Cavaliers stay positive despite record
By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer
March 8, 2005

Don’t talk to the Cavaliers about their five-point loss at Florida State on Sunday nor their 13-14 overall record and their five-game losing streak that earned them a last-place ACC finish.

The Cavaliers on Monday were all about new beginnings and fresh starts - or at least that’s what they were saying - when discussing the ACC Tournament, which begins Thursday in Washington.

The Cavaliers’ attitudes Monday could be labeled anything from predictable to even perhaps slightly delusional but it is hard to imagine that they could benefit from a different state of mind. With all that encircles them at the moment, few could fault the Cavaliers for trying to stay positive.

“We have to go out there and play, stick together and stay positive. We have to play like we did in the beginning of the season. … Anything is possible,” senior Elton Brown said.

If anything is indeed possible for Virginia, it begins with Thursday night’s ACC first-round contest against sixth-seeded Miami at 7 p.m. at the MCI Center. Virginia will need to reach at least the ACC semifinals to have the possibility of a NIT berth and continue a streak of five straight postseason appearances.

“We have nothing to lose going into this tournament. The point of this tournament is to try and win it,” Sean Singletary said. “Anything can happen in March. I know nobody believes that we can do it but I have confidence.”

Added Gary Forbes: “It’s a whole new season and the 27 games before this don’t matter now.”

The comments made by the Virginia players are expected and cliché but it’s hard to fault them for saying those things.

Gillen himself was preaching some positives. In a page from fellow UVa coach Al Groh, Gillen’s only comment on the reality of his team’s season was to say that their record is what it is.

“We are 13-14. We are not going to make any excuses. We are 13-14 and that is what it is. We had some good moments and some disappointing ones,” Gillen said. “We are now going to try to get a couple of more great moments before closing the book on this season.”

Gillen said that despite the comments of his players Monday, there is a challenge for a coach to alter the psyche for the postseason despite the misfortunes that may have come before it.

“It’s difficult. You play 27 games and then some exhibition games. It takes a toll. … Now we are trying to regroup and let them now we believe in them. We had some good wins and we have to try and extenuate the positives,” Gillen said.

Virginia nearly overcame a 20-point second half deficit in Sunday’s 68-63 loss and it did so by abandoning the slow down game Gillen hand incorporated weeks ago. Initially, the new style brought three straight wins but now five losses have ensued.

It’s fairly obvious that the Cavaliers are simply not suited for that kind of basketball. Gillen, however, was non-committal if the Cavaliers would continue their methodical pace Thursday.

“It still comes down to making shots and we haven’t been doing that,” Gillen said.

Discussing positive attitudes and offensive styles was one of numerous topics the UVa players addressed Monday. Of course, the other was the future of their coach. Gillen’s status has been the No. 1 question surrounding the program recently and despite their best efforts, that hasn’t escaped the players.

“Coach Gillen never addresses that. We know it’s been pretty tough for him. We want to do anything we can to alleviate that pressure. It’s out there. He is a great guy and we want him to be here,” Singletary said.

Gillen: Miami game winnable
Both UVa and Miami enter the tournament with 4-8 marks over their last 12 games.
By Doug Doughty
981-3129
The Roanoke Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE - The ground rules were established from the start Monday as Virginia men's basketball coach Pete Gillen met with the media for the last time before the ACC Tournament.

Sports information director Rich Murray, master of ceremonies for the event, said that Gillen would be fielding questions only about the team and the upcoming tournament. The Cavaliers (13-14, 4-12 ACC) are seeded 11th and will face sixth-seeded Miami (16-11, 7-9) at 7 p.m. Thursday in the first round, but the question on everybody's mind was what happens next.

By almost all estimations, it would take something along the lines of an ACC championship - four victories in four days - for Gillen to return for an eighth season.

"I'm just picking a bridge," said Gillen on the weekly ACC coaches' teleconference. "I've got three bridges. I've got the Brooklyn Bridge, I've got the Golden Gate and I got the Sagamore Bridge in Cape Cod because it's a nice place."

That's the closest Gillen came to gallows humor all day.

"Who said that?" Gillen asked when reminded of the quote four hours later, when he was sitting in front of another media gathering in the University Hall press room. "That wasn't me. That was my alien cousin who said that."

Several minutes earlier, Gillen was asked if he is still having fun.

