Stranger than fiction: Miami, U.Va. seedings
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER
Mar 14, 2006

The selection committee for the NCAA men's basketball tournament isn't the only group that makes puzzling decisions when seeding teams.

Consider how the NIT's six-member selection committee slotted ACC rivals Miami and Virginia in that tournament's 40-team field.

The Hurricanes are 16-15, and the Cavaliers are 15-14. Miami's RPI is 78, and Virginia's is 79.

Each went 7-9 in league play during the regular season and 1-1 in the ACC tournament.

Over the past 10 games, the 'Canes are 3-7. U.Va. is 4-6, including a victory over Boston College, a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament.

Miami and U.Va. have met once this season, Jan. 24 at University Hall. The Cavs romped 71-51.

Given all that, Virginia and Miami seemed likely to get comparable seeds in the NIT, but that wasn't the case.

Miami, a No. 3 seed, received an opening-round bye and will play at home in the first round.

Virginia is a No. 8 seed and one of 16 teams that must play an opening-round game. The Cavaliers were to fly to California yesterday and will play at Stanford tonight. If the Cavs win, they would play another road game Friday night, at Missouri State.

"That's the way the voting came out," C.M. Newton, chairman of the NIT's selection committee, said yesterday when asked about Virginia's seed. "I can't explain it to you any other way. That's one that I looked at last night and I had the same kind of question, and I can't give you a definite answer.

"If we've dropped the ball anywhere, that might be where we've dropped it."

Caught in CBS' (bull's) eye
David Teel
March 15 2006

Craig Littlepage was polite, too polite for my taste. As chairman of the NCAA tournament selection committee, he sat before CBS' cameras Sunday night and endured a bizarre grilling from the network's lead college basketball announce team.

Jim Nantz and Billy Packer are established broadcasters, the voices of the tournament. But their questions regarding this year's 65-team bracket were churlish and uninformed.

Yet Littlepage, the University of Virginia's athletic director, patiently explained the committee's work. Me, I'd have lost it.

Sure, questions need to be asked and answered. Why this team and not that? What's up with that seed and placement?

For example, you'll never convince me Air Force belongs in the tournament, and I have reservations about George Mason. But the tone and basis of Packer's and Nantz's questions were out-of-bounds.

Packer and Nantz appeared outraged that two smaller conferences - the Missouri Valley (four) and Colonial (two) - placed multiple teams in the field, while three power conferences - the ACC, Pacific 10 and Big 12 - received fewer bids (four apiece) than usual. They questioned the validity of the Rating Percentage Index, even though the lowest-ranked team invited, the Big East's Seton Hall, hails from a power league; they recited chapter-and-verse the power conferences' past tournament success.

The arguments are so flawed, Littlepage's response could have pre-empted "60 Minutes."

First, the six major conferences cited by Packer and Nantz - Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, ACC, Southeastern and Pac-10 - received 26 of the 34 available at-large bids. That's one more than 2005, four more than 2004. Where was the outrage then?

Second, the committee never has, and never should, evaluate teams based on their respective conferences' NCAA past. If that's the way Packer wants to conduct business, have the committee analyze trends and allocate the at-large bids to conferences before the season.

Third, Packer's indictment of the Missouri Valley's tournament record was unfair. Yes, Valley teams are 1-7 in the past three NCAAs. But six of the seven defeats were to higher seeds, and all seven were by eight points or fewer.

Moreover, in 2002, the Valley's Southern Illinois defeated Texas Tech and Georgia, while Creighton took out Florida. In 1999, the Valley's Missouri State dismissed Wisconsin and Tennessee, while Creighton beat Louisville. All six victories came against higher seeds.

Finally, CBS' fawning aside, the ACC, Pac-10 and Big 12 didn't deserve any more bids. The ACC's Florida State and Maryland are complaining loudest, but they have no case.

Maryland was 6-8 after losing its best player, Chris McCray, to academic ineligibility. None of those victories was against a top-70 opponent, as ranked by the RPI.

