Landmark farewell
Cavaliers, fans say goodbye to U-Hall
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 5, 2006

It was the spring of 1979 and Virginia basketball was only 7 feet 4 inches away from greatness.

Coach Terry Holland and the entire university was engaged in a national recruiting battle for a skinny kid from over the mountain in Harrisonburg, the kind of player who could transform a program overnight. Dean Smith’s Tar Heels wanted 7-foot-4 Ralph Sampson. So did Kentucky and everybody else who cared about basketball.

Just about everyone in Charlottesville was willing to help the University of Virginia land Sampson and when it came time for the big man to visit, a few determined souls secretly planned to turn University Hall into the blue-chipper’s home.

A helicopter ride wasn’t on the original itinerary for Sampson’s visit until Charlottesville woke up that morning to a message painted in letters the size of its dreams upon the rooftop of U-Hall.

“Ralph’s House.”

Tommy Hicks, who had played guard for the Cavaliers, along with two friends, Rusty Cleveland and Bobby Edwards, had sneaked into U-Hall at 3 a.m., all dressed in black, faces painted for their secret mission dreamed up one night over dinner at the home of Landon and Bessie Birckhead. Landon, a true supporter of UVa athletics, had financed the 30 cans of spray paint.

Finally, by 6 a.m., the deed was done and the boys were back in an apartment from where they called The Daily Progress and, to Hicks’ recollection, boasted: “You better check on top of U-Hall. ... Ralph’s coming in today and, quite frankly, you better fly him over because this is pretty cool.”

After a quarter of a century of mystery in the whodunit, Hicks finally fessed up because he figured the statute of limitations had expired.

Holland and then-assistant coach Craig Littlepage, now the school’s director of athletics, did fly Sampson over the city in a helicopter and saved the surprise at U-Hall for last.

“I had never been in a helicopter and I was a little nervous to tell the truth,” Sampson said in a recent interview. “Overseeing the city of Charlottesville in that manner and seeing ‘Ralph’s House’ in that manner, just the magnitude of it all made it quite enjoyable.”

Sampson eventually signed with Virginia and led the program to unprecedented heights on the national basketball scene and turned Ralph’s House into a house of horrors for visiting teams.

In the beginning

But the 41-year-old University Hall, which hosts its final scheduled Cavaliers game this afternoon against Maryland, is really a Hall of Memories for thousands of fans, players and coaches. It’s a place where many among us graduated from high school, learned to drive in its parking lots, grew up before your parents’ eyes during men’s and women’s games over the decades.

Next season, the spirit of U-Hall will move across the street into the 15,000-seat John Paul Jones Arena. The $130-million state-of-the-art arena will replace the smaller U-Hall, built in a different time for a mere $4 million. With the new arena, Wahoo fans hope the program will get the same jolt of rejuvenation that occurred long ago when the Cavaliers moved up Emmet Street from Memorial Gym to the current venue.

It all started the night of Dec. 4, 1965, when Virginia hosted Adolph Rupp’s Kentucky Wildcats. “Rupp’s Runts,” as they were called because no player stood over 6 foot 5, featured players such as Pat Riley, Larry Conley and Louie Dampier (he made the first basket ever in the building).

Kentucky basketball had suffered a slump heading into that season, so an upstart UVa program coached by Bill “Hoot” Gibson thought it had a chance to score an upset. But the Wildcats romped to a 99-73 triumph and went on to a 27-3 record and the NCAA championship game, which they lost to Texas Western in a historic game recently featured in the film “Glory Road.”

“All I remember was that Dampier and Riley didn’t miss many shots that night,” said Jim Connelly, who was UVa’s starting guard and leading scorer on that team. “It was exciting and disappointing that we didn’t win the game, but it was a good kickoff for the opening of U-Hall, which when it opened was one of the premiere facilities in the ACC.”

John Naponick, who played basketball and football for UVa, and is now director of public health for the state of Louisiana, fondly remembered the opening of the Hall.

“The new building was a sign that Virginia was moving into the big time,” Naponick said. “It was architecturally magnificent for its time and was kind of like our Super Dome.”

Home court advantage

Jerry Sanders, a forward on that first Cavalier team that played in U-Hall, said the new building helped advance the Virginia program.

“If you look at the records from 1967 through 1970, Virginia got better and got better players,” said Sanders, now a doctor in Charlotte, N.C. “I think having a place like that to play made a huge difference.”