"I haven't had fun for a while," Gillen said. "These [reporters] in front of me are making sure I haven't had any fun. But, no, I enjoy working with the players. I'm frustrated we're not doing better. I feel a lot of times that we're climbing uphill, but we don't have a big margin of error. We've got to have a lot of guys play well."

All of the UVa players were made available to reporters Monday, but they didn't have much to say about Gillen's status.

"I don't think they're thinking about it," said Gillen, who described himself as being "in a cocoon."

Virginia will enter the ACC Tournament on a five-game losing streak, the Cavaliers' second five-game losing streak of the season, but their 4-8 record over the last 12 games is the same as Miami's.

"Miami's a very good team. It's a good challenge for us, but it's a game I think we can win," Gillen said. "We won 13 games. It's not nearly what we want. It's not nearly what we should have done, but we're capable of winning games. We've just got to do it; we haven't done it for a while."

No cheap seats
ACC Tournament tickets have always been tough to get, but the league's expansion paired with the smallest arena in 16 years make it more expensive than ever.
By Mark Berman
981-3125
The Roanoke Times

Melinda Talley of Moneta is going to the ACC Tournament for the first time to root on the Virginia Tech men's basketball team. She can't wait.

"I packed two weeks ago," she said with a laugh at last weekend's Tech game at Cassell Coliseum.

Only Hokie Club members who have donated at least $50,000 in their lifetimes will get to go to the first ACC Tournament that includes the Hokies. Tournament tickets aren't available to the general public.

Melinda Talley and her husband, Ed, fund two athletic scholarships at Tech, so the Hokie Club gave them the opportunity to buy two tournament ticket books for $325 apiece. Ed Talley can't go because of work, so his wife is taking a girlfriend to the tournament, which begins Thursday at the MCI Center in Washington, D.C. They never went to the Big East or Atlantic 10 tournaments when Tech was in those leagues.

There is a discrepancy over how many books ACC newcomers Virginia Tech and Miami got from the league. Tech and Miami officials each said Monday their schools were given 595 books. They were supposed to get one-third of the allotment of the nine returning ACC members, but that would be 647 books, not 595. ACC assistant commissioner Fred Barakat said the two schools did indeed get 647 books.

Of Tech's 595 tickets, 498 were sold to Hokie Club members. The rest went to the Tech president's office; athletic department officials; coaches; and the school's broadcast rights holder, ISP.

In January, the Hokie Club offered its top 250 donors - those who have donated from $2 million to $100,000 in their lives, as of Dec.31 - the chance to buy two tickets apiece. The 500 next-largest donors - those who have given from $50,000 to $100,000 - were offered the chance to order tickets on a stand-by basis. Not all of the top 250 donors wanted to buy tickets, and some of the stand-buy group did wind up with tickets. Donors weren't allowed to buy more than two tickets.

Throughout the league, ACC Tournament tickets are used as incentives to get people to make hefty donations.

"The tournament has been an important part of our fund-raising process for years," said Giles graduate John Montgomery, the executive director of North Carolina's booster club, the Rams Club. "The tournament is so meaningful for our donors."

"It's definitely a selling point," said Ryan White, assistant director of Virginia's booster club, the Virginia Athletic Foundation.

Tech's allotment includes seats in two luxury suites. The other schools got seven suites apiece. One 18-seat suite is being used by Tech officials, with the other being shared by 18 Hokie Club members.

The ACC will give Tech and Miami a two-thirds share of tickets next year and a full share in 2007. Boston College joins the ACC for the 2005-06 school year, which will affect each school's portion.

This is the first year the tournament is being held at the 20,000-seat MCI Center. Last year it was at the 23,500-seat Greensboro Coliseum, which is where the tournament will be held next year.

Because of the two additional schools and the smaller arena, the nine returning members got fewer tickets than last year. That meant some fans had to increase their donations in order to get tickets.

The nine returning members got 1,941 tickets apiece. Last year, UVa got 2,420 tickets. About 1,600 tickets were sold this year to members of UVa's booster club - about 350 fewer tickets than UVa boosters got last year.

To be guaranteed the opportunity to buy two tickets this year, a UVa booster had to give at least $5,500 a year. To have the chance to order two tickets on a stand-by basis, a UVa booster had to give at least $2,200 a year - twice as much as last year. Donors that give at least $20,000 a year were only allowed to order six tickets, down from eight last year. Donors that give at least $11,000 a year were only allowed to order four tickets, down from six last year.

