Faltering late hurts Cavs’ NCAA chances
By ANDREW JOYNER
Daily Progress staff writer
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Two years ago, the Virginia men’s basketball team spent a
tense 48 hours after losing an ACC quarterfinal game waiting to discover its
NCAA tournament fate. The answer from the selection committee that year was no
and it probably will be the same today for the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers (17-11) had a conceivable gripe with the committee in 2000. They
were 19-11 and had gone 9-7 in their ACC schedule and became the first ACC team
with a winning conference mark left out of the field since it was expanded.
If, as expected, the Cavaliers are left out of the tournament tonight, they’ll
be left to point the finger at themselves, not the committee.
Friday’s 92-72 loss to N.C. State in the ACC quarterfinals was likely the last
of a handful of opportunities in which had the Cavaliers won, their spot in the
tournament would have been secure.
“Today was big for us,” UVa coach Pete Gillen said when asked about his
team’s NCAA chances.
Yes, Friday was a big game for the Cavaliers, but in hindsight, losses at
Clemson and Florida State and a home loss two weeks ago to Georgia Tech were
just as big. A win in one of those games, and the Cavs could have afforded to
lose Friday. Instead, those setbacks made Friday’s game as important as it was
for the Cavaliers.
While the Wolfpack’s hot shooting, especially from 3-point land, exposed
Virginia’s defensive weaknesses, the game as a whole exposed a team that has
had trouble winning games it has needed to.
“I can’t put my finger on it. I don’t know,” junior center Travis Watson
said. “I know that we played hard in those games. It’s not that we went out
there trying to lose games. Things just didn’t go our way.”
Added senior forward Adam Hall: “We put ourselves in the position to control
our own destiny and we failed. That is the bottom line. We had our chances and
we did not succeed.”
Virginia has now lost 11 postseason games in a row dating back to a loss to
Arkansas in the NCAA Midwest Region final in 1995. They’ve dropped eight
straight ACC tournament games as no Virginia player has had the chance to play
in the ACC semifinals since 1995. It’s a streak that’s getting frustrating
for the current Cavaliers.
“It’s very frustrating. ... This is the best time of the year for college
basketball player. I haven’t won an ACC tournament yet, and that’s
frustrating. Sometimes things happen and you have no control over it,” junior
guard Roger Mason Jr. said.
The Cavaliers could end that streak by winning a game in the NIT, though that is
certainly not their preferred destination, a fact apparent from some of the UVa
players’ postgame comments.
“I don’t know. I just don’t know how to answer that,” said Watson when
asked if the Cavaliers can change focus to motivate themselves for a potential
NIT game.
ACC TOURNAMENT NOTES
Wolfpack's
offense makes the grade
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - On the eve of his team's ACC Tournament opener with North Carolina State, Virginia coach Pete Gillen said that "one of the untold stories" in the ACC this year has been coach Herb Sendek's decision to change the Wolfpack's offense.
To an academician's delight, the Wolfpack has become just like Princeton.
"Only with better players," said Gary Williams, whose top-seeded and No.2-ranked Maryland team fell victim to the Wolfpack, 86-82, in the ACC semifinals Saturday at the Charlotte Coliseum.
"We played Princeton in September and [State does] a lot of the same things. When you have senior guards, that's very important to that offense because they know how to reset very quickly."
The point guard, Archie Miller, is 23. Backcourt partner Anthony Grundy turns 23 next month. Both are in their fifth year out of high school, Grundy after a year at Hargrave Military Academy in Virginia.
"Obviously, there are teams around the country who run different stuff and are good offensive teams," Miller said. "Our coaches have a system now that's really going to be something special, hopefully, in the next couple of years.
"I really don't know what Princeton runs. I've played against them once, but when people think of Princeton, they think of slowdown. Us, we're not about that. We have guys who can run up and down, but we couldn't just throw the ball inside. We don't have the people for that."
First-year assistant Larry Hunter, who won 204 games before he was fired by Ohio University, works with the Wolfpack offense. Gillen coached against Ohio, and he says this isn't what Hunter ran there.
"We have as tough an offense as teams like Maryland could have to deal with and prepare for," Miller said. "It's not easy to play us now. Guys are screening and going back door. There's a lot of reading.
"Nothing looks good when you practice against yourself. Everybody knows what's going on, but once we got going a little bit, you could see we had the ability to score some points or at least get good shots. Coach Sendek said, 'This is what we're going to do,' and 'This is the way we're going to do it.'