Wahoo basketball suffered through 16 straight losing seasons from the pre-ACC days of Buzzy Wilkinson in cozy Mem Gym to the 1971 arrival of Barry Parkhill. Then everything changed.

At 6 foot 5, the mop-haired kid from Pennsylvania changed Virginia basketball forever. Parkhill led the program into the ACC’s limelight, particularly during one week in 1971 when the Cavaliers beat four teams in eight days: Clemson, South Carolina, Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, all in U-Hall.

The 50-49 upset over No. 2 South Carolina was an eye-popping win that signaled a new beginning for Virginia basketball and delivered with it the program’s first-ever national ranking.

UVa put together six straight winning seasons, three in a row with Parkhill & Company.

Even though University Hall had given fans a then state-of-the-art arena from its inception, it was difficult to fill the building until the All-American Parkhill came along.

“There was no shortage of seats for basketball games in University Hall in my early years here,” remembered Leonard W. Sandridge Jr., now executive vice president and CEO of the university. “When television first began to broadcast games in University Hall, employees occasionally would be offered free tickets and asked to sit on the side viewed by the TV cameras so it appeared we had good attendance.”

The night Virginia knocked off the Gamecocks marked the first advance sellout of a game in U-Hall history, with fans jammed into every nook and cranny, numbering well above capacity, with some witnesses estimating between 9,500 and 10,500 on hand to watch the upset.

When Parkhill launched a 12-foot jump shot to the right of the key over South Carolina defender Kevin Joyce to score the upset with six seconds remaining, it changed UVa basketball forever. As Parkhill’s teammate Jim Hobgood said, the fans started coming back game after game.

“The students, the crowds, the whole atmosphere surrounding the Virginia program turned around that week,” said Hobgood, who is now the color analyst for Cavalier basketball radio broadcasts. “That was when Virginia basketball turned the corner and subsequently, the ACC Tournament championship (1976), Wally Walker, Bobby Stokes, Marc Iavaroni, Steve Castellan, followed by Jeff Lamp, Lee Raker and Ralph Sampson came along and reached heights that we couldn’t attain. But we demonstrated the program could be successful.”

Had that atmosphere not been created by Parkhill’s teams, Holland said he probably would not have accepted the job offered to him by then-UVa athletic director Gene Corrigan.

An athletic director’s impact

Holland ushered in a whole new era of Wahoo hoops, riding momentum created by the Parkhill years, opening new doors with what has proven to be the school’s only ACC Tournament title with players such as Lamp, Raker, Jeff Jones and Terry Gates, all Kentuckians.

But just as Parkhill had taken the program to a higher level, along came Sampson to do the same.

The hoopla surrounding the Sampson era at U-Hall was akin to a Beatles concert. Sampson was on the cover of Sports Illustrated at least three times, was National Player of the Year three times, on national morning TV shows, was perhaps the most sought-after interview in America.

Everyone wanted a piece of Ralph and the hottest ticket in town was to see Sampson play.

There were countless great games and individual performances in U-Hall, too many to recount them all. But as Virginia men’s basketball became more and more popular, Coach Debbie Ryan raised the status of Cavalier women’s basketball to its greatest heights as well, reaching three straight Final Fours in the early ’90s.

Dan Bonner, a former UVa player who briefly took over the women’s program before giving way to Ryan, remembered one particular game in the infantile days of the sport in the early ‘70s.

“During the first year when Debbie and I were coaching together, we played a game at University Hall where the night custodian didn’t realize there was a game and locked all the doors,” said Bonner, now a nationally recognized television basketball analyst. “The only door that was open was the one where the TV trucks park along the side and a couple of parents knew where to go and got in the gym.”

For that game against Roanoke College, there were maybe 20 or 30 fans in the stands, fewer spectators than the number of players, coaches and referees.

That’s quite a contrast to the notorious “Hot Dog Night” on Feb. 5, 1986, when a 20-0 Ryan team, ranked third in the nation, hosted 15th-ranked UNC.

UVa had promoted the game in hopes of setting a women’s record for attendance and getting its first ever sellout. Anyone showing up got in free, got a free hot dog and would be part of history. Little did Ryan know what was about to happen.

“I remember walking into the arena that night and it was almost scary in a sense,” said Ryan, who has led the women’s program to more than 600 wins. “I said, ‘All these people want to see us?’”

The moment remains frozen in time for her and the estimated 11,174 fans on hand, including a fire marshal who ordered afterward that the building’s maximum capacity be set at 8,392, which cost the school $450,000 annually in basketball revenue.

