Gillen welcomes trip to New York
Virginia will be the first ACC team to play in Alumni Hall since Clemson in 1973.
By DOUG DOUGHTY
THE ROANOKE TIMES

If Pete Gillen had a favorite college basketball team as a youngster growing up in Brooklyn, N.Y., it was St.John's, whose Jamaica Queens campus is located 40 minutes from his home.
St.John's is the program of choice for many New Yorkers, one reason the Red Storm was awarded the home-court advantage for its meeting with Virginia at 7:30 tonight in the second round of the National Invitation Tournament.

"We found out late Wednesday night," said Gillen, whose UVa team had beat visiting Brown earlier in the evening, 89-73. "Honestly, we kind of knew beforehand that St.John's, if they won, would get a home game.

"We were thrilled to get our first game at home. We could have been on the road. We could have played Monday night or Tuesday night. St.John's is a big, big draw. They're a New York City team. Madison Square Garden, I'm guessing, would love to have St.John's in the [NIT] final four."

As opposed to Virginia, which had a crowd of 4,842 for Brown, only 2,653 turned out at St.John's to watch the Red Storm (17-13) defeat Boston University 62-57 at Alumni Hall, site of tonight's game.

Virginia is the first ACC team to go into Alumni Hall since St.John's, then the Redmen, defeated Clemson 87-59 in 1973.

"I've been a big fan of theirs for many years," said Gillen, 55. "I was a grade-school coach in CYO [Catholic Youth Organization]; then, as a high school coach, I always watched Joe Lapchick's teams and Lou Carnesseca's teams.

"I heard Lou Carnesseca talk a lot and hopefully took some things from them. They were the top team in New York City. That was before the Big East, when I was growing up. The Marquettes and the Notre Dames used to come in and play at Madison Square Garden."

Gillen also coached against St.John's for four years when he was the head coach for Big East rival Providence. When he got to Virginia, Gillen inherited a two-year home-and-home series with St.John's, which hammered Gillen's first UVa team 95-68, then prevailed at Madison Square Garden the next year, 85-63.

A lackluster midseason kept the Red Storm out of the NCAA tournament, but St.John's has won five of its last six games, including victories over NCAA final 16 entrants Duke (72-71) and Notre Dame (83-80), both at Madison Square Garden.

The Red Storm earlier had lost seven times in nine games, including a 71-54 home setback against sub-.500 Virginia Tech. The Hokies also handed Virginia one of its worst losses, 73-55, in Blacksburg.

By its standards, UVa also has undergone a minisurge. The Cavaliers were 1-12 in March under Gillen before winning two of their last three games. The victory over Brown ended a 13-game postseason losing streak.

Against Brown, Virginia was without Jason Rogers (mononucleosis) and Derrick Byars (sprained ankle). Gillen is hopeful that Byars and Elton Brown, limited to eight minutes by a jammed knee, will be available tonight.

"Our trainer [Sue Saliba] is getting ready to have a baby; right now she's at the doctor," Gillen said when asked for a personnel update Friday. "Even our trainer needs medical attention, so we've got a few holes in our ship."

 

Cavs seek New York state of mind
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 24, 2003

Win or lose in New York City tonight, the Virginia men's basketball team will be back in Charlottesville tomorrow. But the Cavaliers hope to return to the big city for an extended stay next week.

U.Va. (16-15) takes on St. John's (17-13) at Alumni Hall in Jamaica, N.Y., tonight in the National Invitation Tournament's second round. Each team is two victories from the NIT semifinals, which will be played April 1 at Madison Square Garden. The championship game is April 3 at The Garden.

The Wahoos had dropped 13 straight post- season games before beating Brown in the NIT's first round, a streak that included two NIT losses and dated to 1995.


Beating Brown isn't the same as defeating Duke, of course, but given the circumstances, the victory was "a big step for the program and for the team," Virginia guard Todd Billet said, "and we just want to keep it going and surviving to play another game.

"The NIT could become a lot of fun, especially as you keep winning and get a chance to advance to Madison Square Garden."

Tonight's game in Queens holds special meaning for Virginia's fifth-year coach. Pete Gillen grew up in Brooklyn and has two siblings who still live in New York City. Moreover, Gillen said, "I've always been a fan of St. John's."

U.Va. football coach Al Groh saw Lew Al- cindor and Power Memorial play in Alumni Hall. Gillen has watched games in the venerable gym and coached there, too, as an assistant at Hawaii and Villanova and as Providence's head man.

"It's a formidable task for us," Gillen said of playing in Alumni Hall. "It's kind of like Mike Jarvis' living room, and it's tough to play in someone's living room."

Jarvis, the Red Storm's fifth-year coach, said, "Alumni Hall has been very kind to most St. John's teams, but a lot of that has to do with the fact that we don't always play the toughest teams here."

The last ACC team to play at Alumni Hall, for example, was Clemson, in 1973. When the Red Storm plays host to a team from an elite conference, it generally does so at the Garden. But Gillen is more concerned with his opponent than the venue.

"They beat Duke," he said. "That's all you have to say."

The Cavaliers went 0-3 against the Blue Devils this season. St. John's played Duke at The Garden on March 2 and pulled off a stunning upset. All-Big East guard Marcus Hatten's free throw with no time left lifted the Red Storm to a 72-71 victory.

"Beating them does wonders for your confidence," Jarvis said. "That win basically put us in a better frame of mind for the end of the season."

