Crossing Paths
Different trips brought Mapp and Billet to Senior Night
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 2, 2004

In the fall of 1998, Todd Billet and Majestic Mapp were competing against each other in a way.
New Virginia coach Pete Gillen and his staff sought a point guard for their first recruiting class; Billet and Mapp each had a strong interest in Virginia.
As it sometimes works in recruiting, the spot would essentially go to whoever committed first. It was Mapp.
So Mapp went to Virginia, and Billet was bound for home-state Rutgers.
That probably should have been where the story ended as the duo was off to separate schools, separate conferences, separate careers, separate lives and never the twain shall meet.
Of course, life is never that simple.
Tonight, some five and a half years later, both Billet and Mapp will be honored on Senior Night at University Hall before Virginia’s contest against No. 11 Wake Forest.
During last week’s contest against North Carolina at U-Hall, authors Pat Conroy and John Grisham were courtside observers. It’s unlikely either of those scribes could have penned a fictional story close to the one that has brought Billet and Mapp to this point.
“It’s funny, very funny. It’s odd. I guess God works in mysterious ways,” said Mapp, a McDonald’s All-American selection in high school.
Mapp’s explanation is as good as any in looking at the events that led to this night for each player.
After his freshman season in which he backed up then-point guard Donald Hand, Mapp tore the ACL in his right knee in August 2000 during a pickup game at St. Raymond’s - his alma mater - in the Bronx.
Mapp sat out the 2000-01 season and then again in 2001-02 as the knee never seemed to heal.
Mapp, who has undergone five major surgeries by various specialists in various locations, finally returned to the court on Jan. 11, 2002, against North Carolina. Last season, Mapp averaged 2.4 points and nearly two assists per game in an average of 15.6 minutes a game.

A reduced roll
Prior to this season, Virginia coach Pete Gillen opted not to allow Mapp to come back for a sixth season of eligibility, something Mapp and the school would have had to petition the NCAA for. Gillen’s reasoning was Mapp’s presence might hinder UVa’s recruiting efforts for a point guard. The Cavaliers have signed 5-foot-11 Sean Singletary of Philadelphia, a highly rated prospect that has been labeled the Cavaliers’ point guard of the future.
For much of this season, a season in which he has played a limited role and is averaging just 1.7 points and has played just an average of nine minutes in 22 contests, Mapp has remained quiet about that decision.
“I would have definitely wanted to come back here for a sixth season. Of course, it would have helped me. That’s what I wanted to do. I didn’t go to Coach and say, ‘I hate you and everything you are doing to me.’ I’ve never said anything of that nature. I just kept being me and never really addressed it. You guys [media] addressed it more than I did and that’s your job,” said Mapp, who next season will likely look to play in Division II or III where he would be immediately eligible. “I told the coaches how I felt. I wanted to play here another year. When they told me that it wasn’t going to happen, I took it in stride and dealt with the cards I was given. … I love the game and want to keep playing.”
In reality, Mapp had already been dealing with some pretty bad cards.

A positive outlook
ACL injuries will never be routine but medical technology has certainly increased the probability of a heal/rehab time of less than a year and often as little as nine months. For example, Virginia tailback Alvin Pearman tore his ACL in November 2002 but was back playing in August 2003. Of course, no knees and no tears are the same, but it all gives Mapp more than a few moments of reflection.
“I don’t shake my head when I see people coming back quickly. That’s what is supposed to happen. In this day and age, that’s what is supposed to happen. You see guys like Baron Davis who tore his ACL and he’s out there dunking all over the place. That is normally the 90 percent outcome. For whatever my reasons were, it didn’t happen that way. There is no one to point the finger at,” Mapp said. “I’ve never said this is the reason I didn’t come back quicker or that’s the reason. That’s past tense. There is nothing you can do about it.”
Mapp, who graduated from Virginia last May with a degree in economics and will earn a master’s in education this May, says he never reached a moment when he questioned why all this happened to him.
“I never really asked why me? Why is this happening to me? I never thought I’d go through five operations and spend five years here but I was able to make it back and I take a lot of pride in that. As a kid, I often worry about what I’ll be doing next, but the last five years have been something surprising every time. I think the adversity I’ve been through has given me the perspective to deal with things in the future. I think that had made me much stronger than the next person,” Mapp said. “I don’t let the little things bother me anymore. … I try not to look back. I wonder how things would be different but there is not time to cry over spilled milk. I could be crying over a lot right now, but nobody’s world stops for Majestic.”
While Mapp has gained quite a unique understanding of life in his 23 years, the trials and tribulations he has endured are lessons for just about everyone. That includes his 56-year-old coach.
“We also tell our players to use basketball to make your life better and improve possibilities in your life. Majestic is a great example. He came here as a McDonald’s All-American and a great point guard. He was on track to blossom as an ACC point guard but he unfortunately got hurt and has had multiple knee surgeries. It shows you that you never know what life is going to bring you,” Gillen said. “He’s done a wonderful job in dealing with the cards he’s been dealt. He’s had some very bad luck. He’s received a great education here at Virginia. He has his undergraduate degree and is on his way to his master’s. He has shown quite a bit of character.”