UNC upset Virginia, 60-58, on a buzzer-beater, but interest in the women’s program escalated and became a popular night out for local fans, particularly when Dawn Staley joined the team and fueled the Final Four run. Staley was unbelievable with her ball-handling skills, passing and flashy style.

The past carrying into the future

In subsequent years there were so many terrific players and coaches, and memories of them abound.

The night that Richard Morgan shot the lights out with 39 points en route to an upset over No. 8 North Carolina. The Blitz Brothers. The magical 3-point shooting of Curtis Staples, the consistency of Bryant Stith. The Burge Twins, Wendy Palmer, Todd Billet’s flare for the dramatic, Adam Hall’s dunks. Countless memories.

But there may be better days ahead.

Today is the Last Ball in U-Hall, at least for the regular season. And the current inhabitants, who are eager to move across the street, know the old joint has at least one more day’s worth of memories left to tell.

Tip-off is at 3:38 p.m.

 

U-Hall: The house that Ralph filled
This is the last in a three-part series on the most
Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 5, 2006

There are moments frozen in everyone's minds, but the single-most in University Hall history may have been the waning seconds of Ralph Sampson's final home game.
More than four years of non-stop excitement was coming to a close. Every home game was surrounded with fanaticism. Tickets were precious commodities. Then-UVa athletic director Dick Schultz believed that the school could have sold 30,000 tickets for every home game, but fewer than 10,000 were available.

That became a real problem on the day Virginia played host to Lefty Driesell's Maryland team for Ralph's last game at U-Hall.

"I had about 50 people personally come to the game, family and friends, but I didn't have enough tickets," Sampson told this columnist last week. "We had them all come to the back door of the building and let them all in so they could see the game."

They weren't disappointed.

A truly special occasion

If all the other Sampson games were surrounded by fan frenzy, this one was over the top. Everybody had to be there, perhaps the most sought-after ticket in state history.

Ushers and others showed up in tuxedos for the event.

"It was a special day for everybody involved and from a coaching standpoint I wasn't happy about that because there's enough pressure on any senior and sometimes that helps and sometimes it hurts," remembered former UVa coach Terry Holland. "Ralph always carried such a heavy burden in terms of other people's expectations of what he should be doing, and this just added to it in my opinion."

It was the end of an era. The 7-foot-4 All-American

center, the three-time ACC Player of the Year, three-time National Player of the Year, was finally moving on after four years in the arena where Virginia was nearly unbeatable.

"I remembered that my first experience at University Hall was a state championship game that drew about 10,000," Sampson said. "Then all my games there at U-Hall, every game, every night, the crowds were crazy. The students were crazy. It was always jam-packed."

Filling the scrapbook

He had put together a lot of special memories in the place - from high school state titles out of Harrisonburg to putting on perhaps the most impressive performance in a game by a college big man since Bill Walton versus Memphis when Sampson scored 40 on Ohio State's Herb Williams in a special, nationally televised Super Bowl Sunday game.

But the last game, the Maryland game, was definitely one of the highlights of his UVa career.

With the game knotted at 81-81, Sampson went to the free throw line to shoot two foul shots with 7 seconds to go.

"You could see the pressure in those free throws when he went to the line," Holland said. "You could see how much of a weight he was carrying."

Sampson misfired twice, but senior teammate Craig Robinson tipped the rebound out to Sampson, who buried a 12-foot jumper with four seconds to play. The place went wild and only settled down when Holland went out for a special ceremony that retired Sampson's No. 50.

"It was absolutely a fairy tale ending," Holland said. "You couldn't have asked for anything better. It was a great way to finish his home career."

Sampson, who is scheduled to be among those in attendance to wish U-Hall farewell today, said it was a moment he will never forget.

"It still is a highlight. You couldn't write a better script for the ending of a career," big Ralph said.

While his career was a virtual highlight reel, Sampson said that some of his warmest memories of U-Hall didn't really come in a game.

"The most memorable things about U-Hall was the camaraderie with all the people who worked there and all the athletes who showed up there," Sampson said. "Working out in the weight room, being around all the athletes from all the sports was great because in those days, all the sports teams were headquartered in U-Hall.

"I had friends in football, lacrosse, tennis, track, and so many sports. It was the UVa athletic family."