The Cavaliers' confidence got a boost March 9 when they closed the regular season by beating Maryland in overtime. Virginia quickly exited the ACC tournament, losing to Duke in the quarterfinals, but Gillen's club overcame the absence of Jason Rogers and Derrick Byars - both started against the Blue Devils - Wednesday night and whipped Brown 89-73 at University Hall.

Rogers is out with mono, but Byars, who had a sprained ankle, is likely to play tonight.

A season ago, when Virginia lost to South Carolina in the NIT's first round, it looked like a team that didn't particularly want to extend its season.

"I think this team is more excited about playing," Gillen said. "I think our attitude is much better, and I think they like being with each other. I think they want to try to end on a more positive note."

Senior Travis Watson said: "We're not satisfied with being in the NIT, but at the same time, this is another tournament."
 

Friendly legal advice from Groh to his players

By Ron Borges, Boston Globe Staff, 3/23/2003

Football is Al Groh's life, but he knows there is more to life than football. That's why the University of Virginia coach is hosting a seminar at Charlottesville he hopes will help his players and his program deal with a growing problem at both the college and pro levels.

The number of agents now stalking college players has swelled to the point where there is nearly one certified agent for every player in the National Football League. Since some of the best agents have a long list of clients, that leaves the rest to fight over what remains, and that flooded market has led to an increasing number of abuses during the recruiting process in the months (and in some cases years) prior to the time a collegiate player is actually drafted.

Those abuses have left more than a few players facing financial ruin and many more chasing lost dollars in court. Just recently, the NFL Players Association moved to decertify four agents - Steve Weinberg, David Dunn, Joby Branion, and Sean Jones - for questionable financial and business activities. The recent incarceration of onetime agent kingpin Tank Black, who was convicted of a laundry list of recruiting violations in the state of Florida, tainted several college programs and affected many players already in the NFL and others not yet there.

Groh is well-situated to understand the depth and breadth of the problem because he witnessed it for years as an NFL assistant coach, offensive coordinator, and eventually head coach before he returned to his alma mater two years ago to try to return Virginia to its glory days.

Hearing NFL players talk of problems both financial and psychological resulting from poor representation long ago got him thinking about what a coach could do to help. After returning to Virginia, he learned of a former Cavaliers wide receiver named Germane Crowell who was drafted on the second round in 1998 by the Lions and in a few short years found himself saddled with problems allegedly the result of poor representation. As Groh looked at the young men he was now coaching, including Crowell's younger brother, he decided he should try to educate them about more than football and academics.

Thus was born a spring symposium on the Virginia campus in which Groh brings in an agent, a representative from the NFLPA, and someone from the management side of the league or an individual team to address his entire squad on the pitfalls of dealing with the crush of agents.

Not many years ago, such recruiting was aimed primarily at players sure to be selected in the early rounds of the NFL's annual cattle call, but with so many agents desperate to land clients, it has seeped all the way down to the Ivy League level and beyond. Players lucky to be drafted on the second day often receive offers of loans against future endorsement income they are unlikely to ever earn, plus credit cards, cell phones, and even automobiles in exchange for signing with an agent.

Some schools, including Boston College and Harvard, for example, have coaches who prohibit such contact, but Groh knows it happens anyway.

''When I first started hearing these stories and getting some insights, I was just a position coach in the NFL and not really in a position to apply that knowledge,'' Groh said. ''Now that I'm here at Virginia, I just felt we could have a positive impact on our players and add something to their preparation for the world. I looked at it as part of offering a full-service package to our players.

''It's also an effort to make sure our program is protected against some of the things that go on. We have a lot of very good, young players. We started nine freshmen last year and played 21 and we finished second in the ACC. I knew those kind of players would be approached earlier than the average fan might think by agents who want to represent them in the NFL. By exposing them to some of the gentlemen in that business, we're letting them know there are reputable guys.

''I really don't care who represents one of my players when they get drafted, but I do care that it be a person who is smart, honest, and hard-working. So we set up this day where we bring the whole squad into the team room and then we have one of the agents we know has that kind of reputation talk with them about his business. We also have an NFLPA representative and someone from team management explain to them the kind of things that go on and relate some past experiences.

''We're not trying to make them experts on this. We're just trying to educate them by getting them information they can use in a hurry.

''I know there are things that go on. Can I prevent contact? No. Can I prevent agreements being made that shouldn't be made? That's up to the players, but if they're knowledgeable about the process and the practices of different agents, they'll be the ones who protect us.''

Groh told the story of a Virginia player who asked the coach about an agent who was pursuing him. The agent told the player he represented many NFL players, but Groh investigated and found out he had represented none. This is a common problem these days: resume inflation.

College players often have little idea how to investigate the claims or promises some agents make, and little time or inclination to do so. One thing Groh hopes his educational meeting will do is teach his players not only to ask questions but what questions to ask before they commit to someone who may not have the expertise to do the job he's been hired to do.

''I tell our players they are responsible for their own careers,'' Groh said. ''I really believe that. We are all responsible for our own careers. I explain to them that coaches would rather have veteran players than rookies. I explain they're the coach of their career. Do you want a veteran or a rookie negotiating your future?''

This is the second spring Groh has held this informational meeting, and his small effort to educate athletes in an area many college coaches would rather ignore is the kind of thing that differentiates him from many of his brethren. Rather than act as if dishonesty does not exist, Groh has decided to fight it with education, which is still the point of being at a university, isn't it?

''We realize the possibility of problems out there with agents exists,'' said Groh. ''When you have a good program with good athletes, those possibilities exist because of the competition among the agents to sign these players before the draft. We're just trying to be proactive about it. We're trying to set the scene for them and hope they use it to their advantage.''