Cavs continue to battle youth, inexperience
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 27, 2006

There's something that a lot of people tend to forget about this season's University of Virginia basketball team: The Cavaliers don't have a single senior scholarship player.
Although they have managed to win more ACC games (seven) than anyone expected, their lack of senior leadership - and overall experience - has hurt them on numerous occasions.

In the aftermath of Saturday's disappointing 90-64 loss at Clemson, Virginia coach Dave Leitao talked about his team's maturity level.

"The one thing I don't really have a lot of control over is what happens outside of the time that we're together," Leitao said. "You have to be able to trust that the team is mentally focused enough. Between questions about postseason and friends or relatives telling them how great they are ? I'm sure at some point it has an effect.

"The only way it doesn't is if you can lean on your structure and maturity and discipline. Those are words that I've said all year long that we're trying to get better at."

Leitao, whose team plays at North Carolina on Wednesday night, said maturity isn't measured strictly in wins and losses.

"We could have 20 wins this season and that doesn't mean we're the most disciplined team in the world," he said, "because we're not. We're at infantile stages of developing ourselves mentally, which takes a lot longer than developing your team physically."

Give it away now

The Red Hot Chili Peppers could have performed a new rendition of their song "Give It Away" after Saturday's game.

Almost every Virginia player got into the turnover act against Clemson as the Cavaliers had a season-high 29.

Everyone except walk-ons Mike Forkin and Drew Shiembob (who played one minute each) had at least one.

Sean Singletary led the way with nine. Surprisingly, Leitao said he was OK with Singletary's giveaways.

"I'll take his nine turnovers any day," Leitao said. "That's more of him trying to force the issue because we're not playing well."

Masked man

Freshman Lauris Mikalauskas, who suffered a broken nose against Florida State, played his second game with a protective facemask. He had six points and five rebounds in 33 minutes.

The 6-foot-8 big man said it's going to take some time to get used to the mask, which was made by creating a mold of his face. He said it was altered slightly after the Boston College game so that he had better peripheral vision.

The bruises under Mikalauskas' eyes, which were purple on Tuesday, were a yellowish-brown on Saturday.

X's and O's

Virginia didn't do a lot right in its sloppy performance at Clemson. However, one thing that seemed to work well was its out-of-bounds play. On three occasions, the Cavaliers scored easy baskets via the inbounds pass.

Nice left

Late in the first half, J.R. Reynolds, who finished with 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, had one of his nicest moves of the year.

The 6-3 junior drove hard to his left and converted a pretty left-handed shot.
 

Hot Heels set for reeling Cavaliers
Virginia looking to boost its resume in final road game of regular season
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 28, 2006

Fantastic. Tremendous. Workmanlike.
They're the words that North Carolina coach Roy Williams used to describe the play of his team after wins over N.C. State and Maryland.

Inconsistent. Immature. Frustrated.

They're the words Virginia coach Dave Leitao has used in the aftermath of his team's disappointing 26-point loss at Clemson.

Tonight, Virginia (14-11, 7-7 ACC) plays at 13th-ranked North Carolina (19-6, 10-4).

Yeah, it would be safe to say the Cavaliers - in a three-way tie for fifth place in the ACC - are catching the Tar Heels at the wrong time.

Throw in the fact that second-place North Carolina will be looking to avenge its early-season loss at University Hall, and it doesn't take a Rhodes Scholar to see that Virginia will be walking into a lion's den at the Dean Dome.

Leitao sounded pragmatic when he talked about the challenge. During his teleconference on Monday, he said North Carolina is "a totally different team" than the one Virginia beat on Jan. 19.

"From a maturity standpoint, they've solved the issues that were ailing them earlier in the season - in terms of turnovers," Leitao said. "The last five games they have a very positive assist-to-turnover ratio.

"They're not giving it back to you, are getting more possessions off the backboards and are making their shots, which makes them an extremely dangerous team to play."

In its loss to Clemson, Virginia was a danger to itself. The Cavaliers committed a season-high 29 turnovers, which gave them no chance to win.

After receiving solid contributions from its role players in the upset of Boston College, Virginia got nothing from the likes of Jason Cain and Tunji Soroye against Clemson.

Cain and Soroye will need to step it up if Virginia has any hopes of pulling off an upset in Chapel Hill. Their biggest task will be trying to defend freshman sensation Tyler Hansbrough.

Along with teammate Lauris Mikalauskas, Cain and Soroye did a pretty good job on Hansbrough in the first meeting. The trio held Hansbrough to 18 points and forced four turnovers.