Not long after that game, Virginia's season and Sampson's career as a Cavalier came to an end when an N.C. State team destined to the 1983 win the national championship, upset UVa in the West Regional finals.

Virginia had assembled a 112-23 record during Sampson's four years, a win total unmatched by any team in the nation during the same span and only three shy of the then-national record of 115 by John Wooden's UCLA teams.

During his last three years, UVa went 29-4, 30-4, and 29-5. During his career he was the Doctor of Dunk with 261 of them, along with 2,225 career points. He became the first player since Elvin Hayes (1966-68) to score 2,000 points and grab 1,500 rebounds in his career.

"Dirk Katstra [current executive director of the Virginia Athletics Foundation] sent me a program recently that had my picture on the cover, and in the back, under highlights, it pointed out that we owned a 50-2 record at University Hall while I was there," Sampson said. "I never really realized that it was that type of record."

Of course, he wouldn't. Sampson was one of the most unselfish players in history. Too unselfish in Holland's opinion. But that was Ralph, the only athlete in Virginia history whose introduction didn't require his last name.

 

Cavs in dire need of momentum
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
March 5, 2006

What has gone wrong for the Virginia men's basketball team in ugly road losses against Clemson and North Carolina?
"Everything," said UVa coach Dave Leitao, right after his team was shellacked by UNC on Wednesday. "It was pick your poison as to the [reasons]. It was all in the same pot of stew."

Suffice to say, that stew is getting rancid. In its last two games, Virginia has looked exactly like the team that the media predicted to finish dead last in the 12-team ACC.

If ever there was a time for a fresh pot of stew, it would be today. Virginia, in a three-way tie with Miami and Maryland for sixth place in the ACC, plays host to Maryland in its last-ever regular season game at University Hall.

Since upsetting Boston College on Feb. 21, the Cavaliers, who move into the $129.8 million John Paul Jones Arena next season, have played their poorest basketball of the season.

Virginia, which finished 1-7 in ACC road games, is in dire need of some home cooking.

"It will be our last game there ever, and it should be a good atmosphere," said Virginia sophomore Adrian Joseph, "so we have to take advantage of that and try and come out with a W."

While the Cavaliers (14-12, 7-8) are now a long shot for making the NCAA Tournament - they would need to go on a run in the ACC Tournament - they still have a strong chance to make the NIT and build some momentum for next season.

"It's a big game," said Virginia guard J.R. Reynolds. "It's the last game of the season and we want to finish strong."

Maryland, coming off a 65-61 home victory over Miami on Wednesday, will be just as hellbent. The Terrapins

(17-11, 7-8) are still harboring NCAA Tournament hopes and badly need another conference victory.

Maryland defeated Virginia on Feb. 7 in College Park. In that game, the Cavaliers got off to a great start. They led by eight in the first half.

However, Maryland flipped the script in the second half. The Terrapins won going away, 76-65, to make Gary Williams the winningest coach in Maryland history.

"Our execution got a little lax," Leitao recalled, "and offensive rebounds cost us, which allowed them to overtake us. But overall, the energy [we] had for the game that night was there. Obviously we'll have to have that and more for this game."

The last two Virginia games have been reminiscent of the Pete Gillen Era. The Cavaliers have looked disorganized on offense, porous on defense.

Leitao said the team needs to get back to the basics.

"Effort is at the forefront of it," he said, "and playing the game the right way on both ends of the floor. By in large we've been pretty good on the defensive end of the floor most of the season, and we haven't in those two games."

Leitao admitted that the team's out-of-the blue freefall has been troubling.

"Obviously, when you get beat the way we did and really have only played that way a couple times all year, it's a lot of concern to the coaching staff as to why that happened," Leitao said, "and then most importantly how you can go about correcting that.

"It's our hope we can get back on track and perform well as a group."

DUNKS: Sean Singletary and J.R. Reynolds each had 18 points in the first meeting against Maryland. Guard D.J. Strawberry led Maryland with 19. ? Maryland leads the series 100-64, dating back to 1912. ? Jason Cain's last double-double came against Maryland. He had 11 points and 13 rebounds. ? Leitao said he was looking forward to meeting many of the former Virginia players who are in town this weekend as part of "Last Ball at U-Hall" festivities. "We're still at the very beginning stages of piecing together a program, and a very important and specific part of the long-term success of this program is going to be built on the past," Leitao said. "There will be many, many people on the grounds who have had a lot of success and have been very instrumental in building Virginia basketball into what it is, and most importantly what it will become. That's a specific part of why it is we're doing what we're doing, so we can build toward the future. These guys are an important part of that."