Florida State's claim is rooted in two impressive efforts against Duke, an overtime defeat marred by an officiating gaffe, and a home victory. But the Seminoles did little else to distinguish themselves and lost to last-place Wake Forest in an ACC tournament quarterfinal.

Most important, Florida State played an atrocious non-conference schedule - ranked No. 316 out of 334 Division I teams. And the last five selection committees have been adamant: Teams from major conferences vying for the final at-large slots will be punished and rewarded for their non-league schedules.

Florida State athletic director Dave Hart ignored the mandate, and now is whining about committee politics and agendas.

"The banner of the mid-majors is clearly being carried," Hart told reporters in Florida.

Really? Tell that to Missouri State. At No. 21 on the RPI, the Bears are the highest-ranked team ever bypassed.

The Packer-Nantz-Littlepage, Missouri Valley-Colonial dust-up has been the talk of the airwaves and cyberspace since Sunday. It's even spilled onto Don Imus' syndicated morning radio show, usually the province of Joe Biden's foreign-policy rants and Tim Russert's poll analyses.

For all the parsing and moaning, here are three gripes with Littlepage's 10-man committee:

Missouri State was more deserving than Air Force. The Bears defeated four top-50 opponents, and each of their eight defeats came against teams among the top 45; conversely, the Falcons played one measly game against the top-50, losing at Washington.

(Had the committee agreed and selected this fifth Missouri Valley team, Packer and Nantz might have combusted on the air.) Hofstra was more deserving than Colonial colleague George Mason. The Pride defeated the Patriots twice late in the season, and the Patriots are without their No. 2 scorer - Tony Skinn is serving a one-game suspension for punching a Hofstra player during the CAA tournament. You tell me who's best prepared to compete Friday against Michigan State: full-strength Hofstra or depleted George Mason?

(The worst part of Mason's selection is that it encourages conspiracy theorists who believe the committee, which includes Mason athletic director Tom O'Connor, takes care of its own.)

Boston College got hosed. The committee not only designated the Eagles a No. 4 seed, but also assigned them to a Thursday game in Salt Lake City. This after BC played in the ACC tournament final Sunday. Meanwhile, conference rival North Carolina, a two-time loser to BC, is a No. 3 seed playing Friday in Dayton, Ohio.

"We are going to be second-guessed," Littlepage said, "good, bad and indifferent. ... There's no question that we all expect that."

Indeed, second-guess away. But please, check the attitude at the door and make the questions relevant.
 

Cavaliers stumble through season finale at Stanford
Virginia falls in first round of NIT, posts lowest score of season; trail by as many as 19 in second half
Adrian Vigil, Cavalier Daily Senior Associate Editor

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- The Virginia Cavaliers (15-15) ended their season with a disappointing 65-49 loss to the Stanford Cardinal (16-13) in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament. With the loss, the Cavaliers finish the season with a .500 record and only two road wins in the 2005-06 campaign.

"We struggled that way all year long, obviously only winning one [conference] game on the road," Virginia coach Dave Leitao said.

Virginia's 49 points is the lowest total for the Cavaliers on the year. Virginia's previous low output of 51 points came in a 30-point loss to Arizona on Nov. 27, 2005. In the Arizona loss, only two Virginia players scored in double figures. Against the Cardinal, the Cavaliers managed to score fewer points despite having one more double digit scorer. Forward Laurynas Mikalauskas scored 11 points to go along with 12 for Reynolds and 13 for Singletary.

"I was in the right place at the right moments," Mikalauskas said of his performance. "It doesn't really matter now how many points I scored, we still lost the game. Now we have to get ready for next year."

The Cavaliers were able to secure an early 6-0 lead to open the game. That lead, however, would be the only Virginia lead of the game. The Cavaliers suffered through numerous scoreless stretches in the half, the first coming shortly after they took the early lead. The Cardinal battled back and took a lead it would not surrender seven minutes into the game.