"We crowded him and tried to take away the space that we thought he needed to be effective," Leitao said. "We were helped by the fact that coming down the stretch, when they were trying to get him the ball, they had a few unforced turnovers that cost them. They're really not doing that now."

Hansbrough, who has been named ACC Rookie of the Week nine times this season, is averaging 18.9 points and 7.5 rebounds. The 6-foot-9, 235-pounder is coming off a 21-point game in the Tar Heels 81-57 win over Maryland on Sunday.

"He's getting his hands on the ball more and they're more efficient around him," Leitao said, "which makes him better, and our job of preparing for him - regardless of what we did in that first game - a little more difficult."

Virginia likely needs to win its final two games, and then win at least a game in the ACC Tournament, to have any hopes of making the NCAA Tournament.

After winning just four conference games last season, the fact that the tournament is on anybody's mind is a minor miracle. In reality, Leitao and staff are playing with house money the rest of the way.

"I think Dave's done a great job to say the least," said Williams, whose team has already clinched a bye in the first round of the ACC Tournament. "A lot of it is a beauty-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder kind of thing. The expectations for them in the preseason were not very high. He's taken some kids who did have some experience and molded them into a team. That's been the most impressive thing - how they've played together."

For much of the season, Leitao has seemed hesitant to talk about his team's goals and expectations. However, on Monday he touched on the topic.

"I'll go back to conference media day when it was unanimous - unanimous as anything - that we were the 12th best team in this league," Leitao said. "We set out to see if everybody was right or if they were wrong.

"We never felt we would be a 12th-place team or a first-place team. We didn't know what was ahead because none of us had knowledge of each other - with a new coaching staff and those kinds of things."

After tonight, the Cavaliers - just 1-6 on the road - play their last scheduled game at University Hall on Sunday.

"We want to finish off the regular season," Leitao said, "by playing as well as we can possibly play."

 

No surprises in All-ACC selections
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
February 28, 2006

Scattershooting around the ACC, while thinking this is how the All-ACC basketball team will look when the voting comes out on Monday ...
Our prediction for the first team: Duke's J.J. Redick, Duke's Shelden Williams, UNC's Tyler Hansbrough, Virginia's Sean Singletary and Boston College's Craig Smith.

Coach of the Year: UNC's Roy Williams, while Virginia's Dave Leitao and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski will get the leftover votes.

Player of the Year: Who else but Redick.

Rookie of the Year: UNC's Hansbrough

Last Ball

You have to give Virginia credit for the plans it has put together to commemorate the end of basketball at University Hall this coming Sunday when the Cavalier men host Maryland in a

3:38 p.m. tipoff.

Fans attending the game will receive a special ticket and game program and will find a commemorative orange T-shirt in their seat to wear during the game. Those "Last Ball in U-Hall" shirts will be sold for $15 during the game.

At halftime of the game, Mac McDonald will emcee a special ceremony that will feature some of the former players, who will address the crowd. Around 90 former players, coaches and managers are planning to attend, including a list that includes: Barry Parkhill, Ralph Sampson, Wally Walker, Terry Holland, Bryant Stith, Richard Morgan, Lee Raker, Cory Alexander, Curtis Staples, Ricky Stokes, Bobby Stokes, Othell Wilson, Jim Miller, Jim Hobgood, Mel Kennedy and others.

When the game ends, the former players will return to the court for another ceremony featuring UVa President John T. Casteen III, coach Dave Leitao and UVa AD Craig Littlepage. A ceremonial "last shot" will take place along with a balloon drop and confetti shower.

Cavalier senior Billy Campbell will start a "ball pass" featuring Casteen, Paul Tudor Jones, Littlepage and former players in attendance. According to UVa, the ball will be passed from courtside to the upper concourse where a selected player will then carry it out of University Hall toward John Paul Jones Arena. At the opening of JPJ next November, the very same ball will be delivered courtside.

UVa will also take orders Sunday for fans wanting to purchase a plaque that features a piece of the U-Hall court that was used for Wahoo games from 1978-1997, which has been in storage.

The Daily Progress, which featured the end of women's basketball at U-Hall this past

weekend, will crank up coverage of the end of men's hoops there beginning Friday with three special columns concerning three special moments: Barry Parkhill's shot that beat South Carolina (Friday morning); Richard Morgan's big night against UNC (Saturday); Ralph Sampson's last game (Sunday), plus much more in Sunday's editions, a true collector's item.