 

Defense? Who needs defense?
UVa gives up 15 goals but still pulls out win
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
March 5, 2006

Do you despise the scoreless tie in soccer? How about the pitchers' duel in baseball? The defensive battle in football?
If so, Saturday's lacrosse showdown between Virginia and Syracuse at Klockner Stadium was the game for you.

In a run-and-gun contest that felt a little like an NBA All-Star game, Virginia and Syracuse put on an impressive offensive display. In the end, the No. 3 Cavaliers downed the No. 5 Orange, 20-15.

"I think we can't give up 15 goals and expect to win," said Virginia attacker Matt Ward, "but this gets us off on the right foot."

Ten players scored for Virginia (5-0), which was paced by Ward's three goals and two assists. Ben Rubeor, Drew Thompson and Matt Poskay also had hat tricks for Virginia. Kyle Dixon and Garrett Billings chipped in with two goals apiece.

Syracuse (1-1) was led by Mike Leveille, who had three goals and two assists. Former Virginia player Joe Yevoli added three goals and an assist for the Orange. Nathan Kenney, another former Cavalier, had a goal in his return to Charlottesville.

"To play [a] 20-15 [game], both teams need to cooperate," said Virginia coach Dom Starsia, with a chuckle. "We play Princeton [next Sunday], and it will be a very different kind of challenge because there is no way the score is going to be like this.

"We need to be prepared to play the game a different way and be successful doing it that way. If we can do that and move in that direction, that's a sign of a mature lacrosse team."

A major key to Virginia's victory was winning the faceoff battle, 23-16.

"[Charlie] Glazer and Drew Thompson made all the difference," Starsia said. "In a game like this, it was very important."

In the first quarter, the teams traded goals until Syracuse scored three in a row to take a 7-4 lead with 2:13 left.

"I'm a defensive coach," Starsia said, "so I'll tell you it wasn't that fun in the first quarter. You're thinking to yourself, 'Can this be 30-25?' But it settled down a little bit."

Not right away, though. Starsia's charges responded with six unanswered goals.

Dixon started the spree when he was able to score with five seconds left in the quarter.

Virginia carried the momentum into the second quarter. Less than two minutes in, Rubeor fed Foster Gilbert, who scored on a runner to make it a 7-6 game.

Billings, a freshman, tied the game at 7. Rubeor followed with a goal off a wicked shot from the wing that squeaked past Syracuse goalie Peter Coluccini.

Billings and Ward followed with goals to make it a 10-7 game.

At that point - with 6:27 left in the half - a stunned Syracuse called timeout.

"The biggest thing is they had the ball in the second quarter and we couldn't get it from them," Yevoli said. "We had the ball like two minutes in the second quarter. It was like our offense was on the sidelines."

Finally, with 4:54 to go in the half, Syracuse's Dan Hardy was able to sneak a shot by Virginia goalie Kip Turner to stop the run.

However, the Cavaliers scored the next three goals to take a 13-8 lead heading into the break.

In somewhat of a surprise, Starsia replaced goalie Kip Turner with backup Bud Petit. Petit played the entire second half.

"I just felt like Kip wasn't seeing the ball well at all," Starsia said. "I keep telling you guys that we have a second good goalie. If the occasion calls for it, you have to have the confidence [to make the switch]."

Syracuse also replaced Coluccini, who gave way to sophomore Jake Myers.

Neither swap seemed to make much difference. In the third quarter, Virginia was able to build a 16-10 advantage. That proved to be more than enough cushion.

"If things hold during the course of the season, we're likely to see [Syracuse] again," Starsia said. "This game would likely be played differently two months from now."

 

Passionate play lifts UVa over Syracuse
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
March 5, 2006

The Virginia women's lacrosse team turned a negative into a positive Saturday afternoon at Klockner Stadium.
Three days after losing to Richmond, UVa played its best game of the year.

Behind nine goals and three assists from freshmen Whit Hagerman and Blair Weymouth the Cavaliers defeated Syracuse 14-9.

"I think our loss to Richmond woke everybody up," said Virginia coach Julie Myers. "We realized everybody needs to take more accountability and do more to help the team effort. It's not just scoring goals."

The game wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. Virginia controlled the tempo from the outset.

The seventh-ranked Cavaliers (3-1) played with a passion that Myers said she hadn't witnessed this season.

