'Little guys' help Littlepage
Mid-major success in NCAA tournament answers CBS critics
BY JEFF WHITE
TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER Mar 21, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - If Craig Littlepage wanted to gloat a bit, who could blame him?

On national television March 12, after the 65-team field for the NCAA men's basketball tournament was announced, Billy Packer and Jim Nantz of CBS sharply criticized Littlepage in an interview with the University of Virginia's athletic director.

Littlepage also serves as chairman of the NCAA tournament's selection committee. Packer and Nantz ripped that committee for picking four teams from the Missouri Valley Conference and two from the Colonial Athletic Association. Some of those spots, Packer and Nantz argued, should have gone to teams from more prestigious conferences.

By Sunday evening, Nantz and Packer were in retreat. Of the 16 teams left in the NCAA tourney, two (Wichita State and Bradley) are from the Missouri Valley and one (George Mason) is from the CAA. Conspicuously absent in the Sweet 16 is anybody from the storied Big Ten.

"Good for the little guy making his presence felt," Nantz said on the air Sunday.

Asked yesterday if he'd heard from Nantz or Packer, Littlepage declined to comment. But he said that "Nantz's remarks [Sunday] reflected a level of professionalism that I thought was admirable."

If the selection committee feels vindicated by the results of the tourney's first two rounds, Littlepage didn't let on yesterday.

"I would say that the committee feels good about the fact that these have been great games," he said. "If anything, it just reaffirms the fact that that there's good basketball played around the country at many levels."

Littlepage is in the fourth year of a five-year term on the 10-member NCAA selection committee. Princeton's athletic director, Gary Walters, will succeed Littlepage as chairman in September.

Since being appointed to the committee, Littlepage has been responsible for following the CAA and the Mid-American, among other leagues, and he's gained an appreciation for the quality of play in the so-called "mid-major" conferences.

"How much would have been lost as a basketball-loving community, as basketball fans, if Bradley had not been in this tournament, just as an example?" Littlepage said.

The average fan - or the average CBS announcer - might not, however, realize how good teams such as George Mason and Bradley are, because they're rarely on national TV.

"We don't get a chance to see some of these teams," Littlepage said, "so you have a question that's always raised: If Bradley played in the Big 12, how would they do? That's the hypothetical question that's asked, and unfortunately, because of the way some schools schedule now, we don't get a chance to see that until the NCAA tournament. [The committee] realized that probably some of these teams would do quite well if they had the opportunity to play in another league."

 

Polls favor Cavs
Men's lacrosse No. 1 for first time since 2003; baseball 24th
From Staff And Wire Reports Mar 21, 2006

CHARLOTTESVILLE - Yesterday brought good news for two teams at the University of Virginia.

In men's lacrosse, U.Va. ascended to the No. 1 spot in the U.S. Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association poll. The Cavaliers (8-0), who were ranked No. 2 last week, trounced Towson 14-7 on Sunday and are off to the best start in school history.

Also yesterday, U.Va. cracked Baseball America's Top 25 for the first time this season. The 24th-ranked Cavaliers are 19-4 after sweeping their three-game series with Clemson at Davenport Field over the weekend.

Clemson dropped from No. 2 to No. 10 in the latest Baseball America poll, which includes six ACC teams.

This marks the first time since March 2003 that lacrosse coach Dom Starsia's team has been atop the USILA poll. U.Va.'s next game is Saturday afternoon against defending NCAA champion Johns Hopkins (3-2) at Klockner Stadium.

 

Versatile Milien chooses Virginia
By Jerry Ratcliffe / Daily Progress sports editor
March 21, 2006

When Virginia landed its third early football commitment for the recruiting class of 2007, the Cavaliers got a versatile back with what has been described as a tremendous upside.
Veteran Yorktown (Arlington) High School coach Don Hansen said Monday that Patriots' running back/wide receiver Max Milien is only going to get better in the years ahead. That's impressive when you consider some of the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder's accomplishments:

- Scored 27 touchdowns in freshman football ...

- Rushed for 900 yards as a sophomore ...

- Split time at running back last season and still rushed for 1,475 yards and scored 20 touchdowns; yet managed to catch 37 passes for more than 400 yards and nine more scores.

"I've been coaching for 21 years and had a lot of good players," said Hansen. "Max is as good as anybody I've ever coached."

What makes Milien special according to Hansen is his versatility.

"He could play safety. He has great hands, so he could be a receiver. He can return punts and kickoffs. He can punt the ball. He can kick it off. He has a college leg. He also plays lacrosse and baseball. He's just an athlete."

