selections.

The University of Virginia men's basketball team led Michigan State 31-28 when their Nov. 28 game was suspended with 15:04 left in the second half because of condensation on the court at the Richmond Coliseum.

Officials announced two days later that the teams' ACC/Big Ten Challenge game would not be completed. The debacle generated headlines around the nation and sparked considerable discussion. Most of it centered, though, on the blow the city of Richmond's reputation had taken, not on how the cancellation would affect U.Va.'s season.

At the time, the Cavaliers were unbeaten, climbing in the polls and considered virtual locks to make the NCAA tournament. Some three months later, however, that lost game looms large as unranked U.Va. (17-10) struggles to impress the selection committee.

There's no guarantee, of course, that Virginia would have prevailed against Michigan State. But had that happened, the Cavaliers might not be worrying about missing the NCAAs.

Michigan State (19-10) has won five straight games and 10 of its past 13. The Spartans were ranked No. 30 in the Rating Percentage Index updated yesterday morning and are expected to earn an at-large bid to the NCAAs if they don't win the Big Ten tournament and get an automatic berth.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, were No. 45 in yesterday's RPI. They have beaten only two teams ranked in the RPI's top 50 and probably need to win at least one game in the ACC tournament to be assured a second straight trip to the NCAAs. Fifth-seeded Virginia meets fourth-seeded N.C. State at 2:30 p.m. Friday at the Charlotte Coliseum.

BACK HOME: Virginia men's basketball coach Pete Gillen has gone "small" in each of the past three games, starting 6-5 senior Adam Hall at wing forward and 6-7, 216-pound senior Chris Williams at power forward.

That was Williams' position his first three seasons - he made the all-ACC second team as a sophomore and the third team in 2000-01 - but he started the first 24 games this season on the wing. He's smaller than most power forwards he covers, but his quickness poses problems for them, too.

After scoring 16 points against Georgia Tech on Feb. 23 and 14 against Duke on Thursday, Williams had a season-high 28 in U.Va.'s loss at second-ranked Maryland on Sunday night. The senior from Birmingham, Ala., who never seemed entirely comfortable at small forward, also had seven assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Hall started the Cavaliers' first 11 games at shooting guard but shot poorly from long range. After missing 10 games with an injured right foot, Hall returned late last month, and Gillen has used him primarily at small forward. Hall has averaged 14.3 points in his past three starts.

MIA: Two of Gillen's post players - sophomore J.C. Mathis and freshman Elton Brown - are mired in prolonged slumps.

Mathis, who started U.Va.'s first 20 games at power forward, had 20 points and 15 rebounds in a Jan. 24 rout of Virginia Military Institute. In his past eight games, however, he's averaged nearly as many turnovers (1.3) as points (2.1). Mathis is shooting 44.2 percent from the floor and 47.9 percent from the line this season and has 48 turnovers to only 19 assists.

Brown, who twice has been named ACC rookie of the week, has 25 points and 19 rebounds in his past eight games. This follows a six-game stretch in which the 6-9 265-pounder averaged 14.2 points and 4.7 rebounds.

MORE TROUBLE: Virginia point guard Keith Jenifer and his home-state Terrapins apparently don't mix. When Maryland played at University Hall on Jan. 31, Jenifer, a freshman from Baltimore, got in a shouting match with Terps coach Gary Williams and assistant Jimmy Patsos, an incident that ended with U.Va. assistant Walt Fuller's rushing to Jenifer's defense.

With 4:29 left in the first half Sunday at Cole Field House and Maryland up 35-24, Jenifer was called for an intentional foul. By the time U.Va. got the ball back, it trailed by 15. According to Gillen, Jenifer said Maryland forward Byron Mouton, who's listed at 6-6, 215 pounds, had "smacked him."

Jenifer stands 6-3 and weighs 155 pounds after a big meal.

"Keith Jenifer is like a mosquito," Gillen said. "He's not going to go out and start a fight. I'm not saying he's St. Thomas Aquinas, but . . . Mouton hit him, and he hit him back, and he got caught."

REBUILDING: The offensive line is one of second-year football coach Al Groh's major concerns. U.Va. must replace four linemen who started at least eight games apiece in 2001: Jermese Jones, Josh Lawson, Evan Routzahn and Jared Woodson.

When spring practice opens March 27, the Cavaliers' first-team line is expected to consist of senior Mike Mullins at right tackle, sophomore Elton Brown at right guard, junior Jay Green at center, junior Micah Kimball at left guard and junior Kevin Bailey at left tackle. Bailey switched to center late last season, and Groh would like to start him there again in 2002. But Groh won't be able to do so unless another high-caliber tackle emerges.

Neither Green nor Kimball played much last season. The backup linemen will be similarly inexperienced, so at least one true freshman may play in 2002. It's not likely to be Robert Jenkins, who signed with Virginia last month. Jenkins, a freshman at a New York junior college, will probably spend another year there before enrolling at U.Va. in 2003.

NEW ROLE: Athletic Director Craig Littlepage has been appointed to the NCAA's 10-member Division I men's basketball committee. His four-year term will begin Sept. 1. Among other duties, the basketball committee selects the teams that compete in the NCAA tournament. It also oversees the tourney.

Littlepage, a former head basketball coach at Pennsylvania and Rutgers, has been a member of the NCAA's committee on infractions since last September. He'll give up that seat when he assumes his new role. - Jeff White