Our website will also include lots of great stuff, so make sure you check out www.dailyprogress.com.

And, by the way, if someone out there knows how much a ticket cost to UVa's first game at University Hall vs. Kentucky back in 1965, please drop me a line on Wednesday to let me know.

Quote of the Week

Maryland coach Gary Williams has not shied away from letting his feelings be known about all the speculation concerning the NCAA field. He is not a fan of bracketology analysts who project the

65-team tournament field.

"Everybody's like, 'We're taking four teams from the Missouri Valley' and all this stuff," Williams said. "I think [ESPN analyst] Digger Phelps has listed 100 teams making the NCAA Tournament so far. He's doing a good job. I guess it expanded. I didn't read about it, so I guess I missed that."

Bracketology 101

A lot of ACC coaches seem perturbed about the so-called bracketologists predicting only four ACC teams will make the NCAAs, while the less-heralded Missouri Valley Conference is projected to get anywhere between four and six bids.

The ACC has four teams in the RPI's top 50, the Missouri Valley six.

Williams believes that any ACC team that finishes 8-8 in the league should make the NCAA field. History would support that theory.

Only six times since the NCAA Tournament expanded to 48 teams in 1980 (now 65 teams) has a .500 or better ACC team been bypassed when it came to receiving a bid. Unfortunately for Virginia fans, the Wahoos have been the victim three of those six times: 7-7 in 1980; 8-8 in 1992 and 9-7 in 2000.

In fact, that 2000 UVa squad marked the only ACC team to finish above .500 and not make the NCAA field.

By the way, the other three ACC teams with .500 records that were overlooked: Wake Forest (7-7) in 1983; Georgia Tech (8-8) in 1995 and Virginia Tech (8-8) last season.

Survivors

Virginia, Florida State, Maryland and Miami are entangled in a reality game of their own. Perhaps the team that emerges from this week with two wins will make it to the NCAAs.

Maryland, 6-8, which has won only one road game this season, hasn't been playing well of late and is only 3-7 overall since Chris McCray was declared academically ineligible.

Miami, FSU and UVa are all 7-7 in the league. Some believe the Seminoles have the inside track on the fifth seed for next week's ACC Tournament, however FSU has lost all five of its games against ranked teams. Miami plays at Maryland tonight, while UVa plays at UNC. Maryland visits UVa on Sunday.

Herbicide

There's good reason to believe that N.C. State coach Herb Sendek may lead the most tortured existence of any coach in ACC history. Every time it appears his Wolfpack is on the verge of doing something terrific, they take one step back.

Sendek is catching heat again after State was overwhelmed by rival UNC and then beaten in overtime in Raleigh by Boston College last week. Even though the Pack has 21 overall wins, 10 in the ACC and will play in a fifth straight NCAA Tournament, the wolves are howling.

State has lost six straight to the Tar Heels, which doesn't sit well and Sendek's teams have a pathetic record against Duke (doesn't everybody?).

If things weren't bad enough, Sendek celebrated his 43rd birthday when his team was hammered by UNC.

Quote of the Week II

Asked if his team might be flying enough below the radar to surprise some teams in next week's ACC Tournament, Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said:

"I'm not even sure the radar is turned on right now as far as we're concerned."

Quote of the Week III

Carolina coach Roy Williams said he had to teach freshman center Tyler Hansbrough one important lesson for his rookie season in the ACC to be successful:

"What time the bus leaves," Williams said as he broke out into a loud, hearty laugh.

Free throws ...

... If you're heading to Greensboro for either the men's or women's ACC Tournament and you're looking for a great restaurant, try one of my favorites, "Pastabilities" at 1726 Battleground Ave. in the Irving Park Plaza ... it's only a few blocks from the Coliseum, you never know who you may see in there and the food is terrific. ... Virginia has made an offer to Gloucester linebacker Aaron Taliaferro (6-foot-2, 215), who lists the Cavaliers as his favorite. ... Clemson (5-9 in the league) will be trying to rise above the five ACC wins mark for the first time since Rick Barnes' final year at the school when his Tigers went 7-9 and made it to the NCAA Tournament in 1997-98. ... Think you had a demanding weekend? Then check out N.C. State's Andrew Brackman. He played 10 minutes in the Wolfies' 74-72 double-overtime loss to Boston College, then on Sunday afternoon, the 6-10, 235-pound sophomore started on the mound for State against UNC Wilmington. By the way, he went 2.1 innings, allowed two earned runs on six hits, struck out two in a 50-pitch limit in a State win. ... Al Skinner became BC's all-time winningest coach with the win over N.C. State, passing his predecessor Jim O'Brien. Skinner is now 169-106.