"Everyone seemed more excited to play than every other game," Myers said.

In the first half, Virginia jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Tyler Leachman and Weymouth.

The 13th-ranked Orange (2-1) responded with goals by Caitlyn Dragon and Gaddy Fortune to tie the game.

But with 14:43 to go in the half, Virginia took the lead for good on a goal by Hagerman.

"Syracuse has a great team," said Hagerman, who had five goals. "We came out and played as a team. We realized what we needed to do and worked hard in practice, and made it work."

The Cavaliers scored three more goals - two of which came on free-position shots - to go up 6-2. The other goal was Weymouth's second of the game. It came after she duped a Syracuse defender with a crafty cut-back move.

Weymouth's third goal put Virginia up 9-4 heading into the break.

Less than two minutes into the second half, Hagerman scored to give the Cavaliers a commanding 10-4 lead.

Syracuse cut the lead to 10-6 after a pretty goal by Fortune.

But 24 seconds later Weymouth hit a cutting Hagerman in front of the Syracuse net with a pinpoint pass. Hagerman converted to make it 11-6.

Nikki Lieb, Weymouth and Kate Breslin rounded out Virginia's scoring. Syracuse tacked on goals after the game had already been decided.

"It feels good to score that many goals and generate some offense," Myers said. "I'm disappointed where we let Syracuse score so many at the end, but overall I'm pleased with our effort."

Virginia goalie Ginger Miles, who finished with seven saves, had a couple of key stops that kept Syracuse from mounting any kind of comeback.

Miles said the team was embarrassed by the Richmond loss.

"We wanted to come together and play Virginia lacrosse," she said. "How we were playing didn't exactly represent how we know we can play.

"I think we just worked really hard in practice together the last couple of days and it came together. We were just looking to come out strong and really hard at home."

Next up for Virginia is a road date with Maryland on Tuesday night.

"It will be a barn burner," Myers said. "It will be a great matchup. But we need to be focused. We need to be intense and we need to execute under pressure."

 

Last call for U-Hall
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 5, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE The end is not at hand for University Hall, but it's coming. After this season, the tired, old arena no longer will be the home of University of Virginia basketball, and sometime in the next decade, the wrecking ball is expected to level U-Hall. T he memories, however, won't soon fade. Opening night was Dec.4, 1965, when U.Va., which had played in Memorial Gymnasium, lost 99-73 to mighty Kentucky before a capacity crowd of 8,000. Since then, U-Hall has been the stage for countless classic games, magical moments and unforgettable performances. RELATED
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Coach faces tough move

Maybe you recall the January night in 1971 when U.Va. guard Barry Parkhill shot down second-ranked South Carolina in the final seconds. Or the 1976 game when U.Va. forward Wally Walker, on his Senior Day, had 27 points and 14 rebounds in a two-overtime win over Virginia Tech.
Or Super Bowl Sunday 1981, when U.Va. center Ralph Sampson rang up 40 points in a nationally televised win over Ohio State. Or "Hot Dog Night" in 1986, when a record 11,174 fans watched the women's teams from U.Va. and North Carolina clash.

How about the 1989 showdown in which U.Va. guard Richard Morgan torched No.8 North Carolina for 39 points? Or the night in March 1993 when a skinny-legged 11th-grader named Allen Iverson had 28 points, nine rebounds, nine assists and five steals to lead Bethel High past John Marshall in a Group AAA title game?

Remember when Cavaliers guard Curtis Staples bombed in nine 3-pointers vs. UNLV in 1995, or the 86-66 rout of No.2 North Carolina by then-coach Pete Gillen's Wahoos in 2001?

All at U-Hall.

"It's my favorite place I've ever played," said Parkhill, now U.Va.'s associate athletic director for development.

If the Virginia men's team ends up in the NIT and gets to play at home, today's game against Maryland might not represent the end of an era. But the Cavaliers' regular-season finale could indeed be their "Last Ball in U-Hall." Starting next season, U.Va. will play across the street in the soon-to-be-completed John Paul Jones Arena, which seats 15,000.

"I think it's time," said Terry Gates, who lettered at U.Va. in 1979,'80 and'81 and now lives in the Richmond area.

Of the 12 arenas in the ACC, University Hall is the second-smallest, and its circular design has long since gone out of fashion. No ACC facility shows its age more than the Cavs' arena. Walk down the tunnel linking Onesty Hall and U-Hall on a rainy day, and you'll see trash cans set out to catch the water leaking through the ceiling.