Stanford used a 9-0 run in the middle of the half to take control of the game. Mikalauskas finally broke Virginia's five-minute scoreless streak when he scored a lay-up with 5:20 remaining in the half.

"We weren't cutting hard and being aggressive," Reynolds said of Virginia's offense. "We didn't get to the free throw line a lot. It's very tough."

Virginia's starting backcourt of Singletary and Reynolds, the team's two leading scorers, shot a combined 5-18 in the half. Singletary, the team's leading scorer, struggled through a 1-8 performance from the field in the first half. The shooting struggles were shared by the rest of the Virginia team, which shot 1-10 from behind the three-point line. Mikalauskas was the lone Cavalier to shoot above 50 percent in the game on his 5-7 shooting. Adrian Joseph was 3-6 and scored seven points.

Despite Virginia's offensive woes, the Cavaliers had a chance to pull to within 10 points before halftime. But in a microcosm of Virginia's opening half, Singletary's driving attempt for a lay-up was swatted out of bounds and despite contact, no foul was called.

Virginia did not start the second half playing any better offensively, as Stanford extended its lead to a 19 point margin. The Cardinal pulled ahead 46-27 when Anthony Goods hit a three-point shot. Goods' shot was part of a stellar three-point shooting night for Stanford as the team combined to shoot 7-14 from three-point range. Following Goods' basket, Singletary scored seven consecutive points by himself to cut the deficit to 12 points, 46-34. The Cavaliers could not build on the momentum generated by the first team All-ACC player, however, and Stanford scored two quick baskets to pull ahead by 16.

"We definitely had momentum, but we just couldn't get it over the hump," Singletary said. "We just had no energy."

 

Cross-country collapse
With little left in the tank, Cavs fall to Stanford in NIT opener
By Whitelaw Reid / Daily Progress staff writer
March 15, 2006

PALO ALTO, Calif. - During a timeout of Tuesday night's Virginia-Stanford game, two Stanford students took part in a rather unusual contest.
The students stood at opposite ends of the court and tried to score as many baskets as they could.

There was one catch: The contestants were attached by a 70-foot bungee cord.

Whenever one student took a shot, the other was jerked, rather violently, in another direction.

The whole thing was mainly an exercise in futility, which is how to describe Virginia's performance against Stanford.

The Cavaliers played one of their worst games of the season. They ended Dave Leitao's first year as coach on a down note, losing 65-49 in an opening round NIT game.

"Everything we did tonight, we were stagnant," Leitao said.

Virginia's 49 points was its lowest output of the season.

"This is one of the best games we played all year," said Stanford senior guard Chris Hernandez. "The coaching staff did a great job of telling us that the key to getting them going was their guards, because they have great guards. We wanted to come out and make them take tough shots, tough plays."

Hernandez led a well-balanced Stanford attack with 14 points. Dan Grunfield added 12.

The Cardinal (16-13) will play at Missouri State on Friday.

"I thought we played well offensively and defensively, and we shared the ball better than we have all season," said Stanford coach Trent Johnson. "Virginia, finding out they had to come cross country, it looked like they had a bit of fatigue."

Sean Singletary led Virginia (15-15) with 13 points but didn't play up to his usual standards. The sophomore, who has been battling a hip injury all season, was just 6 of 20 from the field and committed five turnovers.

J.R. Reynolds added 12 for Virginia, but just two came in the second half.

"Singletary is a better player than he showed tonight, and so is Reynolds," Johnson said. "I thought coming into tonight, our guys were really looking forward to the challenge [of stopping them]."

Virginia trailed by as many as 19 early in the second half.

With eight minutes left, the Stanford student body was chanting for Virginia walk-on Matt Deasey. With four minutes left, fellow walk-on Drew Shiembob checked in the game. Walk-on Mike Forkin also saw action.

Virginia started the game - to use Leitao lingo - "with a lot of energy."

Jason Cain scored off a pretty baseline pivot move for the Cavaliers' first basket. Reynolds followed with two jumpers for a 6-0 lead.