Past holds no promise for Cavaliers
Tar Heels' makeover creates a stern test for road-wary U.Va.
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 1, 2006

His team has beaten North Carolina once this season, but University of Virginia coach Dave Leitao doesn't take much comfort from that fact. The Tar Heels, who entertain U.Va. tonight in Chapel Hill, have transformed themselves since visiting Charlottesville on Jan. 19.

"They're a totally different team," Leitao said.

Since that 72-68 loss to Virginia, UNC has won 9 of 11 games and climbed to No. 13 in The Associated Press poll. The Heels (10-4, 19-6) have cut down on turnovers, improved their shooting accuracy and become the ACC's premier rebounding team.

There's also the fact, of course, that tonight's game is not at University Hall. At home, Virginia (7-7, 14-11) is 6-1 against ACC foes. On the road, the Cavaliers are 1-6, and they're coming off their worst performance of the season.

Saturday at Clemson, the ACC's ninth-place team, U.Va. fell behind 32-7, turned the ball over 29 times and lost 90-64.

"You'd have thought, after the last time we played on the road, we'd come out with more energy and be more aggressive, but we didn't," junior guard J.R. Reynolds said Saturday at Littlejohn Coliseum, shaking his head in disgust.

The Cavs' hopes of earning an at-large invitation to the NCAA tournament are fading. A victory tonight would revive those hopes, but it won't come easily on Senior Night at UNC. The Heels have allowed opponents to shoot only 41.5 percent from the floor.

"They're a team just like Clemson, they play great defense, but they've got better guys doing it," Reynolds said. "We've just got to keep our heads up and . . . go out with a lot more energy."

After losing the top seven scorers from the team that won last year's NCAA title, the Heels were picked to finish sixth in the ACC. They'll finish no worse than fourth and are headed back to the NCAAs.

"We had high dreams and high hopes," UNC coach Roy Williams said, and his players have "really done a great job of helping us realize those hopes and dreams."

Cavaliers have one Heel of a task ahead
Virginia expects much more from North Carolina's Tyler Hansbrough as the Cavs head to Chapel Hill for a rematch.
BY MELINDA WALDROP
247-4634
February 28, 2006
Even though he scored 18 points in the teams' first meeting, North Carolina freshman phenom Tyler Hansbrough was ineffective down the stretch, committing uncharacteristic turnovers and missing free throws as Virginia upset the then-No. 24 Tar Heels 72-68 on Jan. 19 in Charlottesville.

Cavaliers coach Dave Leitao has no illusions of a repeat sub-par performance from the nine-time ACC rookie of the week, who is leading UNC in scoring (18.9 points per game) and rebounding (7.5 per game), when the Cavs (14-11, 7-7) travel to Chapel Hill for Wednesday's rematch.

"We crowded him and tried to take away the space that we thought he needed to be effective, (but) he's getting his hands on the ball more," Leitao said. "They're more efficient around him, which makes him better and makes our job of preparing for him, regardless of what we did in that first game, a little more difficult."

Hansbrough, one rookie-of-the-week award shy of tying ex-Georgia Tech star Kenny Anderson's record of 10, has elevated his play as the Heels (19-6, 10-4), now ranked No. 13, have won five straight. His most notable performance came on Feb. 15, when he set a Smith Center and UNC freshman record with 40 points as the Heels rallied to beat the Yellow Jackets 82-75.

"We're dealing with one of the elite players in this league. It doesn't matter what year he's in," Leitao said. "He's been very successful against just about everybody."

Leitao is also expecting more from the rest of the Heels, who are outrebounding opponents by nearly nine boards per game, have an assist-to-turnover ratio greater than 1 and are making 48 percent of their shots.

"They're 6-1 (in the ACC) on the road, and we've been able to be that one road loss that they have, but they're a totally different team," Leitao said. " ... They're not giving it back to you. They're getting many more possessions off the backboard, and they're making their shots, which makes them an extremely dangerous team."

For his part, UNC coach Roy Williams remains wary.

"I think Dave has done a great job, to say the least," Williams said. "He's taken some kids that did have some experience, but he's molded them into a team. That's the thing that's most impressive to me, is how they've played together."