"We stuck with it and we got better."
LACK OF INTENSITY: On Saturday, reporters at the ACC Tournament were still talking about a comment by Virginia's Roger Mason Jr. following a 92-72 loss to North Carolina State in the Cavaliers' first game.
"When we practiced, we beat each other up harder than we played against N.C. State," Mason said. "The guys were going after me and I was going after them. It was more intense in practice than it was out here tonight. That's frustrating because I know what we're capable of as a team."
OUT OF THE LOOP: Sophomore forward J.C. Mathis, a starter for Virginia in the first 20 games of the season, never got off the bench Friday against N.C. State. Until then, Mathis had played in each of the Cavaliers' 56 games during his career.
Adam Hall 's return after missing 10 games has meant reduced playing time for all three of UVa's young power forwards - Mathis and freshmen Elton Brown and Jason Clark. Senior Chris Williams, who had been playing small forward, moved to power forward when Hall came back.
Clark played four minutes Friday after going 7-for-7 from the field and accounting for 15 points and 10 rebounds in a combined 29 minutes against third-ranked Duke and No.2 Maryland. Brown had six points Friday in 10 minutes, his high in the last four games.
WOLFF DANCING: Popular ex-Virginia assistant Dennis Wolff is headed to the NCAA Tournament for the second time in his eight seasons as Boston University coach by virtue of a 66-40 victory over Maine in the America East championship game.
Wolff, who first took the Terriers to the NCAA Tournament in 1997, succeeded in rebuilding his program after a 14-14 season in 2000-01. Wolff was an assistant at UVa from 1991-94 under Jeff Jones, who had American University on the brink of an NCAA bid before its loss to Holy Cross in the Patriot final.
| Cavaliers caught in own trap |
| By
DOUG DOUGHTY THE ROANOKE TIMES |
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Say that Virginia were able to slink into the NCAA men's basketball tournament as a 12th seed, draw a No.5 seed, and lose by 20 points to an opponent that shot 60 percent from the field. Wouldn't it be better to go to the NIT? It would be if the Cavaliers could win a game. What the program needs more than anything right now are some positive vibes, and a victory of any sort would bring closure to an 11-game postseason losing streak. It's going to be bad enough for UVa to go to Greensboro, N.C., next year with an eight-game ACC Tournament losing streak. Although some of the Cavaliers might consider it beneath their dignity to play in the NIT, they don't deserve anything better. When you're 14-2 and can win only three of your next 11 games, that's a collapse of monumental proportions. Fourth-year head coach Pete Gillen ought to be embarrassed by how Virginia has played the last three weeks, when six straight teams have shot 50 percent or better against the Cavaliers, including back-to-back 60-percent performances. As one former UVa football coach put it, it may be time to "reinvent the corporation." That coach, George Welsh, failed to reinvent anything and was gone (by his own volition, of course) after one, final 6-6 season. This is a basketball program sorely in need of reinvention. Gillen could start with the defense, to which many UVa fans might ask, "What defense?" The only time North Carolina State wasn't scoring easy baskets Friday in a 92-72 win in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals was when the Cavaliers were fouling. Gillen's defensive philosophy is grounded in a pressing, full-court style designed to force turnovers. That may have worked in the Midwestern Collegiate Conference when Gillen was at Xavier. To some degree, it may have worked in the Big East, when Gillen was at Providence. It won't work in the ACC. Gary Williams came to Maryland from Ohio State spouting a similar kind of mantra, and he changed. Even the weakest teams in the ACC can break a press. Wonder how Georgia Tech made 15 3-pointers against UVa? The Yellow Jackets were constantly playing 5-on-4 after UVa defenders had tried in vain for steals. "All those traps, they present the illusion of defense but not the substance," one former Division I coach said Saturday. A former UVa basketball player was so distraught after watching Friday's spectacle that he vowed to return to Virginia and start producing "Scrap the Trap" bumper stickers. "The thing that makes it worse is the fact that we've got a lot of talent," Roger Mason Jr. said. "It would be one thing if we didn't have any players on this team. You look around the locker room and it's full of talent." It is? Mason and Travis Watson were second-team All-ACC choices, although Watson gets in foul trouble at the most inopportune times. Former second-team All-ACC choice Chris Williams dropped off until a late minisurge, and former All-ACC defensive choice Adam Hall was among those torched for 32 points by N.C. State's Anthony Grundy. It was Hall who said after Friday's game that, given the option of going to the NIT, he'd just as soon stay at home and watch the proceedings on TV. Hall is a senior. He won't have to go Greensboro next year and hear about an eight-game losing streak or an 11-game losing streak or whatever it is by then. For the underclassmen, that's an anvil they don't need hanging over their heads any longer. |
U.Va. upsets No.4 Princeton in lacrosse
CHARLOTTESVILLE - Virginia's lacrosse team maintained its mastery over No. 4 Princeton yesterday at KlÔckner Stadium.
