NCAA hopes slim for Virginia
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 14, 2004

GREENSBORO, N.C. - The Virginia players and coaches have at least enough reason to tune into the NCAA selection show this evening. Most likely they will not be awarded for their patience or optimism.

Barring a selection-day shocker, the Cavaliers seem bound for their third straight NIT appearance after Friday’s loss to Duke in the ACC quarterfinals here at the Greensboro Coliseum.

As of late Friday, according to sources, Virginia was already put in plans to host a NIT contest either Tuesday or Wednesday at University Hall.

Again, the Cavaliers will still be watching tonight hopeful of their name popping up on the screen but some are realistic about their chances. Then again, some are not.

“I think it is a long shot but I also think there is a chance. It depends on a couple of things,” said Virginia coach Pete Gillen. “I think 17-12 in this league is pretty good given that this is the best league in the country. I think this league deserves seven bids. The head of the committee said they’re going to take the best 34 at-large teams. I think we have a shot. It’s an outside shot, yes, but it’s a shot.”

Virginia junior forward Elton Brown of course thinks his team deserves a bid but at least Brown made a decent case why.

“I still have hopes for it. We’ve won five of our last eight games. We beat three teams in the top 15. We beat Carolina, Wake and Georgia Tech and any of those teams could go to the Final Four,” Brown said.

Whatever is Virginia’s final destination, it will continue the recent drama of Gillen’s status as coach.

Given a postseason mark of 2-10, a victory or two in whichever postseason tournament the Cavaliers play in would certainly enhance his security. Or at least one would think.

It was fairly clear Friday that Virginia players had their collective hearts set on a NCAA bid but they didn’t seemed exactly turned off to the idea of playing in the NIT. They seemed to look forward to playing more games period.

“We’re excited for the rest of the season whether it’s the NCAAs or NIT. It’s been a good season and we want to work hard and keep playing,” said freshman guard J.R. Reynolds.

Added Todd Billet: “It’s another opportunity to play. We’ll find out Sunday. It’s exciting to know the season is not going to stop. The players are having fun playing, the coaches are having fun coaching and I think the fans are enjoying watching us. Given that situation and the way we finished the season, I don’t look at the NIT as a negative.”

 

Cavs' woes continue
By John Galinsky / Daily Progress staff writer
March 14, 2004

If No. 7 Princeton and No. 17 Virginia entered Saturday’s game at Klockner Stadium as the two most desperate lacrosse teams in the country, as Tigers coach Bill Tierney suggested, then they left with entirely different attitudes.

After their 8-7 victory, Princeton’s players were exhausted, exhilarated and thrilled at their turnaround following an embarrassing nine-goal loss to Johns Hopkins the week before.

The Cavaliers, meanwhile, trudged off the field with an even greater sense of desperation and frustration at a season that is quickly slipping away. The loss was the fourth straight for Virginia, its worst stretch of futility in 17 years, and the team’s 1-4 record marks its worst start to a season since 1966.

“We’re just not ready to win yet. We’re not making enough of the plays that are required to be successful,” said UVa coach Dom Starsia, whose team won the national championship last season. “In the first half, the defense was walking around like we were on eggshells a little bit, and we continue to be too impatient on offense. Those have been things that have plagued us.”

The Cavaliers played with plenty of desperation but without enough poise, patience and skill. Though they fired 12 more shots than Princeton, the quality of their attempts was relatively low. The Tigers (2-1) created better scoring opportunities and converted just enough to snap a four-game losing streak at Klockner.

“We were so desperate after last week that we just hoped to come down here and squeeze one out,” Tierney said. “We were very fortunate and they were a little unlucky. It’s hard when things aren’t going well. You don’t get breaks. They didn’t get breaks today.”

Virginia failed to make its own breaks. When there was a loose ball, a Princeton player usually came up with it. The Tigers claimed a huge advantage in ground balls (47-27) and won 11 of 19 faceoffs, allowing them to maintain possession and control the game’s tempo.

Princeton also scored late goals in each of the first three quarters, which made the difference on a day in which neither team led by more than two goals. Jason Doneger’s goal with six seconds left in the first period gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead. Mac Bryson scored with nine seconds remaining in the half, making it 6-4, and Bryson’s second goal with 1:09 left in the third quarter pushed the advantage to 8-6.

“The ball’s just not going our way right now,” said UVa goalie Tillman Johnson, who made 11 saves to keep his team close. “The offense isn’t putting the ball in the net. The defense isn’t getting the key stops. I’m not making some saves I should make. It’s a whole combination of things. If you play like that as a team, you’re going to get beat.”

Matt Ward led the Cavaliers with three goals, but he didn’t get much help. All-American attackman John Christmas, who did not play in last week’s loss to Syracuse because of a strained groin muscle, had one goal on nine shots. The other starter at attack, Joe Yevoli, continued to struggle, recording a single assist. He also turned the ball over while operating behind the cage with two minutes left.

Virginia got the ball back a minute later and had several chances to force overtime. Shots by Newton Gentry and Matt Poskay were off the mark. Finally, following a timeout with 15 seconds left, Ward dodged from behind the cage and tried a bounce shot from seven yards away. But with several defenders draped on him, Ward could not put much steam on the shot and goalie Dave Law made the easy save, his 15th of the game.

“We’re not clicking on all cylinders yet. It’s a long season. Hopefully things will turn around,” Ward said. “But it’s pretty stressful right now to see we’re 1-4. We definitely didn’t expect that.”

Nor did Starsia, whose team must improve drastically to qualify for the NCAA tournament in two months.

“I have confidence that we can be a good lacrosse team. We just have to keep working,” Starsia said. “This is not an easy thing for these guys to go through right now, but we have to keep moving in a positive direction.”
 