Different but challenging
Billet’s own journey is devoid of the traumatic injuries, but nonetheless it too had peaks and valleys.
Billet followed his brother, Geoff, to Rutgers, a school located just 30 minutes from his Middletown, N.J., home. The Billets were the first family of Rutgers basketball in many ways - Geoff having been a standout there and an assistant coach in the program when Todd arrived. All the while, Lewis and Noreen Billet were fixtures in the stands.
In Todd Billet’s two years at Rutgers, Billet averaged 14.6 points a game and earned All-Big East third-team honors as a sophomore.
It was after that sophomore season in the spring of 2001 that the Billet family’s association with Rutgers Basketball took a turn. Then-Rutgers coach Kevin Bannon was dismissed by the school, as was his staff that included Geoff Billet. Todd Billet then explored his options for the future. Oddly, it all pointed back to Virginia and Gillen.
With Mapp’s status in doubt, Virginia was in need of a point guard and Billet needed a fresh start. In April 2001, Billet transferred to Virginia and then was required by NCAA rule to sit out the 2001-02 season.
When Billet returned to the court, he started 30 of 32 games last season and averaged 13.5 points and connected on 41.8 percent of his 3-point attempts.
One highlight was on Dec. 21, 2002, when Billet and Virginia played at Rutgers. The 6-0 guard scored 22 points in the 61-57 Virginia win as he faced near constant abuse from the Rutgers’ student body.
“I think when we played there, I knew I was now a Virginia guy and not a Rutgers guy. I knew I really wasn’t their guy anymore,” Billet said with a laugh.
Still, the transition was not totally smooth. It became apparent the Billet’s game was really better suited for the off-guard position and that playing the point was at times a struggle.
Those same struggles continued into this year. Billet was again given the point guard responsibilities and his performances showed the wear and tear of trying to do both. Through three-quarters of the season, he was averaging just less than 10 points and not shooting at the level he desired.
“I got a little bit discouraged. As a team we had a tough streak in the middle there. In the face of that adversity, I remained optimistic that something could be done to turn things around,” Billet said. “At that point, I said to myself, ‘I’m a much better player than what I’m playing. I can give a lot more to the team.’”

A turn for the better
After Virginia had lost nine of 13 games, Gillen opted to insert freshman T.J. Bannister as the starting point guard. That moved Billet off the ball and his path to tonight’s home finale changed dramatically - as did the fate of his team.
First, Billet made a 3-pointer in the final seconds to defeat then-No. 15 Georgia Tech on Feb. 14. Then, Billet struck again as he scored 21 points and nailed another 3-pointer with 16 seconds remaining to lift Virginia to a road win over Clemson on Feb. 21.
Billet wasn’t finished.
Last Tuesday, Billet again pulled a shot out of his bag of late-game tricks as he made a trey with 13.6 seconds left to give UVa a 74-72 win over then-No. 12 North Carolina.
“Even though I’m the coach at North Carolina, it’s hard not to feel happy for him. It’s a thrilling time in his life and it’s something he’s going to remember forever,” said North Carolina coach Roy Williams after that game.
For Billet, the last three weeks have been just as remarkable to him as those who have observed it.
“Just to be in position to take the shot is rare. Then, to make the shot is rarer still. Those are the things you dream about as a little kid, but they don’t always happen. The cards have to be dealt just right,” said Billet, who is also competing this season as a graduate student after receiving a degree in economics last May.

Final farewell
Billet and Mapp will each have at least a dozen family members and friends each in the stands tonight. While their paths to this point have been quite divergent, they both are focused on the here-and-now of tonight’s game and what it can mean for the future.
As emotional as tonight’s ceremonies may be, they seem more concerned with the task at hand and get to a place neither has been: the NCAA tournament. Mapp was on the bench in street clothes when Virginia lost to Gonzaga in a first-round NCAA game in 2001. Billet hasn’t even been that close in two seasons at Rutgers and one at Virginia.
The Cavaliers are 15-10, 5-9 in the ACC with a RPI of No. 52. Any scenario for the Cavaliers to be selected to the field of 64 would have to include a win over Wake Forest tonight and then a win at Maryland on Sunday.
“These games definitely have huge meanings for us and for our season. We have to focus on just what we can control. We have to take care of what is in our control. We have to prepare for Wake and then prepare for Maryland and see what happens from there,” Billet said.
Added Mapp: “All the emotion surrounding Tuesday night is tough to deal with already. If we can make the NCAA tournament and have the best-case scenario in terms of winning, I won’t think about it to be honest. That would be the best-case scenario for me and this Virginia program. The best part of the ceremony would be winning this game.”
 