The Cavs' cohesiveness hasn't been in evidence, though, on the road. Saturday's 90-64 shellacking at Clemson dropped Virginia to 2-9 overall and 1-6 in the ACC as the visiting team.

A win at North Carolina could revive the Cavs' dimming hopes of an at-large NCAA tournament bid. But Leitao is only focused on the two regular-season games remaining in his first season as head coach of a team picked to finish last in the ACC.

"We never felt we'd be a 12th-place team, nor did we feel we'd be a first-place team," Leitao said. "We didn't know what was ahead because none of us had knowledge of each other. ... It's hard for me to say that we've exceeded expectations or haven't, because we really didn't place any on ourselves. We just set out to work as hard as we could every single day. ... We want to make sure to finish off the regular season by playing as well as we can possibly play."

Cavs ready for UNC
Virginia's clash with North Carolina tonight in Chapel Hill is a must-win game to keep the team's NCAA Tournament hopes alive

Adrian Vigil, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor
The normally sure-handed Sean Singletary turned the ball over nine times in Saturday's loss at Clemson. As a team, Virginia had a season-high 29 turnovers.
Jason Watson | Cavalier Daily
A week ago today, there was serious NCAA tournament buzz surrounding the Virginia Cavaliers. Virginia had just blown out then-No.11 Boston College by a score of 72-58 and had what appeared to be a winnable road game against Clemson on the horizon.

What a difference a week makes.

"The Boston College game means nothing now," Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds said. "To come on the road and get beat like this, you can throw that game out the window."

After being blown out 90-64 by the Tigers this past weekend, the Cavaliers (14-11, 7-7 ACC) are now thinking about everything but postseason possibilities.

"I'm not even thinking about that now," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said of NCAA possibilities. "The NCAA is something that happens at the end of the year that is a reward for playing your tail off. We're in year one and we've got eight scholarship guys and we're just trying to figure it out."

The first step toward figuring it out will come tonight when Virginia travels to Chapel Hill to face No. 15 North Carolina. The Tar Heels, the defending national champions, are coming into the game on a five-game winning streak and have one of the nation's most dynamic freshman players in forward Tyler Hansbrough.

But the Cavaliers do have the advantage of knowing they have beaten this team before, 72-68 in Charlottesville Jan. 19. In that contest, Virginia's starting backcourt of Sean Singletary and Reynolds combined to score 34 points. That game, however, was played at University Hall, and Virginia is a much different team when it plays on the road. The Cavaliers are 1-6 on the road with their lone win coming Jan. 15 against Virginia Tech.

"It's something we have to address," Singletary said. "Our road woes are something we have to take care of."

Virginia also has problems handling the ball on the road. All three games in which the Cavaliers have turned the ball over 20 or more times have been away games. Against Clemson, Virginia turned the ball over a season-high 29 times. That total included nine turnovers from Singletary.

An issue of particular interest is how much playing time starting forward Jason Cain gets in tonight's game. There was speculation that Cain sat for most of the game because of a shouting match with assistant coach Steve Seymour early in the first half, but Leitao nipped that talk in the bud.

In the earlier win against the Tar Heels, Cain and freshman Laurynas Mikalasukas played tough defense against Hansbrough and prevented him from getting into any type of rhythm. Cain, however, only played nine mostly ineffective minutes against Clemson. "I just don't think he played well" against Clemson, Leitao said. "I wasn't happy with the way he was playing so I didn't play him."

Whatever the reason for Cain's lack of playing time against the Tigers, his performance could be a factor in how the game plays out. Cain is the leading rebounder for the Cavaliers and is statistically the third best offensive rebounder in the ACC, just behind Hansbrough and Georgia Tech's Jeremis Smith. His presence, or possibly lack thereof, could be a key to whether Virginia picks up its second conference road win of the season or not.

 

Open House: John Paul Jones Arena
will the Cavaliers be able to fill their new arena?
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 1, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE This is not the state's largest city, by any means, but it is about to be home to the state's largest arena.

The University of Virginia men's basketball team has one regular-season game left at 40-year-old University Hall, which seats 8,392. Starting next season, the Cavaliers will play their home games across the street in the 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena.

by the numbers
510,615 bricks used

48,892 arena footprint in square feet

15,000* seating capacity

7,200 seats in lower bowl

7,800 seats in upper bowl

361 toilets (compared to 108 in University Hall)

112 courtside seats

25 rows of retractable student seating at east end

20 luxury suites * -- approximate SOURCE: U.VA.