The No. 6 Cavaliers, who have not suffered a home loss to the defending national champion Tigers since 1994, prevailed 13-11 behind inspired play from goalie Tilman Johnson and a combined five goals from first-year attackers Joe Yevoli and John Christmas.
Johnson made 13 saves, including two huge ones on Princeton's last two possessions. He knocked out a Sean Hartofilis effort with just over 2:30 to play and then stopped a one-on-one break by Owen Daly with 2:05 left.
Christmas proved key during Virginia's 6-2 second-quarter run, which gave the Cavaliers the lead for good. His incisive pass sent through Chris Rotelli for a short-handed goal to make it 6-4, and he followed that up with a goal of his own. Yevoli, who has led the Cavs in scoring for three straight games, became the first rookie under coach Dom Starsia to record three consecutive hat tricks.
Cavaliers hope for NCAA bid despite late-season slide
The likelihood of that has grown slimmer and slimmer over the past two months, as Virginia (17-11) suffered through one of the mightiest collapses in recent years, only mitigated by one shining moment, the upset of Duke Feb. 28. A 14-2 start and a 3-9 finish has led to a Ratings Percentage Index (RPI), the usual measuring stick used by the selection committee, estimated at 49. Numbers that high have been let in before, but rarely.
Friday afternoon's 92-72 loss to North Carolina State in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals here, the third loss to the Wolfpack this season, did nothing if not convert the few outside observers not already in the choir) that this season's Cavaliers were an overrated, limited mess of potential, injury, dumb mistakes and often-questionable desire.
Friday "was a big day for us," Gillen said. "I don't know what will happen."
Now Virginia pins it hopes on that one great win over Duke, three less-impressive victories over Wake Forest, Georgetown (away) and Rutgers (home), the cancellation of the Michigan State game Nov. 28 due to a slippery floor and senior Adam Hall's absence from 10 games due to a foot injury will be enough to persuade the selection committee. The Cavaliers acknowledge that evidence is circumstantial, at best.
"I guess I'm supposed to say no comment," guard Roger Mason Jr. said when asked for his evaluation of the Cavaliers' NCAA Tournament chances. "But of 64 teams, I think we deserve to be in it. We beat the defending national champions. … It is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Some games we are in it, others we are not."
Since the initial four-game slide that woke Virginia up from the stupor of its 14-2 start, the Cavaliers have been out of it more often than not.
Even their coach, Pete Gillen declined an opportunity to stump for his team, saying "I'll let the experts decide. We are who we are. We're 17-11."
Over the past three weeks, Virginia had four decent chances to put themselves over the top, not including the shocking Duke win or the understandable loss to Maryland, playing in its final game at Cole Field House.
They have lost all four: at Wake Forest, 92-70, Feb.17; at Florida State, 66-59, Feb. 20; home to Georgia Tech, 82-80, Feb. 23; and, of course, Friday to N.C. State.
"We put ourselves in this position," Hall said. "We had opportunities. We controlled our own destiny, and the bottom line is, we failed."
The Cavaliers' lone saving grace may be that this has been a lousy college basketball season. There are three clear heavyweights: No. 1 Kansas, No. 2 Maryland and No. 3 Duke. There are another dozen or so very good teams, and perhaps another 20 that clearly earned at-large bids.
But the teams on the bubble, where Virginia spent most of the past six weeks, almost uniformly lost. The only real bubble teams left are Southern Illinois, which lost to Creighton in the Missouri Valley final, and Charlotte, which got drilled by Cincinnati in the Conference-USA semifinals.
In the Atlantic 10, Temple and St. Joseph's bowed out early. Boston College, Syracuse, Georgetown and Villanova all could not make the Big East semifinals. Memphis dropped out of the C-USA Tournament Thursday. Ball State lost in the MAC semifinals. Vanderbilt and South Carolina failed to run deep into the SEC Tournament.