UVa-Tech plan to sell souvenirs promoting rivalry gets sacked
By Donna Alvis-Banks

BLACKSBURG - If you spot a bumper sticker that says "Friends don't let friends duke it out," it's probably on Larry Hincker's car.

Virginia Tech's spokesman says all bets are off when it comes to licensing Tech-UVa rivalry products. A week ago, licensing officials at the two universities announced plans to allow marketing of bumper stickers, T-shirts, posters and other goods capitalizing on the lighthearted one-upmanship that is a part of state college athletics.

Now, the state rivals are saying forget about it.

Hincker said there never was an official agreement between the two universities.

"What can you end that you never really started?" he said Friday. "The two licensing directors had a conversation and decided they were going to loosen it up a little bit. It began because we disapproved of something that has been routinely sold up there at UVa."

It all started when Locke White, Tech's licensing director, found out that Wahoos were buying T-shirts proclaiming "Friends don't let friends go to Virginia Tech." White talked to Steve Heon, his counterpart at UVa, and the two decided a little friendly teasing might be popular and profitable.

White told The Roanoke Times last week that he and Heon believed the sale of rivalry products would boost royalties for both schools. Since taking the job in 1999, White has seen royalties of Virginia Tech licensed goods rise from $350,000 to $750,000. Most of that money goes into the university's general scholarship fund.

"We've got a good shot at going over $1 million this year," White pointed out. "My bosses are very happy with me."

White said last week that both he and Heon agreed that all rivalry items had to "be in good taste" and meet the mutual approval of both schools.

But when Craig Littlepage, UVa's athletic director, read a story in the Feb. 27 Richmond Times-Dispatch quoting White as saying "the gloves are coming off and we're enemies again," he immediately saw the yellow flag hit the turf.

"We're heading down the wrong path when we endorse something that ridicules or demeans the opponent," Littlepage said Friday. "Poking fun is one thing. When it goes beyond that lighthearted spirit, we have to be very careful. We are concerned about things that lead to bad fan behavior."

Littlepage said he sees incidents every week where fans storm the football field or basketball court after a win. He also sees signs and T-shirts at games that he believes inflame fans and lead to unsportsmanlike conduct.

"Taunts, bad language - that's just an extension of what happens," he noted. "We are not going in that direction."

Littlepage said he and Virginia Tech athletic director Jim Weaver were of the same mind.

"His feelings and mine are the same. We have a great rivalry, a great relationship between the two schools. We don't need to denigrate that."

Hincker agreed, saying that Virginia Tech has decided to take a conservative approach.

Although some would say, "Hey, it's just a T-shirt," Hincker said universities are becoming more mindful of rivalries that get out of control.

"We don't want to see any product at our university that would not promote first-class fan behavior," he said.

Ken Phillips, a buyer for licensed products for area CMT sporting goods stores, doesn't feel that his company has a lot to lose now that the Hokie-'Hoo bashing bonanza is dead in the water.

"I don't think it's that big of a market for us," he said. "We do tremendous Tech and UVa business. [The rivalry products are] mainly a student thing. Your mom and dad wouldn't make a big deal out of it."

White - who couldn't be reached Friday - need not feel threatened. His bosses still love him.

"Locke has tripled our revenues in the past three years," Hincker noted. "He's got plenty of ingenious marketing ideas that will continue to boost our scholarship fund."
 

Gracious grandson
Wake's Paul is inspired by the memory of Papa Chilly
BY BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 2, 2004

LEWISVILLE, N.C. There is, next to a Bible on a living-room table in the home of Charles and Robin Paul, a picture frame that holds two photographs. One of them is of an elderly man, sweet-faced and smiling. That would be Robin's father, Nathaniel Jones, known to his grandchildren as Papa Chilly. The other is of a baby-faced teenager in his high school basketball uniform. That would be Charles and Robin's son, Chris, who suits up for Wake Forest, several bounce passes to the east in Winston-Salem.

Papa Chilly and Chris were buddies. Best buddies. They drew even closer after Chris' older brother, C.J., went off to play college ball at South Carolina-Spartanburg. They attended church at Dreamland Park Baptist together, ate dinner afterward at Meta's Restaurant together, hung out at Papa Chilly's service station together.

Jones Chevron on New Walkertown Road in Winston-Salem closed nightly at 7 p.m. - except when the Paul boys were playing. Then it shut down early.

"Everybody knows Michael Jordan was the best player ever to play the game," Chris Paul was saying not long ago. "But if you asked my grandfather, me and my brother were the two best ever to play basketball. I know he had more confidence in me than I have in myself."

