Make room on the bubble
Virginia plays its way into NCAA discussion
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 4, 2004

“Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble.”

Virginia coach Pete Gillen, an English Literature major, could probably identify that from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.

Three weeks ago, however, Gillen probably wouldn’t have figured it would now apply to his team and the NCAA tournament.

With its 84-82 victory over No. 11 Wake Forest on Tuesday, the Cavaliers have won four of their past five games with three coming against teams ranked in the top-15.

The Cavaliers are 16-10, 6-9 in the ACC with a RPI of No. 47 as of Wednesday morning.

That resume is incomplete and would need a win at Maryland on Sunday in the regular-season finale and likely a win in the ACC tournament. At the moment, the Cavaliers are just on the fringes of NCAA consideration but are at least in the discussion.

It’s something no one would have foreseen three weeks ago, not even those witches in Macbeth. Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said the Cavaliers are just one win away from the NCAAs, Gillen wasn’t about to comment on his protégé’s analysis Tuesday night.

“I have no comment on that. I’m just worried about getting home, getting my car home and getting it into the garage without hitting anybody. We’ll worry about it tomorrow,” said Gillen, who quipped that he nearly blacked out on several occasions during the nip-and-tuck second half.

Virginia’s NCAA tournament candidacy is a stealth one. The Cavaliers are only now even being mentioned as a bubble team and those references are more in passing or as afterthoughts. Perhaps, however, that’s Virginia’s greatest asset. Traditionally, teams that spend most of February and early March on that dreaded bubble are picked apart mercilessly. Every flaw and every strength is examined and re-examined. Just ask Maryland and Florida State, who have endured such treatment for the better part of the last month. Virginia hasn’t really been put under the microscope or pressure yet and that’s just fine with them.

“I think in part it’s motivation but we also know that we can only do what we can do. We can’t control what other people think. We can only go out and play hard. Our focus is on what we can do on the court,” said senior guard Todd Billet.

While the debate and discussion over Virginia’s NCAA chances will intensify over the next few days, it’s worth examining what led it to this point.

It’s been a collection of late-game heroics - three game-winning treys by Billet and a driving layup by Devin Smith against Wake - that has allowed the Cavaliers to win these four games in the last three weeks.

What’s been the magical quotient? Better defense? Better shooting? The shift of freshman T.J. Bannister to the starting point guard spot? It’s probably been a little of each but Smith opted for a simplier answer.

“We’re just coming together as a team and our confidence is growing with each win,” Smith said. “I think that’s been the real key.”

Bannister’s play, however, still should not be discounted.

Bannister had nine points, 12 assists and just one turnover against Wake and also managed to at least slow down the Deacons’ Chris Paul on a couple occasions.

“T.J. played against Chris Paul, who just may be the best freshman in the country. T.J. had 12 assists and just one turnover. That’s a great effort for a young point guard who is just starting to get significant playing time in the last few weeks,” Gillen said. “He has put a ton of time in doing extra things since December. … He’s quick and strong and has a big heart. They beat us badly if he doesn’t have a game like that.”

Added Jason Clark: “T.J. has helped us a lot. A lot of people said he wasn’t an ACC point guard. He’s just done a great job pushing the ball and distributing it. He’s made a big difference.”

Bannister said it’s all about practice.

“I think everyone is clicking now. We are believing in our coaches and ourselves. We are practicing much better now and how you practice is how you play,” Bannister said.

 

Virginia's revival mystery to Gillen
Smith says Cavs are coming together with confidence growing
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 4, 2004

CHARLOTTESVILLE - One of the season's more remarkable turnarounds began at University Hall with a last-second 3-pointer by Todd Billet on Valentine's Day.

That shot - the senior guard's lone field goal in 26 minutes - grounded then-No. 15 Georgia Tech and ended Virginia's five-game losing streak.

The Cavaliers stumbled in their next game, at Florida State, but battled back to win at Clemson on another Billet 3-pointer in the final seconds.

Then came an upset of then-No. 12 North Carolina at U-Hall, courtesy of another late Billet trey, followed by an 84-82 win over No. 11 Wake Forest in U.Va.'s final regular-season home game.

Talk about new life: Virginia (6-9 ACC, 16-10 overall) is suddenly being touted as an at-large candidate for the NCAA tournament.

"I've never been part of a team that's peaked like this at the end of the year," said Billet, who spent two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Virginia.

"We've done a great job of focusing on one game at a time, one practice at a time. We never look ahead or anything. This team has been on an even keel - not too high, not too down - and I think that's been the key."

