Virginia freshman forward Derrick Byars said the Cavaliers are at “a point of confusion” after Georgia Tech handed them their seventh straight loss on Wednesday night at U-Hall. That might be the most succinct analysis. Virginia has not won a game in 27 days and their one-time NCAA aspirations have transferred into hopes of avoiding the play-in game in next week’s ACC tournament. Even reaching the NIT, certainly not the goal as the season began, would require at least a win over Maryland on Sunday or two wins in the ACC tournament. “We are just beat up emotionally, mentally, psychologically and physically,” Gillen said. Their most recent loss exposed the glaring errors that have plagued the program over the past two seasons. The Cavaliers committed 18 turnovers, which Georgia Tech converted into a 24-9 advantage in points off turnovers. The Cavaliers allowed Georgia Tech to shoot 54.7 percent for the game, including 62.1 percent in the second half, with the Jackets making seven straight layups at one point. Of those two persistent problems, it was the former that Gillen spent the most time addressing after Wednesday’s game. He said that much of Virginia’s problems with turnovers comes from a lack of solid and consistent point guard play. Neither junior guard Todd Billet nor Majestic Mapp has been able to fill that role on an adequate basis since the suspension of sophomore guard Keith Jenifer. “Our point guard situation is a big problem for us. Todd is a terrific player but he’s a combo guard and Majestic isn’t 100 percent healthy and that is certainly a big problem,” said Gillen, who had freshman walk-on Billy Campbell play the final minutes of Wednesday’s game. “The point guard situation is what’s hurting us. … It’s like one hand behind your back. In a league like the ACC, you should have two point guards that can play. We have a short deck. It’s tough to play without a jockey.” It’s also a problem that doesn’t necessarily have a foreseeable solution considering Jenifer will never play again in a UVa uniform. Gillen announced Wednesday that Jenifer has been granted his release and will likely transfer to another school. He had been suspended since Feb. 3 for conduct detrimental to the team. He had been charged with assault and battery in connection with an altercation with a UVa student on the Corner on Feb. 2. Charges against Jenifer, who later also filed charges against the student, were dismissed last Friday. With Jenifer no longer an option and Gillen not pleased with the performances of his remaining two point guards, the UVa coach made it clear that he and his staff will actively be recruiting a point guard this spring. “We have to bring in a point guard for next year. … There are some guys we’re looking at,” Gillen said. Though some of Virginia’s woes are certainly directly tied to the point guard situation, it is not the total answer. “Nobody likes losing and that’s what is happening right now and we have to get it together. Our confidence is down. Some nights were aren’t playing defense and other nights our shots aren’t falling,” said sophomore Devin Smith. Added Travis Watson: “[The situation with] Jenifer has not been a distraction. He’s not the problem why we are losing.”
Cavs offer Fork Union's Minter
With the revelation Wednesday that point guard Keith Jenifer had received a release from his letter-of-intent, it came as no surprise that Virginia head coach Pete Gillen said the Cavaliers were looking at point guards.
Gillen indicated that his preference would be to recruit a point guard from high school, which surprised me. At this stage of the year, when many of the top guard recruits have been spoken for, I would think that a junior-college point guard might be preferable.
Moreover, much of the Cavaliers’ recruiting to this point has been geared toward positioning themselves for Marquie Cooke, a 6-foot-3 junior from Nansemond River who is considered one of the premier point guards in his class nationally.
Do you take a point guard who will be a freshman next year? If he can play, probably. If there's any question, why cost yourself a shot at Cooke?
There might be some who would criticize the Cavaliers for not signing a point guard this fall, but it wasn't for a lack of effort.
One of the nation's top-rated point guards, Mustafa Shakur, reportedly told a Virginia assistant that he liked the Cavaliers’ program but thought they had too many point guards.
At the time, UVa had Jenifer, Todd Billet and a rehabilitating Majestic Mapp. The Cavaliers have tried Jermaine Harper at the point for an occasional possession, but as Gillen said Wednesday night, Harper is "not a point guard."