These days, Paul is renowned far and wide as Wake's whiz-bang playmaker - an instant-impact freshman who's already landed on the Dean's List and the Wooden Award checklist and who'll be on display tonight in Charlottesville. He paces the Deacons in minutes and assists, averages 13.4 points, is among the country's leaders in steals. He battled North Carolina's Raymond Felton to a draw in his ACC debut and dropped 30 points on Cincinnati and 23 on Duke in recent back-to-back outings.

He's lighting up arenas, in other words. His only regret is that Papa Chilly isn't around to see any of it.

Kindly, a pillar-of-the-community fixture, Nathaniel Jones was murdered two Novembers ago after returning home from a day's work. Four teenagers have been indicted for the killing, robbery their presumed motive. Paul was at a high school football game that night. A cousin brought him the terrible news. He's been playing with a heavy heart and a mission ever since.

He'd just signed with Wake Forest - the announcement a grand occasion in the West Forsyth High gym, his grandfather in the audience, proud, beaming. Now - his best friend brutally taken away - Chris Paul went into mourning, and a school mourned with him.

"There was a quiet support," said West Forsyth guidance counselor Cindy Zimmerman. "People did not go up and rush on him, but Chris did not pull back, either. He could teach me a lot on how to work with people. When you are talking with him, you are the only one in that room. He's gotten a lot of that from his family, but it's a gift, too. To be that aware of people and how to treat them, it's a true gift."

Paul was an icon at the school - juniorand senior-class president, homecoming king, star athlete, honor student. How he dealt with his grandfather's murder - his quiet resolve - only elevated his stature.

"It's got to be hard," said Kurt Telford, the principal at West Forsyth. "It was difficult enough for me to lose my dad, and I was 44 years old. I can't imagine what it's like to lose my grandfather, especially in that manner, at 17."

Fact is, Paul questioned whether he'd play basketball again - "At times, it really hurt that bad," he said - then hit upon a way to channel his grief. Nathaniel Jones was 61 when he died. Brainstorming with his Aunt Rhonda, Paul determined to fashion a memorial to his grandfather by scoring 61 points - 22 above his career high - in West Forsyth's opener. He didn't tell coach David Laton. He didn't tell his father, who works for a company that builds security equipment and moonlights as an assistant on Laton's staff.

The game - the day after the funeral - was at Parkland High. Not until the fourth quarter when he wandered down the sideline and one of the players said, "He needs five more points" did Laton get wind of what was transpiring. Paul finally reached 61 and was fouled while sinking the shot. He purposely missed the free throw, then took himself out of the lineup and ran to the bench. He collapsed, sobbing, into his father's arms.

It's the stuff of legend. Paul is now building on it.

"I recruited David Robinson at the Naval Academy when I was an assistant coach there," said Laton. "They're very, very similar in their academics and their personalities. I think Chris is more of a leader than David was, maybe because of the position he plays. Chris Paul is a leader by example and by force of personality. He's a special kid. I was blessed to be able to coach him."

Family disclaimer: Just so no one thinks Paul is too good to be true, his parents will tell you their son isn't perfect - how he once bit a kindergarten classmate who dared snatch his sandwich, how he'd steam and pout when C.J. abused him in games. "He had an attitude," said Charles. "I used to have to get after him. I had to chase that rascal. He was just so aggressive."

Robin, who works in computer services for a local bank, is reminded how Chris comes across as ultra polite. "He is now," she replies with a smile. "We beat that badness out of him."

Few get the best of Paul nowadays. Even when they do, he keeps his bearings. Last month, for instance, the morning after a tough loss at N.C. State, he showed up at West Forsyth as scheduled to speak to the school's freshman class. Small thing? Not to Telford ("He has time for everybody") or the 15-year-olds who listened respectfully as Paul talked about making proper choices and then signed autographs galore till he had to scurry back to campus for a class.

He's already similarly beloved at Wake, where some refer to him as "the mayor," where teammate Justin Gray sizes him up as "a good person all around," where coach Skip Prosser says of him, "I don't think there's anyone without a wrinkle or two - but if he never played a minute of basketball, the university would be a better place for him having spent four years there."

Prosser also praises his prodigy's "passion to win," a quality Paul doesn't mask between the lines. First, though, after warmups, he'll retrieve two laminated clippings and quietly hold them during the national anthem and introductions. They're obituaries - his grandmother's and Papa Chilly's. Cancer stilled Nathaniel Jones' wife, Rachel. Mindless violence snuffed out her husband's life a decade later. In these moments, Chris Paul especially thinks of him.

"Coach tells us how we represent our family every day and every game," he said. "We have 'Wake Forest' on our chest, but on our backs we have our last name. I think of that every game. I feel if I play to the best of my ability, that reflects on him."
 

Cavs' clock ticking
Victory over Deacons would enhance U.Va.'s chances for NCAAs
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 2, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - When last we saw them, University of Virginia basketball players were whooping it up at University Hall, celebrating - alongside hundreds of fellow students - a stirring comeback win over then-No. 12 North Carolina.