The arena, the centerpiece of a project that will cost more than $135 million, is on schedule to be completed this summer.
"Our challenge, after we raise the money to pay for the arena, is to then fill it up," said Dirk Katstra, executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation and U.Va.'s associate athletic director for external affairs.

The Cavaliers haven't made the NCAA tournament since 2001, and they've struggled to sell out U-Hall in recent years. Although interest in the men's program has increased since Dave Leitao replaced Pete Gillen as coach, U.Va.'s average attendance at home games is only 7,751 this season.

Why, then, did U.Va. decide to build an arena with nearly twice the seating capacity of U-Hall? Why not opt for, say, a 12,000-seat arena that would have been easier to fill for basketball games?

First and foremost, U.Va. officials wanted a multi-purpose facility, and the John Paul Jones Arena will be site of more than basketball games. The arena's 15,000 seats, officials said, will make it easier to attract big-name entertainers and high-profile events.

Athletic Director Craig Littlepage also noted that U.Va.'s enrollment is projected to increase steadily, as is the population of the Charlottesville area. The local market, he said, is growing.

ACC arena comparison
The Virginia men's basketball team plays its home games in 8,392-seat University Hall, the ACC's second-smallest arena. The John Paul Jones Arena, into which the Cavaliers will move this summer, has nearly twice the seating capacity. The 15,000-seat arena will be the league's fourth-largest. A look at how ACC basketball arenas compare:

SchoolArenaCapacity North Carolina Dean E. Smith Center 21,750

N.C. State RBC Center 19,722

Maryland Comcast Center 17,950

Wake Forest Joel Coliseum 14,665

Florida State Donald L. Tucker Center 12,100

Clemson Littlejohn Coliseum 9,850

Virginia Tech Cassell Coliseum 9,847

Duke Cameron Indoor Stadium 9,314

Georgia Tech Alexander Memorial Coliseum 9,191

Boston College Conte Forum 8,606

Virginia University Hall 8,392

Miami Convocation Center 7,000

Finally, Littlepage said, the size of the new arena reflects "the university's desire to have a facility that could, for example, seat the entire undergraduate student body (currently about 13,000), a facility that could much more easily meet the needs as a backup site for convocation or other university events."
U.Va. officials said they're confident that basketball fans will fill the new arena.

For games at U-Hall against the Hartfords and High Points of the college basketball world, tickets generally were readily available. Procuring a ticket to see Duke or North Carolina, however, wasn't easy for the general public. Since the days when Ralph Sampson reigned, season tickets sold out at U-Hall most years. That meant single-game tickets usually were available for only the less-attractive dates.

"We continue to hear there's this pent-up demand for tickets and have never been able to test it," said Katstra, a former U.Va. basketball captain.

For the first time, Katstra said, fans will be able to buy season tickets without having to contribute to the VAF. This season, for example, an annual donation of at least $100 was required for the purchase of two tickets. The best seats in the new arena will, not surprisingly, go to the biggest donors, but the average fan now will get to see the marquee teams that visit U.Va.

About 3,300 seats in the John Paul Jones Arena have been set aside for U.Va. students, who get in free.

The new arena will have the amenities that University Hall lacks, from sophisticated audio, video and lighting systems to luxury suites to concession stands with freshly cooked fare.

"We're trying to really get this thing to a point where it's about basketball, but it's more than about basketball," Katstra said. "It's got to be a fun place to go."

Leitao, who had two stints as an assistant at Connecticut, whose home is 10,027-seat Gampel Pavilion, said he's not worried that U.Va.'s new arena is too big.

"I think the only concern I would have about moving is how quickly you can make that become a great home court for you," Leitao said. "Because when you start out, the team that you play against, you'll be just about as new to that building as they will."

The Maryland Terrapins moved from storied Cole Field House to the Comcast Center after the 2001-02 season. Comcast, with a capacity of 17,950, is significantly bigger than Cole (14,500).

The Terps haven't had trouble filling Comcast. Still, Maryland coach Gary Williams said, "it's taken a little while to get the same feel in there for a game. I think we're getting there now, but it [took] a good three, four years . . . to really where it was a tough home court to play. I think that's any place. It just takes time for the people to stop being tourists and become fans again and really look at the place [and say], 'OK, this is where we play basketball. We have to really be in the game.'"

 

ACC honors are easily awarded
BOB LIPPER
TIMES-DISPATCH COLUMNIST Mar 1, 2006
 
Let's knock out these ACC basketball absolutes one-by-one, shall we?