That hasn't always been the case in U.Va.'s six seasons under Pete Gillen. The Cavaliers dropped seven of their final eight regular-season games last season and four of their last five in 2001-02.

Virginia, 16-16 in 2002-03, was picked to finish eighth in the ACC this season. Until recently, the Cavs had done little to make anyone think the prognosticators might have erred.

"I can't explain it," Gillen said of his team's resurgence. "We just go day by day. I don't like talking about it too much. We've been very fortunate. It's a great tribute to our kids' character and heart. We have good talent, but I think we have bigger hearts."

Had U.Va. finished 2-14 or 3-13 in ACC play, sources said, Gillen almost certainly would have been dismissed after the season.

Given an opportunity yesterday to confirm that Gillen, whose contract runs through June 2011, would return in 2004-05, Athletic Director Craig Littlepage declined to do so. Littlepage continues to review Gillen's program and wants to evaluate the season as a whole. Without question, though, Gillen's position is considerably stronger today - as is his team's - than it was three weeks ago.

"We're just coming together as a team, and our confidence is growing with each win," said junior forward Devin Smith, whose three-point play with 5.8 seconds left Tuesday night proved decisive against Wake.

ESPN singled out Smith's play as Tuesday's best in the world of sports. Wake coach Skip Prosser probably wouldn't have disagreed.

"We guarded him," Prosser said. "He just made a great play."

U.Va. is tied for sixth in the ACC with Florida State (6-9, 18-11), which closes Saturday at Georgia Tech. Virginia plays its regular-season finale Sunday night at Maryland, which took a 5-9 conference record into its game last night at 16th-ranked N.C. State.

The ACC tournament looms, and the Cavaliers control their fate. To avoid a date with Clemson (3-13, 10-17) in the March 11 play-in game, U.Va. must beat Maryland this weekend.

If the Cavaliers prevail in the College Park, they could end up as the ACC's tourney's No. 6 seed.

If they fall, they would lose any tiebreakers with Maryland and/or Florida State and thus be consigned to the play-in game.

"We all knew the Wake Forest game was important, and the last game at Maryland is especially important," junior forward Jason Clark said Tuesday night.

"If we keep that in mind, we'll be OK. Don't let up. Don't get too satisfied with this victory."
 

Do refs look the other way for Coach K?
3-4-04
News & Record

DURHAM -- Mike Krzyzewski came out dressed casually for the second half of Wednesday night's game between Duke and Georgia Tech. The fashion statement was made in the first half, however, when he came out dressed like a madman.

Krzyzewski modeled a change of clothing on an evening when he was less than a model of decorum.

His basketball team lost a basketball game, but that was still no excuse. There was also no excuse that Krzyzewski saw the end of the game.

To say the Duke coach was on the edge would be true. But on the edge of what? An ejection? A nervous breakdown? A spontaneous combustion?

He did see the end of the 76-68 loss, and a lot of people inside Cameron Indoor Asylum didn't. In the end, the fans turned on their own, or at least those who tried to escape the bitter finish.

Krzyzewski berated the officials, or one of them, to the final horn, cursing with veins showing on his forehead and venom showing in his demeanor. He walked off the floor after congratulating the victors, storming off in stony silence, wearing a different outfit than the one he wore walking in.

It was Krzyzewski who stormed into the league all those years ago, fighting the "double standard'' he saw between how Dean Smith was treated and how the rest of the league was treated. After all these years, the irony is that there is still a double standard. Gary Williams has questioned it for years. And so has Herb Sendek and various other ACC coaches who didn't survive the standards set by Krzyzewski.

The question here, however, is a simple one. If Krzyzewski didn't get thrown out of Wednesday night's game against Georgia Tech, then just what does it take to get thrown out of a game in this league?

His manners were deplorable. His language galling. His actions just short of, well, apparently ejection.

Krzyzewski picked up one technical foul. He deserved four. And the fact is, he appeared to be trying to get them.

His treatment of Ray Natili, a veteran official, was hard to watch. At one point, Krzyzewski literally ran down the sideline after the referee, screaming about a non-call and blasting away at Natili and officiating partner Karl Hess. There was a third partner, the short-fused Ted Valentine. Krzyzewski was careful not to say anything to him.

He reserved most of his screaming for Natili, whom he was restrained from by his assistant coaches on at least two occasions.

Georgia Tech outplayed Duke and took on the demeanor of its cool coach, Paul Hewitt.

Things did not seem controlled at the other end. Krzyzewski's second-half look was a black sportscoat and a simple black shirt. He'd lost the white shirt and tie during halftime. He at least tried to calm down in the second half, but in the end he didn't.