If that scene is repeated tonight at U-Hall after the Cavaliers' clash with 11th-ranked Wake Forest, Pete Gillen's club will head to Maryland with a chance to become a serious at-large candidate for the NCAA tournament.

"There's always that chance," guard Todd Billet said of playing in the NCAAs. "We don't give up."

And if the Cavs trudge off the court in defeat tonight? They'll have to win their regular-season finale Sunday night at College Park to have any hope of avoiding the ACC tournament's play-in game.

Such is the league's strength this season. Only one ACC team - first-place Duke - has fewer than four losses in conference play. U.Va. (5-9, 15-10) is tied for seventh with Maryland (5-9, 14-11), a half-game behind Florida State (6-9, 18-11).

This is the final regular-season home game for guards Billet and Majestic Mapp, and the fifth-year seniors - each graduated last year with a bachelor's in economics - will be recognized before the 7 o'clock tipoff.

"I think it will definitely be an emotional night for both of us," said Billet, who last Tuesday shot down UNC - as he had Georgia Tech and Clemson - with a game-winning 3-pointer.

"It's going to be something you look back on and remember going out together on senior night and hopefully getting a win."

Wake (9-5, 19-6) is the ACC's hottest team, and the stakes couldn't be much higher for the Cavaliers or Gillen, whose future in Charlottesville is uncertain. Still, Gillen said, he hasn't discussed postseason possibilities at length with his players.

"I don't think you put extra pressure on them," he said yesterday. "They know Wake Forest has a great team, and we've got a very tough challenge ahead of us. I don't think we go into depth too much with that. We just say, 'It's a big challenge, and let's try to meet this challenge.'"

U.Va. didn't come close to meeting the challenge against Wake last month. Sophomore guard Justin Gray, who yesterday was named ACC player of the week for his production in wins over Florida State and Maryland, torched the Cavs for 26 points, and the Demon Deacons rolled 91-78 at Joel Coliseum.

The Deacons led by 27 in the first half, and their margin of victory would have been greater had Skip Prosser, who spent eight seasons as an assistant to Gillen at Xavier, not substituted liberally late in the game.

Elton Brown paced U.Va. with 24 points in that first meeting with Wake, the start of a five-game stretch in which the junior center from Newport News scored 21 or more four times. Brown still leads the team in scoring (15.1 ppg), but in his past two games - each of which U.Va. won - he's totaled only 16 points and missed 16 of 22 shots from the floor.

"He's got to be a little more consistent," Gillen said. "Certainly sometimes people get on him, our fans, but I think he's a very talented player, and we need him. But hopefully we have other players who can score if [opponents double-team] Elton."

This is the fourth game in 10 days for Wake, which won Saturday at Maryland. The Deacons dropped four straight during one January stretch and then lost two more early last month. Since falling to North Carolina, though, Wake has won six in a row.

"I think you can be a good team in this league and lose some games," Prosser said. "It's who you play, where you play and sometimes it's even when you play them."

Not since 1996-97 has Wake or U.Va. swept this regular-season series. If that streak is still intact around 9:15 tonight, Virginia's postseason prospects will be substantially brighter.

 

WFU expecting a rowdy reception at Virginia
Deacons hope to extend their six-game winning streak with a road victory against resurgent Cavaliers
By Dan Collins
JOURNAL REPORTER

Pity the team that pities itself on the road, especially in a conference as unforgiving as the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Wake Forest's 91-83 victory at Maryland on Sunday was the Deacons' ninth ACC road victory of the past two seasons, a fact that takes on increased relevance entering tonight's final away game of the regular season - at Virginia. During WFU's six-game winning streak, three of the victories have come at Clemson, at Georgia Tech and at Maryland.

"Like Coach says: It's 5-on-5 on the court," Eric Williams said. "A lot of times fans tend to have something to do with road games. You just can't let the fans get into it.

"If you feel sorry for yourself, and the teams and the fans feel that, then they'll ride you the whole game. You've got to be almost emotionless in a game. You can't show any emotion at all. That way, the fans can't read you, and the players can't read you.

"It's kind of like being in your own zone."

Coach Skip Prosser said that the most valuable asset a team can have on the road is talent. But he acknowledges that toughness and experience can come in handy as well while playing in venues as loud and, at times, inhospitable as North Carolina's Smith Center, Georgia Tech's Alexander Coliseum, Maryland's Comcast Center and Virginia's University Hall.

"You've got to have some toughness," Prosser said. "You can't get stage fright. A lot of times when the crowd gets loud, your legs feel like tree trunks. We try to tell our guys, the louder the crowd, the faster you move.

"When the game starts, with the crowd as loud as they are, I haven't seen a crowd yet block a shot or get a rebound or take a charge or whatever. It's guys against guys between the lines."

The fans of University Hall have incentive to make life miserable for the 11th-ranked Deacons tonight.