UVa had a bounce to its step.

However, Stanford answered with a 17-3 run. Cardinal freshman Anthony Goods ignited the surge. The guard scored two hoops and had a nice penetration and kick out to Grunfield, who drained a 3-pointer.

Virginia couldn't get very many good looks. Almost all of its shot attempts were from the perimeter. Stanford did a good job of contesting every shot.

"I thought we took more unbalanced shots than anything else," Leitao said. "Stanford had a lot to do with that. They played us physical."

Singletary didn't score his first basket until midway through the first half on a fade-away jumper from the wing. An Adrian Joseph 3-pointer cut the Stanford lead to 17-14, but the Cardinal outscored Virginia 19-9 during the next nine minutes for a 36-23 halftime lead.

Six minutes into the second half, the Cardinal increased its lead to 17. Singletary tried to get Virginia back in the game. The sophomore went on a personal 7-0 run.

However, Stanford, spurred by its boisterous crowd, responded with a dunk by Matt Haryasz and jumpshot by Taj Finger.

With eight minutes left in the game, the Cardinal faithful began chanting for the walk-ons and Stanford was never threatened the rest of the way.

 

Littlepage in a no-win situation
Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 15, 2006

After 48 hours of listening to seemingly everyone taking pot shots at Virginia's Craig Littlepage and the NCAA men's tournament selection committee and reading Littlepage's responses to the criticism, I have reached a conclusion.
No matter how good or bad a job Littlepage and his nine-man committee - referred to by one national columnist as the "nine blind mice" - did in putting together the 65-team NCAA field, there was still going to be tons of criticism.

Why?

Because the system is flawed. Yeah, it's the best we've got, but it's flawed.

The NCAA needs to put the entire process under a magnifying glass and come up with a better way.

Working out the kinks

Can you imagine any other $6 billion-a-year business operating the same way the NCAA puts together one of the world's most popular sporting events?

You get 10 guys together, lock them up in a room for four days, let them watch

basketball games on TV until they're on overload, throw tons of statistical data at them, and tell them to pick the best 65 (actually, only 34 are at-large selections) teams in the country?

Yeah, I know, there's a lot more to it than that. They see games in person throughout the course of the season, they get personal input from coaches, athletic directors, commissioners.

They use the statistical data, including the RPI, as a tool, but not as the lone determining factor.

E=mc2

How could anyone this side of Einstein put out a 65-team field that didn't leave someone or many someones out?

OK, Brainiac, now you're going to tell me that we should let computers do all this. Well, I've got three letters for you:

BCS.

So, let's dispel that notion right now.

Reading all the criticism, it appears that some of the folks most confused about the entire process, or at least who pretend to be confused about it, are the coaches, ADs, and commissioners themselves.

"I need someone to explain this process to me," said Tom Pecora, coach of omitted Hofstra.

Florida State AD Dave Hart, who probably won't be exchanging Christmas cards with Littlepage after this, said: "We've simply lost our way in the process. The fundamental charge of that committee over the years has been to put the 34 best at-large teams in the tournament, and apparently that charge has been changed. And that's very obvious to me."

Scheduling matters

In Littlepage's defense, this columnist has heard at least two other former Virginia athletic directors (Terry Holland and Dick Schultz) who, like Littlepage, chaired the selection committee, emphasize one major point when it came to Selection Sunday.

All three constantly noted two issues before and after the selections: that teams performing well in their own conference obviously help themselves, and teams that chose to play strong nonconference schedules would have a much better chance at making the field.

In other words, if a school decided to play Cupcake U., Who Let the Dogs Out College, and the Little Sisters of the Poor, rather than a more representative schedule, then, well, they were begging to be disappointed when the Big Dance's tickets were being punched.

Note to Dave Hart: Even though Florida State was 19-9 and only the second ACC team since 1991-92 to win at least nine games in the ACC and not receive an invitation (By the way, Virginia was the other), it was more than likely that the nonconference thing reared its ugly head.