North Carolina set aside 1,500 tickets this year for members of its booster club - 600 fewer tickets than last year. In order to buy two tickets this year, donors had to have given at least $130,000 in their lifetime as of Jan.15; last year the minimum was $90,000. In order to buy four tickets, donors had to have given at least $200,000 in their lives, up from $120,000 last year.

Each of the 11 schools gets an additional 100 tickets for players' families, but those are only good for that school's sessions and not for the entire tournament.

Other tickets go to the ACC office; corporate sponsors; and Raycom, the league's TV rights holder.

Barber's paycheck too small
By RICK STROUD, Times Staff Writer
Published March 6, 2005

TAMPA - He is a company man, to be sure. Ronde Barber speaks his mind but rarely creates a ripple while others cause waves.

But at some point, the Bucs All-Pro will have to break his silence when it comes to fairness.

Just about every year, Tampa Bay officials have asked Barber to provide some salary cap relief by restructuring his contract.

That trend ended last season when Barber asked for something in return. He wanted the Bucs to consider giving him an extension, which they politely refused.

Now Barber, who turns 30 next month, must feel pretty underappreciated these days when he sees what's happening in the booming cornerback market.

In terms of average salary, Barber's $3-million per year ranked 27th among NFL cornerbacks when the free agent signing period began.

Barber has two years remaining on a contract that will pay him $3.75-million in 2005 and $3.5-million in '06. By making the Pro Bowl, Barber earned an additional $500,000 to his salary next season, which was supposed to be $3.25-million.

He is not alone. Brian Kelly, who averages $2,356,250 in salary, is the 34th highest-paid cornerback. And since 2002, only one other cornerback, the Dolphins Patrick Surtain, has more interceptions (17) than Kelly (13).

Just consider the list of cornerbacks who are paid more: Jason Webster, Al Harris, David Barrett, Reggie Howard, Fred Thomas, Daylon McCutcheon, Marcus Coleman, Chad Scott, Daune Starks, R.W. McQuarters and Will Peterson.

Not exactly household names.

How could Barber not notice when former USF and Browns free agent cornerback Anthony Henry received a $10-million signing bonus from the Cowboys or when Seattle's Ken Lucas got $13-million to sign with the Panthers?

A year ago, needing a cornerback, the Falcons targeted Webster, the 49ers free agent who had only played in five games in 2003 due to injuries. When other cornerbacks started disappearing, Atlanta desperately grabbed Webster and paid him a $7-million signing bonus. Once again, injuries limited Webster to just 10 games last season.

"Sometimes you violate your own rules," said Falcons general manager Rich McKay. "Was signing Webster so quickly a little bit of a panic move? Yeah, it was ... "

No one is suggesting the Bucs should pay for other team's mistakes. But if any Bucs player has a case for a raise, it's Barber. In 2001, when teams still challenged him, Barber tied for the NFL lead with 10 interceptions. When he moves to the slot on nickel situations, he's one of the best defensive weapons in football, a player who can blitz, tackle and cover with equal success.

So what happens when - or if - Barber approaches the Bucs for a new contract this off-season?

The problem is that general manager Bruce Allen dug his heels in last season during the Keenan McCardell holdout by proclaiming the Bucs don't re-negotiate contracts when a player has more than one season remaining. That is, of course, unless it benefits the team to demand a pay cut from a player like Mike Alstott.

Everybody knows about the Bucs' difficult salary cap situation. Allen has done a remarkable job putting the team in position to retain some of its own free agents, much less attract new talent.

"I feel much better about where it's going to be in '06," Allen said. "We're going to have to make some more moves, and as I've said, change some more contracts. We're comfortable. We know where we have room. But before utilizing that room, we want to know where we're going to spend it on. And until you have an agreement with a free agent, there's no reason to actually have the room."

Barber could provide the Bucs with more room under the salary cap. But first, the Bucs should offer to pay him what he's worth.

With ACC in D.C., beware of underdog
History: The few times the tourney has escaped Carolina for the Washington area, amazing upsets have followed. Just ask Virginia and N.C. State.
By Don Markus
Sun Staff
Originally published March 8, 2005

The Atlantic Coast Conference tournament has rarely ventured outside the state of North Carolina in its 51 years, but in returning to the Washington area this week for the first time since 1987, teams that finished in the bottom half of the league standings are hoping for history to repeat itself.