The Cavaliers, for all their early season travails, have won three of their last four ACC games, and with two more wins could play themselves into consideration for a bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Wake Forest is 19-6 and 9-5 in the ACC and still has a shot at a No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament. Virginia, which hasn't played in the NCAA Tournament since the 2000-2001 season, is 15-10 and 5-9.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.

"I think they're two wins away from an NCAA Tournament bid, and that's motivation in and of itself," Prosser said.

"If somebody told you you had 40 minutes to play to go the national tournament, and asked you how hard would you play, I think you would play exceedingly hard.

"Coach (Pete) Gillen is a heck of a coach. Kids like Todd Billet, he has never played in the national tournament. He wants to before he leaves. That's a powerful, powerful, powerful, motivator."

Billet, a transfer from Rutgers who is one of Virginia's three captains, has certainly done his part over the Cavaliers' late-season run. In three victories in a row, over the span of four games, Billet made a game-winning 3-pointer.

Billet hit a 3-pointer with 2.4 seconds left to lift the Cavaliers over Georgia Tech 82-80 on Feb. 14. He hit a 3-pointer with 16 seconds left to beat Clemson 58-55 in Clemson on Feb. 21.

And he struck again against North Carolina on Feb. 24, in the most recent game that Virginia has played, when his 3-pointer with 13 seconds left climaxed a long comeback and carried the Cavs to a 74-72 victory.

As though he needs it, Billet also has the motivation playing his final home game at Virginia against a team that all but shut him down a month ago. Harassed by the Wake Forest guards, in particular freshman Chris Paul, Billet missed his only 3-point attempt in 32 minutes of play and finished with four points in the Cavaliers' 91-78 defeat.

"He's a very competitive kid," Prosser said. "On senior night, I'm sure he's going to want to go out with a bang."

Meanwhile, Paul, after playing well at North Carolina and for most of the game at Florida State, has struggled in three of the Deacons' last four ACC road games. He had four points, four assists and four turnovers at N.C. State; two points, five assists and four turnovers at Georgia Tech; and finished with eight points and eight turnovers Saturday at Maryland, though he did contribute a career-high 10 assists.

But in each instance, junior Taron Downey has played well. Downey had 12 points at N.C. State, 19 points at Georgia Tech and 14 points at Maryland. He made 15 of 25 shots from the floor (.600) in the three games while lifting his shooting percentage to .475.

"It's just one of those things," Downey said. "I guess we just feed off one another. If one of us is not playing well, the other is going to step up and try to play big. That's what we've been doing."
 

Virginia needs home win over Wake tonight
Senior night win at University Hall would give Cavaliers hope for NCAA tournament, Billet, Smith could step up as key players
Matt Trogdon
Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

Senior Night brings a special spark to University Hall, and the Virginia Cavaliers are hoping to use that spark to their advantage when they host the Wake Forest Demon Deacons tonight. Virginia (15-10, 5-9 ACC), once left for dead in the ACC cellar, has won three out of its last four games, and a win over Wake would put the Cavaliers back on the bubble.

Defeating the Deacons, (19-6, 9-5) however, will be no easy task. Wake has won six in a row, including four straight conference games. During their streak, the Deacs have downed national powers Duke and Cincinnati, and have won on the road at ACC rivals Maryland and Georgia Tech. In their first matchup against Virginia, Wake spanked the Cavaliers 91-78.

But Virginia is playing like a different team as of late. The Cavaliers upset Georgia Tech in a Valentine's Day delight and shocked North Carolina last week. Throw in their rare road win against Clemson, and Virginia is the second hottest team in the league.

"I think that being one of the youngest teams in the conference, our freshmen are really starting to mature and step up in ways that freshmen usually don't step up," senior guard Todd Billet said.

Billet and Devin Smith have keyed Virginia's recent success. Billet has hit game-winning three-pointers in all three of Virginia's recent wins, with his most dramatic coming against Georgia Tech with one second left on the clock. Smith has played with an injured back that has caused him to miss a significant amount of practice time. Despite his ailment, he dropped 16 points on the Yellow Jackets and lit up North Carolina for 20. Billet and Smith will need to be major factors for Virginia to upset the Demon Deacons.

"[Todd's] a very hard worker," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "He was the last guy in the gym yesterday. He is a terrific young man. It's nice to have some nice memories as his college career ends up."

A win against Wake would have major implications for Virginia's meager NCAA tournament aspirations. Two news sources, CBS and ESPN, list Virginia as a lower-tier bubble team. The Cavaliers currently boast an RPI around 50, which would not be good enough to make the tournament. But, should they upset Wake and beat Maryland away next Sunday, their RPI would likely be in the low 40s or upper 30s, making them a much more palatable choice for the tournament committee. A victory Tuesday would also give Virginia another quality win against a ranked team.