While FSU finished fifth in the ACC and beat Duke, it didn't help itself by losing in the opening round of the conference tournament to Wake Forest.

Hart's Seminoles had the nation's 316th-ranked nonconference schedule and the 94th-ranked overall schedule.

Many of those critics, including CBS's Jim Nance and Billy Packer, Hart and other coaches and ADs around the country, have claimed that there isn't enough credit given to the power conferences for winning league games.

The ACC, which spends the season beating each other up, received but four bids, same as the Missouri Valley Conference.

Ask Cincinnati, Maryland, FSU about this and there's enough backlash to burn the committee's collective ears for the next year.

Cincy believed it did everything it had been required to do but that the committee refused to give a ninth Big East team a bid.

FSU coach Leonard Hamilton, who barked that the selection process should become more transparent said, "It appears that there's not very much consideration given to your conference schedule anymore,"

Hart added: "What concerns me the most about what I see happening is when you begin to devalue conference games, something is dramatically wrong. That's what I see.

"We play 16 games in the Atlantic Coast Conference, one of the premier conferences, if not the premier conference, in all the nation. Clearly it seems there are too many agendas and that politics has entered the fray here. The banner of the mid-majors is clearly being carried."

Maryland coach Gary Williams said, "I don't know what the ACC has to do - maybe lobby a little harder, maybe talk a little more during the year about what a great league we have and go from there."

Remember, the Terps went 8-8, went 6-8 after losing guard Chris McCray, won only twice on the road and failed to beat a team in the top 50 of the RPI after Dec. 11.

Littlepage and his committee could easily point to that as a reason for bypassing Maryland and FSU.

No other team in the league did enough within the league to qualify.

Or did they?

Some critics argue that you could take a George Mason, a Bradley, a Utah State, or other mid-majors that made the field, stick them in the Big East or ACC and they couldn't rate.

Well, there's one way to find out. Perhaps some of the power conference schools should start scheduling some of the top mid-majors and see what happens.

We already know that some coaches would be reluctant for fear of losing the games and eventually their jobs in a sort of Catch-22, where it's easier to win 19 games and yell at the committee for overlooking their team.

Maybe the ACC is too tough for its own good. The ACC women realized this after expansion when they decided to play only 14 conference games, rather than 16 as the men, so that the women's teams could play two more RPI-improving nonconference games.

Maybe that's why seven ACC women's teams are in the NCAA field compared to only four men's squads.

Two other things struck me about the process. Littlepage said it himself.

"There are a finite number of spots," he said. "We had two gallons of water and a one-gallon tank. We just ran out of spots to be able to accommodate all the teams we felt were worthy for their inclusion in the tournament."

Hey, maybe it is time for another expansion of the field. It has grown from 32 to 48 to 65 and the popularity of the tournament is unparalleled.

Doubling the field to 128 might be a bit drastic, although it would be a more of a true "national" event and get twice as many schools excited (there are more than 300 Division I schools playing hoops these days).

And, it would add only one more round to the tournament.

How about adding 32 more teams to the draw, giving the top 32 seeds a first-round bye? The 32 best teams would be rewarded for great seasons. The bottom 32 would get a chance to show if they're worthy, and it would eliminate possibly two things: all this bubble mess about who's left in and who's left out; and eliminate the NIT, a tournament that has outlived its purpose.

 

Virginia climbs to 7-0
From staff reports / Charlottesville Daily Progress
March 15, 2006

Second-ranked Virginia used an eight-goal run to break open a close contest and dominated Mount St. Mary's, 16-5, on Tuesday night.
The undefeated Cavaliers are the first Division I men's lacrosse team to win seven games this season and also score more than 100 goals.

With 641 chilly fans watching at Kl?ckner Stadium, Coach Dom Starsia's team earned its 16th-consecutive home victory, a school record.

The Cavaliers also matched the 1973 UVa squad for the best start in school history.