U-Hall "was nice, but probably John Paul is a little overdue," said former U.Va. forward Jason Williford, a Richmond native who's now an assistant coach at American University.

Williford's boss at AU is Jeff Jones, a former Virginia player, assistant and head coach. American has a game today, so neither Williford nor Jones will take part in the festivities at U-Hall.

"The big thing is not the building itself," Jones said. "There were certainly some great memories, but more important are the relationships of the people who worked there, of the other student-athletes and teammates, the wins and the hard losses and learning to deal with those together."

Many of the sightlines at University Hall are poor, and the arena isn't as beloved by U.Va. fans as, say, Cole Field House was by the Maryland faithful. Still, some will mourn its passing. But not Terry Holland, the winningest men's basketball coach in U.Va. history.

"I do have those strong memories of U-Hall," said Holland, who's now AD at East Carolina University, "but it's not with sadness, because I'm thinking about the new building and how great it's going to be."

A sellout crowd will watch U.Va. (7-8, 14-12) battle ACC rival Maryland (7-8, 17-11) at 3:30 p.m. today. Ceremonies are planned for halftime and after the game, and scores of former U.Va. players and coaches are expected to be on hand, including Sampson, Walker, Holland, Morgan, Gates, brothers Ricky and Bobby Stokes, Otis Fulton, Lee Raker, Bryant Stith, Cory Alexander, Curtis Staples, Jim Miller and Donald Hand.

In men's basketball, U.Va. has gone 402-142 at University Hall. During Sampson's storied college career, U.Va. went 50-2 at home.

"The building really did have a great personality, and it was a wonderful home-court advantage for us," said Holland, who coached the Cavaliers for 16 seasons.

By the time he matriculated at U.Va., Fulton was familiar with U-Hall. As a senior at Richmond's Thomas Jefferson High, he helped the Vikings win the Group AAA title there. A year later, he started at center on the only U.Va. team to have won the ACC title. U-Hall is now "a dinosaur," Fulton said, but he'll remember it fondly.

"I think your home court is always special," he said.

 

Looking back at U-Hall: A chronology of Doug Doughty's memories
Doug Doughty has served as UVa beat reporter for The Roanoke Times for more than 25 years and estimates that he has seen between 450-500 games at University Hall. The first of those was Dec. 5, 1970, when the Cavaliers hosted Duke.
By Doug Doughty

JAN. 11, 1971

Virginia 50, South Carolina 49

In the game that many view as Virginia's arrival as a big-time basketball program, Barry Parkhill hit a 12-foot jump shot with six seconds left to lift the Cavaliers past the No. 2-ranked Gamecocks.

Dec. 8, 1971

Virginia 78, Maryland 57

Fifth-ranked Maryland came to University Hall with a program that coach Lefty Driesell had touted as the "UCLA of the East," and fell to a Parkhill-led group that would provide Virginia with its first 20-win season.

Jan. 25, 1981

Virginia 83, Ohio State 73

Ralph Sampson shook off an ankle injury that sent him to the training room in the game's opening minutes and scored 40 points as Virginia beat Ohio State in a nationally televised lead-up to the Super Bowl. UVa was ranked No. 1 for the first time the next week.

March 6, 1983

Virginia 83, Maryland 81

Virginia beat Maryland in Sampson's final home game. Maryland led 81-80 before Sampson went to the free-throw line with seven seconds to play. He missed both attempts but classmate Craig Robinson tapped the rebound outside and Sampson swished a 14-footer with two seconds to play.

Jan. 25, 1986

WOMEN: UNC 84, Virginia 79

A University Hall-record crowd of 11,174 saw North Carolina's 15th-ranked women's team defeat No. 3 Virginia on Hot Dog Night. Youth 18 and under were admitted free and spectators could get a hot dog and a soft drink for 50 cents. An estimated 1,500 fans were turned away and fire marshals never again let UVa exceed a capacity now listed at 8,392.

Jan. 30, 1986

Virginia 86, North Carolina 73

UVa posted what is still its only win over a top-ranked team with a triumph over a UNC team that came to University Hall with a 21-0 record and featured Brad Daugherty and Kenny Smith.

Jan. 20, 1987

Virginia 61, N.C. State 60

Virginia beat State on a last-second shot by John Johnson that left Wolfpack coach Jim Valvano dumbfounded. State led 60-59 with Vinny Del Negro headed to the free-throw line for a 1-and-1 with 10 seconds left. However, State was late in returning after a timeout, causing officials to place the ball on the free-throw line and ultimately award possession to the Cavaliers.