(By the way, the word in the media room Wednesday night was that Jenifer was considering schools from the SEC and Conference USA. Say what? Jenifer has as much chance of working for the Securities and Exchange Commission as he does playing in the Southeastern Conference).
There also has been talk of using 6-foot-2 fall signee J.R. Reynolds at the point, but Reynolds' coach at Oak Hill Academy, Steve Smith, says Reynolds is not a point.
So, Harper is not a point. Reynolds is not a point. Billet has problems at the point; or, rather, UVa has problems with Billet at the point because it takes away from what he does best, seeking and making open shots.
What's left? Mapp. One of the real oddities of the season is that Mapp, after missing 2 1/2 seasons with knee problems, has gotten worse the more he has played. You would think the opposite would have been the case.
In a best-case scenario for UVa, Mapp would become the player he was projected as a McDonald's All-American in 1999, not the player who has gone 1-for-16 from the field in the last seven games, including 0-for-0 in 14 minutes Wednesday night.
THERE AREN'T ANY ACC-caliber point guards at Fork Union Military Academy, but the Cavaliers have made an offer to FUMA post man Donte Minter, a 6-8 post player from Mt. Ulla, N.C., about 45 minutes northeast of Charlotte.
Minter signed a letter-of-intent with Appalachian State in the fall of 2001 but did not meet NCAA requirements for freshman eligibility. He now has the required test scores and is being recruited by Marquette, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Indiana, Connecticut, South Carolina and UVa.
Fork Union coach Fletcher Arritt coached Minter's cousin, DeMarco Johnson, who scored 2,200 points at North Carolina-Charlotte, where his number was retired.
"This guy is more capable at this stage in his career," Arritt said. "He's a more developed player at this time."
Louisville has said it wants to bring Minter to campus for an official visit, as will Marquette.
"It's going crazy here," Arritt said. "You want to know the dadgum truth? Every one of them will offer him because there ain't nothing out there."
Minter has been to Virginia twice, the latest as an unofficial visitor Wednesday night, when Georgia Tech handed the Cavaliers their seventh straight loss, 90-73.
"I think he likes them," Arritt said. "You know kids don't look at that aspect of it because they all think they're going to bring something to the table that nobody else can. I think he sees there is a possibility for playing time."
To say that Virginia is the team to beat "is somewhat premature," Arritt said. "I think that they have a very solid chance of getting them."
LATE BLOOMER Adam Trumbower, a 6-2, 194-pound guard from Cave Spring High School in Roanoke, might be persuaded to attend Fork Union for a year if he felt he would get an honest look from an ACC-caliber school like Virginia.
"They'll give him an honest look," said Arritt, who has worked out Trumbower and considers him a Division I prospect. "Virginia didn't give this guy [Minter] an honest look till he got here."
Trumbower, whose sister is a UVa graduate, had 33 points Tuesday night in Cave Spring's 61-50 victory over Alleghany in the Region III championship game. Trumbower has 29 points or more in six games and is averaging 21 points in the postseason (six district or regional games).
Trumbower, a 4.0 student who scored 1,420 in the Scholastic Assessment Test, recently has become a recruiting target of a University of Pennsylvania program that is 49th in the RPI (Ratings Percentage Index).
JENIFER'S DEFECTION leaves the Cavaliers with 10 scholarship players, including seniors Travis Watson and Jason Rogers. They can add the Division I maximum of five signees — Reynolds; fellow fall signee Gary Forbes, a 6-5 swingman, and three others.
Giving mood gone?
Progress slows for U.Va. arena campaign
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 07, 2003
CHARLOTTESVILLE - The University of Maryland opened its gleaming new basketball
arena in October. The 17,950-seat Comcast Center cost about $108 million, and
another $18 million was spent on road and parking improvements around the arena.
Of that $126 million, $76 million came from the state of Maryland, said Joe
Hull, the school's senior associate athletic director for external operations.
Forgive fund-raisers at the University of Virginia if they occasionally envy
their counterparts in College Park. U.Va. is trying to raise $128 million to
build a multi-purpose arena, as well as a parking garage and connector road to
serve it, and every last dime must come from private sources.