Player of the year. Oooh, now here's a toughie. Not since Reagan-Mondale has an election shaped up as this much of a landslide. J.J. Redick is the incumbent in this category. If the vote isn't unanimous, somebody needs to see if Katherine Harris is hanging around the ballot box.
Redick averages 28 points per outing, 30 against league opponents. He's also newly crowned as the ACC's career scoring leader - not that points are the whole story. Redick plays more minutes than anyone else in the league, has morphed over the past two seasons from shooter to playuh, works his fanny off, quotes scripture, escorted his grandma to a tattoo parlor so she could have a butterfly etched on her shoulder, and is the main source of fuel for Duke's undefeated run through the conference.

Player of the year or dude of the year - take your pick. Just cue the acceptance speech and wait for the next 3-pointer to slash into a net near you.

Rookie of the year: Another runaway. North Carolina lost its top seven scorers from last year's national championship squad. What it gained was Tyler Hansbrough. He's tough. He's unflappable. He's a load in the low post and on the glass. He'll be illegal if he develops a jump shot.
Hansbrough, in fact, isn't just the ACC's glossiest newcomer, he outdistances the field nationally. He'll be the first freshman to make all-ACC since Stephon Marbury and Antawn Jamison 10 years ago. Marbury bolted immediately for the pros. Jamison stuck around for two more seasons. Roy Williams is hoping.

Defensive player of the year: Jeez, this stuff is too easy. Shelden Williams is Duke's Mr. Inside to Redick's Mr. Everywhere. He averages 10.1 rebounds, 3.6 blocks and nearly two steals per game. Entering the lane in Durham won't be nearly as hazardous when he's gone.

All-conference: The honest-to-gosh truth? There are three legitimate all-ACC players - Redick, Williams and Hansbrough. After that, you're talking addition by dilution.
Consider: If Chris Bosh had stayed at Georgia Tech for four years, he'd be a senior - and don't even tell me about Chris Paul, Raymond Felton and Jarrett Jack. Virginia point guard Sean Singletary and Boston College stevedore Craig Smith - and both can ball, mind you - benefit from their absence. They complete your all-conference team.

Best player of all-time (hint: his initials aren't J.J.): David Thompson was Michael Jordan before there was a Michael Jordan - a world-class leaper and deadeye shooter. He and Tommy Burleson propelled N.C. State to a couple of ACC championships and the 1974 NCAA title, and his 26.8 average is first among the ACC's top 10 career scorers. Redick checks in at 19.8. You could maybe make a case for Redick cracking the top dozen all-timers - but a big NCAA tournament would help.
Coach of the year: Still a tossup. In another season, Dave Leitao would get the plaque for stoking Virginia's furnace and tracking toward a .500 finish in the league (and he'll get a bounce if the Cavs pull off an upset in Chapel Hill tonight). But this is the season of Mike Krzyzewski maybe running the table and Roy Williams winning big with Wes Miller as his starting off guard.
It comes down to Saturday night. If UNC strolls into Cameron Indoor Stadium and spoils Redick's swan song, Williams is your coach of the year. If Duke completes a 16-0 sweep, the Amex sales rep is your guy. Was favored to finish first, you say? Starts two freshmen and had to ramrod his crew through some tight squeezes, I reply. 'Course, assigning the refs helps.



 

Cavaliers empty bench in Keydet blowout
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
February 28, 2006

There is no mercy rule in college lacrosse.
If there was, it would have been invoked about six minutes into Tuesday afternoon's game between Virginia and Virginia Military Institute.

Third-ranked UVa, in its final tuneup before facing fifth-ranked Syracuse on Saturday, bombarded an overmatched VMI squad from the opening faceoff.

The Cavaliers scored the first eight goals en route to a 21-4 demolition.

"A game like this could be difficult for a team, especially when you have a game like Syracuse on the horizon," said University of Virginia coach Dom Starsia. "But I was very pleased with how we played today. The last two games I think we're starting to hit our stride a little bit.

"I feel like everybody handled the ball well and played smartly. I have great respect for the VMI program, and I'm glad the game didn't get too far out of hand for them. At the end of the day, I thought it was a positive step for us."

Virginia outshot VMI 60-11. The Cavaliers also won the groundball battle by a landslide, 52-19.

"We played well," said senior attackman Matt Ward. "Coach was pleased with the fact that we didn't play down to the competition. We came out hard."