Feb. 25, 1990

Virginia 77, N.C. State 71

Four barbers from Staples Barber Shop gave haircuts on a platform behind the press table as part of a story that began when UVa head coach Terry Holland received a buzz cut Feb. 9 after the Cavaliers ended a 16-game losing streak to Duke.

March 1, 1990

Wake Forest 51, Virginia 50

The Cavaliers fell to Wake Forest and former UVa assistant Dave Odom in Holland's final game after 16 seasons as the Cavaliers' head coach. The crowd included more than two dozen former UVa players, as well as Holland lookalike Tom Smith, president of Food Lion Inc.

Feb. 25, 2004

Virginia 74, North Carolina 71

Virginia knocked off 12th-ranked North Carolina 74-71 when senior guard Todd Billet hit a 3-pointer with 10.1 seconds left, his third game-winning 3-pointer in a 10-day span. Carolina coach Roy Williams waited out a midcourt celebration to congratulate Billet on his way off the floor.
 

UM men looking to crash Va. party
By Heather A. Dinich
Sun Reporter
Originally published March 5, 2006

COLLEGE PARK // Long red and black curtains that nearly brush the floor at Comcast Center shield outsiders and reporters from watching the Maryland men's basketball team practice.

Behind them, the Terps have improved and the intensity has risen in the past week, players and coach Gary Williams said yesterday.

Today, though, is their last chance in the regular season to prove it.

Maryland (17-11, 7-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) will close out its league schedule at 3:30 p.m. today at Virginia (14-12, 7-8), and the Terps will enter the game in the same situation they have spent much of the past month - trying to finish with a .500 record and clinging to hopes of an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament.

The difference this week, though, is that Maryland is coming off a win for the first time since Feb. 18. Senior forward Nik Caner-Medley said the energy at practices picked up even before the team beat Miami on Wednesday, and he indicated that that factor alone should be enough to carry the Terps into the postseason.

"You gotta take what you can get," he said. "That's a week of solid basketball. At this time in the year, regardless of if it's practice or games, if you play with a certain intensity level and play well, sometimes it can give you an edge on some teams."

The Terps enter today's game in a three-way tie for sixth place with Virginia and Miami. According to different scenarios provided by the ACC, if Maryland wins today, it will earn either a No. 6 or 7 seed in the ACC tournament, and play Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech in the first round. The Terps have a combined 3-0 record against those teams this season.

If Maryland loses, it could drop as low as the No. 9 seed and a rematch with Clemson, a team that has beaten the Terps in four straight meetings. Possibly more significant is that a loss today would seal the program's third straight losing season in the ACC.

"Nobody wants to finish under .500," junior guard D.J. Strawberry said. "Just to get to .500 would be an accomplishment for this team."

Williams agreed.

"If you go 8-8 in a good league, it's getting to 8-8 that's really hard," Williams said. "In a year when we're good, we've done better than that. To get to 8-8 given everything that's gone on the past year ... what are we, 17-11? That's not a losing season."

In early February, Maryland scrapped back from a 13-0 start against Virginia and beat the Cavaliers, 76-65, to make Williams the all-time winningest coach at Maryland. Now, it's Virginia that will be celebrating a milestone on its home court, as today's game will be the last regular-season matchup in University Hall after 41 seasons.

When Maryland played its final game at Cole Field House in 2002, Virginia was its opponent. Williams said he expects it to be an emotion-filled atmosphere, but said there is little comparison between the closing of the two venues.

"It's a little different situation than when we closed Cole - being undefeated, first place in the league, you know, stuff like that," he said. "Plus, Cole had two Final Fours there, and the Texas-Western game was played there.

"We always looked at Cole as a great place to play," he said. "I'm not sure Virginia has always looked at their place as a great place to play. It's a little different situation if you look at the history of it."

One thing is for sure, the Cavaliers have played better there this season than they have on the road. Virginia is 11-2 at home and 6-1 against ACC opponents.

Maryland has won one conference road game this season, its 86-74 victory at Georgia Tech on Jan. 25.

"Right now we're kind of under the radar," Caner-Medley said. "If we can make the tournament, we'll creep up on some people because I don't think right now we're one of the teams being talked about too much now in terms of some of the main bubble teams."