In Virginia, state money may not be used on college athletic facilities.
"It's a challenge," said Barry Parkhill, U.Va.'s associate athletic director for
development. "We've made progress, and we've got some remarkable gifts, but this
is so big. It's unprecedented, what we're doing."
U.Va. has about $60 million in pledges. It wants to open the 15,000-seat arena
for the 2006-07 school year and hopes to break ground by this summer. To do so,
however, Virginia officials believe they first need about $80 million - if not
more - in pledges. They're waiting to hear from several potential major donors
and hope to reach that target this month.
"We think we're going to be on schedule to keep the project on track," said
Robert D. Sweeney, U.Va.'s senior vice president of development and public
affairs.
In June 2001, an anonymous donor pledged $20 million, a commitment that allowed
U.Va. to proceed with plans to replace aging University Hall. With 8,392 seats,
U-Hall is the ACC's smallest arena. It's nearly 40 years old.
Over the past 26 years, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage said, every other ACC
school "has done a major capital project supporting their basketball programs" -
built an arena, practice facility or offices or some combination of the three.
U.Va. received another $20 million pledge in October 2001, this one from alumnus
Paul Tudor Jones II, a businessman and philanthropist from Connecticut. Other
seven-figure pledges have followed, but none of that magnitude.
"Compared to any measurement, we've done extraordinarily well," Sweeney said,
"but it has been one of the most difficult fund-raising environments in memory."
The possibility of war with Iraq, the threat of terrorist attacks in the
aftermath of Sept. 11, and uncertainty about the economy have hampered U.Va.
fund-raisers.
"I feel pretty comfortable in saying, if this were five years ago, the pace
would be a lot quicker," Parkhill said.
The dramatic decline of the men's basketball team under fifth-year coach Pete
Gillen hasn't helped, either, but Parkhill said it hasn't hurt as much as many
believe. The Cavaliers, ranked No. 4 nationally early last season, later
collapsed and had to settle for an NIT bid. They probably won't make it that far
this year.
"I'd be lying if I said it didn't have an impact. It does," Parkhill said. "But
that's the nature of athletics. When you're winning, emotions are high, and when
you're not, people aren't as enthusiastic. But it's not any significant
detriment whatsoever."
By far the biggest obstacle facing U.Va.'s fund-raisers, they said, is the
troubled economy.
Sweeney has worked in development for three decades, and "the only other
environment I can recall that was as trying for fund raising was 1973-74-75,
when we had tremendous inflation and the oil crisis," he said. "The economy was
in the doldrums."
This economy "doesn't impact [potential donors'] enthusiasm for the project,"
Parkhill said, "but it impacts their willingness to make commitments."
Time and again, according to Sweeney, prospective donors have told him one of
two things: They love U.Va. and want to support the project, but the timing
isn't right; or, they're willing to contribute now but, if the university can
wait 12 to 15 months, could give much more later.
Donors to universities often give appreciated stock, Parkhill said, and "a lot
of that stock isn't appreciated any more. A lot of people are kind of waiting
for the market to rebound."
Because of the state budget crisis, the project is a sensitive subject around
U.Va.
"There's no question that the University of Virginia needs a new basketball
arena," said Harry Gamble, chairman of the religious-studies department.
That said, cutbacks in state funding have left many academic departments at U.Va.
in dire shape financially, and Gamble and other professors question the timing
of the arena project.
"If there wasn't a severe budget crunch, I don't think this would be an issue,"
Gamble said.
A severe crunch exists, however, and at an October assembly of U.Va. professors,
Gamble introduced a resolution asking university officials to delay the arena
project until academic needs had been met. The resolution was tabled after U.Va.
President John T. Casteen III defended the arena project.
Casteen assured the professors, Sweeney said, that "this is not a zero-sum game
where a gift to athletics is a gift that is lost to the academic process."