While the UVa offense built a 9-2 halftime lead, the defenders held the winless Mountaineers (0-4) without a goal for a span of 38 minutes, 30 seconds.

Freshman midfielder Steve Giannone led the Cavalier offense with three goals and an assist. Midfielder Drew Garrison notched three goals. Virginia received balanced scoring as 10 different players scored.

Senior Charlie Glazer tied a Virginia record by winning all 11 faceoffs. He also snagged a game-high six ground balls. Overall, the Cavaliers won 21 of 25 faceoffs and finished with 67 ground balls, nearly double The Mount's total (34).

Senior midfielder Tilghman Herring scored his first two goals of the season to lead the visitors from western Maryland. Goalkeeper Joe Zolezzi made 18 saves in the first half. Chris Channing replaced him for the second half. Channing finished with seven saves.

Herring opened the scoring at 1:43 by converting the Mountaineers' first shot. Giannone answered quickly with his first goal. Will Barrow and Ben Rubeor added goals in the next two minutes to extend the Cavaliers' lead to 3-1 Zolezzi recorded 10 saves in the first quarter, but Virginia scored five times in the second frame. Rubeor produced a man-down goal, his third such goal this season.

With his team leading 11-2 going into the fourth quarter, Starsia played reserves exclusively in the last 15 minutes. All 36 players in uniform saw action for UVa.

Matt Poskay and Rubeor each scored two goals. Matt Ward had a goal and an assist. Goalkeepers Kip Turner, the ACC Men's Player of the Week, and Bud Petit combined for five saves.

Joe Dewey, Garrett Billings. Kyle Dixon and Danny Glading each scored a goal. Gavin Gill had two assists.

The Cavaliers have outscored their seven opponents 109-48 this season.

Virginia returns to action at 1 p.m. Sunday, when it travels to Towson. The game will be televised on ESPNU at 5 p.m. that day on a tape-delay basis.
 

UVa 1 and done
Host Stanford dominates the traveling Cavs and advances to the NIT first round.
Staff report

PALO ALTO, Calif. -- Virginia can forget about those three road games it needed to win to make the National Invitation Tournament semifinals in New York.

The Cavaliers will be lucky if coach Dave Leitao doesn't make them find their own way home after the latest in a series of inept offensive performances Tuesday at Stanford.

The Cardinal overcame an early deficit to defeat Virginia 65-49 at Maples Pavilion, handing the Cavaliers their fifth loss in the last six games of the season.

It was a season-low scoring output for the Cavaliers, whose previous low had come in their only other game against a Pac-10 opponent, when it lost at Arizona 81-51 in December.

It was also the seventh straight road loss for the Cavaliers, who went 2-11 on the road en route to a 15-15 finish. Only one of those seven straight losses was by fewer than 10 points.

Virginia took a 6-0 lead to open the game, but Stanford (16-13) responded with a 17-3 run. After making four of their first seven shots, the Cavaliers missed their next eight attempts and were 10-of-31 in falling behind 36-23 at the half.

UVa had scored fewer than 23 points in the first half of only one other game, when it scored 17 first-half points in a 63-54 loss in December at Georgia Tech.

The opening minutes of Tuesday's game were reminiscent of Virginia's 79-67 loss to North Carolina in the ACC Tournament, where the Cavaliers jumped to a 12-2 lead but shot only 27.9 percent for the game.

Virginia did not shoot better than 42.2 percent in any of its last five games and was under 40 percent in four of them.

Stanford, on the other hand, shot 52 percent in the first half. After back-to-back buckets by Sean Singletary and Adrian Joseph cut a 17-9 deficit to 17-14, the Cardinal tacked a 9-0 run onto its earlier spurt.

Singletary, coming off a 29-point outing against UNC, had two points in the first half and missed seven of eight shots.

The Cavaliers cut the deficit to 36-27 by scoring the first two field goals of the second half, but things unraveled quickly. At one point, with Stanford leading by 11, Virginia rebounded one of its misses but committed a turnover when the ball got tangled in Adrian Joseph's untucked jersey.