Virginia fans have reason to feel good about Tuesday's matchup. In three out of the last four years, Virginia has upset ranked conference opponents in its last home game of the season. Most memorably, the Cavaliers rallied from a 17-point second half deficit to down Duke in 2002. Last year, Virginia completed a sweep of Maryland, upsetting the Terps in an overtime thriller.

If the magic is to continue against Wake, Virginia might need to hope for an unlikely contribution. Four years ago, defensive specialist Adam Hall hit a three pointer in the closing seconds to beat Maryland and give Virginia a third-place finish in the ACC. Against Duke, point guard Keith Jenifer made a rare jump shot to take the lead in the final minute. And last year, senior Jason Rogers made his first collegiate start and provided a huge offensive lift against the Terps.

In a perfect world, senior guard Majestic Mapp would provide Virginia with an unexpected boost. Mapp, who missed two years to a knee injury, has played sparingly this season. The NCAA may grant Mapp a sixth year of eligibility under its medical hardship rule, but Gillen has already said Mapp won't be joining the Cavaliers next season. Thus, Mapp will be honored alongside Billet Tuesday night. Hopefully, the two seniors will provide one more night of magic for Cavalier fans.
 

Seniors leave legacy for Virginia
Jonathan Evans
Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

The date: Dec. 21, 2002. The place: the Louis Brown Athletic Center. The game was billed as Virginia versus Rutgers, but that wasn't the real story. The real story was the return of Todd Billet to the school he played two years for. Thousands of incensed fans sported "BILLET SUCKS" t-shirts and booed furiously every time he touched the ball.

Sitting so high that I was actually above the banners in the stadium, I remember Billet putting one finger to his lips, silencing the crowd after he drilled one of his four three-pointers. Billet won that night, as his 22 points led Virginia to the 61-57 victory.

After the game, as my father and I waited for a cab, we were approached by Majestic Mapp. Mapp expressed his heartfelt appreciation for a feature article that I wrote about him. With all the negative and skeptical press being written about him, it was nice for him to read something positive for a change. Seeking me out on the street was something that he didn't have to do. Yet it was something that he did. The pound and the sincere words of thanks spoke more to who he is and what he's about than any 230-line feature ever could.

These two men embody all that is right with Virginia basketball. Through all the uncertainty, the player scandals, the ineligibility issues, Todd Billet and Majestic Mapp have established themselves as men the University of Virginia can be proud to call their own. Yet tonight, the University of Virginia will say goodbye as Billet and Mapp play in their final home game. While the Cavalier careers of Billet and Mapp come to a close, their legacy will live on.

Mapp returned from his knee injury Jan. 11, 2002 against North Carolina. As both teams huddled for an official's timeout, Mapp broke the huddle and jogged to the scorers' table. As the horn rang, Mapp stepped onto the court. Tightening his shorts, he wiped the bottom of his sneakers as the thousands in attendance stood and applauded. Mapp went on to average 16.4 minutes per game in Virginia's final 17 games of last season. Shaking off the rust, Mapp showed flashes of brilliance with his court vision and calming influence as the floor general.

Yet this season has been different. Mapp's minutes are down and in some games nonexistent. At seemingly every press conference Virginia coach Pete Gillen is asked about Mapp's playing time, or lack thereof. Gillen usually winces while saying something to the effect of Mapp having been through a lot -- he's had six surgeries, and he doesn't have the quickness he once had.

In this, his final year of playing for the Cavaliers, Mapp is seemingly as handicapped as when he spent two seasons on the bench. He has seen most of his senior season pass by as he has watched from the sidelines.

Maybe coach was right, maybe he couldn't do it. Or maybe coach was wrong, maybe he wasn't given a fair chance. Maybe the truth isn't so clean cut. Maybe life isn't fair.

Like Mapp, Billet also spent time sitting on the sidelines, patiently waiting for his chance on the court. Billet then spent his first season as a key contributor on Travis Watson's team. This season, the book was out on Billet. Opponents knew how to keep him in check and his offensive numbers are down from a season ago.

Unwilling to accept the drop-off, Billet went to work. He shot for hours after practices were over, determined to be the best he could possibly be. To put it mildly, the work has paid off for Billet.

First it was Georgia Tech. Billet connected for three and then backpedaled down the court. He pumped his fist in the air in excitement before being embraced by Elton Brown and others. Then it was Clemson. Billet came off of a Donte Minter screen, drilled the basket from the corner, and held up his follow-through as he got back on defense. Then it was North Carolina. Draining the three-pointer, once again holding up the dying swan as he got back on defense. The trifecta of trifectas. If you doubt the merit of hard work, Billet has proved you wrong.

Todd Billet and Majestic Mapp will be given their framed jerseys tonight as they take the floor at University Hall for the last time. This is the last time that number 22 and number 11 will lace up their sneakers and put the name VIRGINIA across their chest. This is the last time Mapp will get ready for a game by dribbling on the corner of the court instead of shooting around with his teammates. This is the last time Billet will head to center court for the pregame captain's meeting.