Most of the arena project's major benefactors have also given generously to
U.Va.'s academic side, Sweeney said, and that was also true of contributors to
the recent $86 million renovation of Scott Stadium.
"In almost every case," Sweeney said, "when you're talking about gifts at this
level, it really isn't a matter of capacity, it's a matter of motivation. What
we find is they have interests on the academic side, and they also have
interests in this university moving forward and being excellent in every area."
Paul Tudor Jones, for example, made a $10 million challenge gift to help pay for
an addition to Clark Hall, and he endowed a research professorship shared by
U.Va.'s undergraduate and graduate business schools.
Nevertheless, Gamble isn't convinced the arena project won't hurt fund raising
in other areas of the university. "Numerous studies indicate that donor pools
are not as distinct [as U.Va. officials] suggest," he said.
To try to generate widespread support for the project, U.Va. officials have
stressed that the arena will be used for concerts and student events as well as
basketball. It "will benefit the university generally and local interests as
well," Littlepage said.
The project has a 30-month construction calendar, Littlepage said, which means
U.Va. needs to break ground this year if it wants the arena to be ready for the
start of the 2006-07 season.
"As soon as we have an amount where we feel that it's reasonable to go forward,
then we'll break ground," Sweeney said.
Naming rights to the arena will probably require a gift of at least $30 million,
officials said. The money might come from an individual, a group of donors, or a
corporation. At the University of Maryland, Comcast gave $25 million for the
naming rights to the new arena.
"We're going to do the best job we can in pursuing corporate partnerships,"
Parkhill said. "That could mean a lot of different things on a lot of different
levels."
It may take longer than they'd hoped, but Parkhill and Sweeney insist they're
confident the remaining millions will be raised and the arena built.
"One of the most important things is we have a constituency that can make it
happen," Sweeney said. "The only uncertainty is when the gifts are going to
fall. We wouldn't have [undertaken this campaign] if we hadn't known we had the
firepower."
Spinner eager to work
U.Va. transfer is one of Spiders' QB options
BY JOHN O'CONNOR
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 07, 2003
The University of Richmond's first snap of the 2003 football season will be
taken by a 6-2, 220-pound mobile guy with a strong arm.
Check back after spring ball to learn the winner of UR's quarterback competition
between University of Virginia transfer Bryson Spinner and Stacy Tutt, a rising
sophomore who played in nine games last season.
In pads, they look similar. Their backgrounds aren't. The difference:
experience.
Spinner during 2001 started six times for the Cavaliers, leading them to wins
over Clemson, Georgia Tech and Penn State. He left U.Va. after that season's
time-sharing arrangement at QB with Matt Schaub. Spinner chooses not to reveal
his reasons for doing so. He switched to UR late last summer but wasn't
available to the Spiders in 2002 due to academic issues and a bothersome right
knee.
"I can't wait to start. I'm excited about the things we're going to do," Spinner
said of upcoming Spiders spring ball. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm behind. I'm
going into it knowing I have to prove myself again."
He practiced with UR only through the second half of the 2002 season, and then
without contact because of arthroscopic knee surgery. Spinner, from Lorton,
enters his final season of eligibility. He says Jim Reid, UR's ninth-year coach,
made no promises regarding playing time when the two discussed the possibility
of Spinner transferring to Richmond.
"Coach Reid is an honest guy. What you see is what you get. Either you like it
or you don't," Spinner said. He identified Reid's straightforward approach as
the primary reason he came to UR.
As a redshirt freshman, Tutt ended 2002 as Richmond's starter, primarily because
sixth-year senior D'Arcy Wills experienced physical problems as the fall
progressed. At times, Tutt carried the 4-7 Spiders as a pass-run threat. At
times, he made highly damaging rookie mistakes.
Like Spinner, Tutt heads into spring ball anxious. "I don't know what to
expect," he said. Tutt could end up at quarterback, tailback or wide receiver,
depending on the UR staff's personnel evaluation.
"If coach told me to play right guard, I'd still be excited," Tutt said. "I'm
going to do anything I can to help this team win."