In its three visits to the Capital Centre in Landover, the ACC tournament produced two sizable upsets: Virginia's remarkable run over three nationally ranked teams in 1976 and North Carolina State's thrilling ride in the same building 11 years later.

Led by Wally Walker, the ACC tournament championship for the Cavaliers was the first and only in school history, the first by a team seeded sixth in the then-seven-team ACC, and came at the first ACC tournament played outside Tobacco Road.

The championship for the Wolfpack, seeded sixth of eight teams, occurred at perhaps the most exciting ACC tournament ever played. N.C. State won its quarterfinal in overtime, its semifinal in double overtime and the championship game by a single point on a pair of free throws in the waning seconds.

Will it happen again when the tournament is played this week at MCI Center?

Walker will be there watching as one of the ACC's honored legends, and is certain to be reminded of what happened more than a quarter of a century ago.

"The memories are all wonderful," Walker, 50, said last week from Seattle, where he is president and chief executive officer of the NBA's SuperSonics. "There's a feeling, 'Hey, we did something.'"

What the Cavaliers did under second-year coach Terry Holland was knock off three ranked teams in succession: No. 17 N.C. State, No. 9 Maryland and No. 4 North Carolina.

"We were young, but we really played well in the last month of the season," recalled Walker. "We lost some close games to the top ACC teams, but we really felt we had come a long way. We were as confident as a 4-8 team [in the ACC] could be."

Listening to Lefty

That confidence grew during a comical scene in the team's dressing room at halftime of the game against the Terrapins.

"Our locker room was contiguous with theirs, we shared a wall," said Walker. "Terry Holland was talking to us, and he was very close with Lefty Driesell. Terry held up his hand and had all of us be quiet and listen to Lefty screaming at the Maryland guys. We felt as if we had them where we wanted them."

Walker also can recall being in his hotel room with roommate Billy Langloh later that night, thinking about playing the Tar Heels the next afternoon.

"They had like seven guys who played in the NBA, six of them were first-round picks," said Walker, who was the fifth pick in the 1976 draft for the Portland Trail Blazers. "We played them two pretty good games, including one they won at the buzzer in Chapel Hill a couple of weeks before. There was no reason for us to be confident, but we still were."

Admittedly, there might have been less pressure on the Cavaliers as there was on teams such as Maryland and N.C. State, because they were still fighting for a chance to go to the NCAA tournament now that the field had been expanded to include more than a league's champion.

"Nobody knew for sure that you would get a bid if you didn't win it," said Holland, now the athletic director at East Carolina. "It was literally a bare-knuckles fistfight for three days because the teams wanted to win that badly."

As the final seconds ticked down against North Carolina, the magnitude of what the Cavaliers had accomplished was evident.

"I can remember our fans circling the arena and inching closer to the court," said Walker. "We were hitting some clinching free throws and looking around that court, seeing a bunch of friends and friendly faces in blue and orange is something I'll never forget."

Walker would go on to win two NBA championships, but what happened in Landover nearly 30 years ago remains the most significant accomplishment of his career.

"It was so emotional for those who had been there for any period of time," said Walker. "It was the first revenue-sport championship for the University of Virginia, to be a part of that for the fans who had stuck with us through thick and thin, and most of the time it was thin. It was a real thrill."

Overtime extravaganza

Nearly the entire 1987 tournament was a thrill for those who witnessed it: Of the seven games, three went into overtime and two others were decided by a point, including N.C. State's 68-67 win over archrival and top-seeded North Carolina in the championship game.

The Tar Heels had been heavily favored, having gone undefeated in the league's regular season. The Wolfpack had come into the ACC tournament with a 17-14 record (6-8 in the ACC) and needed to win the championship to qualify for the NCAA tournament.

"This was a team that had different expectations from Jimmy's standpoint, because it really wasn't a defined basketball team," recalled Dick Stewart, then one of Jim Valvano's assistant coaches and now an assistant athletic director at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. "Every game was an adventure."

Chucky Brown, now an assistant coach for the Roanoke Dazzle of the National Basketball Development League was a sophomore that year who had started to show promise during the course of the season. He attributes his team's championship to the man they called Coach V.

"He was the best motivator I've ever been around," Brown said of the late Valvano, who under similar circumstances had led the Wolfpack to the 1983 national championship. "He always had the right thing to say, always pushed the right buttons. I don't know how he did it, but he did it."