Saturday, Xavier beat Richmond in the A-10 title game, leaving the A-10 likely a one-bid league. Kent State won the MAC, Penn beat Yale in the Ivy League, giving the best remaining mid-major teams automatic bids.
Somehow, that may be enough for the Cavaliers to go, and that may be the biggest surprise of the season.
| Looks can be deceiving |
| Tom Hagan has helped the Knights reach their first state basketball tournament on top of his duties in baseball and football. |
| By
ROBERT ANDERSON THE ROANOKE TIMES |
Watch Tom Hagan for the first time tonight, but refrain from committing this mistake: Don't make assumptions about what Hagan is not. Not athletic? The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Cave Spring senior might be the best athlete in Timesland. Hagan is a three-sport star who has signed a baseball grant-in-aid with Virginia, where he has been invited to compete for the punting and placekicking jobs next fall on the UVa football team. Not tough? Hagan overcame arthroscopic knee surgery to finish the 2000 baseball season and had to contend with a shoulder that repeatedly popped out of joint this fall on the football field. Not a major reason why Cave Spring is playing Heritage of Newport News tonight at 7 in a Group AAA basketball quarterfinal at Northside High School? Just ask Cave Spring coach Billy Hicks. Three weeks ago, Cave Spring had a 9-10 record after coming out of a stretch of six games without injured All-American J.J. Redick. When Redick returned, he added fuel to a number of teammates who had caught fire. Hagan heads the list. "You can point to a lot of different people, but the contributions he's made, this is the guy who has lifted his game the most because he's doing it in so many areas," Hicks said. Hagan has emerged as a confident perimeter shooter. He's a solid ballhandler and rebounder, and he can run the floor. However, his primary role is as a defensive stopper. "He's always guarded the other team's best player," Hicks said. "He guarded Tony Stovall at PH and held him to zero points. The guy he guarded from Woodbridge [High Point signee Jeffrey Allen] was a Division I player. We were really worried about that kid, but after the first possession of the game you could tell Tom was a much better athlete. "He's a tremendous athlete." How good? Try this. In Cave Spring's 28-24 loss to Potomac in the Northwest Region Division 5 football playoffs in November, Hagan kicked a 52-yard field goal, booted three kickoffs through the end zone, sailed three punts at least 47 yards including one of 64, caught seven passes for 102 yards and intercepted two passes. As a baseball shortstop, Hagan hit over .550 and is a potential draft choice. This winter, Hagan has averaged nearly 10 points per game in Cave Spring's five-game postseason winning streak, overcoming a hesitancy that was present early in the year. "Part of it is my fault," Hicks said. "He probably felt I didn't want him to shoot because we could always get J.J. the ball." The other half of the equation is Hagan's reserved demeanor. "It's not really his nature to be aggressive," Hicks said. "He is extremely laid back. He's very quiet. He doesn't say a whole lot. I've never seen him get too excited when things are going well, and I've never seen him get down about anything bad." Hagan simply prefers to play a secondary role, difficult as that is. "I don't have a problem stepping up," Hagan said. "I've done that forever, whether it be baseball with two outs or in soccer with a penalty kick. But I'm not going to be the first guy to jump up to try to get the attention. I'll stay back and show them what I have." Soon, all Hagan and the Knights will have are memories. Cave Spring, in the state basketball tournament for the first time in 33 years, is on a school-wide joyride at the end of an era. Next year the Knights will drop to the Group AA Blue Ridge District and a healthy portion of the current freshman and sophomore classes will become students at Hidden Valley, a new school scheduled to open in August. Hagan said some fellow students even wondered whether he might bypass the farewell tour on the hardwood. "People were like, 'Are you going to play this year? There's no point. You're going to college to play baseball and football,'" Hagan said. "I knew what we had this year, and look where we are right now. It's just great to be involved." Before baseball season, the next thing on Hagan's schedule is a visit to the barber. He sports a wild shock of strawberry blonde hair, which barely is contained by a headband. What began as personal expression has turned into something else. "It's kind of a team superstition now," Hagan said. "Everyone's like, 'Don't cut it. It gives us strength.' I'm cutting this thing soon." Whether that clip job is sooner or later depends on tonight's outcome. Anybody want to look at Hagan and Co. and misjudge them? "I think that's definitely to our advantage, because they don't know what they're in for," Hagan said. |