In addition to quarterback, Tutt played some wide receiver during a
post-graduate season at Fork Union Military Academy and before that, at Essex
High. Tutt could move to a position other than QB for his sophomore year, then
return to quarterback for his final two seasons at Richmond.
"I'll be somewhere on the field," Tutt tells those who ask what position he'll
play in 2003. "I'm just not sure where."
Reid said he plans to have all positions set by the end of spring practice.
Published March 6 2003
David Teel
It's trying time again for off-kilter Virginia
For 2nd year in row, Cavs go on a late-season skid
By Gary Lambrecht
Sun Staff
Originally published March 7, 2003
In midseason a year ago, the Virginia Cavaliers blew a late, seven-point lead to
the Maryland Terrapins, lost at home and went into a nose dive that ultimately
cost them an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.
One month ago, the Cavaliers staged a stunning comeback in the final nine
minutes at Comcast Center, beat Maryland, 86-78, won their next game to improve
their record to 14-7 - but have not won since.
And you thought things were ugly in Charlottesville last winter. That was merely
a warm-up to the great collapse of 2003, which could culminate with the
Cavaliers in the play-in game of next week's Atlantic Coast Conference
tournament.
With Wednesday's 90-73 loss at home to Georgia Tech, Virginia has dropped seven
straight - the longest losing streak of the Pete Gillen era - to fall to 14-14.
The Cavaliers probably won't even make the National Invitation Tournament this
year. Last year's first-round NIT loss marked the seventh straight year Virginia
has failed to win a postseason game.
"The season is not over. Hopefully we can turn it around, but we have lost
momentum, no question," Gillen said. "We're very frustrated. We're upset. We're
nowhere near where we want to be. Each game takes a little more out of you."
Virginia is pretty much out of air. And it's not only because the Cavs play
lousy defense and are once again an abysmal road team. Gillen's players have let
things slip off the court.
"We don't have a lack of talent. We have a lack of character," Gillen told the
Roanoke Times.
Senior center Travis Watson, the supposed rock of the team with 1,077 career
rebounds and 52 career double doubles, has become a recent symbol of what's
wrong at Virginia.
Watson temporarily lost his starting job 10 days ago after missing a class, then
skipping a disciplinary workout the next morning. Then, on the morning of
Saturday's 73-59 loss at Florida State, Watson and teammates Elton Brown and
Jermaine Harper were late for the team breakfast. Gillen benched Watson for the
game's first 13 minutes and played Brown for only four minutes.
"It's not Travis Watson against the world. It's not Travis Watson causing the
wins and losses," Gillen said. " ... I'm hoping he ends on a good note
personally and our team regroups and people think of him in a fine light,
because he's had a great career and he's a fine young man."
This comes on the heels of last month's indefinite suspension of sophomore point
guard Keith Jenifer (Towson Catholic) on misdemeanor assault and battery
charges, which have been dropped. Jenifer has missed eight games.
On the Beaten Path
Once Highly Ranked, Cavs Have Spiraled Out of Control
By Josh Barr
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2003; Page D01
CHARLOTTESVILLE
Travis Watson sat on the bench, towel around his neck, ice bags taped to his
sore knees as opponents neared for the postgame handshake.
Watson was worn down, and his mood matched. Virginia's center had just turned in
a career night -- 24 points, 15 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists, 3 blocks -- that
didn't matter. The Cavaliers had lost -- again -- and more than a few of the
small crowd that remained were booing.
Entering Sunday's regular season finale against No. 13 Maryland, Virginia
(14-14, 5-10 ACC) is in its worst slump in more than five years, having lost its
past seven games. Only 13 months removed from being ranked fourth in the nation,
the Cavaliers find themselves trying to prove they have not quit on a season
that has grown bleaker by the day.
"Our guys are getting a little beat up, a little discouraged from losing," Coach
Pete Gillen said after Wednesday's 90-73 thumping by Georgia Tech, an opponent
that had lost all of its 10 previous road games this season. "But we've got to
keep swinging; it's all we can do."