 

NOTES
Richmond Times-Dispatch
Mar 8, 2005

HIGH STAKES: The first 11-team ACC tournament starts will start Thursday and run through Sunday at MCI Center in Washington. Three teams enter as locks for the NCAA tourney: North Carolina, Wake Forest and Duke.

For three others - Clemson, Florida State and U.Va. - an ACC tournament title would be needed to gain entry into the NCAAs, and the odds of any of them winning four games in four days are not promising.

Miami's prospects look bleak, too, but Georgia Tech, last year's NCAA tourney runner-up, probably is assured a spot in the 65-team field. Still, there's "only one way to erase all doubt, and that's to keep winning this weekend," Yellow Jackets coach Paul Hewitt said yesterday.

The remaining three teams - Virginia Tech, N.C. State and Maryland - remain in contention for at-large bids to the NCAAs, but each may need to win two games at MCI Center to land an invitation.

POOR TIMING: In yesterday's mail, a member of the Atlantic Coast Sports Media Association received a flier from Wake Forest promoting all-ACC candidates Chris Paul, Justin Gray and Eric Williams.

The numerous testimonials to Paul included one from Oklahoma coach Kelvin Sampson, who said, "Tim Duncan, Grant Hill and Emeka Okafor made our game look good. Chris has that kind of character."

N.C. State star Julius Hodge, the victim of a punch to the groin from Paul on Sunday night, might disagree. Wake Forest yesterday suspended Paul for one game.

MISSED OPPORTUNITY: Had N.C. State shot better from the line against Wake, the Wolfpack probably would be assured of a fourth straight trip to the NCAAs. But the Pack made only 9 of 22 free throws and squandered an opportunity to beat a marquee opponent.

"I certainly think there's a significant mental component in shooting free throws," N.C. State coach Herb Sendek said. "When you're in a groove and shooting them well, you tend to shoot them even better."

IT IS WHAT IT IS: Wake coach Skip Prosser, uncharacteristically terse when questioned yesterday morning after Paul's cheap shot, was his usual self when asked if he still disliked the unbalanced scheduling that expansion has forced the ACC to use.

No longer do teams play the double round-robin for which the ACC was famous.

"It's a fait accompli that it is never going to be equitable," Prosser said. "That's the reality. It can't be [equitable]. We're not going to play 22 league games next year. That's the collateral damage, if you will, of an expansion that was based on a lot of factors - for the most part football."

Consider the schedules of Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech, which tied for fourth in the ACC. The Hokies played a total of four games against the top three teams in the league - North Carolina, Wake and Duke - and three of them were at Cassell Coliseum. The Yellow Jackets played five games against the Big Three, and three were on the road.

BALL HOG! With Sean May getting so many rebounds, it's difficult for North Carolina's other players to put up good numbers on the boards. May closed the regular season by collecting at least 10 points and 10 rebounds in eight straight games.

His 24 rebounds against Duke on Sunday were the most by a UNC player in 37 years.

Tar Heels coach Roy Williams "talked to me and said, 'You have a chance to do something special here. You have a chance to be one of the best rebounders that's played here. Tomorrow we need you to step up and make some big plays,'" May told the Winston-Salem Journal. "I just tried to do my part."

PERIMETER PLAY: Much of Virginia Tech's success in its first season in the league can be attributed to the play of sophomore guards Jamon Gordon and Zabian Dowdell. Before the season started, Hokies coach Seth Greenberg spoke in reverent terms about the quality of guards in the league.

"In a league with great, great guards and backcourts, our backcourt has competed at a fairly high level all season and given us a chance to compete in this terrific league," Greenberg said yesterday.

PREMATURE ENDING? Junior point guard Sean Dockery appears unlikely to return for Duke this season. He tore a medial collateral ligament in his right knee Feb. 23.

"We don't expect him to be back," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski told reporters. "With that injury, it could be anywhere from 3½ weeks to 7½ weeks. It's just a matter of how it heals, because you don't operate on it."

STAG PARTY: Virginia recruit Mamadi Diane, a senior from Potomac, Md., starred Sunday in the City Title game in Washington. The 6-5 swingman had 20 points and 16 rebounds to lead DeMatha High to an 84-58 win over Cardozo. Diane was 3 for 3 from beyond the arc in helping the Stags (27-1) win their 17th City Title.

- Mike Harris and Jeff White