Fourteen players scored for Virginia. Sophomore Ryan Kelly led the way with three goals. Jack Riley, Joe Dewey, Steve Giannone, Drew Thompson and Will Barrow had two apiece.

"Some of the younger guys, who make us better in practice, stepped in and got goals today," said Ward, who scored once. "I think it just shows the depth of UVa lacrosse."

Freshmen Gavin Gill and Garrett Billings combined for seven assists.

Senior midfielder Matt Poskay, who had 29 goals last season, notched his first assist since the 2004 season.

"Poskay got his first assist in like three years today," Starsia joked. "He had his first left-handed goal against Stony Brook [on Saturday], his first assist today. We should be writing a book about Poskay."

Just about the only player who didn't pad his stats was Virginia goalie Kip Turner, who allowed both shots that he faced to get past him.

Can you blame him, though? Even Cavaliers basketball coach Dave Leitao would have had trouble staying mentally focused in a game like this.

"It's hard to get into games like that," admitted Turner, who gave way to backup Bud Petit in the second quarter, "but it was fine. Now I can prepare for Syracuse on Saturday."

The Cavaliers (4-0) scored five goals within the game's first six minutes to take a 5-0 lead. They led 8-0 with 4:58 to go in the first quarter, and 10-2 at the end of one.

The final score would have been even more lopsided if Starsia hadn't emptied his bench.

"It was good to get a lot of our younger guys in and rest some of our starters," said junior defender Ricky Smith.

Smith compared Saturday's game against Syracuse to a North Carolina-Duke basketball game.

"You know there's going to be some fun lacrosse played," he said.

Turner also sounded juiced about playing the Orange.

"I like the uptempo game that they bring to the table," he said. "I know it's going to be a good match.

"There are about 10 teams that are all going to come out every game and give you a hard fight. They're definitely one of those teams."

VMI was not.

 

UVa tops GW at home
By Jay Jenkins / Daily Progress staff writer
February 28, 2006

Virginia baseball coach Brian O'Connor turned in his best Dave Leitao impression after Tuesday's nonconference game with George Washington.
And that was not a good thing.

Leitao, the fiery men's basketball coach at UVa, has made it known when he was disgusted with his team's play - win or lose.

O'Connor turned a similar press conference at Davenport Field after his squad held on for an 11-5 win over George Washington (1-4).

It wasn't the win that got under O'Connor's skin. It had more to do with the final two innings of the victory, which raised the Cavaliers record to 9-2 overall.

Leading 11-0 entering the top of the eighth, the Cavaliers struggled in almost every facet in closing out the game - committing an error, walking two batters, hitting another and allowing four hits that culminated in five late runs for the Colonials.

"Quite frankly, the way that we played the last three innings is disrespectful to the game of baseball," O'Connor said. "We were completely disrespectful to the game of baseball the last three innings - from an at-bat standpoint to the way that we played defense to the way that we pitched. That can't happen."

Luckily for O'Connor and the Cavaliers, the team erupted offensively in the opening innings.

UVa scored two runs in the second, tacked on four more in the third and added three insurance runs in the fifth off GW's starting pitcher Josh Wilkie (1-1), who had been named the Atlantic-10's Co-Pitcher of the Week on Monday.

In both innings, third baseman Jeremey Farrell delivered extra-base hits to drive in runs.

In the second, Farrell pushed a 1-2 fastball the other way down the right-field line for a triple.

In the third, Farrell doubled into the gap between center and right to score two Cavs.

Not bad for a freshman playing with a back injury that sidelined him from Sunday's 17-inning marathon loss to College of Charleston.

"I talked to him the pitch before that he hit the triple on and I could just tell that his back was killing him," O'Connor said of Farrell, who is now hitting .486. "He got a triple and a double - two big hits - but I had to get him out of the ballgame.

"He told me before the game that he was at 100 percent and I think it stiffened up as we moved along. Hopefully, we can get him healthy quick."

Thanks in part to Farrell's heroics and nine other hits from the Cavaliers, it proved to be more than enough run support for sophomore Sean Doolittle.

Starting for the second-straight Tuesday, Doolittle pitched six masterful innings, allowing just four base runners (three hits, one walk) and struck out six Colonials.

Doolittle (2-0) currently boasts an impressive ERA of 0.63.

As for Farrell, he said the back injury is "nagging thing right now," but added that he hopes to play this weekend during a three-game homestand with St. Joseph's. The Cavaliers play Friday (4 p.m.), Saturday (4 p.m.) and Sunday (11 a.m.).