Right now, few of Virginia's swings are connecting. Among the team's recent
lowlights were an 18-point loss to instate rival Virginia Tech (which is on the
verge of failing to qualify for the Big East Conference tournament), a series
sweep by Clemson and a 78-72 loss at Ohio University. During their current
losing streak, the Cavaliers' average margin of defeat has been 11.9 points.
Along the way, there have been a handful of off-court problems, too.
Before the losing streak started, point guard Keith Jenifer was suspended from
the team after getting in a fight outside a bar near the university. Senior
center Watson lost his spot in the starting lineup reportedly after skipping an
early morning run that was punishment for skipping class. Prior to this past
Saturday's 73-59 loss at Florida State -- the Seminoles' most lopsided ACC
victory in more than four years -- three players, including Watson, were late
for the team breakfast, and Gillen reduced their playing time.
After that game, Gillen, who rarely says anything disparaging, told reporters:
"We don't have a lack of talent, we have a lack of character."
Picked to finish fifth in a preseason media poll, Virginia not only finds itself
out of the running for an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, the Cavaliers now
face the possibility of failing to qualify for the consolation prize, an
invitation to the National Invitation Tournament.
If Clemson loses to Georgia Tech on Saturday and Virginia loses to Maryland, the
Cavaliers will be relegated to the ACC tournament play-in game -- which, critics
have said derisively, would give them a better chance to win a postseason game
for the first time since 1995.
"Everybody is at a point of confusion right now," freshman forward Derrick Byars
said. "We're just looking for answers, searching everywhere, but it's very tough
right now."
And there does not appear to be a quick fix solution. Gillen, finishing the
second year of a 10-year, $9 million contract, does not appear to be going
anywhere anytime soon and has the backing of Athletic Director Craig Littlepage.
The team's best player, Watson, will complete his eligibility. And while two
recruits -- neither a point guard -- have been signed for next season, the ACC
figures to be stronger and more competitive after what generally has been
regarded as a down year for the conference.
Though the Cavaliers lost three key players from last year's team -- Roger Mason
Jr., Chris Williams and Adam Hall -- early in the season, there was reason to
think that Virginia had improved. There was a victory over Kentucky in the Maui
Invitational, a win over then-undefeated Georgetown in December and a close loss
at then-No. 1 Duke and a victory over Wake Forest in January.
Even after Jenifer was suspended from the team in early February, Virginia
seemed like a surefire NCAA tournament team, winning at Maryland and then
beating North Carolina State at home. Somewhere, however, things went amiss, and
the Cavaliers have not won since.
"As of now, we have lost the momentum, no question about it," Gillen said.
Coaches often equate defense to effort. While Virginia's players and coaches
insist they have not given up on this season, their defensive showing is an
indictment.
Although they no longer play the run-and-gun style of Gillen's first few
seasons, Virginia ranks last defensively in the ACC, allowing 74.3 points per
game, nearly four points more than any other team. The Cavaliers are eighth in
field goal percentage defense, allowing opponents to shoot 43.5 percent and rank
last in steals, with just 5.8 per game.
During their current losing streak, the Cavaliers have allowed four opponents to
shoot better than 50 percent from the field. Against Georgia Tech, Virginia
allowed seven consecutive layups -- none in transition -- early in the second
half as the Yellow Jackets made 12 of their first 13 shots of the half.
"The effort was there [but] I think we got discouraged and things started
slipping in the second half and they kind of carved us up," Gillen said. "We're
beat up mentally, emotionally, psychologically, physically."
Meantime, plans continue for the building of a new on-campus arena on a parking
lot across the street from University Hall. The $128 million facility, scheduled
to open in 2006, will seat 15,000. Some at Virginia are concerned that nearly
doubling its seating capacity -- when the current facility has been sold out
only four times this season -- will result in a loss of donors, who no longer
will need to give large sums to the athletic department to secure season
tickets.
"We're worried about it, yes," said Terry Holland, the former coach and athletic
director who is now a special assistant to university president John Casteen and
oversees the fundraising effort for the building. "That was a big discussion."