That is the nature of college basketball. The players come and go. But while they are here, they are a part of you. You feel the joy of converting on the tough drive to the hoop. You feel the raw determination of leaping skyward to snatch the pivotal rebound. You feel the floor burn of diving for the loose ball. And then, you remember. Though they leave, they are not gone. They have formed memories that stand the test of time. Memories that can make one reminisce ever so fondly on an otherwise ordinary cold night in Northern New Jersey.
 

Lacrosse leaves eastern seaboard
Two weekend losses show growing strength of sport out west, legitimacy of Air Force, University of Denver
Joey Mancini
Cavalier Daily Associate Edito

Since the Division I NCAA lacrosse championships began in 1971, no team further south than North Carolina, further east than Princeton or further west than Syracuse has ever won the title. In fact, only seven different teams have ever taken the national championship trophy in its 33-year history: the aforementioned three teams, Johns Hopkins, Maryland, Cornell, and Virginia.

Lacrosse actually began in official competition at the collegiate level around the turn of the century, but until just a few years ago, programs in the West had yet to come to fruition. After the sport was featured in the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse League was formed the next year. In similar fashion to the modern day, Johns Hopkins University dominated the league, winning the Southern Division four times in a row, and defeating the Northern Division champion three times. Hopkins also represented the United States at an Olympic exhibition event against Canada in 1932, a game which is still remembered for the 80,000 spectators who watched it in Los Angeles. The growth of lacrosse continued steadily, and in 1950 there were 200 college, club and high school teams in the United States.

While the powerhouses of collegiate lacrosse still reside on the eastern seaboard, the sport continues to grow in popularity and spread westward. This past weekend, Virginia competed in the 2004 Pioneer Face-Off Classic held in Denver. While the Cavalier roster includes mostly recruits from the hotbeds of the sport in the Mid-Atlantic and New York, the two western schools in the tournament --Air Force and Denver -- boasted much more geographical diversity on their rosters.

The University of Denver, which hosted the Classic on Saturday and Sunday, boasts players from Colorado, Ohio, Washington, Missouri, Michigan, and Canada. Similarly, Air Force, a military service institution, recruited from around the nation to secure athletes from Utah, Colorado, Arizona and California.

While the strategy of the game has not changed as the sport has expanded westward, the competition has become vastly different.

"I was on the first youth team out here," Pioneer defenseman and Denver native Nathan Jones said. "I started in third grade and played all the way up. I think out here kids are really starting to get looks because the sport really is expanding in high school and even west of here in California, too. It will continue to grow and continue to get more competitive."

Beneath the Rocky Mountains this weekend, the talk of the expansion of lacrosse focused primarily on the development of local youth and high school teams. Primarily in the Mid-West, but also back in the founding land of the East, the sport has become one of the fastest growing in the United States. With this increase in participation comes an escalation in the talent pool available to Division I teams.

"I think that in terms of expansion of the game, it is growing at the high school level probably faster than any other sport in the country," Air Force coach Fred Acee said. "The unfortunate part about that is that a lot of kids aren't going to be able to play at top schools because there is going to be so much competition for those positions because of the lack of matching expansion at the college level."

As top eastern powerhouses such as Virginia and Hopkins pass on some of these new and frequently unknown athletes, the talent strengthens at smaller universities, including those now competing in the sport out West. With the arrival of coaches such as Air Force's Acee and Denver's Jamie Munro to up-and-coming schools, the eastern strategy and tradition of lacrosse expands westward and the athletes continue to become better lacrosse players.

"[A championship] is our goal -- why shouldn't it be?" Munro said. "This is our sixth year of Division I competition, and we're going to get better because our recruiting classes have gotten deeper and deeper."

The 2004 preseason coaches' poll by the Face-Off Yearbook included three mid-western teams -- Notre Dame at No. 16, Ohio State at No. 17 and Denver at No. 23. And with the Pioneers' victory this past weekend against the defending champion Cavaliers, Denver's national ranking can only rise and interest in the area for lacrosse can only continue to grow.

Last Saturday, Virginia was also defeated by unranked Air Force, a mid-level Division I lacrosse team which proved with such an incredible upset that they deserve to be taken seriously in the sport.

"You have to give these people credit here, at the University of Denver and Air Force," Virginia coach Dom Starsia said. "They are putting some resources into the sport in order to have the game grow a little bit. You can see the nice crowd here on a nice day, and who would have thought that a couple years back."

The Cavaliers' two-loss trip to the University of Denver last weekend marked a turning point in the future of collegiate lacrosse. For the first time in the Division I history, NCAA lacrosse teams beyond the powerhouses of the East Coast must be taken seriously as the sport continues to expand to the Mid-West, the Rocky Mountains and beyond.