Stanford quickly extended its lead to 46-29, the largest margin of the game. Singletary scored the next seven points but missed a layup in traffic that could have trimmed the deficit to 10.

Chris Hernandez had a 14 points for Stanford.

Virginia knocks off Mt. St. Mary's
No. 2 Cavaliers fall behind early but score eight unanswered goals to improve overall record to 7-0
Ben Gibson, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

Just over 48 hours after the second-ranked University Virginia men's lacrosse team (7-0) captured a key 7-6 victory over 5th ranked Princeton, they took the field against the Mount St. Mary's Mountaineers (0-4). It was not the prettiest of wins, but Virginia still rolled to a 16-5 victory, giving the Cavaliers their 16th consecutive home win, a new school record.

"Setting this record means a lot to everyone on the team especially our seniors," senior midfielder J.J. Morrisey said. "I've never played in a better atmosphere, barring the Final Four."

Things started off rather inauspiciously for the Cavaliers, who seemed a bit flat after the short turnaround between games. Mount St. Mary's captain Tilghman Herring registered his first of two goals in the opening minutes to give the Mountaineers a surprising 1-0 lead. It marked the third straight game Virginia trailed to start the game. The Cavaliers answered with 12:26 to go in the opening quarter on a goal by Steve Giannone, assisted by Ben Rubeor. Two more goals by Will Barrow and Rubeor put Virginia in command before Matt Warner answered for the Mountaineers to cut the gap to 3-2.

"[I] give Mount St. Mary's credit", senior defenseman Michael Culver said. "They came out here and got us down early."

After struggling early, Virginia seemed to settle down, scoring eight unanswered goals to make the score 11-2.The margin would have been even worse if not for the stellar play of Mountaineer goalie Joe Zolezzi.Zolezzi picked up 20 saves in the first half, twice as many as Virginia's counterpart, Kip Turner, had against the Princeton Tigers for the entire game. Unfortunately for Zolezzi, though, none of his teammates were able to help him out. The offense was incapable of holding onto the ball, committing twenty turnovers. The defense allowed 59 shots and the Mountaineers lost 15 of the first 16 face-offs.

After the scoring barrage, Virginia was able to essentially coast to victory. Ten different players scored goals for Virginia, including three by both Giannone and attacker Drew Garrison. Herring and Warner led the Mountaineers with two goals each.

Despite the statistical domination by Virginia in virtually every category, the players believe they could have played much better.

"I would rate our effort a 'C'," Morrisey said. "We came out a little flat but we fought through it and got the win. That's all that matters."

Virginia had five penalties and twelve turnovers, both uncharacteristically high for the team, and while it proved insignificant in the final score, it shows that Virginia has areas where it can improve.

"I think it is very important for us to continue to improve," Virginia head coach Dom Starsia said. "We're reaching a point where we are close to being playoff eligible -- We're concerned about being part of it at the end."

Virginia will look to build on its season when it faces a critical road test this Sunday against the 15th ranked Towson Tigers (1-2).



 

Falcons pursuing deal to land Jets' AbrahamBy Len Pasquarelli and Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com

ATLANTA -- The Atlanta Falcons are working hard to assemble the appropriate pieces of a trade package intended to lure prized defensive end John Abraham from the New York Jets, ESPN and ESPN.com have confirmed through league sources.

One significant road bump to a deal that, despite ongoing efforts from both sides, remains a long shot: The Falcons steadfastly refuse to include two-year veteran quarterback Matt Schaub, the player Jets officials regard as the centerpiece to any deal, in their trade proposals.

It is believed the Jets are seeking Schaub and the Falcons' second-round draft pick for Abraham.

Without the inclusion of Schaub, the backup to Michael Vick and a youngster whose résumé includes just two regular-season starts, the swap might never be consummated. But Atlanta in particular continues to pursue it and hopes to craft a package that might attract the Jets, but without having to surrender Schaub or the Falcons' first-round draft choice, the 15th overall selection in the lottery.