Look, Krzyzewski is the best college basketball coach in America. Anyone who questions that doesn't know basketball. He knows basketball, and he knows when his team is in trouble, and he knows when he's not getting treated like the best college basketball coach in America, especially playing on his own court.

We all know particular coaches have issues with particular officials. And we all know that coaches are allowed to be themselves.

That's the double standard, in some people's eyes. Maryland coach Gary Williams should get four or five technicals every game. Krzyzewski should've gotten more than one Wednesday night. He saw it differently, suggesting that any hypothetical question of a second technical sounded like something his wife would ask.

"Why would I want a second one?'' he asked. "So I could watch it on TV? I didn't want the first one, and I didn't want a second one. I never want one. That didn't win or lose the game. Georgia Tech won the damn basketball game.''

Krzyzewski got his first technical from Hess. The game ended with Krzyzewski standing near the far end of his bench screaming at Natili, who refused to turn around and look at the screaming coach.

This might have been his way of making a statement. It seemed to work. Eventually, Krzyzewski walked away. A better statement would've been to ring up the best coach in America and let him watch the end of the game on TV.
 

Cavs need win at Maryland in finale
Wins over three top 25 teams in past fives games bolster NCAA tourney hopes; dreams of dancing may ride on win over Terps
Mickey Cloud
Cavalier Daily Senior Writer

And just when you thought it was safe to count the Virginia Cavaliers out of the postseason picture, they go and pull one on you.

They have won three games in a row and four of their last five.

The Cavaliers are riding high off of an improbable winning streak that has included three victories over Top 25 teams, three game-winning three pointers by senior Todd Billet, an inspired, dramatic win on Senior Night over a hot No. 11 Wake Forest squad and more surprises than an M. Night Shyamalan movie. Suddenly, the surging Cavaliers (16-10, 6-9 ACC) head to College Park, Md., Sunday to face a slumping Maryland Terrapins squad (14-12, 6-9 ACC) with thoughts of the postseason dancing clear in their minds.

A victory on the road at Maryland could put Virginia on the bubble or maybe even in the NCAA Tournament, a thought that seemed inconceivable two weeks ago.

"Virginia's one win away from the NCAA Tournament," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said.

While the Cavaliers may need more than a victory over the Terps to gain an invitation to the Big Dance (as evidenced by their snub after a 9-7 ACC record in 2000), Prosser's comment shows that teams and the NCAA Selection Committee should be taking the Cavaliers more seriously as they enter the month of March.

However, a loss to Maryland would nearly kill Virginia's hopes of going to the NCAA Tournament because a loss would mean the Cavaliers must play in the play-in game of the ACC Tournament. Only an improbable run through the ACC Tournament would save Virginia's chances and that seems very unlikely, as Virginia would need three or four consecutive wins in a tough conference tournament.

Therefore, the pressure for Virginia to win at Maryland and keep their NCAA Tournament chances alive is on the rise. This however, doesn't seem to bother the Cavaliers.

"No one is giving up," junior Devin Smith, the instrumental hero against Wake Forest, said. "Everyone's staying positive. We're working hard and it's starting to pay off."

It is hard to argue against Smith's words, as the Cavaliers have become one of the hottest teams in the ACC. They seem to be getting big plays out of somebody different in each of their past four wins.

"I can't explain it," Virginia coach Pete Gillen said. "We're going day by day. We've been very fortunate. We've got good talent, but we have bigger heart."

Against Georgia Tech Feb. 14, Billet may have been the hero with the final shot, but Smith's 16 second-half points, freshman point guard T.J. Bannister's 15 points and seven assists, plus junior forward Elton Brown's 21 points all fueled Virginia to the win.

The following Saturday at Clemson, it was Billet who led the team to victory, tallying 21 points -- including the game-winner -- plus dishing out five assists.

With North Carolina in U-Hall Feb. 24, Billet scored 12 points, but the trifecta he nailed to seal the win was his only second-half field goal. The Cavaliers, instead, relied on Smith's 20 points and freshman J.R. Reynolds' 14 points to take down the then-No. 12 Tar Heels.

And finally, against Wake Forest on Tuesday, Smith might have made the biggest play, but Virginia received huge boosts from sophomore Derrick Byars and his 15 points and five rebounds, plus Bannister's 12 assists.

"I've never been on a team that has played like this," Billet said. "To see a team getting better and better is remarkable."

When Virginia plays at 8 p.m. Sunday in College Park, the Cavaliers will look to repeat their performance from last year, when the squad rallied to win 86-78 over the then-No. 8 Terps in Maryland.

Besides, this year, it's only Virginia's NCAA Tournament chances on the line.