Gillen’s many critics will never find an ally in Coach K
The Virginian-Pilot
© March 13, 2004

GREENSBORO - If you count yourself among the crowd that believes Pete Gillen’s days at Virginia should be dwindling to a precious few, Mike Krzyzewski has a message for you:

You’re an idiot.

Fire Gillen?

“If anybody’s thinking that, they’re idiots,” Krzyzewski said after his Duke team beat U.Va. at the ACC tournament. “He’s one of the top coaches and best guys in the business.”

This isn’t the first time Coach K has leveled the “idiot” charge at people looking to dump a coach. He said pretty much the same thing when N.C. State was rumored to be greasing the rails for Herb Sendek.

Friday afternoon, Krzyzew-ski put on a good show for the benefit of the media assembled at the Greensboro Coliseum.

After congratulating Virginia for its “gutty performance” only hours after the Cavaliers beat Clemson in overtime in Thursday night’s play-in game, he was asked what he thought of the stories circulating “about Pete being in trouble.”

“Pete Gillen?” Krzyzewski said. “With his wife? Who’s he in trouble with?”

He’s in trouble with U.Va. officials and deep-pocketed boosters, Krzyzewski was told, as if he didn’t already know.

“I would find that kind of hard to believe,” Krzyzew-ski said. “Coming into this game, they had won five of their last seven and put themselves into the position to be considered for the NCAA or postseason play.”

Speculation about Gillen’s future has been the topic du jour at U.Va. for the last month or more. As Gillen twists in the wind, director of athletics Craig Littlepage declines to offer a public vote of confidence to a coach who still has seven seasons remaining on his contract.

Meanwhile, discussion of Gillen’s survival odds are slowly bleeding out in the media. His stock sunk low in January. It rose in February. Has U.Va.’s late surge saved Gillen’s job?

Yes.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

A story out of Richmond suggests that big-money donors the university is courting are not sold on Gillen’s future in Charlottesville.

“All I can do,” he said Friday, “is to try to give ’em my best and represent the university in a proper manner. I’d like to be here a long time, but the university can say, 'We don’t like you.’”

Had his team played with as much focus and resolve earlier in the season as it did on Friday, more U.Va. people would like Gillen. Considering the opponent and the tournament conditions, U.Va. turned in a credible effort on a day when Devin Smith’s bad back allowed him as much mobility as a cigar store Indian and senior guard Todd Billet scored two points.

Much better were freshman guards J.R. Reynolds and T.J. Bannister — U.Va.’s future.

“He is playing an awful lot of freshmen,” Krzyzewski said in defense of Gillen. “He has everybody back except Billet. He has Elton Brown back.

“Sometimes with a younger team, especially in this league, it takes you a while to find your chemistry. In the month of February, and now March, Virginia has played everybody well or won.”

Virginia’s too-numerous, one-sided losses, though, opened the door to a great debate over Gillen’s fitness, a by-now-tedious exercise that will follow the coach into the NIT — U.Va.’s likely next destination — unless a university endorsement is forthcoming.

Absent that, expect more speculation and more twisting in the wind by Gillen. Perhaps only an idiot would think this is great sport.
 

Virginia Wins Weekend Series Following 2-1 Victory Over #17 Georgia Tech In Atlanta
UVa wins first series in Atlanta over GT since 1980

ATLANTA, Ga. - The University of Virginia baseball team secured the three-game ACC series against the #17 ranked Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets by posting a 2-1 victory at Russ Chandler Stadium to take a two games to none lead in the series. UVa also won 4-3 on Friday in game one. The Cavaliers' Joe Koshansky hit a solo home run in the top of the ninth inning to break a 1-1 tie, lifting his team to victory. Virginia's series win over Georgia Tech marks UVa's first series victory over GT since the 1999 season when the Cavaliers went 2-1, and also marks the first time Virginia has won an ACC series over the Yellow Jackets in Atlanta since winning two games to none in 1980. UVa is now 7-0 in road games this season.

As it did in game one of the series, Virginia scored in the top of the first inning, this time taking a 1-0 lead when Matt Street led off the game with a single that dropped into center field for a hit before he scored a run two batters later on a RBI-double to right-center field by Ryan Zimmerman.

UVa held on to its one-run lead until the bottom of the fifth inning when Georgia Tech tied the game 1-1 when Whit Robbins doubled down the right field line before he scored a run one batter later on RBI-single by Tyler Greene.

The Yellow Jackets appeared ready to take the lead twice to break the 1-1 tie, both in the bottom of the fifth and sixth innings, when GT had the bases loaded with one out. But in each situation, Georgia Tech grounded into an inning-ending double play to keep the ball game tied at 1-1.

The score remained tied at one apiece until the top of the ninth inning. That's when the Cavaliers took a 2-1 lead off Koshansky's game-winning, solo home run to right field. Koshansky's home run was his team-leading eighth of the year.

Virginia's Canon Hickman (2-1) picked up his second win of the year after going 2.0 scoreless innings on the mound while striking out two batters. UVa starting pitcher Matt Avery pitched 6.0 innings and allowed just one run on four hits and struck out two batters in a no-decision.

The Yellow Jackets' Ryan Self (0-1) took the loss after giving up the home run to Koshansky in just 0.1 inning of work. GT starting pitcher Brian Burke went 8.0 innings and allowed only one run on four hits to go along with a game-high seven strikeouts in a no-decision.

With the victory, Virginia's record improves to 16-2 overall, 2-0 in the ACC. The loss drops Georgia Tech's record to 9-8 overall, 0-2 in the conference. UVa now leads the series 2-0.

The Cavaliers will return to action on Sunday, March 14th when UVa faces Georgia Tech in the final contest of the three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 PM at Russ Chandler Stadium.