"There have been discussions, as in plural, but I don't know that it will happen," said one team official. "But [the two teams] are still plugging away."

That said, neither club seems prepared yet to end the talks, in part because the Falcons covet Abraham and because New York is determined to trade the veteran end, designated by the Jets as their franchise player for a second consecutive year.

Despite the speculation that the Jets will use the fourth overall pick on April 29 to choose one of the three highly regarded quarterback prospects in the 2006 draft, New York has apparently targeted Schaub as the young passer it really wants to land. The Jets recently restructured the contract of starting quarterback Chad Pennington to keep from having to release him for cap reasons. But uncertainty still surrounds Pennington, who had surgery in October to repair a torn right rotator cuff, his second such procedure in eight months.

Because of the Pennington situation, the Jets are seeking a younger player, one with starting potential.

A third-round draft choice in 2004, Schaub is highly regarded around the NFL and by Atlanta officials. The former University of Virginia standout has played in 11 games in two seasons, two of them starts, and has completed 66 of 134 attempts for 825 yards, with five touchdown passes, four interceptions and a passer rating of 68.8.

Schaub, 24, lost both his starts. But in a 31-28 loss to New England last Oct. 9 at the Georgia Dome, he threw for 298 yards and three touchdowns in an impressive outing. The defensive coordinator for New England in that game was Eric Mangini, who is the Jets' new head coach, and who obviously liked what he saw of Schaub that day.

Falcons officials are reluctant to part with Schaub for at least two reasons: First, they consider him a quality player and an eventual starter in the league. Second, team officials realize that Vick's derring-do style will always make him susceptible to injuries, and that Atlanta needs a solid backup capable of possibly starting a few games every season. The Falcons consider Schaub ideal for that role.

"We like [Schaub] and he plays a very important position," Falcons team president Rich McKay told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this week. "From our position, what it would take [to surrender Schaub in a trade] would have to be very strong."

That said, the Falcons would love to land Abraham, a high-energy defender who is viewed as one of the NFL's premier outside pass rushers. And whether New York deals Abraham to Atlanta or some other club, it's clear the six-year veteran will not be back with the Jets in 2006.

Abraham visited with Washington officials over the weekend and was set to be in Seattle for a Wednesday visit. It was announced last week that Abraham would meet with four teams, and Atlanta is believed to be among them.

The Jets last month designated Abraham a franchise player, essentially making him a one-year qualifying offer of $8.33 million, but also severely limiting his mobility in free agency. New York used the franchise tag a year ago, as well, to retain Abraham, and he missed the offseason programs and training camp before signing the one-year deal, worth $6.66 million just days before the start of the season.

Abraham has been saying for two years that he prefers a long-term contract but the two sides have not been able to strike a satisfactory deal. Any team that trades for Abraham will have to first reach agreement with him on a long-term contract. The Falcons have some history in trading for franchise players, having acquired franchise wide receiver Peerless Price from Buffalo in 2003 after reaching a long-term accord that included a $10 million signing bonus.

The Falcons also have a history in dealing with Abraham's agent, Tony Agnone, who represents Atlanta standout left defensive end Patrick Kerney. Teaming Kerney and Abraham would give the Falcons a terrific defensive end tandem.

Termed by Cleveland Browns coach Romeo Crennel as "head and shoulders" above any pass rusher available this offseason, Abraham certainly is a proven sack man. One of the Jets' four first-round selections in the 2000 draft, Abraham has consistently been among the top pass rushers in the NFL, when healthy. Limited to just 19 appearances in 2003-2004 because of injuries, Abraham, a three-time Pro Bowl performer, played in all 16 games for the Jets in 2005, only the third time in six years he has played a full schedule.

He registered 67 tackles, 10˝ sacks, six forced fumbles, one recovery and two passes defensed. For his career, the former South Carolina star has 328 tackles, 53˝ sacks, 18 forced fumbles, five recoveries and eight pass deflections in 73 games.