But where Milien wants to play is running back, the spot Virginia recruited him for.

"Max really liked Virginia because they were the first to recruit him, the first to offer him [a scholarship]," Hansen said. "I believe one of the reasons he committed was that they wanted him as a running back."

UVa and Temple were the only schools to offer early, while many others, including Virginia Tech, Maryland, Marshall were on the verge.

"Give UVa credit," Hansen said. "They got on the kid before he got hot. If he were in the open market, he would have 10 to 15 scholarship offers by the end of his senior year. [Virginia] Tech called today, and I'm really good friends with those guys, and told me that they were going to offer him. I've had Florida to call me and others."

Not bad considering Milien has two older brothers who both attend Virginia Tech.

According to Hansen, Virginia liked Milien after his sophomore year when he attended the Cavaliers' passing camp.

"Virginia has recruited him aggressively ever since," the Yorktown High coach said. "They got a class act. He's just a good kid, a good athlete. He's only played three years of football and while he's a little raw, he'll get better with experience."

That's something Hansen said Milien would get plenty of this season now that he is the lone featured back. Last season, because of an experienced returning starter at tailback, Milien would often shift to wide receiver when Yorktown went to the shotgun formation.

"He just ran away from people on the freshman team and the past two years he's been part of a diversified running attack, so he's still learning to run a little tougher inside," Hansen said. "But he got better at that phase of the game as the season wore on. He's not a scatback. If he gets a hole and gets a step, not many people can catch him in high school."

 

Virginia finishes season at 15-15
Barney Breen-Portnoy, Cavalier Daily Associate Editor

For a year that was generally expected to be one of unmitigated failure, the 2005-2006 Virginia men's basketball season concluded with a surprising middling record. Over the course of the year, the Cavaliers took their fans on an emotional roller coaster ride that fluctuated between unbridled hope and frustrating despair. Virginia finished the season with a 15-15 overall record after falling to Stanford in the first round of the NIT Tournament last Tuesday night.

In his first year at the helm of the Virginia program, Virginia coach Dave Leitao coaxed seven regular season ACC wins from a roster that featured only eight scholarship players. Those seven ACC wins marked a three-game improvement over last season's 4-12 conference record.

For the second straight season, Virginia won a game in the opening round of the ACC Tournament, a 60-56 victory over Virginia Tech, before falling 79-67 to North Carolina in the quarterfinal round. Virginia returned to the NIT as a No. 8 seed after missing out on the post-season altogether last year.

Virginia's inability to win on the road proved to be its Achilles' heel. Virginia posted an 11-3 home record that included wins over North Carolina, Miami and Boston College, but those successes were tempered by Virginia's 2-11 road mark. The two road wins came at Richmond Nov. 22 and at Virginia Tech Jan. 15. The Cavaliers were 2-1 in games played at neutral sites.

Throughout the season, Virginia's offense relied primarily upon its backcourt duo of sophomore Sean Singletary and junior J.R. Reynolds, who combined to provide 60 percent of Virginia's points. The two guards averaged 34.7 of Virginia's 57.9 ppg. Singletary slightly edged Reynolds to lead the team in scoring with 17.7 ppg, compared to Reynolds' 17.0 ppg. Singletary, who also led the Cavaliers with 121 assists, was named to the First Team All-ACC. Singletary's accomplishments are even more impressive due to the fact that he played through a nagging injury for much of the season.

Throughout the latter part of the season, Reynolds became Virginia's most reliable scoring threat. He scored a career-high 30 points in the March 5 regular season finale, a 71-70 loss to Maryland. After scoring only eight points in the Dec. 7 62-60 loss to Fordham, a game that Singletary missed due to injury, Reynolds scored in double-digits during Virginia's final 24 contests. Reynolds received Third Team All-ACC honors.

"It's been frustrating all year in that we have had to be a little bit unbalanced in our attack," Leitao said. "We've got two warriors that have done everything we have asked of them all year, and hopefully in the future we don't have to count on them to make those kinds of shots."

Sophomore swingman Adrian Joseph emerged as Virginia's third scoring option with 9.4 ppg. His best performance in conference play came Jan. 7 when Virginia defeated Clemson 64-58 at U-Hall. Joseph scored 19 points in that game while leading Virginia to its first conference victory of the season. Eight days later, Joseph clinched Virginia's sole conference road win, 54-49 at Virginia Tech, with a three-pointer from the corner with 44 seconds remaining.

In the paint, Virginia was led by junior forward Jason Cain. He scored 7.4 ppg and was tied for sixth in the ACC with an average of three offensive rebounds per game. His productivity lessened during the stretch run of the season, however, after he got into a verbal spat with assistant coach Steve Seymour during Virginia's 76-62 loss at Florida State Feb. 18. Cain saw significant reduction in his playing time following the incident.

Virginia's freshmen, swingman Mamadi Diane and forward Laurynas Mikalauskas, both made significant contributions on the floor. Mikalauskas was the more consistent player of the two, as he notched 6.2 ppg and 4.5 rpg. His best all-around game was in the opening round of the ACC Tournament against Virginia Tech. The Lithuanian native posted his first career double-double, scoring 11 points and pulling down 12 rebounds in what was Virginia's third win over Virginia Tech for the season.

Diane played well at times, especially defensively, but struggled greatly with his offensive consistency. The most glaring example of this was his performance in Virginia's 99-54 loss at North Carolina March 1. Diane shot 0-11 from the floor of the Dean Smith Center during 21 minutes of playing time. His best offensive night was against Northwestern Nov. 30. In Virginia's 72-57 victory, Diane scored 18 points.

The team loses only one player from the roster before next season, walk-on guard Billy Campbell. The team will benefit from Leitao's first recruiting class that could consist of up to five players, depending on academic and eligibility issues. With this infusion of depth, Virginia should be in a position to improve upon the positive steps taken this year.

"We have to get ready now for next year," Mikalauskas said following the Stanford game. "We got to get back on the court because we can be really good next year."

 

Defending Mr. Littlepage
Chad Gallagher

While Billy Packer and Jim Nantz (CBS sports announcers) were on national television last week ranting and raving about the sub-par job of the NCAA committee (chaired by Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage), it appears Littlepage did not get the credit he deserved. Many critics argued to Littlepage that the ACC and Missouri Valley Conference should not have received the same number of bids to the tournament.

In the first weekend of the NCAA tournament, the Missouri Valley held its own in winning four of six games while sending two of its four selections into the Sweet Sixteen. While impressive by itself, all four teams were seeded seventh or higher, meaning they had to upset top caliber teams to reach the sweet sixteen. In comparison, ACC teams were ranked one, two, three and 10 and only managed to send two teams to the Sweet Sixteen.

I'm not trying to say that the ACC is an inferior conference to the Missouri Valley Conference. I just that it is outrageous for Littlepage to take the heat for a committee that gave the Missouri Valley Conference four teams in the tourney, especially in a down year for the ACC. Both Bradley and Wichita State managed to knock out teams this past weekend from the SEC and Big East, two of the stronger conferences in Division I basketball.

Now that Littlepage can stop defending the Missouri Valley Conference, he can turn his attention to the Virginia spring sports scene. While the daffodils prepare to bloom in Charlottesville, Virginia spring sports are starting to heat up under the tutelage of Littlepage.

While it is still early in the season in each of the spring sports, Virginia could play deep into the NCAA playoffs in at least five spring sports. Rather than berating Littlepage about the tournament selections, here are a few topics that the announcers could have covered instead.

Virginia baseball recently peppered up its own version of March Madness. This past week, Virginia faced the unenviable task of playing the top two teams in the country, Clemson and Georgia Tech. The Wahoos managed to take four of six from these two baseball powerhouses. Imagine the hoopla if Virginia managed to beat USC and Texas in back to back weekends in football. If you have yet to take in a game at Davenport Field, it is worth the time.

The Virginia men's tennis team is catching stride after winning two straight ACC contests in easy fashion. The squad looks to win its third straight ACC championship this spring. The Snyder Tennis Center, home of the Wahoos tennis team, is a fantastic venue to catch a mid-afternoon tennis match.

If lacrosse is your thing, Klöckner stadium is the place to be. With both women and men having strong seasons, there is a quality game going on each weekend. The women recently knocked off No. 7 Penn State and No. 4 Maryland to get the season off to a good start. The men, meanwhile, are undefeated thus far and appear poised for a rendezvous with the NCAA playoffs.

While some people probably do not even realize Virginia has a rowing team, the women's crew team has continually put together a top ranked crew that competes for the national championship each year. The Wahoo women open the season ranked third in the country and look to build on last year's second place finish. While the Rivanna Reservoir is hidden off grounds, it is a great place to catch a race in the middle of the spring.

Now that the Missouri Valley has proven their place in the tournament, maybe Littlepage can spend more time talking about Virginia sports than Mid-Major basketball teams.